New to CheapRVLiving, Experienced in full-timing

[HighwayPirates]

Hey all! We are a young married couple living full-time in our 1997 Honda CR-V "The Black Pearl" traveling across Eastern Canada. I've been living mobile since 2017 alongside wife, who has been living this lifestyle since she was three years old! I have learned so much when it comes to living mobile and realizing how much of a zombie I was in my past life has brought me to the reality that life is meant to be enjoyed to the fullest. We write music on the road, we got married on the road and most importantly we thrive greatly on the road (despite -50 nights in Canada we still love our winters!) March 2020 makes it the wife's 24th year living on the road, but still we always have something new to learn each day. Freedom means the world to us, without it we are lost, so we both intend on living mobile for as long as we possibly can. Anyway, we just want to introduce ourselves to the community and can't wait to share some stories/tips with everyone!

Karen & Eclair

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Karen and Éclair to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

highdesertranger

 

[maki2]

Sounds like you will have some great, real experience, advice to contribute in the threads about how to live in a car in extremely cold weather.

 

[nature lover]

WELCOME - I am looking forward to stories your Mrs can tell about growing up on the road and the rigs they traveled in and what you drive now. Pictures all always appreciated.

 

[LaMonster]

Welcome!

And yes, wow, I bet you both have some fabulous stories to share.

I'd love to see photos too.

 

[HighwayPirates]

Tonight we are spending the overnight in Winnipeg (locals call it 'Winterpeg') at an insane -40 celsius. Tomorrow we are heading to visit friends where we will be doing some minor camper touch-ups, I will take some photos and post them on here for all to see

And thank you for the very warm welcomes!

 

[Cyrus]

I like the name. Still considering what I shall call my future vehicle!

I am curious how you and your vehicle manage in the extreme cold. Will be interested in seeing/hearing more.

Congratulations on your marriage, may it be blessed.

 

[HighwayPirates]

Lol thanks! Our CR-V is black and my wife got the nickname 'highway pirate' from the trucking community, so it was meant to be  with some time on the road you'll end up finding brilliant nicknames for your home quickly.

Well, Canadian winters are horrible (but I'm sure I am not the only one who thinks that). I've spent one January in North Dakota (typically between -22f and +5f) and those temperatures are what we consider 'tropical'. Manitoba is where we hang our hat in the winters and we can see temps between -13f up to -67f with windchills. We only run the CR-V if its colder than -20f for the sake of fuel lines and battery.

Besides the cooler nights where running the vehicle becomes important we don't usually run the engine all night (just when we get up and before going to sleep). We have used reflectix before but when the windows ice over we can't pull them off without tearing them on the ice. So to keep warm we use one regular blanket and a felt-blanket I had since I was four years old. When it gets way too cold, however, we jump under a feather blanket which kept us warm even in a rare -70f overnight. Our mattress is 6inch double-size foam ($5 at recycling store) and that behaves like insulation as we don't feel any drafts. Maybe I should start a thread on full-timing in Canadian winters on here if one hasn't been started, but if you would like to know the whole A to Z guide on how we make do with winters feel free to message me and I'd be more than happy to chat!

- Karen

 

[Cyrus]

Our mattress is 6inch double-size foam ($5 at recycling store) and that behaves like insulation as we don't feel any drafts. Maybe I should start a thread on full-timing in Canadian winters on here if one hasn't been started, but if you would like to know the whole A to Z guide on how we make do with winters feel free to message me and I'd be more than happy to chat!

I was told that foam doesn't respond well to extreme cold, so I wonder how that works.

That sounds like a good thread to start

 

[highdesertranger]

not all foam. memory foam is the one people complain about in the cold. highdesertranger

 

[LaMonster]

Dang, that's cold and I live in Minnesota!

I bought my van in CA and had to drive it back to Minnesota in late December, when the snowstorm shut down I90 in SD for a couple of days. We had bought an electric car blanket and the converter to hook up to my battery, but we also shipped our old queen down comforter out to my daughter to use on the way home. It was good enough we never even used the other.

Do you have a storage unit for personal belongings? There doesn't seem like much room to fit them in there with you.

 

[tx2sturgis]

"Ice Road Nomads"

Coming to a forum near you!

 

[HighwayPirates]

For sure memory foam is awful when colder than -20c but the basic foam is the most important warmth item we have used. Last night was -9c (super warm for Manitoba) and with one light blanket I woke up sweating, so it may be time to put away the heavy winter blankets. If we didn't have the foam we couldn't do Canadian winters in the SUV.

As for storage the CR-V has a wet storage where the spare tire "usually" goes, so that provides all our blanket storage. My favorite item about the whole vehicle is the storage cover is a folding picnic table which Honda is very proud of lol.