Sunday, November 29, 2015

Winterizing 101

Now that we are back from our final camping trip of the 2015 season, we have to quickly winterize the camper as the freezing temps are upon us.

Today I opened the camper up, emptied it out, washed the canvas, and will keep it open for a few days while I do a good interior cleaning and let things air out / dry out before closing back up for the winter.  But, first things first, I have to winterize that water system.  I prepared a quick video of the steps I use to winterize,... hopefully that is visible below here, but you can also follow this link to view on YouTube.

YouTube - Winterizing Passport 217 Link


More Mods and Add-ons

Some more modifications and add-ons that I found useful or as good tips online.

1. Added duct tape warning markers for the electrical cord.  Sometimes you are going to use all the cord, and at least this way I have a warning before it is pulled tight inside.  3', 2', 1' or there abouts.
Added Orange duct tape warning markers
 2. Added an exterior door handle.  On our popup, we had a large handle like this which made it nice for Madison to get in and out of the camper.  Found this one on Amazon for a good price, with all mounting hardware.  The offset holes in the bracket just hit the structure of the door frame at the top, but the bottom one needed to go all the way thru to the inside.  Longer stainless screws, fender washers, and lock nuts were used to secure it there.


 3.  For winterizing, I also found this Aluminum air hose bracket that screws directly to the camper city water connection.  This makes it really easy to blow out the lines after a camping trip.  Also, it is made so it doesn't damage the filter screen on the camper!  Works great, and saves time winterizing.  Also found on Amazon.

 4. Having run out of Propane once, I couldn't see the indicator window with the black propane cover over the tanks and valves.  On the camper side, I used a 2" hole saw bit and created a nice opening to view the window as well as to change the tank with the selector.  Works great, especially once the front bunk is in the open position.
 5.  While not necessary for a 16' awning, there have been some reports of longer awnings bowing over time due to long distance travel and bumps in the road.  This simple bracket pivots into postion to allow support of the awning in the closed position.  A reinforcement plate was added (included in package) to allow you to Pop-rivet to the camper wall if there is not structure there.  Luckily, I had both structure for the main bolts and used the pop rivits.


6.  Counter space is a premium in our camper.  So, the oven rack is a pain 90% of the time.  Camco makes a universal oven cover that fastens to the camper counter along a hinge and folds into two positions.  Now making regular sandwiches at lunch is not all over the dining table where you want to eat too!

Closed Position

Half hinged, allows front burner to be used.

Fully open, almost acts as a backsplash for the stove.
Lots of new posts upcoming!  So please check back.  We made our big trip to Disney and back up the East Coast and will have lots of info to share there as well.