Fighting Freezing Cold And Numb Toes In My Off Grid RV

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• published: 14 Mar 2014
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I had shivering fits all night due to the cold. Every time I moved, more shivering fits started. It was cold, very cold in the RV. When I got up in the morning the cats water was frozen. It was 33 inside the RV with the propane heater burning all night. I did not get up until late in the morning due to the cold. My whole day was spent trying to insulate the RV better and get a fire going. My hands and toes were numb from the beginning so it was hard going. I kept thawing them out in front of the propane heater in order to keep working. I dug out my firewood and got it stacked up on the porch but it is frozen up and covered with snow and ice. I used some dead evergreen branches from a standing tree as kindling to get a fire going with the little bit of dry wood I had. I was able to warm up my hands and feet nicely then. The high temperature for the day was only 20 degrees F. It was supposed to get down to 6 at night. The ground outside was frozen solid. My milk inside the RV froze as well. The problem is that we had strong winds tearing through the RV. There were steady 30 mph winds reported along with powerful gusts in the meadow. The wind ripped right through the RV sucking the warmth out of it. I am sharing all of this, not to complain, but to make a point. If anyone living in Northern climates wants to head out on their own to live in an RV or camper, then you must be ready for some miserable days and nights. I stuffed a roll of pink fiberglass insulation I had into the back hatch. I could see daylight out through the cracks and gaps. I had enough insulation to layer it double. It is R13 and 3.5 inches thick so this gives me double the thickness of 7 inches back there. I also hung a blanket over the front door to help a bit. With the porch damaged the wind was ripping right through the doorway around the door frame. The porch did help a lot when it was closed in. When I had the wood stove going, I ran out every 15 to 30 minutes to check the fire and adjust the logs. With the porch, I did not lose any heat. The porch was a barrier between the intense cold outside and the RV. Now with the porch ripped up, the extreme cold and winds enter the RV the minute I open the door. I was not gaining anything. Also the insulation got ripped out of the stove shed and I can see daylight out through the gaps. I have to repair the porch and stove shed before I can use the RV wood stove. I let the fire go out and left it for the day. It was not helping. I will look for plastic sheeting and insulation to repair my porch and RV wood stove shed. Then I can have it comfortable in here again. For lunch I had a simple but very filling meal of meat and cheese ends plus two eggs. You heat up a cast iron frying pan and put in a little bit of oil. Then add two eggs, a deli meat and and a cheese end. Cover it and put the heat on low until the cheese is nearly melted. Shut off the heat and wait until the cheese if fully melted. Enjoy. I get deli meat and cheese ends for only $1.99 per pound. It makes for a very inexpensive and filling meal. I had it up to nearly 47 degrees in the RV in the late afternoon but lost that again as the sun went down. I must figure out how to insulate the RV better for these extreme cold and windy nights. One thing I need for sure is skirting under the RV. That is a given. The rest of the insulating and sealing around gaps also must be finished asap. I had left before I was finished and now must deal with the cold. I have ideas for next year on protecting my camper home against the elements. I am thinking about a porch all the way around the RV and over the whole top of it. I can use plastic in winter and then window screens in summer. I will share more of this idea later on. I stuffed a piece of carpet over the stairwell before bed and placed two large pillows over that to help insulate against the cold. That is a huge energy loss area. I went to bed just after ten PM. It was too cold to be up. The 9000 BTU heater I have was just keeping it above freezing. It was due to the strong winds that I had this problem. On a normal day I do not have any issue with keeping it warm in here. Please donate to help keep The Off Grid Project going: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted;_button_id=3TQSWXLLRZ6HW Join The Off Grid Project and The Do It Yourself World forum and share your ideas, tips and projects. http://www.thediyworld.com/forum The Off Grid Project is presented by The Do It Yourself World. http://www.TheDIYworld.com Experiments and projects in off grid living, alternate energy, survival, hiking and more.