northern ontario

[lohidoc]

What a great site! Been scouring for info over the past week or so and now completely sold on Airstream.

Domestic upheaval occurred and living in large home on 70 acres coming to an end. I cannot bear the thought of living in a street- love the outdoors which is why I came to Canada in the first place.

So my thought is to buy an acreage (have my eye on a beautiful lakeside property), live there in a trailer for 2-3 years and then build a small log home. Airstream - iconic American product - makes me think of freedom, open road, rock'n roll and route 66. Other trailers are- well- just trailers and make me think of freedom 55 and hormone replacement.

Year round living in these parts will be a challenge in winter but this great site is full of info and I think it can be done. Will be posting on the winter living forum when time comes.

Meanwhile, I'll soon be in the market for a 30 plus AS in good condition!

By the way, are there particular models/vintages that are especially well equipped for winter living?

Best wishes to all you lucky owners out there!

Marc

[moosetags]

Welcome to the Forums, Marc. We're glad to have you with us.

[dufferin]

Welcome to the forum...
same idea as you for the outdors

[CanoeStream]

Hello Marc -- and welcome to the Forums! Interesting proposal. Just for curiosity how far north will you be living?

Search on the keyword 'wintering' and you'll find similar questions answered -- some quite recently. Go as far back as to read the threads started by member rubyslipper. No model is necessarily better equipped for winter use. They all have a spare 2" of fiberglass insulation and the metal ribs are conductive. You might want to skirt the Airstream but would need a combat plan for mice if you do that. You'd be better off with a good LP supply and a functional furnace -- that routes heated air around the plumbing better than a space heater. There are a lot of ideas covered here -- get into the project and keep posting your questions.

[lohidoc]

Thanks all for response. Dufferin, if you're living year round in your AS in Atlantic Canada I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Bob, thanks also. The winter forum is full of great info.I live near Sudbury. Coldest time is January, February and 1st half of March. This winter was fairly mild but still had a spell of several weeks where temperatures dropped to -25/-30 centigrade at night, not rising much above -20 during day. Factor in windchill and you're looking at -40 C!

I am very intrigued by the infloor heating link in one of the threads and wonder if anyone has tried it. Also love the idea of a small woodstove (also linked in the forum) and I am the kind of eccentric who would actually try these things! I know the AS furnace is the most effective to heat the more exposed piping but still ......

[dufferin]

We wish to be able to live year round here. But even if we spend some nigth in winter time we figured out that the furnace is not really efficient at low temps. The propane collapsed and there's not enough pressure in the lines... it fires up but it doesn't provide enough heat. Electric heater works but it stays cold. I am talking about -20... Also water is a big issue. Even with freeze free system I had problems to emptied the black tank. Valves stucked. So we didn't really went further. May be we should have tried to put more insulation. We have an Overlander 1972 and at the back there's not too much to cut the cold.
Also we didn't have too much snow. I think it could help if we packed it up around the bottom of the trailer as insulation. Or sea grass. There is certainly way to do it, but we didn't really dip in it.
And I don't know if you ever had to handle wake up cold but there's no fun...
So to live year round in Canada you have to find a way to keep the propane tank "warm" emough to make the furnace run properly, make the water line and black water away from frost (wich is not impossible).
BTW we never had much problem at -10. Let the water run a little and keep the furnace on. The water lines runs against the heater duct.
Hope this help and it is clear enough as I just had some beer with my friend. Just enough not to be able to drive till tomorrow.
But here it's the first real SPRING day and we had to celebrate.
keep in touch

[RangerJay]

lohidoc

At our latitudes Airstream is not a winter trailer.

Airstreams are versatile - but at the end of the day they are only a 3 season trailer - and a Northern Ontario winter just isn't one of the 3 seasons. As much as you would wish it otherwise - the only way it will be comfortable is if it is in a heated garage. If you somehow got past the plumbing issues at those winter temperatures (i.e. an outhouse and external sink) you will find internal condensation more than a little deal.

We use our trailer regularly through Thanksgiving and beyond but grapple with condensation as a significant issue (Airstreams have only single pane windows) - and propane becomes more than just a minor expense. Fall temperatures in our area might go down to -5c at night .... - 10c at the most - then usually up above freezing during the day. It's pretty much our favourite time of year - but I really think we are pushing the comfort level of the trailers capacity - and I wouldn't consider anything more.

Good luck.


Jay