Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 01:23:54 -0600
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@SCOTT.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@SCOTT.NET>
Subject: Re: Winter Camping
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When I lived in Alaska camping in a van was a big hassle. Body moisture from
breating really produced a lot of frost on the inside if the vehicle was allowed
to get cold inside. Only solution was a good heater.....dry heat....catalytics
didn't work because they produced CO2 and H2O. I finally put a Suburban RV heater
in my van on the floor behind the driver seat. It had one of those "Zero"
pressure air inlet/combustion outlet combination vents. You could drive with the
heater on. It had electronic ignition so if I hit a bump and the flame went out,
it would automatically re-light. Was a 35,000btu unit as I remember. That thing
would get that van so hot you would wake up in the AM with that horned, tailed,
red guy sitting in the front seat enjoying the heat.
That was a really good heater. Ran off a pair of 6 volt deep cycle batteries in
series to get 12 volts.
For toity duty a 5 gal sheetrock mud bucket served as "The Q"(after all, what is
a "Q" if not an "O" with a tail on it). A plastic bag served as a liner. For the
gentler gender, real sourdoughs managed to install a mink liner around the rim to
better protect "Honey Buns" from frost bite. The buckets became known
affectionately as "Honey Buckets" and out in the Alaska bush country, still carry
the name.Famous to the extent, that a Fur Lined Honey Bucket is the true grand
prize of a major annual sled dog race in Alaska.
John Rodgers
"88GL Driver - 30 years in Alaska
Chris Smith wrote:
> At 11:21 AM 12/7/99 -0600, you wrote:
> >Has anyone ever sat around one of those "orchard heaters" in the winter. My
> >friends and I use to sit around one and chat for hours. I love those
> >things. They can get cherry red and have a soft growl
>
> I have used a number of different heat sources while camping:
>
> 1) Wife. This was only used once when she decided that camping in a cold
> van was for the birds.
>
> 2) Electric heater. Great device. quiet, and safe. I've camped in -10 deg
> f with the top down and awoke warm and comfy. for areas without electric
> and on the great rare occasion where noise isn't a problem, I've hooked the
> van into a 1800W generator.
>
> 3) no heat. A good sleeping bag is needed, as well as a strong
> constitution. DO NOT drink heavily before bed. There is no colder trip
> than the one to the outhouse in sub-zero temps!
>
> 4) Toilet paper/Coffee can/Alcohol stove. Scarry but it works great.
> Insert one roll of t.p. in a 1 lb (ok.. 13oz.) cofee can and then get the
> core out of the roll. pour 1 pt. of denatured alcohol (marine stove fuel)
> into can. light and set away from flamables. It will heat a westy as hot
> as any electric heater, but it does produce a flame about 2 feet high.
>
> I've tried parking really close to the camp-fire, but that only produced a
> cold, smokey van that took weeks to clean.
>
> Chris Smith
> '82 Westy
> '74 Thing
> Stuff
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