Freezing concerns.

[Baker1131]

Hey everyone. I am a first time user of this site and a new owner of a 2017 24ft Jay Flight SLX! My wife and I are planning on taking our maiden voyage for a two night trip to the lower altitudes of Rockies outside of Denver this weekend. My trailer is currently winterized which I planned on flushing and sanitizing tomorrow. However, the weather forecast has changed and I am seeing lows of 31-30F overnight (about 6 hours) warming to the high 50's in the day, which in CO can vary drastically. We will be with electricity, will be maintaining room temp in the camper throughout and plan on keeping cupboards open at night. Do I need to be worried about fixtures/fittings freezing??? From everything I've read so far, a consistent 26F is concerning.

[Mbranscum]

You should be fine if heat is running inside with those temps.


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[Baker1131]

Thank you!

[bansai]

Welcome from Denver. Enjoy your trip, you will be fine. If you plan on using full hookups, and you have a water line connected to your camper - you should probably disconnect it overnight. Other than that, no worries with the temps you are expecting.

[Baker1131]

That's what I was hoping/expecting to hear. Thank you! Heading to Carter Lake so we will be flushing, sanitizing and filling the tank when we get there but no extended water connection. My head is swimming with all the new knowledge I've crammed down my own throat over the last week.

[bansai]

Originally Posted by Baker1131

That's what I was hoping/expecting to hear. Thank you! Heading to Carter Lake so we will be flushing, sanitizing and filling the tank when we get there but no extended water connection. My head is swimming with all the new knowledge I've crammed down my own throat over the last week.

Lol, I totally get that.

Any questions, fire away. I haven't been to Carter lake yet, but it's on my list. We were at Jackson Lake state park last weekend. I don't plan on re-winterizing my camper again this year unless something crazy happens with the weather.

[Baker1131]

Originally Posted by bansai

Lol, I totally get that.

Any questions, fire away. I haven't been to Carter lake yet, but it's on my list. We were at Jackson Lake state park last weekend. I don't plan on re-winterizing my camper again this year unless something crazy happens with the weather.

Like a snow storm in March?

[bansai]

Originally Posted by Baker1131

Like a snow storm in March?

It's supposed to start snowing tonight I guess. (or just rain I would think)

But the coldest it's going to get tonight is supposed to be 38 degrees. Monday it looks like we hit 31 for an hour or 2.. I'll only worry about if it it gets into the 20's and stays there for more than 4 hours.

I'm really happy to see some moisture moving in. It's been so freakin dry along the front range this winter / spring.

[Baker1131]

Originally Posted by bansai

It's supposed to start snowing tonight I guess. (or just rain I would think)

But the coldest it's going to get tonight is supposed to be 38 degrees. Monday it looks like we hit 31 for an hour or 2.. I'll only worry about if it it gets into the 20's and stays there for more than 4 hours.

I'm really happy to see some moisture moving in. It's been so freakin dry along the front range this winter / spring.

Agreed. Fire season has already started! It is going to be a rough summer. I thought the Farmer's Almanac was predicting this to be the snowiest winter since 2008...


Carter Lake is at 5760ft so it will be a little colder but the lowest predicted temp I have been able to find was 29 lasting about 7 hours. With as warm as it has been I would expect the ground to still be warm-ish beneath us. With that and us being able to have the furnace running I think I feel comfortable with it...

[bansai]

You just reminded me..

Obviously you'll be running your furnace some (well maybe)... but if you have one of those portable, plug in space heaters that usually run a max 1500 watts, bring along an extra extension cord on your trip and you can use the extra plug on camp grounds electricity pedistal, instead of your propane, to do 90% of the heating you will need.

We didn't need the furnace at all last weekend. I wasn't sure if your unit had the thermal package or not, obviously if it gets really cold (and you have that package) you'll want to run the furnace a bit, but I kind of doubt you'll need to worry about that at all this weekend.

Have fun on your trip. I added Carter lake to my bookmarks, I always forget about that park for some reason, but it's so close... looks like a perfect spot to get the season started.

[Baker1131]

Originally Posted by bansai

You just reminded me..

Obviously you'll be running your furnace some (well maybe)... but if you have one of those portable, plug in space heaters that usually run a max 1500 watts, bring along an extra extension cord on your trip and you can use the extra plug on camp grounds electricity pedistal, instead of your propane, to do 90% of the heating you will need.

We didn't need the furnace at all last weekend. I wasn't sure if your unit had the thermal package or not, obviously if it gets really cold (and you have that package) you'll want to run the furnace a bit, but I kind of doubt you'll need to worry about that at all this weekend.

Have fun on your trip. I added Carter lake to my bookmarks, I always forget about that park for some reason, but it's so close... looks like a perfect spot to get the season started.

I think we do have a space heater. I will check on it. Thanks for the idea.


We have had nothing but great experiences tent camping at all of the Larimer County campgrounds. They do a great job. Safe, clean with all the amenities you may need. Park Rangers patrol every few hours, especially throughout the night. Fire pits are useable year round. Shower/bathroom facilities are always clean. You can't beat it. www.reserveamerica.com is where you can research and book them. They also have an iOS ap, but it's somewhat difficult to navigate. You should also look into Horsetooth Resevoir, Boyd Lake and St. Vrain State Park.


Thanks again!

[bansai]

Nice, thank you for the intel. I used to hang out at horsetooth in the late 80's (highschool years). My friends and I would go up there to fish and drink beer. Very familiar with that lake I have never 'officially' camped there, but I did wake up there a few times.

We passed Boyd lake last weekend, on the way to Jackson State park. Have not been to St Vrain yet.

I think we're about a month out at this point from transitioning from plains camping to what we really prefer up in the mtns. 4 corners area also has a tremendous amount of camping opportunities, especially for off grid. I'm booking a trip right now for Black canyon out in Gunnison for August, and am scouting out Navajo Res near Durango, and maybe a trip out to Canyon Lands, the window is closing fast to get in some of these places this summer.

We still do some tent camping, but not as much now that the rest of the family is completely spoiled with the hotel on wheels.

[Baker1131]

Originally Posted by bansai

Nice, thank you for the intel. I used to hang out at horsetooth in the late 80's (highschool years). My friends and I would go up there to fish and drink beer. Very familiar with that lake I have never 'officially' camped there, but I did wake up there a few times.

We passed Boyd lake last weekend, on the way to Jackson State park. Have not been to St Vrain yet.

I think we're about a month out at this point from transitioning from plains camping to what we really prefer up in the mtns. 4 corners area also has a tremendous amount of camping opportunities, especially for off grid. I'm booking a trip right now for Black canyon out in Gunnison for August, and am scouting out Navajo Res near Durango, and maybe a trip out to Canyon Lands, the window is closing fast to get in some of these places this summer.

We still do some tent camping, but not as much now that the rest of the family is completely spoiled with the hotel on wheels.

So the maiden voyage was a pseudo success. We didn't realize that the water supply and dump site were closed for the season until April 1. It took me most of the first day to locate my water heater bypass valves and the next day to locate my nicely hidden water pump. We were close to a water spigot from which we toted a 5 gallon fresh water jug back and forth to fill my tank (a couple times) to flush and sanitize the system. My back still hurts... It took a bit to figure out that there was a valve at the water heater allowing air into the system which was frustrating me until my wife figured it out needed to be closed. She hasn't let me forget that one yet but we did have great water pressure afterwards. I will test out the water heater on our next trip. And there were no freezing issues either. I did notice that the underbelly of my trailer IS enclosed which makes me feel better about the colder weather.


Thanks again for all of your help and tips. It has been a huge learning curve so I appreciate all the help I can get!

[bansai]

Sounds like success to me

I still make the mistake all the time of not filling my fresh water until after I've disconnected the trailer and realized there was no water. Usually I just hook back up and drive the camper to within 'hose range' of a live spigot. There's no way I'm carrying multiple loads of 5 gallon water jugs unless someone in my group is dying. There was a post on here not far back about how people make the dumpinig of fresh water into their FW tanks with those 5 gallon jugs, a lot easier. Some have invested in a pump.

Those inaugural trips are always "interesting" for us. We learn something new every year. If you didn't break anything, it was a total success.

[Baker1131]

Originally Posted by bansai

Sounds like success to me

I still make the mistake all the time of not filling my fresh water until after I've disconnected the trailer and realized there was no water. Usually I just hook back up and drive the camper to within 'hose range' of a live spigot. There's no way I'm carrying multiple loads of 5 gallon water jugs unless someone in my group is dying. There was a post on here not far back about how people make the dumpinig of fresh water into their FW tanks with those 5 gallon jugs, a lot easier. Some have invested in a pump.

Those inaugural trips are always "interesting" for us. We learn something new every year. If you didn't break anything, it was a total success.

I'll chalk it up as one then. I did, however, almost snag my rear driver's side axel on a large rock while maneuvering through the camp ground. It was a bit of an adrenaline dump as I was by myself and not completely sure how to steer out of it, but, I managed successfully. Later in the evening, though, A family with a toy hauler was attempting to pull into a neighboring spot (his first time pulling his trailer) and hooked a tree with his awning... Horrible sound and my heart sank for him. Myself and another neighbor helped him remove the awning completely and got him around the tree. All in all, it could have been way worse for his trailer and we made some new friends in the end.