When to take out of storage, IL/WI border area?

[Acdii]

Mine is in my barn out of the weather, but is also blocking some things needed for ground care, like our garden tractor, which will soon be needed to pull the roller to smooth the ground while still soft.

When would be a good time to take it out and start to de-winterize it?

[CavemanCharlie]

I had to put a space heater in my de-winterized camper on the last couple of nights. It got down to 29 degrees. I also turned on the water heater. No problem. Nothing froze in the shed that it was setting in. If you can keep it inside out of the wind that helps too.

[CavemanCharlie]

Heck, I live in southern MN and I dewinterized mine a week ago. That is late in the year for me. Even if it does drop below freezing some night it will only be for a few hours. Nothing is going to freeze solid in that amount of time.

I do keep my TT at home in a shed with electricity though. I can always ; and have ; put a space heater in it over night to keep it warm.

[Goostoff]

Got mine all cleaned up and ready to go today. Our first camp reservation is next weekend. We have woke up to snow before on the first trip out. No big deal though as long as you have the heat going. This time of year though it gets warm enough during the day to keep the plumbing from freezing overnight. I wouldnt lose any sleep over it.

[blofgren]

RGar974417 wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
There is really no need to de-winterize until you are ready to camp.

Yes there is. If you wait until you're ready to go and find a problem it could ruin your trip. I would get it ready at the very least 2 weeks before you go to make sure nothing froze up and split and to make sure the pump, the toilet and everything else in the water system is good to go.

x2. Last year upon dewinterizing the toilet would not stop filling even when the pedal was up. I ended up having to buy a kit and rebuild it. It appeared that some of the seals in the flush valve had dried out. Had I waited until we went camping it would have been a real PITA.

[Acdii]

Well It is out, and boy is it dirty! Amazing how quickly things parked in the barn accumulate a layer of sticky dirt in a few months. Now to get it close to the house so my hose reaches, get up on the roof and scrub it clean, and take care of a couple areas up there that look questionable. Already swapped the hand crank out for a power one for the tongue, and have a hardwired surge protector to wire in. I also need to get a vac in there and get the floors and other areas cleaned up, drain the water lines, flush them and get the plumbing cleaned up.

The good news is, no rodent damage, or any other type of damage. A co-worker had something go through the roof of his, whether it was chewed through or dug through, it's going to cost him $5K to repair it.

Got my power washer all setup with RV wash/wax, and a nice scrub brush, so soap it up with the washer, scrub with the brush, and rinse with the wide fan tip. Also need something to clean the roof and awning, probably Simple Green for the roof, and diluted bleach for the awning. Also picked up EPDM roof protectant with UV blocker, so hope that helps keep it good for a while.

[shadows4]

Wow!!! I feel kinda sorry for you guys. I am sitting in a campground right now in central Missouri. Our first campout of the season. But this is Missouri so ya gotta be prepared. It got up to about 68 degrees today. Last week at this time it was snowing. Good luck, John.

[dodge_guy]

Gotcha. Our first trip isn't until Memorial Day weekend. But I dewinterize when we get it out of storage in April, this gives me time to go through he trailer and make sure everything is in working order. The hard freezes are done by early march. So even if it does hit 30, that's not enough of a freeze to do damage.

[Acdii]

RGar974417 wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
There is really no need to de-winterize until you are ready to camp.

Yes there is. If you wait until you're ready to go and find a problem it could ruin your trip. I would get it ready at the very least 2 weeks before you go to make sure nothing froze up and split and to make sure the pump, the toilet and everything else in the water system is good to go.

^^this^^ This is the first season I owned a travel trailer, and want to make sure my winterizing worked. I have it wedged in the barn, so it's hard to do anything to it where it sits.

I'm just looking for when on average y'all pull them out of storage around here to get them prepped and do any repairs needed, like the roof cleaning, patching, etc.

[RGar974417]

Dick_B wrote:
There is really no need to de-winterize until you are ready to camp.

Yes there is. If you wait until you're ready to go and find a problem it could ruin your trip. I would get it ready at the very least 2 weeks before you go to make sure nothing froze up and split and to make sure the pump, the toilet and everything else in the water system is good to go.

[Grit_dog]

This might sound weird, but you live there and don't know what the weather is like in the spring? Maybe just moved there I suppose?
Either way, what does it matter if it's winterized?
Or put it back in the barn after getting the tractor out?

To directly answer your question, look at the forecast for the next month.

[Community Alumni]

Dick_B wrote:
There is really no need to de-winterize until you are ready to camp.

That's what we do. We clean things and get the trailer ready beginning in April but really don't de-winterize until our first camping weekend.

[Dick_B]

There is really no need to de-winterize until you are ready to camp.

[Mortimer_Brewst]

tll wrote:
Are you sure you don't mean April 20? We are required to to have our trailer out of storage on April 15. I have the camper sumerized by May 1st and offen camp the 1st or 2nd weekend in May. Northern Wisconsin.

The last freeze/frost varies year to year. We might occasionally get a snow in April but it won't last. You can definitely open up the trailer sooner and be okay if it's short term. As May progresses it's less likely to get below freezing. To be safe I would leave the trailer winterized until mid-May. Obviously the OP can always open up the trailer and put the pink stuff back in if the forecast looks bad.

[dodge_guy]

You would be safe by the end of march. But even if you take it out you don't need to dewinterize till your ready.