Tundy, house and beetle build thread...and exploring.

Worth a shot. Too cold to roll with a window down, don't want to pass out from fumes!

 

The last time i drove it, it was probably about 0 degrees.. I still had the window open, thankfully i had some gloves in there.

 

Oof. My face would be frozen like this

 

Whew...

Rolling around under a the camper all day in the cold lying on gravel and rocks.


But it's completed. Starting at the axle is where the three tanks hung lower than the frame so i had to box it out and add drops to cover them.

Going to get it all caulked up, filled the few larger cracks and spots with foam. Whenever the weather decides to get crazy and warm enough for bed liner or a good paint/sealer to dry, I'll throw that on there to make it weather proof.

Eventual plan will be to cut a couple holes in the floor to access the top of the tank compartments. Where i can open them up to warm the same temp as the interior of the camper..or make the access holes large enough for me to mount a heart lamp on top to keep it from freezing.

 

It seemed a lot warmer last night, never heard the propane heater kick on.

Guessing it's because there wasn't much insulation above the tanks before which is a third of the length. Temps felt like single digits with the crazy wind. There's still plenty to do if i really want it insulated well, but this was a good start.

Of course, I'm nice and sore from crawling in and out of there on gravel all day yesterday. Time for vacation in death valley.

 

Death valley was neat

Rented a van from Jucy... Minivan with a bed/table inside, sink, fridge, stove out back and rtt.

It worked although was slower on some of the dirt roads. It didn't help that they rented it out with a slow leak in one of the tires which meant finding gas stations to keep it inflated



Made it to rhyolite, the crater, the South side of titus canyon, badwater basin, sand dunes and stuff along the way.

Also hung out in red Rocks canyon and did some hiking.


Beautiful weather and sights.


After a weekish of slow van, i upgraded for the last day.

 

At least the spec house is progressing! It's a back burner project so it's been sitting for 2 weeks...time to try and dry it in.



The "feels like" temperature will likely not find the positive side of 0 degrees tomorrow... Along with light snow. Today i don't think it went above zero by much.

Great day to set trusses they said. i think I'm calling in dead tomorrow.

 

Trying to be like the cool kids eh?

 

You staying toasty now?

 

It stays warmer for sure. It still had the same amount of insulation that the tundra does...

I used some insulation to close off the bunks, which are just storage anyways. If i want to try for a little extra... I could put insulation on the walls and recover them, but not sure if I'm quite that into it.

 

Have you covered the windows at all?
Those windshield sun shade things work great for that. I cover the one big side window and the front slider and it makes a huge difference.

 

I thought about it. I was also going to double pane the fixed windows with plexiglass. But...when the real hardware stores are quite a bit of a drive away, i never have the motivation to make it happen.

 

A little velcro and a few of those sunshades will make a huge difference. And it's light weight too.

 

If I was winter camping out of mine I would get the inserts for the roof vents since those vent covers are only thin plastic and heat rises. Here I am buying a camper rated to camp with full water down to 0 degrees and it’s sitting in a storage lot

 

That'd be nice. With a few mods, i think I'll be closer. Ideally I'd rent a spray insulation thing and fill the bottom areas as well.

 

I hopefully get 3 day weekends coming up so we might explore around here and camp. Probably won’t fill up the water tank. Thinking buddy heater for heat since there isn’t enough battery power to run the furnace all night. Will be cool to see Yellowstone in the winter time.

 

Nice. I wanted to see it a couple years ago, but the fact that only the north entrance is open in winter nixed that plan. I think you can get in on snowmobiles, but vehicles can only come and go from the north. Which is fine for you.

 

It would be cool to take a trip to old faithful on a snowmobile but apparently they have a 25mph speed limit for sleds.

 

Who polices that... Speed camera vans leased from Denver County?

 

Thought they banned all sleds from the park except for tours??