Closing up for the winter - How do you keep the critters out?

[GoneCampin]

It's getting closer to that time when we need to think about closing it up and storing it for the winter.  I have friends who have had their pop up broken into by critters last winter & then torn to shreds!  Does anyone have any tricks that they've used to keep the critters out?  

The people we bought it from put TONS of moth balls in there and a roll of paper towels... at times we can still catch the smell of moth balls when we open it up.  The first month the smell was horrible, just about made us sick, so I'm trying to find alternatives.  It works great - but yikes... that's a hard smell to get out!

Thanks so much!

[CajunCamper]

Being a resident of the deep south I can't imagine having to deal with closing up for the winter. We are just now coming into our peak camping season. What a bummer for you. I'm curious what kind of critters are geting into your pop up. Are they looking for a place to bed down for the winter? And where are they getting in?

[TheViking]

What is this closing it up for winter talk?  I don't understand??

[GoneCampin]

I'm curious what kind of critters are geting into your pop up. Are they looking for a place to bed down for the winter? And where are they getting in?

Red squirrels get in looking for a place to nest & that usually means tearing matresses and canvas walls apart.  They are also looking for any crumbs they can find.  They can chew & get up inside the roof.

Not sure how they get in - I'm told they can come in through the openings where cords/hoses come out or vents.

[frose]

We sure are familiar with closing up here in Northern Illinois.

My critter problems are usually ants in the summer.  I have been fortunate not to have squirrels, raccoons or mice.  I take Saran Wrap or garbage bags and open the big removeable vent where the fridge is, cover it, then close the vent back onto it.  Similarly I stuff plastic into the other openings (the heater vent is the only other one I can think of).  Everything else has a cap or top to it.

If they chew their way in after that, then you have some mighty determined critters!

[pricerj]

Stuff all the openings where tubes, pipes & wires enter your PUP with steel wool. Make it thick enough so it is not easily pushed out. Critters hate to push or chew on the stuff. Make sure you open every cabinet or seat to find the openings (and possible food sources) and a final crawl underneath helps. Good luck -its a lot easier than cleaning up after a winter of hosting a Rodent Retreat.

[CajunCamper]

Red squirrels get in looking for a place to nest & that usually means tearing matresses and canvas walls apart.  They are also looking for any crumbs they can find.  They can chew & get up inside the roof.

Not sure how they get in - I'm told they can come in through the openings where cords/hoses come out or vents.

Just like pricerj said, I've heard that steel wool does a good job of detering critters so I would give that a try.

Let me ask this, do you get to do any winter camping at all in your neck of the woods? I just read an article in Men's Journal Magazine about winter camping up north, it looked a little extreme for a southern boy like me with all that snow and all but didn't know if lots of folks tried to camp in the winter. I know a lot of folks ice fish and that as well looks extreme to me. Anyway I was just curious.

[curryp]

Thanks Gone Camping for this post. Living in the Adironadacks of NYS I was thinking of how to winterize my PUP. I did a search the other day but didn't come up with anything. I did think to put steel wool in the furnace vent but didn't consider the vent doors to the fridge.

Due to heavy snowfalls in this area (had a single storm last year that left 3 feet of snow) I was considering making a frame to put a tarp over the PUP.  My plan was to do the same I do for our boat. What I would do is secure a 2 x 4 in a bucket of Quickrete and put one at each end of the PUP so the top of the 2 x 4 is about two feet above the roof of the camper. I would then run a 2 x4 the length of the camper and secure it with bolts to the boards at each end. This would create a pitched tarp roof over the camper to keep the snow off but still allow air to circulate around the camper. Has anyone does this before?

[austinado16]

Good post!  Been thinking about what I was gonna do and what level of protection I needed to plan for.

I might go with some aluminum tape over the furnace flue, and block the fridge louvers with some 10mil visqueen that I've got laying around.

I've been thinking about how I want to protect it from rain without having a tarp strapped down on it, rubbing all the paint off the corners and edges.  I was thinking about the raised tarp idea too.  I like the idea of the lumber in concrete.  That would be pretty easy to setup and take down.

I'm also thinking about taking some load off the tires and then airing them down.  Maybe put something under them, so they aren't sitting on bare ground for 6 months.

[ScouterMom]

I don't know if this is the right thing to do or not - but it worked for me.

I used to have a tiny 1976 Starcraft Starlette PUP that I bought from a friend - it was used, but had been well cared for. Because we also live in Northern IL,  with heavy, snowy winters, the previous owner had always wintered it in the garage and so did I.  Both of us put the camper  up on jack stands under the frame (not the stabilizers - they aren't intended to take the entire weight of the camper) , so that the weight was off the tires, so they would not be flattened in one spot from months of sitting in the cold. (they were old, and tended to loose air over the winter - not 'flat' but cold.)

I have a big garage, and this was a tiny, tiny camper - left LOADS of room in the garage! I just wish I had enough room to fit my van and the larger '73 starcraft i have now.  But I'm either going to have to rent a place to store it, or find a way to cover it outside for the winter.

As for the critters - my friend who sold me the '73 taught me another trick - one that carries over from tent camping.  I was raised wilderness/tent camping in bear country, & was taught that you NEVER have food or food smells in your tent  - or it will attract critters.  You can't exactly do that witha PUP, but rather than store things in the camper cabinets themselves, I always store all food - actually almost anything that is food, fabric, liquid or in any way 'chewable' in rubbermaid containers with tight lids, inside the cabinets.  It makes it much easier to pack and re-stock, and to clean out if there are spills, crumbs, etc.  Packing in rubbermaid tubs also saves my bedding, towels, dishes, even games and small equipment, etc from road dust, humidity, moisture, etc. that always manages to filter into an older, not-so-tight camper. In the starlette, we could only access the storage by raising the roof and folding out the beds - so I rebuilt the dinette seats into benches that were open in front - then the rubbermade tubs would slide in like drawers, and we could get in and out of the camper without opening up the roof &  beds.

laura

[saskcamper]

Our concern is mice more than any other type of critter. We asked about rodent control at 3 different dealers, and they all said to use Bounce fabric softener sheets scattered throughout the trailer. One dealer cautioned us to be sure it's Bounce and not another brand. Apparently mice detest the smell.

[Mike Up]

So far what has worked for me is a small portion of cat food 2 to 3 times per week. It brings the cats by the campers, but doesn't give them enough so they're still hungry. Any critters that are around quickly become cat food.

Also keeping your camper off of grass that can be a ladder to your camper also helps.
 
I have a few roaming cats that are friendly enough to be a help in guarding the PUP and TT.
 
Have a good one.

[mike4947]

Oh Boy, the old Bounce repels mice myth again.
We used Bounce, and yes it was that specific brand, and I'd scatter a full box around the camper each fall. About the third year we opened up in the spring to find ALL the sheets missing.
We found them in a drawer making a comfy nest for a moma mouse and 6 pink baby mice.
Sealing up the trailer using two people the old caulking gun and strong light is the best way to prevent rodents, not to mention insects and road dust from entering the camper.
We still use Bounce but more so the trailer smells nice when we open up in the spring rather than for rodent control.

[Opiela]

My mother had critters (mice) in her garage; she put peppermint oil on cloths and put them around the perimeter of the inside of the garage and hasn't had them since.  I think we'll give that a try when we close up for winter (we live in upstate NY)...

[tlhdoc]

If you don't like the smell of moth balls in your camper, try putting a lot of them on the ground under the camper.  The best way to A have nothing in the camper to attract rodents into it (that includes rodent bait/poison) and B seal all openings into the camper.  Good luck with keeping the wee beasties out of your camper.