Furnace recommendations for 1962 Safari

[CraigFulton]

I am in the middle...or the end...of gutting this camper and hit the hard truth that the furnace is toast. I had hoped to save it but it's so badly rusted out Im letting it go. It was the OEM and the opening in the side is 14.5" x 15.75". I still have all the exterior components in great shape and hope to retro fit them to whatever I get.

What do you recommend as a replacement?

[mccrosti]

Take a look at Vintage trailer supply, they have furnaces. I have a suburban and a cam on olympian wave 8. The wave 8 uses no electricity and sips propane. The suburban will run your battery down in a night but will run you out of there.

[65CV]

We use the Olympian catalytic heaters also, and have for 4 years of wintering in the trailer. We're religious about ventilation, going well beyond the manufacturers recommendation. We use a propane detector (low), CO detector (mid) and smoke detector (high). You will find a lot of scary comments on the web about catalytic heaters. Being over cautious, we haven't had an issue.

Being in a humid environment, remember that the exhaust from these units goes right into your Airstream. Burning propane produces a lot of H2O. We head to the desert SouthWest for winter, so the extra moisture is welcome. Not so sure about Florida -- your travels will dictate whether this is the right choice.

Unless you travel far north, the Wave 8 might be a little much. We used a 6 in a 17' Caravel and found it more than adequate -- but a bit too concentrated. We have installed 2 Wave 3's in our 26' Overlander and have been fine down to 28 degrees. Much below that, we're in a hotel.

[CraigFulton]

Thanks for the recommendations! I might just go with an Olympian when the time comes. For now I just cut plate off the old furnace and put it back on the side along with the aluminum chimney. It keeps the vintage look. It's been in the 90s in FL so its hard to even think of a furnace :-) Who knows when I'll ever get to cold climates.