Winter Use?

[chemist308]

I'm considering buying an Imagine 2670MK or 2700BH since my job takes me all over the country, and has me living out of hotel rooms and temporary apartments--that part of it all has gotten old. The Imagine trailers are about what my truck would comfortably tow (she'll tow 8500 lbs max, and I am comfortable towing 6000 - 7000 in that truck on a long trip). Question is, how do the Imagine trailers do in the Winter. Based on the specs I'm seeing, I'd guess quite well, but who has tried it? Does the trailer stay warm?

Also, based on the floorplans, I'm guessing the 2670MK would have far better heat balance--am I right about this?

[D2Reid]

I cannot give you unit specific information, we own a 40-41 foot 5th wheel.

It's an RV. It will never be as warm as a house or temporary apartment. That being said. We love to winter in our RV.

Are you by yourself? If so you will probably be happy with the space. Add significant others and dogs you will need more space for full timing.

Be sure whatever you choose has a comfortable recliner.

Going from hotel/temp quarters to RV parks. Hopefully you can plan months in advance. There are huge numbers of hotels, there are limited number of RV parks. With the boom in the RV industry and depending on where you are going there may be a shortage of RV parking. A good exercise is to pretend you have an RV and plan out 6 months. You can call and ask for price and availability without making an actual reservation and the RV parks don't get upset with this, it happens every day.

Picking the RV. Look at the R values, make a list of potential units, then list R values roof, side walls, floors. These numbers are only a guide, mostly they don't really mean much, but the comparison will give you good, better, best scenarios. More important is to compare the size of the heater BTU, then make sure your potential unit has "tank heaters". These are 12v pads they place under the tank and hopefully near the dump valves.

As you plan your stays take a look at large Propane tank rentals. When the temps drop below 0 I am replacing a 7 gallon (30#) tank almost daily. Mid-twenties it's not so bad, every 3 or 4 days, but if you are going to spend a couple of months at one location talk to the RV park about propane venders that service them. A 100 gallon tank and regular fill service makes life pretty pleasant if you are wintering in snow. AKA ski resorts.

Last question asked: Does the trailer stay warm? Answer: it's relative. How warm do you need. If it's -8 outside are you ok with 65? I consider that warm enough.

Lastly, get it skirted. This make a huge difference in protecting from freezing and utility bills.

I apologize for not providing unit specific information, your thread was titled winter use? We have been wintering in very cold conditions for 5 years. It's takes some consideration to be successful at this.

[chemist308]

Has anybody tried using their Imagine trailer in the winter?

[VickieandMark]

Has anybody tried using their Imagine trailer in the winter?

We plan to go south !!![emoji23][emoji1303]


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[texnyan]

We've only had ours about a couple of weeks, but we live in Upstate NY near the ADK mountains and this week our days are topping out at around 75F, but our evenings have been dropping down to about 54F. Not quite winter, but I can say that without running AC or the furnace, the temp inside the unit fluctuates between a high of 85F and a low of mid 50F. Since we aren't living in it at the moment, we haven't being great about opening and closing windows/vents throughout the day, but I can say that the furnace warmed the unit up nicely in about 10-15 minutes from a starting indoor temp of 56F when we went out to do some morning packing. I would be curious to know how 2 warm bodies sleeping in the unit might have effected the overnight temps.

We plan to use the trailer up here into mid Nov, so I'll try to post a follow-up as we gain real world usage data.

[MidwestCamper]

Has anybody tried using their Imagine trailer in the winter?

Chemist308,

We used our 2600RB last fall just before putting it away for the winter. The nights were down to 32F where we were comfortable with no issues.

[Teleho]

I came through Medicine Hat Alberta and we saw -8C (46F) and I was concerned if there is heat going to the underbody where are the pipe are contained. I could not see anything or tell, but we didn't have any water problems.

I have the same question - how cold can it get before the water system freezes? Anyone have experience?

[fmartinmn]

I came through Medicine Hat Alberta and we saw -8C (46F) and I was concerned if there is heat going to the underbody where are the pipe are contained. I could not see anything or tell, but we didn't have any water problems.

I have the same question - how cold can it get before the water system freezes? Anyone have experience?

Hello Teleho and welcome to the forum. I can't answer your question specifically but we have had a little experience with freezing temps. We did get caught one weekend with lows around 26F and all was fine in the trailer with the furnace on. (Exterior water hose, filter, pressure reg froze) The key is the underbelly is heated only when the furnace is on. If you use another heat source such as the electric fireplace or portable heater your underbelly will not be heated. While we were in TX this past winter, we did see 8F and all was fine, but we went through a lot of propane (No exterior water connections that time) Good luck and enjoy. Frank.

[D2Reid]

I have the same question - how cold can it get before the water system freezes? Anyone have experience?

Lots of experience in cold weather. But before your question can be answered you must tell us what RV you own, there are a lot of differences between small trailers and large trailers. And then the answer will depend on how long you travel at what temperature.

The longer you travel without adding heat the colder the trailer will get. At -8C (18F), you will be close to freezing temperature inside the RV around 7 hours. This is a non-scientific answer based on my experience with my RV. When you stop for fuel or lunch if you turn the furnace on it will add heat back in.

[Zymurgist]

I'm considering buying an Imagine 2670MK or 2700BH since my job takes me all over the country, and has me living out of hotel rooms and temporary apartments--that part of it all has gotten old. The Imagine trailers are about what my truck would comfortably tow (she'll tow 8500 lbs max, and I am comfortable towing 6000 - 7000 in that truck on a long trip). Question is, how do the Imagine trailers do in the Winter. Based on the specs I'm seeing, I'd guess quite well, but who has tried it? Does the trailer stay warm?

Also, based on the floorplans, I'm guessing the 2670MK would have far better heat balance--am I right about this?

We have a 2670mk and used it several times during late Fall when temperatures were below freezing at night and mid 30s during the day. The fireplace heated the interior fine during the day, but the bedroom was a little cooler. We used the furnace during the night to keep the underbelly warm. No issues as far as comfort was concerned. I think your biggest issue will be condensation on the windows. The 2670mk has a lot of windows. They're great for warm weather, not so much in freezing weather. The 2670mk has a very spacious feel to it compared to the 2800BH we had prior.
I think your comfort and the trailer's ability to handle the cold weather will depend upon how cold it gets and the length of time you spend in that environment. A week, no problem. A month, probably not.