Winterization, part 2

Well, we waited as long as we could. We were hoping against hope that the house would sell before the end of October and we could escape to Ft. Myers for the winter. Didn’t happen. So we are going to let the listing expire, enjoy(?) our (hopefully) last New England winter and re-list in the spring.

So with all hope of a warm winter dashed, we had to winterize the RV. That meant (1) putting anti-freeze in the water lines and (2) covering the entire RV to protect against the elements.

So I bought an RV cover ($425 on sale) and 3 gallons of RV anti-freeze ($17) and headed out yesterday (11/9) to perform the sad chores. I was a bit fearful that we had waited just a day too long as the temperatures dropped below freezing on Saturday morning. But I had done my best at blowing out the lines before putting Patience into storage and 29 doesn’t really qualify as a “hard” freeze, so I didn’t think there would be any freeze damage. I was actually more worried about vandalism. The RV is stored in a pretty remote spot and might be a tempting target for burglars or squatters.

But it looked fine when I arrived. Whew! Later I discovered some evidence of some animal (field mouse?) being inside, but we can deal with that.

First I hitched up and pulled the RV forward about 3 feet, leveling it in the process. Then I started work on the anti-freeze. I was doing a bit of guessing here as I had only watched one video on how to do it and the valve configuration wasn’t quite the same. Still, once I got the pump activated and the first gallon set up, the anti-freeze was sucked out of the jug very rapidly. Then I remembered that I had left the faucets open inside (to relieve any pressure generated by a freeze, so the antifreeze had worked its way through the lines and had been spitting out the faucets. The shower had a lot of pink on the walls and floor. Which proved, I guess, that I was doing it mostly correctly. But I ran into trouble trying to get the hot water lines filled. I had to fiddle with the valves and eventually found a combo that worked. I used every ounce of the 3 gallons I had, but I think I got all the lines filled.

Then I drained the hot water tank one last time and moved on to the cover.

The trick with the cover was getting it onto the roof. It was too heavy to carry with me as I climbed the ladder, so after a moment of cursing myself for not bringing some rope, I scrounged for a solution. I decided that two bungees, hooked together, would work. And I was right: I took the end of the bungee with me up the ladder, then hauled up the cover.

Getting it unfolded and properly positioned was a heavy chore. In spite of the 50-degree temp, I was sweating profusely. But after a lot of tugging and crawling around the roof, I got it correctly (more or less) positioned and dropped the fabric over the front, the sides and, finally, the back as I headed down the ladder. Then it was just a matter of figuring out the straps. But I got it all done. The result was not perfect – there was more fabric on the north side than the south – but everything was covered and secure. I will try to return in a month or so and see how the straps are holding up.

Leaving Patience there felt a bit like leaving my child on the steps of the church, but we will use it again next year. So don’t despair, Patience – we will be back.