Winter Storage Tips & Tricks

[Booner]

Hey All,
Well, summer vacation is over and the kids are back in school, and our first "Pop-Up Summer" is in the books as a success.  We got our PU July 10th and camped 5 times, a total of 19 days, for our first summer of camping with it.  Kids loved it and I'll never get my wife in a tent again!

I've got a '99 Starcraft Spaceliner.  I've got the Owner's Manual for all the storage instructions but I am interested in all the little tips and tricks that are not listed in the storage instructions.  All the things that everyone has figured out by winterizing their pop-ups themselves.  So, come on everyone, let's hear what you got.

[fallsrider]

Wow. Where do you live that you're already thinking about winterizing? Here in NC we have at least 3 good months left.

Here's a couple of things I do. First, they say you should get your tires up off the ground. So, I made this permanent. We park our PUP in a natural area, so I bought 2 4x8x16 solid cinder blocks and buried them about half way into the ground, being sure they were level with each other. Whenever we come home from a trip, I just back the pup tires up onto the two blocks. That's its permanent parking space. The tires are off the ground, and the PUP is always level side-to-side.

The other thing I do is to stuff wadded up aluminum foil into the seal at the top of the door to keep out mice. I crawled around under the pup a couple of years ago and made sure to seal up any holes in the floor.

I place one of those breathable covers over the PUP, and I lower the tongue down most of the way so that water runs off the roof.

[AustinBoston]

Even here in the Twin Cities, where temps routinely go down to -25øF (-32øC) in the winter, we expect another 1-1/2 to 2 good camping months.  In fact, some of the best camping is ahead!

We have never covered our PUP, and never will.  Most manufacturers say not to.  I have smelled many PUPs that are musty inside, and they were all covered.

I lower the tongue to improve drainage.

I use RV antifreeze (note: this is NOT automotive antifreeze, which is very toxic), but perging water lines with compressed air will work.

I remove the battery and place it in an outbuilding that I keep above freezing.  A couple times over the winter, I throw it on the charger for a few hours.

I disconnect electricity and stow the cable.

I make sure the tires are not directly on the ground and the pressure is up (I park it on a paved surface, but sometimes there are puddles).  I have heard of people removing their tires, which seems like extra work to me.  Removing the tires and storing them indoors makes theft more difficult (but then, so does being buried under a 4 foot snowdrift :yikes: ).

PJay removes anything that might attract critters.

We leave a paper towel in the fridge and another through the seal so the fridge can breath.

Austin

[cjpoppin]

Come to Calif.....Winter storage  What's that???  
Just kidding we have to do that where we live too but not for about
four mo's or so thank goodness.......The bad thing is we also camp all year so it's pour in the Anti freeze go camping and come home and pour in more Anti freeze.....good thing it doesn't cost much....We also blow out the water lines with the compressor and do our best to find any place those little mice can crawl into.....Give it a good wax job ( it gets waxed twice a year )
Very glad we do not have to dig out from under snow........Once in a while we get a foot or so and it's sure pretty to look at then it's gone......That's the kind I like ......

[Booner]

Hey all, thanks for the tips.  If anyone else out there has anymore ideas, keep them coming.

BTW, I'm in Colorado, and not going to winterize the PU just yet.  Just figured I'd get a jump start on collecting ideas now that we're not camping quite as regularly as we were before school started.  Definitely one more trip to Fruita for some fall mountain biking before full on winterizing occurrs.

Thanks again!