Wintercamping tips & tricks

Both of us have been camping with our parents since childhood, even in winter. But even this early experience could not save us from one or the other "price to pay". Here is a list of what we think you should pay attention to:

• The taps must be opened as soon as there is no heating, as the water expands in a frozen state and can therefore blast the pipes (we had our experience…😊).

• The frost guard has to be checked before you fill in lots of water in your water tank. The guard will open automatically below 4 degrees and lets out all the water from the watertank. That is for safety reasons. (we had our experience…😊)

• The windows must be wiped dry from the inside if they mist up (which can often happen), because otherwise too much moisture can accumulate in the bus and this can promote mold growth. This also goes hand in hand with consistent ventilation, especially in the morning (yes, even if it's very cold outside). A microfiber glove was very helpful.

• In order to save gas (if the electricity has to be paid flat-rate) you can also add a small fan heater. However, you should make sure that the heating reaches a certain basic temperature, otherwise the water pipes are not heated enough.

• It can happen that the waste water tank freezes up. Therefore, it is more advisable to leave the tank open and simply put a bucket under it. Otherwise you could add some antifreeze into the waste water tank.

• If there is snow, you can also use a sledge or slide bowl to transport the toilet cassette.

• Water bottles and other glasses, PET bottles etc. with a high-water content should be emptied as soon as the holiday/weekend is over. Because it also applies here: When water freezes it expands and has an incredible power. Alcohol can be safely left in the van, the higher the percentage the better…😊

• The power cable can be packed into a plastic housing or bag. Like this, it is protected from wind and weather.

• Salt and snow could damage the underbody of the van, we recommend an underbody protection and a cavity sealing to let carry out (best in autumn). After the procedure ventilate long and vigorously (the stuff smells very intense...).

• In order to keep the cold out as much as possible, it is advisable (especially with transporter wagons) to close the ventilation in the driver's cab and set it to indoor air. To increase the comfort we covered the steering wheel, radio, glove compartment etc. with a thin blanket. We had also laid out the pedals, as well as entrances on driver and passenger side with blankets or insulating mats. At night we put an additional blanket on the floor in front of the sliding door, because a little moisture / ice had formed here in the morning.

• If you don´t want the entrance to the toilet flap freeze (with us the flap lay directly underneath the chimney outlet), we clamped here a clothespin. However, this was a little too short and so we took a piece of shrink tubing and extended the lower part of the clamp (see picture below).

• A telescopic ladder and a retractable brush to remove snow from the roof (danger of increased roof load!).

• A (small) snow shovel to clear the way to the mobile or simply to build a snow bar.

• And of course bring some snow chains. We can recommend the ones from pewag. They were mounted quick and have a really good grip on snowy, icey roads

Do you have further questions about winter camping? Write us a mail, we are looking forward to your message.

info@niuka.de