# NEW 25RSS



## jbglenn (Mar 23, 2004)

I live in Alaska and, Im very intrested in the 25RSS. I'm curious about the quality of outback. Do you more experienced campers think it will hold up to elements year after year. I want to keep this baby around for atleast 10 years. Has anyone had a problems with winter camping?


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## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

One of the best campers for winter camping I have read is the Arctic Fox.

Be careful about camping with an Outback in Winter. Sure, Outbacks have an enclosed underbelly and "radiant heat" from the ducts, but it is not a Winter camper. My dealer told me of a person who thought the Outback was a year-around camper for Colorado because of the enclosed underbelly and radiant heat. Well, as long as you are parked, and the furnace is on, you should be fine. When you are towing, your furnace is not on. Water freezes up pretty quickly while towing in Wintertime.

Randy


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

I love my outback, but if I was going to do a lot of winter camping it wouldn't be my top choice. Then again nothing with a slide out would be on my list. I too have heard good things about the Artic Fox and that would be one of the first units I would check into.


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## edt (Jan 30, 2004)

Hi,

Went to the local RV show here in Montreal. Most of it was a bit of a let down - nothing really new. One thing I did see is the bigfoot trailers. These are designed in BC for year round camping. Quality looked very impressive too. See: http://www.bigfootrv.com/traveltrailers/index.html

Ed


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## iceberg (Oct 6, 2004)

Castle Rock Outbackers said:


> One of the best campers for winter camping I have read is the Arctic Fox.
> 
> Be careful about camping with an Outback in Winter. Sure, Outbacks have an enclosed underbelly and "radiant heat" from the ducts, but it is not a Winter camper. My dealer told me of a person who thought the Outback was a year-around camper for Colorado because of the enclosed underbelly and radiant heat. Well, as long as you are parked, and the furnace is on, you should be fine. When you are towing, your furnace is not on. Water freezes up pretty quickly while towing in Wintertime.
> 
> ...


Just a few questions... as I have never really taken a camper out when it has gotten fairly cold...

I've got a new 2004 23RS and for our second trip we plan on a hunting expedition to northern Virginia over Thanksgiving. Temps may creep into the low 20's or upper teens...and be in the 40's during the day. I'm not so worried about the tanks freezing while parked as I plan on only running the furnace instead of the space heater. I plan on trying to keep the temp in the camper around 72-74 with a vent or 2 cracked to help keep down condensation. Hopefully this will provide enough heat to keep the tanks and pipes from freezing.

I am a bit concerned about the water / tanks freezing up in transit... can you run the furnace while in transit (like runing the refrigerator off the LP while driving down the road)?

While in transit, would the motion of the camper and the sloshing around water prevent the water from freezing?

Can the hotwater heater be run from LP while in transit or is there a way to power the electric element for the hot water heater while in transit?

So far the forcast looks like lows only to the mid 20's at night, some possibility of rain and snow but that's the far out forcast and may change.

Anyone have tips for cleaning snow / ice off the bed slide before pushing into the camper?

Anyone have any problems with their generator in the cold? I have a Honda EU3000Is.

Would it be safe to place the generator on the ground under the bed slide to keep it protected from the elements, or would this be a bad thing to do with the carbon monoxide exhaust? We do have a CO detector in the camper...

Obviously, with limited water, letting a faucet drip will not do me much good... should I turn off the water pump and release the pressure from the pipes at night?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

iceberg,

I really don't know about running the furnace while traveling, I know the fridge likes to be level to operate, but I don't think the furnace would have the same requirements. However I also am not a fan of having the propane tanks on while traveling or running the fridge while traveling. The tanks should be fine since they will be sloshing around, thus they wouldn't freeze and you can add some RV antifreeze to the tank and even the traps to prevent freezing. The big issue would be the lines themselves and the water heater tank. Though a hot tank should hold enough heat for a days drive to prevent freezing. If you have a small air compressor you could blow the lines out while traveling which might help too.

I suppose you could run your generator, if the plug was at the front of the camper to power the water heater, or even a small ceramic heater. But safety with the heater could be an issue. I have read other that run the generator from their truck bed to keep the A/C running in the trailer for pets. I am thinking about moving or adding a second plug at the front of this camper so I can leave the generator in the truck for security reasons. As of right now I have my original cord and a 25' 30amp extension that I can use for this setup. I worry about the C0 issue as well, that is one reason I plan to usually leave the generator in the truck. Plus I don't want to hear it running right under my bunk. As long as you don't enclose under the rear slide its probably safe, but still some risk. If I were to do this I'd put another detector right near the back to be safe.

Besides a broom here is another thought to clear the snow off. Take an old large towel, tie a couple 8' sections of rope on either end, toss it over the slide and work it back and forth clearing the snow off. (see another thread here where Scott is working on a rear awning for the slides)


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

For removing the snow on the rear slide, those cheap blue tarps come in all sizes. If you got one about the size of the roof of the slide and bungeed or tied it off to keep it from blowing away, it would just be a matter of pulling it off to clear the snow, just stand back









Mike


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## iceberg (Oct 6, 2004)

Thanks Y.

That is some good advice. I have talked with many people about towing with the propane on... and some do... and some won't. I usually run with one tank on to keep the fridge cold, I am going to do a little testing with the furnace and see if it is something that can be safely done. I think the blower fan on the furnace will run from the batery power, which when connected to truck will actually drain the power from the truck. My concern would be wind blowing the exhaust back in the camper or not letting it blow out when towing (may rig an exhaust pipe up). I do not think the LP would stay lit for the hot water heater while towing, and probabaly not a good idea...but the furnace may not be much more of a danger than the fridge as long as their is clearance at all of the vents and the return and the exhaust can escape.

I'll run some water through the system and fire up the hot water tank before leaving and then drain out the lines. It will only be a 5-6 hour tow and hopefully will not become a freezing hazard until I get in the VA mountains close to my destination.

In the 23RS we use the front of the camper for the master bedroom as it has a queen bed in the front too. We do not use the back bed that often, so I think that shielding the generator under the bunk and pointing the exhaust out and so the wind carries it away may be OK. I do like the idea of just keeping the generator in the truck... less to load and unload except once we arrive to our destination I usually have a need to drive the truck in places that the camper cannot go like forrest service roads etc...I'll check the CO batteries and grab an extra CO detector from home just to be extra carefull... nothing worse than waking up dead...

The towel idea is good and I think I'll rig something up and keep stored in the camper to use to get rain and leaves off the slide before packing up too if needed.

PS. I liked your mod for the Equalizer bars and did it last weekend along with the Quickie Flush and 3 Max Air vents.

Right now I'm working on mounting a flat screen TV in the bedroom and getting it connected to the DVD player. Don't usually watch much TV when camping, but was stranded in the old camper for 2 weeks while camping in NY. Tranny had to be rebuilt -glad it was under warranty. The second week we were stuck was during hurricane Frances ...when we finally got back home we sold the old camper as it seemed to shrink a foot each day we were stuck.


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## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

*WARNING!*
DO NOT OPERATE FURNACE WHILE VEHICLE IS IN MOTION OR BEING TOWED.
That is right out of the SUBURBAN furnace manual.

I think your best bet would be to run it awhile during freezing temps. (even if you have to pull over and warm it up every so often) Daytime temps down there must be above freezing yet, aren't they? Your commute doesn't sound like it's that far.

The fridge is ok to operate, it just notes to shut it down before refueling your vehicle.

I can't find anything about operating the water heater while in motion.


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## iceberg (Oct 6, 2004)

I guess that answers it... no heat while towing... fortunately, the forcast is looking more promising... only one night with a low of 26 and the rest of the nights hover around 32 so freezing should not pose a problem as long as I keep the furnace on.

Daytime temps should not pose an issue as they will be in the upper 40's. It is not a far commute, but I will be leaving after work and be towing at night. They were previously predecting a low of 23 the night I was going to be towing, but that has now been changed to 33.

Thanks for the help.


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