Preparing the Camper for Winter Pt. 1

*Finished product*

Hello! Happy Monday! We've had one productive weekend! 

We finally got around to skirting the camper for the winter in Kentucky. After googling and Pinteresting, we decided it's only smart to block off as much wind from getting underneath the camper as possible. The tanks and the pipes to the tanks are exposed underneath and we don't really want the holding tank to bust this winter when it's full of you-know-what from the toilet.

All the blue foam insulation, fiberglass pipe insulation, and wood was given to Jaime free from his job site at work. HUGE BLESSING! This particular insulation costs $150 a board, we used at least 8 boards. I think 2x4's cost roughly $2 dollars a board and we used all of them (maybe 15 total).  We also got scrap fiberglass pipe insulation wraps ($13 a roll) from the job site. We used it on the pipes that would be holding water/sewage. We used about 6 of them.

When you add all that up, we saved $1,308 in supplies!!

That sounds like an ungodly amount to pay just to keep the underside of your camper from freezing, however, most people pay around a $1000 to buy the custom vinyl that wraps around the bottom of your camper. It's just one of those evil necessities you need when your camping in the winter.

We did buy a wood saw ($50) and a jig saw ($30), we bought those at Harbor Freights Tools. We bought one box of screws ($15) and we had gobs left over. Then we bought two rolls of 6 mil plastic ($50) to skirt the camper.

The drill and rest of the tools were gifted to us by my parents when we moved into our first home in North Carolina. We bought mainly IKEA furniture so we needed all the tools. Ha! 

So we only paid $145 to insulate and block the wind and rain/snow. I'd say we were pretty thrifty for a couple of kids living in a camper. I tried my best to document most of the steps Jaime took in building it for easy to follow directions.

Getting all the tools and supplies laid out.

First we wrapped the exposed pipes with the fiberglass insulation. It had adhesive strips to prevent air flow around the pipes.

Jaime then measured the height and width of the space under the camper for each piece of foam board. The lot we are on is VERY uneven, making his job even harder. Not complaining! But it did take longer. 

This rubber mallet was a life saver! Jaime cranked the jacks up, slid the foam insulation in, then cranked them down. But for some spots we just had to hammer them under there.

She is the biggest scaredy cat! Every noise we made in the beginning made her run and hide. But by the end of the day, she just chilled in the chair and watched us. 

Jaime built boxes around the jacks on the four corners of the camper since they stuck out and would let air in if not boxed in.

I was helping Jaime hold the wood steady but I took this picture with bad lighting mainly because look how cute Maggie is. *all the heart eye emojis*

Yes, Jaime let me cut with the jig saw. So much fun building with him!

Taking a picture with the hard worker! I'm so grateful for all his hard work and engineering he did.

It was getting cold and dark before we could finish so we called it a night!

Sunday afternoon we were back at it! Hot tea in hand!

This part of the camper is where we pull the handles to our holding tanks that have to be dumped weekly. It took us a little while to figure out how to make this closed off but easy for either of us to access it. 

Going around the wheels was the final stage of insulating. Jaime brilliantly made a box around the wheels to prevent air flow. 

We added more insulation on the front and back.

Last was the easy part!

We wrapped the camper with thick plastic we found at Lowe's and used Gorilla Glue Tape on the camper and then placed the unused 2x4 board on the bottom to hold the plastic to the ground. 

We're pretty sure we will be scrubbing tape residue after the winter is over and we take it down but we'll worry about that later.

We made a corner flap where the sewage and holding tanks were. Pretty ingenious.

 The finished product. Doesn't look too junky. I will update this post if this doesn't hold or we find problems along the way but for now, we are pretty proud of our hard work.

So that's it. Didn't cost us much and we think it'll keep the heat in and the wind/snow/rain/animals out!

We laughed at how ridiculous we felt putting plastic around our camper and just the reality that we've been living in a camper for 6 months. 

Jaime told me how thankful he was to have a wife who just goes with the flow. Most women would not live this way but really after your husband's been to war twice and you've been apart most of your relationship...living in a camper together is not that big of a deal. Yes, I'd love to have an actual fridge and kitchen..and all the things a newlywed could want but being with my best friend in a small space is way better than any of those material things. 

He always tells me that one day we will have our dream house filled with kids but right now, we're saving and learning to appreciate what we do have: each other (and the dogs). 

Life is so good guys. Don't take being with those you love for granted! Have fun and make memories!

Pt. 2 of Preparing the Camper for Winter will be up on the blog soon! Don't miss out.