Jayco Precept 35s Winter Use

[jaboily13]

I recently bought a 2018 Jayco Precept 35s and I will be moving up to New England next year. I will be living in my motorhome since it will be a short stay. I have already upgraded the truma tankless water heater and will be getting a heated water hose. I would like to know what other things should I be looking at to ensure functionality? The rig has tank heaters and water line heaters but I am concerned with the water inlet area freezing and the grey/black water outlet pipes freezing in temperatures around 0 degrees F. Any advice? Thanks!

[MikeThompson]

Water line heaters? I have a 2018 35S and it does not have line heaters. I have tank heaters. So far this season we have been down in the mid 20s. I put a clamp light in the wet bay to keep that from freezing, filled the fresh water tank, removed the water hose and left the tank heaters on. No problems yet, but then again, I'm not in New England. You may want to look into putting pipe insulation on the water lines under the coach.

[jaboily13]

Owners manual mentions that if tank heaters are installed it also has water line heaters. Line heaters are 12v dc and tank heaters are 120v ac. Unless I am completely ignorant (this is my first rv) I believed there were line heaters as well. The insulation is a good call. What wattage do you use on the clamp light? Where do you plug it in? If I recall correctly, there is no outlet in the wet bay. Do you think there will be any issues with the grey/black outlets? Would you put insulation on those as well? Thanks!

[MikeThompson]

I would take a look at the exposed water lines under the coach and see if they have heaters. I doubt they do. I use a 60 watt bulb in the wet bay, but in New England I would use a 100 watt. I would also insulate the wet bay. I ran an extension cord from the shore cable compartment to the wet bay. I spent a winter in New Hampshire in my last 5th wheel. I ran heat tape over every exposed line I could, made a heated water hose, and wrapped my sewer hose with heat tapes. Made it through the winter with no problems. Let us know what you find on your water lines.

[Vicr]

If your going to spend the winter in New England you have a whole lot of work to do. First an foremost you need to install heat trace tape on ALL your under coach waterlines, then insulate all those water lines. You also need to seal every floor penetration and insulate the pipes under the shower and behind the sink cabinet. You'll also want to put batt insulation behind every cabinet you can access. You also can take the outside refer cover off and cram batt insulation as far and every where you can. You'll also want to install rigid foam insulation and a layer of refletix under the rear of the coach under the bedroom. You'll also want to pull off the dash and seats and put sound deadening insulation on the floor and the firewall. A lot of work but if you don't you'll have heaters running 24-7 because motorhomes are like heat strainers -it goes right out. I've had most of the inside of my 35S apart and this is what I am going to do before we start traveling extensively.
New England can stay in the 20's for months and that will freeze any non heated water line under the coach and in compartments you don't see.

[herbd]

Originally Posted by Vicr

If your going to spend the winter in New England you have a whole lot of work to do. First an foremost you need to install heat trace tape on ALL your under coach waterlines, then insulate all those water lines. You also need to seal every floor penetration and insulate the pipes under the shower and behind the sink cabinet. You'll also want to put batt insulation behind every cabinet you can access. You also can take the outside refer cover off and cram batt insulation as far and every where you can. You'll also want to install rigid foam insulation and a layer of refletix under the rear of the coach under the bedroom. You'll also want to pull off the dash and seats and put sound deadening insulation on the floor and the firewall. A lot of work but if you don't you'll have heaters running 24-7 because motorhomes are like heat strainers -it goes right out. I've had most of the inside of my 35S apart and this is what I am going to do before we start traveling extensively.
New England can stay in the 20's for months and that will freeze any non heated water line under the coach and in compartments you don't see.

Holy crap, think I'll stay in Florida !!

[caroga]

We’re in the Adirondacks on NY. Just came back from a trip and winterized it. I put anti freeze in the lines, traps, toilet, and numerous gallons in the black and grey tanks then let some put through th macerator. Tried to open the drains on both tanks and they were frozen shut. Our lows here are in the mid twenties.

[klspahr]

We’re currently boondocking at a show in VA and I have been watching the temperature under my rig that is reported by my solar charger (battery compartment temp). It is surprising how warm it stays. Outside air temps were in the low twenties at night and the battery compartment was in the low forties. So heat from the living area is helping to keep it warm underneath. We have had almost no wind so that helps too.

So it might be very helpful to monitor the temps in vital areas to get an idea what is really going on underneath the rig.

If we did more cold weather camping I sure would consider adding some more temperature monitors under the rig. (But if I could talk my wife into it we would head south in November!)

[i2whl4fn]

I just bought a 2017 Jayco Featherlight. I'm currently in Texas. Last week the temperature droped to the 30's every night. When I'm home I keep the thermostat set to 72. Every window is sweating like crazy. I have every cabinet open, if I close anything the inside of the cabinet starts sweating. The first day I thought I had a leak there is so much water inside my rig. Any ideas on how I can fix this? At this rate I will have water damage throughout the RV.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by i2whl4fn

I just bought a 2017 Jayco Featherlight. I'm currently in Texas. Last week the temperature droped to the 30's every night. When I'm home I keep the thermostat set to 72. Every window is sweating like crazy. I have every cabinet open, if I close anything the inside of the cabinet starts sweating. The first day I thought I had a leak there is so much water inside my rig. Any ideas on how I can fix this? At this rate I will have water damage throughout the RV.

Welcome to the forum.

You need to reduce the humidity trapped inside of your trailer!

The quickest solution to your condensation issue is to increase the ventilation! Crack a ceiling vent and, if necessary, open a window slightly too.

Also, use the vent fan when showering/bathing. Use the range hood fan when cooking (be sure the range hood vent outside of the vent is open).

The next step would be to buy a dehumidifier.

[jaboily13]

Originally Posted by Vicr

If your going to spend the winter in New England you have a whole lot of work to do. First an foremost you need to install heat trace tape on ALL your under coach waterlines, then insulate all those water lines. You also need to seal every floor penetration and insulate the pipes under the shower and behind the sink cabinet. You'll also want to put batt insulation behind every cabinet you can access. You also can take the outside refer cover off and cram batt insulation as far and every where you can. You'll also want to install rigid foam insulation and a layer of refletix under the rear of the coach under the bedroom. You'll also want to pull off the dash and seats and put sound deadening insulation on the floor and the firewall. A lot of work but if you don't you'll have heaters running 24-7 because motorhomes are like heat strainers -it goes right out. I've had most of the inside of my 35S apart and this is what I am going to do before we start traveling extensively.
New England can stay in the 20's for months and that will freeze any non heated water line under the coach and in compartments you don't see.

Excellent information! This may be a bit ignorant, but if I need four or more heat trace tapes, where do you recommend plugging them in? I can probably use the pedastal for three if I get one of those extension cords with three female connectors. How many do you think i can plug into the outlet inside the shore power compartment? Last thing I want to do is trip a bunch of breakers by drawing too many amps. Thanks!

[RVermont]

Rv geeks have a good video on preparing for winter camping. Items like managing moisture are address as well as how to get everything sealed. Also it addresses waste management in the cold to prevent issue with the septic.

I added a gfi outlet in the wet bay and have a heater installed. This has a thermostat and cycles on and off to keep it above freezing. The 3018 precept has a sanicon?, if so you need to be sure you keep that from freezing as that is fairly expensive to repair or replace with freeze damage.


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[anchorman]

My Precept is visually identical to VICR's. I agree with everything he says to do. Just back from Alaska last fall and here's my opinion of cold weather in this unit (I've had Montana, Heritage Glen, Hurricane, others) and this is the coldest unit of the bunch. Hit 26 degrees in AK and furnace ran constantly even when supplemented with electric heater. Basically, if it's below 45 degrees at night, go further South. The insulation is terrible. Unfortunately, it works the other way, too. If it's over 90 degrees, you better have solid 50AMP service because both ACs will run full time. So head North. I'm a fair weather RVer now and I play the seasons - North in summer, South in winter . Travel safe!!

[Dopalgangr]

Originally Posted by jaboily13

I recently bought a 2018 Jayco Precept 35s and I will be moving up to New England next year. I will be living in my motorhome since it will be a short stay. I have already upgraded the truma tankless water heater and will be getting a heated water hose. I would like to know what other things should I be looking at to ensure functionality? The rig has tank heaters and water line heaters but I am concerned with the water inlet area freezing and the grey/black water outlet pipes freezing in temperatures around 0 degrees F. Any advice? Thanks!

You state that you already upgraded the Truma water heater? I plan on using mine this weekend and it will get down to the twenties one night. What upgrade to the water heater did you do? Is there something extra that needs to be done to the stock heater in order to use it in the winter? Thanks, Glen

[MikeThompson]

Originally Posted by Dopalgangr

You state that you already upgraded the Truma water heater? I plan on using mine this weekend and it will get down to the twenties one night. What upgrade to the water heater did you do? Is there something extra that needs to be done to the stock heater in order to use it in the winter? Thanks, Glen

The "Basic" model Truma that Jayco installed has no freeze protection. The only time it comes on is when there is flow, so it could freeze if not used for a few hours. I had mine upgraded to the "Comfort" model. It has a setting that will keep the water in the small tank heated so it doesn't freeze.

[Dopalgangr]

Thanks, well I survived the weekend but I did end up turning t he water on every couple hours to heat up it up

[Dopalgangr]

Just an update and I know this has been discussed a lot already. If you wanted to upgrade your Truma Basic to comfort and they still are not selling the kits to the general public, you could get the parts here if you knew exactly what all was used to convert it.
Just would have to buy them individually vs a full kit.

https://www.caravanrvcamping.com.au/...en=Truma+77000