UKH

To all those who have camper vans etc. how do you keep everything dry and damp free in winter? 

We got home yesterday after a great weekend, but everything is just damp a mix of snow, rain and condensation - for a weekend its fine. But if we are going to be away for a week in winter its going to become a pain. 

Drying things like wet clothes is probably the easiest - we have a diesel heater and it can get pretty toasty when driving about. Its a faff, but about the only option. 

Condensation on the actual vehicle is minimal - probably the door gaps that you can crawl through helps? The pop up roof is the worst (we sleep up there) and trying to keep the canvas material dry, having air flow helps but I find our sleeping bags still have that damp feel on the outside in the morning. 

My main problem is things that are stored away - like climbing hardware just seems to get damp, even the plastic box it was stored it had a very fine damp feel on the outside. 

The vehicle is insulated and we try to keep ventilation etc. But there is only so much it can take when we introduce soaking wet boots, clothes etc into the equation? 

In reply to Andrew95:

The best I've seen is someone that pipes some of the diesel heater output into a shower cubicle and uses that as a drying room. It's not easy to manage in smaller vans this time of year though.

In reply to Andrew95:

Maybe some kind of exhaust fan, perhaps with a repurposed computer cooling fan ? Battery powered, quiet, but steadily sucks out moisture laden air? Though it'll suck out warmth too... Tricky situation.

In reply to Andrew95:

It may be tangential and not much help, but we have single-glazed windows in our house that get very wet on the inside every morning in cold weather, and I used to go round with sponges and dishcloths drying them, as I find wet windows really depressing. This was a massive pain. I heard about and bought one of these Karcher window vacs and it's amazing, sucks up every last drop. I probably pour about a third to half a litre of water that the vac collects down the drain every morning from the windows (we have a lot of big ones).

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5798214

In reply to Andrew95:

It looks to me like you're doing what you can but coming up against the limits of what's realistic? I don't have a van but have car camped a lot in damp weather and also lived a couple of years in a caravan. In the van I would do things like cook with the windows open, likewise shower and do anything that produced steam before I put the heating on. Just turning the kettle on could steam the windows. In the morning I would wipe all the windows (with a towel) and wring the water down the drain. Aspect makes a lot of difference - my van was aligned east-west so broadside on to catch any available solar warmth (not so good in a heatwave!). If you can bear in mind where/when the sun will rise when you're parked up that could help.

In reply to Paul Phillips - UKC and UKH:

I think I will need to use the diesel heather more. I always a bit loathed to use it because of the electricity use (I am not sure if our 12v system works as well as it could) and the noise - but its probably the best approach. 

In reply to MisterPiggy:

That's not a bad idea. I know some of the larger vans use fans on the roof, we wouldn't be able to do that, but a smaller one might help? 

In reply to felt:

They are great! We have one for the house, I might take it out with us actually. We don't have many interior windows in the van, but it might work well on the canvas before we put it away. 

In reply to Lankyman:

I think your right. Even down to things like we dont cook in the van and always do it outside. 

Thats an interesting thought about being E-W, I will bear it in mind  

In reply to Lankyman:

This is one of the reasons I've always preferred sleeping in a tent rather than a van.

In reply to Andrew95:

I find that things stored in cupboards that are insulated and carpeted inside keeps things nice and dry, any exposed surfaces left out get damp. For example, your plastic climbing gear box I would expect to stay dry if it was in a carpeted cupboard or wrapped up tightly in a blanket.

Heating is going to be your best bet. Are you able to fit a second leisure battery so you have more run time? I can't recall the capacity of my leisure, but it was cheap and had to be quite small. My 5Kw heater only has the inside of a landrover to heat, so not as much space and it's well insulated (but I could probably give you a run for your money on draughts!). The battery seems to hold out for a couple of days without a recharge, having it on an hour or so reasonably hard in the morning and then ticking over for a few hours in the evening. Depending on where it's situated, you might be able to fashion an extension to your pop up just be careful of the distance and bends in the pipe. 

In reply to Andrew95:

'mini dehumidifier' maybe worth a try? (but needs heat to work?)

In reply to magma:

There are boat dehumidifiers for sale from chandlery stores but seeing as they rely on moisture absorbent crystals I fear they'd be overwhelmed in a Scottish winter!

In reply to John Stainforth:

And canvas are so much better with regards conservation than modern nylon tents 

In reply to Andrew95:

If you are not taking the air for the heater from the outside, that helps a lot to reduce condensation as opposed to re-circulating the inside air. (Colder air holds less moisture). It also forces air exchange from within the van, so removing moisture.  You can get butterfly valves for the heater intake so you got the option to re-circulate when in need to warm up fast.

Clothes/boots/etc. and with regards the heater again, you can tee off the outlet with a y-branch and have a hot box for drying stuff fed with a small duct. Those folding hanging canvas storage things ikea style work well and you can pack them away when not needed. Important to have an outlet rigged so the humidity from the hot box vents outside.

The canvas roof, there's nothing you can really do about it unfortunately, as it's obviously uninsulated and the majority of that condensation probably is from your breathing. You can limit moisture by using a fine mesh net separatating your head from the rest of the cubby hole as found in some winter tents. Velcros all around to hold in place and the bottom skirt hanging loosely around neck height. Feels weird the first couple nights but it does make a difference, specially if (in a tent) having the zip opened a crack

In reply to Siward:

Not got experience with camper vans but have played around dehumidifying stuff.

The crystals have moisture driven off by heat. I do wonder if an inventive sort could come up with a rotating tray (such as is used by many dehumidifiers) but then use the van's diesel heater exhaust (via a heat exchanger) to drive off the moisture. The rate of air flow over the crystals determines their effectiveness. 

In reply to Andrew95:

We just turn on the diesel heater the van is its own drying room.

In reply to Andrew95:

I have a non-popping roof with an extracting fan fitted to the roof. This takes the moist air out and prevents condensation. Even with a load of damp kit in the van, with the diesel heater running and the fan pulling the moisture out, condensation is avoided and stuff can even dry pretty well if it's hung up. I'm not sure what could be done with a pop-top, but the key is shifting that moist air out of the van. Maybe some sort of 12v portable fan pointed towards a ventilation point in the pop-top fabric?

In reply to Andrew95:

 Currently back to van living in the week, I've got a Diesel heater that runs for an hour max per day with a Flettner roof vent (no power required).

If your drying wet gear, that moisture has to go somewhere, so ventilation is key. 

In reply to Andrew95:

Have a look at Cody Townsend's winter van on youtube - some good ideas there (though expensive!).

Thanks for all the ideas and advice everyone. I am certainly going to try most of it out! 

Our next weekend away is actually this weekend, the Karcher Vac is going to be packed, I think it might also work on the canvas material as well so lets see!

I am also giving the leisure battery an extra mains charge so its in good condition and hopefully I can use the diesel heater a bit more. 

As a bit of a side mission the van has roll down windows in the back and I have these metal ventilation inserts for them which I normally use in summer for a bit of extra ventilation. I just bought a couple of cheap USB fans, there only small at 80mm diameter but should fit on the window vents - I am sceptical about how much difference it will make vs a proper roof vent, but lets see! 

In reply to Andrew95:

Tiny tip...but since your chasing everything.   Do all your boil ups of hot water at once with vents/doors open, then store boiling water for later/breakfast in good quality flasks.  Thermos 24hr stainless types.  Have been doing that for years.  Breakfast, tea/coffee in bed, without much effort.