Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

28 degrees F right now, I figured it would be cold tonight, 1800 ft above sea level in Nevada. I admire anybody that camps in a canvas rig in these temps. Done that before, not my cup of tea to sleep in longjohns anymore. I had a nice zero-degree rated sleeping bag, but I can't sleep without spreading out, had to keep the zipper open, therefore longjohns and wool socks. A mummy bag is torture.

 

I think the coldest I’ve ever been out in the RTT was 27°. I had an electric blanket so it was not a big deal.

 

i woke up in 15* once. no sleeping bag, just a blanket. that sucked

 

Daytime high for the last week has been around -5..... I'm still wearing shorts to work. I'll take it though it actually rained every day for 2 months straight at least now it's sunny. If I had my new tent I'd totally go out in it.

 

A 12v blanket?? Or was it running off an inverter?

 

7°F in the FlipPac with my GI issue fart sack and my favorite super thick all wool Dutch blanket. Was chilly to be certain.

For alternate heat solutions consider a 12v membrane heater to install under the mattress. Our Kimberley trailer came with one and it’s awesome. Turn it on about a half hour before bedtime and no damp chilly mattress.

 

Inverter.

 

I have one of those. If anyone wants it I will sell it. It's not as good for camping as the smaller square one. The square one has a High/Low setting and will run over 18 hours on the lowest setting, and is much more tent and camper friendly. The round one goes like blue blazes with a 5 to 6 hour run time. it gets too hot in the tent in about 6 minutes, and you will be frantically digging for a zipper so you don't melt.

 

Not sure if the square one has a low setting that will last 18 hours on one of those small propane canisters.. are you talking about this one:

http://www.mrheater.com/portable-buddy-heater.html

 

I used the small Buddy Heater last weekend in single-digit temps. I secure the handle to one of the corner straps and I don't have any issues with it there. But in the morning there was thick frost about halfway up the walls. The lower portion of the tent was basically an ice cube.

Also, the heat has terrible circulation. The difference between laying down and sitting up in the tent is literally 30 degrees. All the heat is at the top.

My other friends use the larger, square Buddy heaters. They hang them by rope/bungees from the poles, so it's off the ground. Then they use a long hose and 20lb tanks to run them all night. They have frost issues as well. I have to swap 1lb tanks in the middle of the night if I want to keep it going.

They work, but they're kind of a pain in the ass. Especially the frost/condensation. It's better than freezing to death, but still, nothing beats a good mountaineering sleeping bag.

edit: CVT

 

I tried one of these once in my Maggiolina Airtop tent several years ago, but it made the air itself have some weird bitter or choking kind of feel to it so I turn that thing off and never used it again inside anything. I had it mounted to a RAM mount clamped to the handle to keep it up off the mattress and away from the walls.

 

Yall are right in did my math wrong, I didn't convert gal to lbs...which I have to do every time I fill the chopper..but anyways. They both have the same runtime. Might as well keep mine.

 

I use the smaller square buddy heater pretty regularly for 5 years now. I hook up to 20lb bottle mounted on the truck with two hoses daisy chained together. It works really well. I have never experienced the freezing / frosting issue. Probably because I don't camp where it's cold enough to freeze. The only pain in the ass for me is the hoses sometimes have issues and I have to disconnect / reconnect / open / close bottle during setup, and it's fine after that. The reason for that is all the safety devices integrated into the hoses and bottle

The solution to equal heating is to run a small 12v fan in the tent. I found mine at wally world for like $10 in the camping section, it's a 10" fan I think.

And +1 on the quality bag.

 

Pffft. My family and I took a vacation out to San Diego a few weeks ago, for funsies. It was gorgeous. I hate you.

Yeah, I considered that. I might give it a try.

 

Up early, dog wanting to be let out and fed, sun just coming up and the only thing visible in the sky is Venus. Dang bright planet in the western sky.

 

Ryobi rechargeable fan works ok. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-18-Volt-ONE-Hybrid-Portable-Fan-Tool-Only-P3320/205022215

Gets pricey, though. However you have the inverter, you keep it charged up with all the other rechargeable batts for your headlamps, etc.

 

Looks neato. I like Ryobi stuff.

What I did to avoid batteries was take two 40' green extension cords, cut the ends off, and trippled up the conductors, then attached keyed 12v connectors. When I want the fan, I plug extension cord into my truck's 12v aux battery (connector at rear bumper) and the fan will run for days. I think my fan only draws 1/3rd amp and it had a 3.5mm? barrel connector built in. Here I found the latest market version of it. it's $20 now. Walmart has the best Expo camping gear ever.

Edit: fixed bad link

 

The high in SF Bay Area is 50* right now and everybody is losing their fucking minds.

 

Hey guys real fast, what do you hook your solar panel controller to? Straight to the battery post? On a fused circuit? What if you start winching and it pulls the battery down, will it hurt the panel or controller?