Winter Bug Out

Winter Bug Out

By Joseph Parish

Let us now continue our train of thought on using campers as bug out retreats or possible BOV extensions.  As with any emergency scenario it is impossible for us to select the perfect circumstances and time when a crisis will occur. Generally these situations will be beyond our control. It could happen in the summer or during a time when ole man winter is kicking up a storm.

As many who has been following this series of articles may know that my family and I are currently in a mobile status and are living in a camper. Our ultimate goal is to save enough money to obtain our own land. Unfortunately, we have taken on this task during the cool winter months. As such I have been researching and devising a few hints for those who may bug out in the wintertime.

For those people who may be considering duplicating what we are doing I would not recommend using pop-ups at all. You should use hard sided motor homes or trailers only. In fact the larger travel trailer that you can get would be your best bet. Our unit has 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room area and dining section. Iy has a pop-out unit that expands the useable space greatly. 

I have discovered several ways in which one can effectively prepare their camper for winter living. The first thing that you should do is be very generous with the caulking. Go around your camper and apply a bead of caulking to seal any of the unused outside secondary doors while placing a 1/2″ foam ’stick-on’ strip to the frames of the associated access  doors. these simple actions will quickly cut down on any undesirable drafts.

 You can eliminate a considerable amount of cold air from entering around your windows by merely covering them with a type of heat-shrink plastic wrap. Don’t forget to seal the outside frame with caulking as well.

Heavy curtains not only add a warm feeling to the camper decor  but helps to keep in the heat during those cold evenings. If it warms up in the daytime you can open them in order to allow fresh sunlight to enter the camper.

Usually outside air is generally dryer than that air found inside therefore during times when you are cooking or taking a  shower you may wish to crank open a vent slightly or open a window a bit to allow the moist air inside to be released outside.