Winterizing the Inside of the Trailer

Winterizing the inside of the trailer is really pretty simple, it is prepping the inside for being stored long term over the winter in the storage lot.

I double check the pantry and refrigerator and wipe them out so there is no food particles or smells in them. While I make sure the pantry is clean EVERY time we put our rig away to prevent mice, it is really important for the wintertime.

I remove and wash all the linens, and prep them for storage with vacuum bags. (see Winterizing: Linens and Soft Goods for details). I remove all liquid cleaning supplies, sunscreen, bug spray, toiletries, etc that should not freeze over the winter. I cover the bare master bed mattress with an old king sized top sheet.

I make sure anything that is staying in the trailer that uses a battery has the battery removed and grab all the extra batteries. Everything removed from the trailer this gets packed away into two large Rubbermaid bins and stored in the Basement. (These Bins do double duty in the summer storing the MagicBags that we seal the linens in in the winter).

After the water system is winterized, I perform one final vacuum, dust, and mop. When the trailer is in place at the storage lot, SoWeWentDad adds DampRid to the trailer and winterizes the refrigerator.

At this point, the interior of the trailer is ready to be stored over the winter.

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Checklists Save Time

It is time to put the cover on for the winter. With a beautiful fall day prior to a winter storm coming in we have just enough time to go to the storage lot, grab the items to be stored in the trailer for the winter, and put the cover on. Everything was going well until I needed to get onto the roof to unfurl the cover.

While getting on the roof I realized I forgot an important step when winterizing the trailer the week before: checking the roof. As I cleared the top of the ladder, I was hoping everything looked good so I could complete putting the cover on. I was not so lucky.

Inspecting around the skylight, several holes in the lap sealant were identified. Maintenance would be required prior to putting the cover on for the winter. Now I have a new checklist rule: whenever I plan on getting on the roof, make sure I bring the following:

Since I didn’t bring these supplies with me to the storage lot I needed to drive home, get the supplies, and come back. Luckily I keep tubes of Dicor 501LSW-1 Self-Leveling Sealant in the garage so I can always repair the roof. I have yet to use an entire tube at once, but it is worth the $5 to open a tube maintain the roof.

After an 45 minutes of driving back home, getting the supplies, and returning the to storage lot I was able to start roof maintenance.

Using iso-propyl alcohol and shop towels I removed grease and grime from the existing lap sealant. After letting the surface dry new sealant was applied to plug the holes I had identified around the skylight.

After completing the skylight I inspected the other components on the roof and found additional, suspect cracks in several areas. Repeating the process, each area was addressed and now ready for the winter.

Unfortunately the roof is now covered in wet, self-leveling sealant. While good for the maintenance of the trailer this is not very conducive to putting on the cover for the winter. So I will have to wait for the sealant to dry (and the snow to melt from the pending winter storm) to finish putting the cover on for the winter.

While I am glad to have a nice day to maintain the roof. It would have been better if this was completed the week before when winterizing instead of when I wanted to put the cover on. Checklists and procedures save time when performing regular maintenance on your travel trailer.

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Sitting by the Campfire

Mueller State Park, October 2019

While we were enjoying this season’s final campfire and our 100th night of camping; we were contemplating all of the great adventures our family has experienced.  Our family has seen things we wouldn’t have seen from a hotel room and gone places we would have never gone if we didn’t our trailer.  While we started out as complete trailer life novices; we have learned a lot over the past four years.

As novices, we have benefited from the time and efforts of others sharing their experiences. Now that we have gotten some road under our wheels we have been discussing sharing our own experiences, but have been reticent to do so. We weren’t sure if we knew if enough. We thought our camping quirks might be too far out there. Not to mention we had the fear of looking foolish.

Over this campfire we realized; we are having a great time and going on a lot of adventures. While we may have our quirks, someone may find them useful while getting out on their own adventures. So we decided to get over our fears and share our adventures with the world.

We batted a few ideas around the campfire and decided to enter the online world like we entered trailer life. We jumped in head first. We got online, looked around at some hosting platforms, made some quick choices, and viola here we are.

We are looking forward to sharing our adventures and experiences with you as we tell our story: So We Went to The RV Show ….