Now that we’ve settled in to a typically cold Canadian winter, we get asked a lot of questions about how we stay warm at night while living full time in our Camper Van. Here’s our top five tips on how to have a warm sleep in even the coldest of weather.
VIDEO: GGC – 47 – Top 5 Tips For A Warm Sleep In A Van During A Canadian Winter
Now that we’ve settled in to a typically cold Canadian winter, we get asked a lot of questions about how we stay warm at night while living full time in our Camper Van. Here’s our top five tips on how to have a warm sleep in even the coldest of weather.
Nothing is needed but down comforter and down jackets, long-johns, mittens and booties. I've slept in my station wagon at below 12 F.
Legends
Man dont use water bottles with hot water the second it opens for the first time u will instantly regret it instead boil a rock or stick it by a fire just so u can barely touch it then shove it in a sock and sleep with it that works way better holds the heat longer and there is no chance of water spilling
OMG you guys are so cute! Blah! Informative tho.
the best you said is sleeping with u giirfried….if it yours….????
OH, get yourself a kitty cat.Their body temp is higher than ours, so they make a cozy bed companion and purr, too.
i know this is an older video and you might not be stopping back for comments, but is it possible the Brunton heated pad, USB powered is no longer being sold? I'm googling about, and not finding it available. Amazon shows "Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."
Shear blanket is a must for me. Great tips.
I always sleep on fleece sheets and cover with Swiss Wool blankets. Swiss wool is soft. In the Fall and Winter months I sleep under 2 wool blankets. And if I need some more heat…I dawn a thin fleece cap
What kind of work do you do?
Thank you for this video, you two are too cute and give me hope for what I want for my life. Yes, I am a hopefull romantic.
I head GOLD mining in the Northern BC Canadian Mountains… I sleep in the Back of my Truck Box with Canopy and have slept in about Minus -20C NO insolation in tin box (Usually -10C is the coldest when Gold hunting)…. SHOCKING them $17.88 cheap light WALMART Comforters are SUPER WARM about 3 Comforters are Warm with NO HEATER (found at All Walmarts in a Roll clear plastic cover)… when I First go to bed I use a Small 1-pound Propane burner just to take the WET DAMP COLD AIR off the inside of the truck box about 10-15 minutes… Also my single Bed is up off the Floor to one side and I think this helps stay warmer with Air flow under it… Happy Camping
I've lived in a 5th wheel during a 11 foot snow winter on top of a big ridge all by mysef. The and I mean THE best thing you should do is cover your van with a huge plastic tarp. Keep the silvered side towards the van and the dark side outwards. Snow sliding down the tarp will do the best job to secure. I had to carve steps out to get down into my tarp igloo to get up into the RV. I probably used 15 gallons of propane for heat the entire winter. It was the smartest thing I ever did. This was a bit bigger; 45 feet long with 5 tipouts. There was not a cold corner in the entire living space.
The only problem I had were rodents. They wanted to survive as well. If I ever live in another trailer, van…I will securely attach 1/4 inch grid galvanized screen to the entire bottom. I tried traps and I will never do that again. I got cats, grins. They were far worse for torture than the traps but, what can you do? The smell of cats at least warns the pack rats and deer mice that this residence is not for you. I killed mommy and daddy mouses and one day shortly after saw a baby mouse's head poking out of the back of one of my Cerwinvega sp. Speakers…sigh. I got them all out and raised them and then got them acclimated to the out of doors and released them.
Kill a mouse or a rat or a mole or a gopher and there is always one or two waiting in the wings for a vacancy. Best is wire mesh soldered? to the bottom of your van.
Tarps are getting tougher to purchase! For that trailer the first year I had a 100 ft by 100 ft tarp, the next I could only find a 60 X 40 tarp…worked great. Incredible the amount of heat you save! Purchase some major stakes if you aren't staying in one place long enough to allow the snow to secure the edges of the tarp. Makes the inside of your home dark because it covers the windows. But so well worth not having drafts, wet floors from snow and enjoying constant, consistent not so expensive heat.
Married, I hope 🙂 nice life. Now lots of children….for real self-sufficiency, elder support, sibbling support throughout life. your own trustworthy Community, as human's are supposed to live.
OR: just marry a guy with the means to properly house the both of you!!! And not some loser who puts you in a freezing motorhome in winter!!!
Just get a good reliable sleeping bag that work for -50 and trust me it works…of course best with ur partner next to u…
Hey guys, great tips! Have you got tips for winterising your van e.g. block heaters and such? Planning my first Canadian winter but not going to have anywhere to plug in- What do you do?
Camping once I didn't realize it would get down to where I was shivering at night. All I slept with in my tent was on a yoga mat with one sheet. Luckily I remembered I brought one of those shiny space blankets after waking up shivering. I used it and then I was so relieved at all the heat I felt. I went back to sleep easily. Not sure I would want to use that day after day, but they are a savior that you can never fold back up as small as it started out. They even are great window treatments for summer to lower the heat inside.
I miss seeing Paula.
Blankets as tapestries. Worked in the medieval castles. 😀
#6 – Block off that A/C unit from the OUTSIDE! otherwise, the A/C unit, exposed, will be radiating cold air inside, right past your insulation! It's MUCH MOREEFFECTIVE than reflextic in the inside of your van.
Just subscribed to your channel. Dan Becker just mentioned our channel in his community section. Check us out and subscribe over at Worldview Trekking. We make outdoor family friendly hiking and camping videos. We actually try to publich a new video every week. Thanks again.
You two are a neat and loving couple. So down to earth. I really enjoy your videos. Thank goodness it doesn't get that cold down here in Louisiana.
One of the things I want to experiment developing, is reinforced wood vacuum insulation panels. Wood is not normally the best material to use because it is so porous (and somewhat weak) compared to metal etc, but I'm looking at trying different sealers, and then will probably line it with some Al flashing (which would simultaneously solve the problem of radiative heat loss/gain). Anyways, if one can solve the problems, you could get amazing insulation out of relatively light weight and not all that thick insulation. Say the vacuum insulation gap is around .5", that could easily equal to 10 times or more insulation of say fiberglass batting or the like at similar thickness (though foam has a better comparison to vacuum insulation than fiberglass–it's more of a 1 to 5 ratio). Or conversely, you would need about 5 inches thick fiberglass batting to equal that .5" vacuum insulated gap.
To space the wood apart, I plan to use balsa wood spacers, or cut bamboo mini columns. Thought of using hard/rigid foam, but I want it to be as biodegradable as possible. Balsa wood is quite insulative in and of itself. It's true that these balsa wood spacers will provide a conductive path from one surface to another, which will lower the overall insulation capacity, but well dried balsa is fairly insulative in and of itself. The bamboo is mostly hollow and has less overall solid material (but you would have to drill a small hole in them so when you pull the vacuum you get the air out of the column as well), and would provide greater stiffness at less weight and matter.
To strengthen/reinforce the relatively thin wood, I plan to use a combination of either Titebond 3 or semi naturally sourced epoxy in combination with S-glass woven fiberglass, and then carbonized or graphitized nanocellulose crystals. This is will give a similar strength and stiff increase as woven carbon fiber, but at much less cost since I can make the graphitized nanocellulose crystals from scratch. There has been some research done which shows that nanocellulose crystals provide a good oxygen barrier–which would help in the sealing up of the wood and not just the strengthening the tenacity, toughness, and stiffness of the overall panels as well.
Then as mentioned, a thin layer of aluminum (or steel) polished some, as a further gas barrier as well as to reflect IR radiation.
The tricky part of all this (for me), is how to seal up the hole once you've drawn the vacuum. Epoxy is not quick setting enough nor a sufficient gas barrier. My hope is that indium would adhere to the S-glass fiber structure enough to initially seal, and then for strength and protection, put an extra layer of the reinforced with S-glass+graphitized nanocellulose crystals+epoxy over same.
I think you both are great take care and be safe xx
Very good video, grate job very helpful.