Winterize in Florida

[WDEL]

This is the first winter for our Sport 22fb and We live in central florida.My question is to winterize or not?What have other florida residents done?

[Mrjkq]

No, no, no, no, did I say no, it doesn't get cold enough to freeze anything in your trailer. Again No.

[SeaLevel]

What's this winterize thing you speak of?

[Rich Jenkins]

Originally Posted by WDEL

This is the first winter for our Sport 22fb and We live in central florida.My question is to winterize or not?What have other florida residents done?

Depends on where in Central FL you live.

We're pretty much at the edge of where you want to be, here in Tampa. I'd say south of I4, probably you would have no problems.

[Rich Jenkins]

Originally Posted by WDEL

This is the first winter for our Sport 22fb and We live in central florida.My question is to winterize or not?What have other florida residents done?

Your profile says Lecanto FL. This is up near Inverness, yes?

Average temp for Lecanto FL shows 32F for both Jan and Feb minimum temperatures.

I guess if I was local to where it was stored, you could monitor the weather and pop over to winterize.

If it were my trailer, I'd probably go ahead and winterize, so I wouldn't have to worry about it. But I'm pretty risk averse.

I suppose it depends on whether you want to roll the dice for a trailer worth several thousands of dollars for a couple bucks of RV antifreeze and a few minutes of time. Kinda up to you.

PS I've been camping with the Scouts out that way (Withlacoochee State Forest, I think) and we got to 17F one February, but that was pretty unusual.

[AWCHIEF]

Winterize? I thought real Airstreamers camped year around.

[moosetags]

We live in Santa Rosa Beach in the western Florida Panhandle between Panama City and Pensacola. We have had three Airstreams over the past eleven years. We have never winterized any of our Airstreams.

Brian

[xrvr]

I've never winterized any of my Airstreams or Avions. On the occasion of a hard freeze I put an electric heater on in the trailer and open all the lower cabinet doors to let the warm air to the pipes. One year it got into the lower teens and I put the water heater on low. I could use the furnace set on 50 but never bothered. I'm near Gainesville.

[FLMarine]

I've lived in Florida full time since 2011 from the panhandle to NE FL and haven't had to winterize. Though I didn't live in the winter of 2014 in the airstream.

If I remember correctly in late 2013 the panhandle had a freeze that lasted several days. I was visiting my then gf now wife in NC so I didn't get to winterize my airstream and had to replace the city water connection because it started leaking from the water freezing.

If you're living full time in it just leave the water running slightly and you won't have an issue you could get heated cords for the water hose if you like too.


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[Rich Jenkins]

Originally Posted by moosetags

We live in Santa Rosa Beach in the western Florida Panhandle between Panama City and Pensacola. We have had three Airstreams over the past eleven years. We have never winterized any of our Airstreams.

Brian

Brian - Good to hear actual experience vs. speculation/opinions - mine included.

It wasn't clear to me that the OP was storing or living in their trailer. Would you (or anyone else in FL with experience) change your approach if the trailer was stored (unheated, obviously) outdoors as opposed say to being lived in?

Also, given the availability of average temperature data these days, would you suggest any guideline on minimum average daily temperature in winter below which you would winterize a stored trailer?

Asking for information, really; as we are going to go more into extended travel mode across the country soon and may end up in an area during the winter with different climate than mid-central Florida.

Thanks!

rich

[Pete 2.0]

Wdel-

We're due East of you in Bushnell. Our RVs (3 prior to and including our 2014 Airstream) have done fine in this area without winterization. We do have the advantage of having a pole barn that our Pete lives in while not traveling/camping. I'm sure that does help some when we actually get a freeze.........

I run a Davis Air Dryer 500 in the coach all the time, which is basically a small heating box with no fan. It is a dehumidifier in that it keeps the ambient temp inside above the dew point. As a bonus, it helps with interior temps a bit when it's really cold. When it is going to freeze here overnight, I set the furnace on like 40 or 45 degrees (lowest setting), and if it absolutely has to run, it will, with the bonus of sending heated air to the underbelly.

Hope this helps.