Here Comes the Cold Again.

Well,

Here it is almost Winter again, and I am still in the mountains of East Tennessee. A beautiful place to be sure, but not the ideal place to be stuck when the snow comes.

Last Winter we made it through without too much difficulty, but this year I am a little wiser and have been taking steps to prepare better.

The first thing I have done is to skirt the HermitKrab. Now, I considered several options to accomplish this from straw bales to foam board insulation, and some of that may get used yet.

What I really wanted, however, was something that could be removed and taken with me when I move on eventually. After investigating several websites for companies that make and sell custom skirting for RVs, I decided to make my own using tarps attached to the underside of the trailer with velcro fasteners. If nothing else, it will block the wind and hopefully provide some help with heat loss.

Also, last winter I found that trying to heat with the propane furnace was entirely too expensive. So I used 2 electric heaters instead. While it tripled my electric bill in the winter, it was still less cost and hassle than propane would have been. The only problem was the load it put on my 30 amp power supply and I had to be sure that each heater was plugged into a different circuit. Also I had to run 1 heater on low, and 1 on high. And still had to shut them both off temporarily in order to use the microwave oven.

So I have installed an electrical outlet with a direct connection to the 20 amp outside plug-in at the power pole. This should allow me to run 3 heaters without a problem.

We shall see.

Next on the agenda will be to insulate the windows that unfortunately, in this rig aren't double paned. This will be done with plastic film available at several big box outlets and home improvement centers.