Older caravans and cold weather

kingdeacon
kingdeacon Forum Participant Posts: 2
edited April 2016 in Caravans #1

Hello everyone

I'm planning a trip to Nordkapp in Northern Norway for next winter (early January), and i'm on the lookout for a suitible caravan for it.

Me and and friend did this trip already last winter in 2015, leaving from Brighton and got the channel tunnel, then drove all the way to Nordkapp and back (5000 mile round trip in 10 days) for the last trip we hired a massive motor home from "Just go" which
was amazing and coped very well with the climate and conditions, it was often down to -30c while in the northern parts, and was as cold as -36c on 2 of the nights Surprised

The motor home we hired had central heating and was able to keep inside at plus 18c all the time, which was nice. the reason we went in a motor home the first time was a trail run to see what the conditions were like etc, as we plan to do it again now, but
with a twist.

I have a 26 year old Toyota Hilux that I have run on waste cooking oil for around 10 years now, it's been converted by myself and has heated fuel lines and fuel tank etc. so the challange is to see if we can do the same 5000 mile trip but on used cooking
oil for fuel. It will take around 1000 litres of fuel which will be onboard the Hilux pickup in the back. For sleeping in etc we will be buying a cheap caravan to tow along the way with us.

My question I wanted to ask on here is, what older caravan brands are better for insulation, or is it all much the same?

 

Thanks

Rob.

Comments

  • Dave Nicholson
    Dave Nicholson Forum Participant Posts: 408
    edited April 2016 #2

    I suggest you look for an old Hobby or Fendt caravan. They are far better insulated and more robust than any UK c'van for such a climate.

  • wallacebob
    wallacebob Forum Participant Posts: 89
    edited April 2016 #3

    Don't even bother with an old UK 'van; they were never designed for winter use. A Hobby will be easy to get, and they are correct winter category. They will also stand up to the journey: sounds great!

  • DougS
    DougS Forum Participant Posts: 327
    edited April 2016 #4

    Being Devils Advocate: Have you tested your cooking oil down to those low temperatures in terms of getting it out of the tank? Does it need any additive?

    Will Propane work at that very low temperature?

    Modern UK Grade 3 vans can maintain 20 Deg C inside but only at -15 Deg C outside and with the full elecrtic and gas heating on so you may need to add even more insulation and take extra sleeping bags?

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
    1000 Comments
    edited April 2016 #5

    It was bleak enough when I was up there one June. You're welcome to it in January.

  • kingdeacon
    kingdeacon Forum Participant Posts: 2
    edited April 2016 #6

    Being Devils Advocate: Have you tested your cooking oil down to those low temperatures in terms of getting it out of the tank? Does it need any additive?

    Will Propane work at that very low temperature?

    Modern UK Grade 3 vans can maintain 20 Deg C inside but only at -15 Deg C outside and with the full elecrtic and gas heating on so you may need to add even more insulation and take extra sleeping bags?

    My fuel (used cooking oil) sets solid around -5c, so my Hilux has been modified to prevent that from happening.

    It has a 150 litre heated fuel tank, that is heated via the engines coolant, as are the fuel feed and return lines with a hose in hose set up (fuel lines inside a hot coolant pipe)

    It also has a eberspacher engine pre heater that can pre heat the engine coolant and fuel system etc to 80c before engine is even running, plus a few other bits and bobs that aid in running on used cooking oil, like large heated fuel filters and a
    powerful electric lift pump that pushes fuel to the engines injection pump. I’ve been running this Hilux on veg oil since 2001 and the engine has now done 330k, 220k of that in my ownership on 100% used oil.

    So a hobby or fendt caravan is the way to go for cold climates, I will have a look for them now. We will add some form of extra heating to the caravan, I have a spare eberspacher 5kw water heater that I thought I could fit to the caravan as a wet heating
    system with 2 or 3 radiators, the eberspacher heater runs on diesel and only uses 0.6 litres per hour flat out, so is a good option, the better the insulation in the van the less it will need to run, or the hotter it will be able to get it.

     Will will need it to keep the van above freezing as a minimum, both my friend and I have plenty of proper cold weather clothes and sleeping bags that are OK for us to survive in a tent down to -30c odd, so a heated caravan will be luxury like the
    motor home was when we went last time.

     

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