Although it’s currently 64 degrees outside here in Western PA, earlier this week we had a cold snap and the temperatures dipped into the freezing zone. So Jarrett found himself winterizing the camper in the dark … and rain. It certainly wasn’t ideal, but definitely better than risking frozen pipes.
Since many of you have been working to winterize your own campers, we thought you might enjoy one of our older posts in which we talk about the different ways you can get your camper ready for its long winter’s rest.
Last year Pennsylvania experienced some unseasonably warm days and we shared on Instagram and Facebook that it was rather sad to see the camper already parked and winterized in the driveway when we might have been able to squeeze in one more weekend camping trip late in the season. In response, a reader asked us about camper winterization tips beyond the typical fluid flushes. So here’s our roundup of how we prepare the camper for its long winter rest.
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Inside preparations: Here in Pennsylvania we have a huge problem with stink bugs. Ugh! The critters get into all of the camper’s nooks and crannies, and every spring we spend quite a bit of time vacuuming them up. To try to reduce the nuisance of dead stink bugs falling out of curtains, mattresses, towels, etc., last year we removed or stored as much as possible–and that definitely helped.
Here’s a run down of what we do on the inside of the camper:
- All blankets and pillows are stored in plastic bins, either in the camper or in our basement;
- We remove any curtains, like the kids’ bunk curtains, that we can and store them in plastic bins; the rest of the curtains we open up so that the bugs don’t try to crawl into the “warm” creases;
- The foam pad for our mattress we roll and put into large garbage bags, taping them off so the bugs can’t crawl in;
- We bring the bunk mattresses into the house and store them under or behind a bed. (If you don’t have room in your house for this, last year we bagged and taped these as well and left them in the camper.)
- Make sure to remove all food from the pantry and vacuum up any remaining crumbs.
- Empty the refrigerator and freezer and wipe it down. We keep baking soda and charcoal in the unit to keep moisture out. Additionally we leave the doors slightly open to allow air to circulate. I did not do this one year and over winter there was a significant science project growing in the bottom bin.
- We have never had a rodent problem in our camper, but I’ve heard putting moth balls in the camper can help keep them at bay. If you have gaps where your plumbing lines enter the camper, consider using spray foam insulation to seal the holes up so mice can’t get in.
Bunk mattresses stored behind a bed in the house.
Outside preparations:
- I like to use plywood to cover my tires to prevent the UV light from breaking down the tires. You can also purchase tire covers.
- I remove the propane tanks and put them in the garage.
- I take the battery off the camper and put it in our basement hooked up to a trickle charger.
- I put a bag or bucket over my power jack. I know one person that had the housing on the power jack fill with water, which then froze over the winter and ruined the unit.
- I make sure the scissor jacks are up. If your camper is not parked on a paved surface, you should evaluate whether to leave them down. I made this mistake one year and when the ground heaved, the ground pushed up on the camper’s jacks and bent two of the jacks.
I use plywood to cover the tires to keep UV light from breaking down the rubber.
To cover or not to cover?:
One year I covered our camper with a tarp (that was not breathable), but it led to condensation and water building up on the inside of the tarp that left black streaks on the camper. And in spite of my best efforts to adequately tie down the tarp, as the winter winds flicked it, it left behind rub marks on the camper. So we don’t hassle with tarps anymore.
My dad uses a fitted RV cover on his fifth wheel and he has had good success with that option. The covers are nice but they are expensive. After talking to lots of campers who use the covers, they have indicated that purchasing the correct size so it fits the camper well is essential.
There are other options for camper storage as well. Many local fairgrounds will charge small fees to store campers in barns and show rings. In Western Pennsylvania there is another option called Wampum Underground that can hold hundreds of campers in underground mines. We have friends who use this option and when I have helped him drop the camper off, I have seen license plates from several nearby states on the hundreds of parked campers and boats.
Since the camper covers and storing the camper in a building hasn’t been in our budget, I have found that if I position the camper so that it is on a slight slope front to back and side to side, it at least helps make sure all the water runs off the roof rather than pooling on top. We also keep our slide out slid in over the winter.
So those are some of the ways we get our camper ready for winter. If you have other tips and suggestions, be sure to share them below! And make sure you follow us on Pinterest where we are always pinning new ideas for the camping community.
We use dryer sheets inside our camper. I usually buy one large box and use most or all of the sheets. I put them everywhere…inside cabinets, on our furniture, on the floors, closets, etc.
In the Spring, we remove all the dryer sheets and reuse them when doing laundry. We’ve never had a mouse problem and the camper smells great when we open it up in the Spring.
Hi Jeanette! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. That’s a great tip! We will have to try that this year. Thanks for sharing–happy camping!
I have done the same thing with dryer sheets and have never had a rodent problem. I love the smell on the first day of opening up after a long winter here in Michigan.
Thanks for letting us know this trick works for you as well–we’ll have to try this! Thanks for stopping by and reading–happy camping!
Dryer sheets are the better alternative and frankly, just as if not more effective. That horrible smell of moth balls lingers far beyond their removal. I do toss a handful of them under the RV for the winter.
Thanks so much Chuck for stopping by and reading! And good point! 🙂
We use damp rid buckets and it keeps the moisture down in the trailer….
Hi Nanci! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. And thanks for sharing the great tip! Happy camping!
I moved from SC to NY last year. ( 2018 ) In the fall the mice were starting to get into things so i scatterd dryer sheets everywhere. I was also worried about moisture & mold so i bought a large bag of silica gel and made little packets using coffee filters & little kids hair elastics. Those got tossed everywhere too. This spring i opened my camper to no musty smell & no rodent damage or messes! Yaay! Now this year tho i am moving the camper to my private property and need to know how to set it so it dosent sink in mud when it is wet n mucky. Should i jus park it on 2 x 12’s ? I saw your pic w the plywood in front of the tires… i might try that too. It will be parked alongside of a road, more-less level with a mix of grass n gravel. So looking for tips for this winter. 🤔😁
Hello Mari! Great question. Jarrett uses wood boards under the tires to keep them from sinking in the mud or gravel, especially when the camper is going to be parked in one spot for a long time. He just backs the camper onto them as he is parking the camper–sometimes it take a couple tries to get the correct spacing the first time, but once you have them set, it’s a lot easier the next time. He also covers the tires to prevent UV damage from the sun. Hope that helps! 🙂 Happy camping!
We use clovesto keep mice out. Works great. I buy them in bulk and sprinkle them about and vacumm them up in the spring. Smells wonderful, whenwe open up in the spring.
Hi Norma! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. What a great tip, and simple too! Thanks for sharing. Happy camping! 🙂
Thanks for the information. We are in central Texas so we usually winterize on the off chance we get enough of a freeze that would cause damage. Our biggest problem is the sun. Loved the idea of the ply boards to cover tires.
Hi Patricia! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading! Glad you found helpful info. 🙂 We are hoping to make our way to Texas sometime soon! I was born there but have not been back in a few years. I am eager to visit again!
We are at a lakeside resort in Minnesota. They shut off the water by the end of October. We will still have power and can go up at least once a month. So we just have to winterize the pipes? We are first time travel trailer people.
Sylvia in MN.
Hi Sylvia! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading! Great question. A couple things come to mind: Make sure you empty the hot water tank, and yes, your pipes need to be winterized to prevent water line damage. You could continue to use the camper over the winter, but you would need to bring water with you for drinking, cooking, etc. If you need to use your toilet, we have used gallon water jugs to flush, but you would need to empty the black tank before you left because otherwise things will freeze in there.
If you are using a propane furnace to heat the camper, condensation will start to build up in the camper, so you need to run a small dehumidifier or crack some windows (but that sort of defeats the purpose of trying to heat the camper 🙂 ). You just don’t want to let that moisture build up in your camper, because it can cause some big problems down the road.
Since every camper is different, we recommend you touch base with either your dealer or your camper manufacturer to see if there are any additional steps or suggestions they have for your particular camper model. Hope you have a great rest of the season! Happy camping!
Following TN
We are 1st years owners & our campground shuts off water 11-15.
We will probably bring it home this year because it’s used & we plan to do some maint.
But yeah, we’d like more input on how others handle winter temps. without use?
TIA
We use Lavender dryer sheets because it keeps the spiders away. Also we use Peppermint oil on a cotton ball and place under cupboard, in the heat registers, ect. It keeps rodents out. They don’t like the smell. So when you open in the spring it will have a strong order of peppermint. But just open and air out your camper. It’s been working for us for years and our camper is out in the woods.
Hi Patricia! Thanks so much for stopping by and reading. Those are great tips! Thanks for sharing–happy camping!
How often do you change the cotton balls with peppermint oil and dryer sheets?
Thank you for the peppermint oil idea. Thanks
I ball up newspaper and put in the fridge. Never had a problem with mildew.
Hi Nancy! 🙂 I remember my mom doing that in our frig whenever we moved (we were a military family). Great suggestion! Happy camping!
Do not forget to make sure the toilet has all the water emptied out of the line, first year have to replace the valve due to not knowing it still held water, cheap fix but not exspected that. Now I just unscrew the line and make sure no water in the valve itself
Hi Dale! Great tip–thanks for sharing. Never thought of that one!
Excellent tip! The same thing happened to me when I was a newbie. I decided to save money and time and not to buy several gallons of antifreeze to dump in the tank to pump through the pipes to winterize it because of the cost and the need to not only flush the pipes out in the spring but the tank too. Instead, I used the compressed air method to blow all the water out of the lines. That worked except for the toilet valve. In hindsight I should have stuck something in the toilet opening to prop the valve open while blowing it out.
But anyway when we were camping that summer after de-winterizing it I noticed the pump would start up every once in a while when no water was being used and it took me a while to track down the leak. It was a very slow leak in the toilet valve. It was leaking into the bowl so there was no water on the floor anywhere to make it obvious. I thought I had noticed that there seemed to be more water in the toilet than normal sometimes but thought that was just the way the last person left it after flushing. When I removed the valve I could see a bulge which is a sure sign of water freezing inside it.
Needless to say I replaced it and I also made a small investment in a spare quick connect for my water pump and a short length of tubing to connect to it. Now when I winterize the camper, I remove the quick connect going from the tank to the pump and temporarily replace it with the new one with the hose attached and put the hose directly in the gallon jug of antifreeze. This saves on antifreeze ( I only use about 1 1/2 gallons this way) and saves me the trouble of having to drain and rinse the tank too. I find this method gives me greater peace of mind than the compressed air method. When I see the pink come out at each fixture (including the toilet) I know I am good.
The main thing to remember (another lesson I learned the hard way) is to drain the water heater first and turn on the water heater Bypass valve to prevent the antifreeze from getting in the water heater when you start pumping the antifreeze. DO NOT get the antifreeze in the water heater tank, that will complicate the task greatly if you have to flush the hot water tank out. You cannot simply drain it out of the water heater because there will always be some left in the bottom of the tank. If you don’t get it all out you will have stinky hot water for quite a while until it eventually works its way out. The heat from the hot water tank compounds the odor problem greatly it doesn’t smell bad cold but when its hot you don’t want to wash your face with that.
When de-winterizing in the spring I am also able to recover some of the antifreeze to use again in the fall so I usually only have to buy one gallon per year.
Is there something to keep stink bugs away? We were in Pennsylvania last fall and I am still finding those nasty creatures. I would love to go back someday don’t want bugs.
Hi Debbie–thanks so much for stopping by and reading! We feel your pain! We had a terrible time with stink bugs last year when they seemed to have infested our camper and we were constantly using the shop vac to suck them up and out of the camper. We have not yet found a surefire solution, but we are on the hunt. In the meantime, here are a few ideas we have thought about trying. And be sure to check back here at the website, because once we find a good solution, we will be sure to share!
https://knowledgeweighsnothing.com/amazing-diy-stink-bug-trap-that-catches-100s-of-stink-bugs-a-night/
https://www.rescue.com/bugs/stink-bugs/
We live in PA as well. We have not had a mouse problem but we have stink bugs. We also use dryer sheets EVERYWHERE. I store everything in plastic bins in the camper with the dryer sheets. We have not removed our mattresses before but might try your roll up suggestion for this year. Thank you! We also love your fridge idea with the charcoal.
Hi Melanie–thanks for stopping by and reading! We feel your pain on the stinkbugs! (Did you hear what happened with our RV frig because of them? https://www.instagram.com/p/BZkIiHVnR6T/?taken-by=thetouringcamper) I’m still experimenting with different techniques to keep them out of the camper, but I’m not sure any of them are really working. Whoever invents the perfect stinkbug trap will become a millionaire! 🙂 Happy camping!
FMC Talstar P Professional
You can get it at amazon- IT WORKS!!!
Thanks for the tip! 🙂
We have a big problem with mice. The trailer is stored in our pole barn. We have to remove literally everything!! We have tried dryer sheets, peppermint oil, Irish Spring Soap, nothing works. The mice ate the soap. We have tried locating areas where they might get in, but can not find them. The underside of our trailer is sealed with a heavy plastic sheet and there don’t seem to be holes in it. They do come in where the water pump comes up through the floor, we have tried everything to seal around that. They still get in. We have to use traps and check them often throughout the winter.
Hi Terri–thanks for stopping by! Oh my–those are some determined mice! How frustrating! I wish I had a great idea to share, but it sounds like you’ve already tried them all. Good luck!!
We do to park in woods near a shed and I have tried everything you have tried, we need to find were they are getting in however you located your spot so try putting stainless steel wool and they are not suppose to eat through it, good luck.
Hi Nanc–thanks so much for stopping by! Great tip on the steel wool!
I heard mice hate aluminum foil, you can try that.
That might work well for filling any holes. I’ve heard that steel wool also works well. 🙂
tear up some sos pad or some fine steel wool and pack around the holes. It works!
Great tip! Thanks so much Ron! 🙂
Use aluminum foil or stainless steel scrub pads to stuff holes where you think they come in. It won’t rust and they don’t like to chew on metal. Probably the only thing they won’t chew on!
Spray foam over steelwool, they will not chew through the steel wool.
Great idea! Thank you Tammy!
Try fresh cab .. we get ours on Amazon it’s amazing and does not smell
I have been told steel wool around pipes etc will help keep mice from coming in there. I am told it works well. We are trying it this year.
Hi Tammy–thanks for stopping by and reading! I have heard the same about steel wool to stop mice. I think it sounds like a great idea!
We put non soap steel wool in places like slotted vents. And we found two wide slots next to pipes under the RV. We put in expanding foam. Worked perfectly!
Hi Freda–thanks for stopping by and sharing your tips! Expanding foam is awesome stuff! 🙂 Happy camping!
Use aluminum foil or stainless steel scrub pads to stuff holes where you think they come in. It won’t rust and they don’t like to chew on metal. Probably the only thing they won’t chew on!
Hi Marla–thanks for stopping by! And thanks for sharing your great tip! Happy camping! 🙂
We use whole cloves for mice 15 years camping and no mice. We live in Canada (northern Ontario) and do everything you mentioned except tarping. So far so good.
Hi Diane–thanks for stopping by! And thanks for sharing the great tip about whole cloves for keeping mice away! Happy camping! 🙂
We put little bags of cloves everywhere but still had mice.
Oh dear! 🙁 That’s frustrating!
Here in northern michigan we use the dryer sheets and have never had a rodent problem,our 5th wheel is stored indoors for winter, another tip when the water is drained from everything we leave the taps open so if there is a lettle water left in the lines it allows enough room for expansion if they freeze and have never had problems since we started doing that. HAPPY CAMPING
Hi Charlene–thanks for stopping by and reading! And thanks for sharing your great tips! Happy camping!
We have always used bounce dryer sheets and only bounce and Irish spring soap. We shave pieces of soap into bowls and set them around the camper in the bathroom in the floor cupboards and on the counters.we put the bounce sheets everywhere. We have never taken our.mattress’ out I do spray them with bug spray and then I spray them with lavender spra.
No towels, sheets, comforters, food, paper products and I take all decorations that are wood based out. So far so good. Now this is our first year we took a permanent site and are leaving our trailer there. So this year we will not have it in our driveway not that we can monitor mice or spiders coming and going lol but it will be different.
We also cover all outside holes with either a plastic garbage bag (if it is thr something like the fridge screen) or gorilla tape for other holes and seems.
Hi Kim! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your tips! 🙂
I put all of our bedding, towels, pillows, dish towels and anything that I have washed for the winter in Space Saver bags so the we can store everything in the RV. I love them because they doesn’t take up space much space in he RV or in your home. Then everything is clean, no worries about bugs being inside the bags and you are ready to go when spring arrives.
Hi Cindy–thanks for stopping by and sharing your great tip! I bet this would also work well during the camping season if you had a longer gap between trips and wanted the linens to stay fresh. 🙂
So. Am I the only one from California wondering how much winterizing I need to do. I love all the tips. This is our first rig and so far we take it out every month at least. Since last Jan. I have not drained the water lines and am wondering how cold it needs to be to need this step. We get a few mornings down to 30. But it warms up. I’d hate not to use our rig all winter.
That is awesome that you are able to get out with your camper all year long! And I completely understand not wanting to winterize it in between if it’s not necessary. I know some people who have a 3-season camper with an enclosed underbelly will just run the propane on nights when the temps dip into the freezing range, and they don’t usually have problems with their inside lines (although they need an insulated water hose if they are connected to an outside water line). It sounds like you are in a warm enough part of California that maybe you won’t need to worry about winterizing under normal circumstances. I would suggest giving your local RV dealer/service shop a call and see what they say. They might be able to give you some good tips that are specific to your region. Good luck and happy camping!
Is it just the strong smell of the dryer sheets that keep the mice away? Do you think the scent booster sprinkles that go in the washer would work as well? This is our first year with an RV and we’re getting ready to put a cover on it for the winter. We live in NC, surrounded by fields so I’m a little paranoid about mice getting in.
Hi Brianna–thanks so much for stopping by and reading! That’s a great question, but I’m not sure on the answer. Readers have found many different things that work, so maybe experiment with more than one strategy. One of the key ways to keep mice out is to make sure there aren’t any easy entry points, like gaps or holes. Also, making sure the camper is completely clean and free of any food is another great way to keep them at bay. Hope that helps–all the best!
I like your suggestion to store things like blankets, pillows, and curtains in plastic bins before butting the camper in storage. My husband and I will need to find a storage facility for the RV we purchased recently during the off-season since we don’t have enough room to park it on our property long-term. Thanks for teaching me what measures we can take to prevent issues while it’s being stored!
Hi Rebecca! Thanks so much for stopping by. I’m so glad you found some helpful tips! Happy camping! 🙂
Our new camper has room darkening shades and privacy shades as well Should they be down or rolled up for winter storage?
Hello Sandra! Great question! We leave ours down to prevent fading inside the camper, but I always recommend checking with your manufacturer for your brand’s recommendations as shades can vary greatly from company to company.