Electric heater for campershell camping

Water boils at 212F at sea level. Depending on where you live or camp, say 8,000 ft above see level water boils at ~198F. According to google Lexan melts around 300F so you are certainly good to go... though I have serious doubts that 32 ozs of water will retain heat all night.... but it’ll keep you warm for an hour or two.

 

No, but it doesn't have to actually be boiling; you can bring it to a boil then let it cool off for a minute before dumping it in. Honestly I just warm the water to a nice temp then toss the bottle in the the bag otherwise it's too hot and my feet sweat. Some of those instant hand warmers last longer anyways, the benefit of the water bottle is it's reusable and you have unfrozen water in the morning.

 

The

$19 Nalgene Wide Mouth Square Storage Bottle (32-Ounce)

HDPE bottles have a max use temperature of 100°C.

 

@Hoots Magoon Hmm i have those

 

Darn Tough socks. I've tried a lot of socks and they are the best at keeping your feet warm. Great company, great product and made in the U.S.A.

 

I'm assuming you mean 120vac electric from the bed outlet? It's only good for around 3 amps, not enough for an electric heater. You would need to idle the engine while using such a heater, and depending on what size it is, you will need to wire it for the needed current demand. Since you need to run the engine to use it, you could just use the truck's heater, and maybe a small 12vdc fan in the sliding window?

Fuel burn for the V6 at idle is around .4 gal./hr. I have slept in my truck, running the engine for heat when needed. It's the cheapest way to have heat. You can sleep with heat 5-6hrs. for about 2 gal. Get one of those 12v. plug in CO detectors, and use it, if you sleep in the truck with the engine running, or with any fuel burning heater.

 

we do the boiling water in nalgenes for our heat at night too. no it doesn't melt your nalgenes and youd be extremely surprised how long they'll provide you with heat. I have a 20* sleeping bag and have camped in 10* quite a few times and tossed a couple of nalgenes in the bag and was perfectly comfortable all night. one down by the feet and one up at my chest seems to do the trick. we slept in the bed of the truck under a cap and would wake up to ice frozen on the inside and outside of the windows. Id be scared using a heater in the cap with all that flammable blanket and sleeping bag materials laying about.

 

How much condensation get it’s the back of the camper shells? I plan on camping next month in areas that hit 20 degrees outside I have a snugtop, should I crack a window? Will likely do that hot water bottle and thick blankets along with my 20 degree rated sleeping bag and 2 inch air filled backpacking sleeping pad (non insulated) cheers

 

You exhale a lot more moisture than you realize, expect frost on your windows in the morning. It's no big deal, it'll clear out as soon as it warms up or you open the back. Side note, I usually open my sleeping bag and hang it off one of the Yakima bars to air them out (another reason to get the bars as wide or wider than the shell). I always crack a window for fresh air but it's not like the bed is airtight.

Make sure that you have good insulation between you and the air mattress, without insulation they just circulate cold air under you and since your sleeping bag is compressed by your body weight it provides less insulation than the top leading to you being colder. A piece of closed cell foam or a good blanket on top of the air mattress should help.

Any insulation you put on the bed floor will help keep it from being so cold to the touch. Something like the Harbor Freight anti fatigue mats (just air them out well before using them, they smell at first) or a piece of foam board will help. You can sometimes get damaged pieces of foam board at Home Depot or Lowe's for cheap. Put ) then put a blanket on top to make it more comfortable. The water bottle in the bag will provide heat as well as give you water in the morning instead of a bottle of ice. A Thermacare band (ex. https://www.cvs.com/shop/thermacare-advanced-back-pain-therapy-heatwraps-2-ct-prodid-1040152) on your back near your kidneys will definitely help keep you warm. Put your next days clothes in the bottom of your sleeping bag if you have room and they'll be warmer when you put them on. Another side note, I'm just long enough that my feet end up compressing my sleeping bag against the tailgate compressing the insulation so I put blanket over at least the foot of my sleeping bag.

Carry extra blankets in case you need them, they don't weigh much. Alcohol makes you feel warmer but doesn't really help and then you end up waking up to take a leak. A wide mouth bottle is a God send when it's cold at night. Pro-tip, use a bottle that has a different tactile feel so that you don't grab the wrong one. Example, I don't drink Gatorade but I have a Gatorade bottle in the truck- it's distinctive feeling and I won't mistake it for anything else. I use to have an old Nalgene that had duct tape wrapped around it but I finally tossed it. Either toss after use or wash with something like Dr. Bronner's.

Pre-stage whatever you can so that in the morning you don't have to do as much in the cold, i.e. have wood cut and stacked next to your fire pit (and I cheat these days and use one of those fire starter things- the mini fireplace log blocks), get your breakfast stuff and coffee as close to ready as you can etc.

 

Wow. Such great info. Thanks so much I’m gonna have to message you for further details on supplies I should get. @Bajatacoma What if it gets below freezing at night, how do I keep my cooler food, beer that not in the cooler and food from freezing in the back of the camper shell?

 

I'm sure some of the members who have been in colder temps than me can better answer, but stuff in your cooler generally isn't going to freeze unless it gets really cold- hard to qualify that since coolers vary as do freezing temps on food stuff. Coolers don't care what you put in them, they're just insulated boxes. If you don't want to chill something or it's going to be really cold, use a second cooler and put something warm in there before closing it for the night. You can always add some insulation to keep it colder or warmer by wrapping it in a blanket or anything else that insulates.

Remember to leave expansion room in any containers left out so that when they freeze they don't crack or split.

 

Perfect, thank you sir!!!