so if you've been following the channel you are well aware that i had some difficulty
with winter camping last year even though i am canadian and i know it can get really cold
there was a lot of things that i missed and took for granted so i want to share
this video with you on all the things that you can do to make winter camping possible
hi my name is paula van vida travels and i'm a canadian woman that converted her ambulance into
a camper so that i can explore as much of north america as i can the first thing i want to tell
you is insulation some people say you need it some say you don't but you absolutely need it
it makes a world of difference this year i took everything apart and i added extra insulation
all throughout the ambulance there was a little bit in there but it was not adequate and there
were a lot of gaps in there so i highly recommend if you're doing a build start with the insulation
i insulated all of the walls and the roof and i have a few things yet to do with the doors
another area that you lose a lot of heat is through all of your windows and your windshields
so i made myself covers for all of them so they have insulation and reflectix
to prevent the cool air from coming in and prevent losing as much of the warm air as you're creating
the roof vents are another area that you can lose air i do need the ability to keep
one of them cracked just for a little bit of air circulation to reduce the condensation
but otherwise they are covered heat goes to the roof and that is one way that you
can lose heat take a look at your van and check the weather stripping take it out in the cold
walk around on the floors and see how cold your feet really get i didn't insulate my floors
but i did lay down rugs and they make a world of difference so how do i actually heat the ambulance
right now today it feels like minus 23 celsius with the windchill and it's only november it
gets a lot colder in canada what i've done is i have installed a diesel heater the diesel heater
works amazing and i'll put a link to the video of my installation down in the description below
make sure that you run it on high every now and again just to blow out all the carbon that can
collect you also need to make sure that your intake and your exhaust are not blocked at all
so if you get stuck in a snowstorm make sure you check that out so that you can still function as
it should but what if i ran out of diesel and i do carry extra diesel for my diesel heater
well i have a buddy heater as well my buddy heater uses one pound propane bottles but i
also have an adapter hose and i connect it to my 20 pound tank that i tank take with me everywhere
another quick tip about propane if it's really cold out and you don't know how much you have
splash some warm water along the outside of it and it'll create a frost line to let you know
how full your tank is i definitely make sure that i have warm bedding initially i wanted the bedding
to look pretty and now i'm like no i need it to be functional so i have a sleeping bag that's
rated to minus 10 celsius i can keep it open on top or if i get really cold i can zip it up
and hide myself in there to retain some more of my body heat so what happens if you break down and
none of these things are working well i'm going to give you some extra safety tips
i keep candles with me in the ambulance i also keep camp heat my butane stove all three of those
have the ability to provide heat and light and you can use them for cooking the camp heat bone needs
to stay somewhat warm so store it on the inside of your van because if it gets too cold you have to
warm it up with some body heat so that it works as well as it should a lot of people will keep little
heat packs that you can keep in your hand warmers in your boots you can also use them to sleep with
some swear by filling a hot water bottle so those last few tips are great in emergency
but what if you're stranded far out in the country and there's no one around to help you
you need to learn to be self-sufficient so here's the things that i've added to my van in order to
keep myself safer in the winter when i'm traveling i have a generator i have a gas generator with me
i have an extra jug of gasoline a battery charger and extension cords a few extension cords
it's important to have if i need to plug in my diesel in order to get the block heater going
it's also important to have an extension cord to plug my generator to the battery charger to
charge my batteries now in my instance having an ambulance conversion is really important
to be aware of the switch on the side of the passenger seat that switch determines if my
batteries are being charged by my alternator or if my batteries are able to be boosted
you need to set it to boost so that you're not wasting the little bit of energy and power
that you have and i also keep an extra battery pack with me it's not enough to jump start the
ambulance but it is enough to top up the batteries or top up the batteries on the interior house part
of the ambulance so that i can keep my diesel heater running because it does take some power
now being in canada i have lots of winter clothes i need to make sure that i pack them
and take them with me snow jackets skidoo pants the thermal socks the long underwear winter boots
gloves to scarf you name it it's important to have a complete outfit of it with you
but you do need to know that you need to dress in layers to keep the heat so i also have solar power
to keep my batteries charged but in the snow and frost many times i'm not getting the power that i
need you also need to remember that in the winter the sun isn't as strong as it is in the summer
so we don't get as many watts through the same amount of solar panels
so i have learned that i need the ability to climb to the roof of the ambulance at any time
so what i've done is installed some clips and i climb up them and i can get to the solar panels
easily in any situation i have an extra long snow scraper to take the snow off the solar panels and
i have a spray bottle of winter windshield washer fluid super handy to clean them really easily
so what about my house batteries in the back i have them separate from the motor batteries so
the house batteries need to be kept fairly warm so what i've done is i've added insulation underneath
and along the exterior wall of the battery so that it keeps it a little bit warmer i also need
to lift the lid on top if it's getting really cold i want that battery to function as well as it can
the cold drains power out of the battery i need to keep those charged as well the house batteries
are charged by my alternator when i'm driving they're also charged by my solar panels that
i have up on the roof and i can charge them with my generator and my battery charger another thing
that i learned that is when you have your inverter on you get a warning when your battery is low well
when i'm out there and i'm trying to conserve my battery i don't use my inverter i only use
the items that are 12 volt wired directly to my 12 volt system which includes my diesel heater
so i could easily be going low on the battery and not have any warning what i've done to resolve
this is i have added a little battery reader alarm directly to the battery and i have it set so that
i can read it at all times this is great great great really wish i had it before very inexpensive
and makes a huge difference one of the things i also had to learn is a little bit more about
having a diesel engine i've learned it's very important to keep the block heater plugged in
i also need to make sure that i buy an additive that prevents the diesel from gelling and when
it's winter and i get my oil changes i need to change the oil to a thinner oil i have a shovel
a shovel's fantastic for helping dig yourself out of snow i also have a tow rope in case i'm really
stuck and someone comes along and can tell me out booster cables are really important another thing
i have is a really small tent i set it up on the bed if i'm in an extreme situation so that
i'm only focusing on heating that small tent area it helps conserve more of my heat and i can have
the heat blowing directly in so that i'm just a little bit warmer when i have less heat available
remember in the winter there's a lot less daylight most of my lights in there are led so they use
very little power and they're connected straight to my 12 volt system but sometimes when the case
is extreme you don't even want to use that so i make sure i have a flashlight and i have some
battery operated lights as well just to help out so it's important to keep extra food and
water with you when you're traveling the last tip that i want to give you on staying warm
don't drink alcohol a lot of people will tell you to have a drink it's going to make you feel warmer
you will feel warmer initially but it actually works against you alcohol thins your blood causes
you to excrete more of the natural body heat that you have and you will get colder faster many
people can experience hypothermia at a much faster rate if there's alcohol involved i hope you found
these tips useful i hope you have a safe travel make sure to follow me along this winter when i'm
full time in the ambulance traveling and we'll see if all these systems work take care and much love
you