# Winterizing your RV



## NDJollyMon (Aug 22, 2003)

I found this article, and thought you may like to read it ladies!

*Ladies! Time to Winterize the RV* - by Donna Flanders

Oh no. Not another article about winterizing. Yes indeed. And ladies,
itâ€™s your turn. It always surprises me that most articles about how
to winterize the RV stop shortly after the water and electrical systems.
What about all the things you have stored inside? Thereâ€™s a lot more
to be done if your rig is going to sit for several months at temperatures
below freezing.

The rules of thumb
Â· If it contains water â€" take it out.
Â· If it will attract rodents â€" take it out
Â· If it has an expiration date â€" take it out
Â· If youâ€™re not sure â€" take it out. Think â€" Do I want to replace this item
or clean it up if it does not survive the winter?

Letâ€™s start in the kitchen. Go through your food cupboard, under the kitchen
sink and any other place where you tuck things. Look for things like:
Â· Jars of food
Â· Beverages
Â· Bottled water
Â· Cleaning products (sprays contain water)
Â· Any food that will attract rodents or expire
Â· Paper towels and napkins that rodents use for nesting

To keep your refrigerator smelling clean and free of mold, place pure
charcoal (not charcoal that contains fire lighter) on pieces of newspaper
on a shelf inside the refrigerator and freezer.

Moving on to the bathroom. Let me tell you that a can of shaving cream
which has been frozen will never be the same. When water freezes, it
separates from the other ingredients. Donâ€™t forget to check under the
bathroom sink.
Â· Toothpaste
Â· Shaving cream
Â· Liquid makeup
Â· Face, hand and medicinal creams
Â· Anything with an expiration date
Â· Toilet paper and tissues that rodents use for nesting

Head to the bedroom. Check your bedside drawers. Do you have any hand
cream or other health and beauty aids in there? Do you have an iron
with a water reservoir? Is there anything in the closet that you will
need over the winter? To keep bed linens and towels smelling clean,
place them inside a large plastic container with a tight fitting lid.
Add dryer sheets.

I rarely find anything in the living room or front of the RV, but since
your rig is different from mine, check anyway.

We have a chronic problem with mice, perhaps because we live in the woods.
Regardless of how hard we have tried to plug every hole, they still find
a way in. They routinely get into my silverware and utensil drawers during
the winter months. So I actually take those drawers right out as well.

Now you are ready to shampoo the rugs and remove any stains from furniture.
If you let this wait until spring, the stains will be much harder to get out.

OK. Now you have all this stuff out of the RV. What do you do with it?
I generally circulate the food and health products into my household supplies
because they have expiration dates. Then, I got my husband to build shelves
in the basement and I store everything else in boxes.
Keeping the shelves empty during the summer is the challenge. I try to keep
the empty boxes on the shelves to remind myself not to use that storage space
for anything else.

Last but not least, have someone else go through the cupboards after you are
done. I missed a whole gallon of bottled water last year. I do wonder where
all that water went because it wasnâ€™t in the jug when I found it!

Donna Flanders

RV Vacation Planner


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## rennerbee (Jul 25, 2004)

ND, Thank You for passing this info on!







I would not have thought of some of those things and do appreciate any help as this if our first winter with any sort of RV. Thanks again! sunny


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

I agree - we found this quite useful. Some of the items mentioned we were going to leave in the camper but now we will remove them.

Thanks.


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## summergames84 (Mar 6, 2004)

Thanks for the heads-up! Even though it rarely freezes down here, I think I will clean everything out just in case.


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## photosal (Nov 16, 2004)

NDJollyMon said:


> I found this article, and thought you may like to read it ladies!
> 
> *Ladies! Time to Winterize the RV* - by Donna Flanders
> 
> ...


Just a head's up about mice...someone told us to use dryer sheets. We too live in a woods, and since we started adding dryer sheets to the cabinets, closets, etc., we have had no mice.

However, we also put moth balls UNDER (not inside) our rig when we winterize it. That also helps keep the mice away, and when we pull it out in the Spring, it does not smell like moth balls.


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Nice list.

I also use sheets of saran wrap to keep out spiders. Open hw heater door , and rear of fridge door. Cover with saran wrap and close. It seals and I have never had a bug in there.

John


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

tdvffjohn said:


> Nice list.
> 
> I also use sheets of saran wrap to keep out spiders. Open hw heater door , and rear of fridge door. Cover with saran wrap and close. It seals and I have never had a bug in there.
> 
> John


uh - um - can we table this discussion for a few more months? PLEEEEAAAAAAAAZZZEEEEEE? Its only now really getting warm....I don't even want to think about (let alone HEAR) the "W" word!


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Hey my suggestion works just as well in the summer. Takes a minute to do when not using. No spiders, bees, wasps etc building a nest in the off week.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

I always remove food and such after every trip...as far as winterization goes, I'm really glad we live in southern ca....no freezing temps here!









Thanks for the other tips though...
Dawn


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

tdvffjohn said:


> Hey my suggestion works just as well in the summer. Takes a minute to do when not using. No spiders, bees, wasps etc building a nest in the off week.


You're right....and I'll do just about anything anytime to ensure those 8-legged craly things DO not come near me! Thanks for the suggestions


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

tdvffjohn said:


> Nice list.
> 
> I also use sheets of saran wrap to keep out spiders. Open hw heater door , and rear of fridge door. Cover with saran wrap and close. It seals and I have never had a bug in there.
> 
> John


Nice Idea John 
I'll have to remember that for the off season

Don


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## Thor (Apr 7, 2004)

Great - Also applies to us men.

Thor


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## countrygirl (Apr 9, 2006)

This is great info...I live in the bug capitol of the world!!! Yesterday I found a muddaubber nest in a cactus plant on the front porch...I have paperwasps attempting another nest on my front porch ceiling even as I type. I spray them ...knock it off the ceiling and they are right back at it.

I have several acres and I am always fighting fire ants...so I treated the ground with souped up amdro where we park the OB and we also sprayed the tires.

I wonder...what am I neglecting to do???


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## MaeJae (May 12, 2005)

Good article, and the saran wrap... good tip.
Now is the perfect time to talk about this. Now is the
time to add those "Outback" shelves to keep camper "stuff" 
stored on, come w!^[email protected]% time. Keep your eyes open for a 
sale on storage tubs.(aka...Outback tubs)

Camp-on
Camp-safe
MaeJae sunny

P.S. countrygirl... what'sa muddaubber???


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

MaeJae said:


> P.S. countrygirl... what'sa muddaubber???


An obnoxious flying, stinging, bee thing that will build its mud nests ANYWHERE! They are enough of a problem up here that, when we 1st bought our TT, the dealer gave us a screen-thingy to install over the outside vent. No great expense for them (I think it retails for $6) but saves the vent from being completely blocked by mud nests (also preventing whatever damage would occur because the vents were blocked) and, hey, that was our FIRST MOD!!!!!


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Thor said:


> Great - Also applies to us men.


What's that, Thor? Using Saran wrap to keep us out?


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## RizFam (Feb 25, 2006)

Great Tips







I esp like the dryer sheet tip, we get mice all the time in the house. My cats catch em & hopefully I am home to save their little rodent **s's from being killed. Then I scoop them up & set them free in the woods.

Tami


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## bouchfam (Apr 8, 2006)

Another question on winterization. What to do with the memory foam pad? Are mice attracted to it? This is our first winter with the tt and we have no idea if we will have a mice problem or not. So is everyone leaving the pads in the tt or trying to find a place for them elsewhere? Thanks, Gail


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