Cold & On the Road: The Winter Vanlife Survival Guide
How can you possibly survive vanlife in winter?!
We won’t lie: vanife in cold climates can be rough. Even for us who call anything above 70°F too hot, we are definitely kind of babies once it starts creeping toward single digits.
Still, we’ve braved some pretty gnarly seasons. Snowstorms in the Eastern Sierras in November, spring snowfall in Montana, and more. You could say we’re quite seasoned at it by now. So we hope these winter vanlife tips help you stay warm while adventuring the winter wonderland!
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our sister article on all the tools you need for winter vanlife survival.
*This post contains affiliate links.
Navigation for Winter Vanlife Survival
Vehicle and Driving Considerations
Potential Problems for Winter Vanlife
Tips & Tricks for Winter Vanlife
VEHICLE AND DRIVING CONSIDERATIONS
Van life in the winter doesn’t just pose issues of comfort, but ones of safety. Winter roads can be treacherous and in a vehicle as big and heavy as a camper van, it doesn’t take much for things to go very wrong.
Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:
Can your camper van handle snow?
If intending on making vanlife in winter a regular thing, you want to make sure your vehicle can handle it. Most modern cargo vans can (as long as they’re equipped with a good set of tire chains, but older vans like Westys might struggle on snowy roads).
Now the classic van debate: 4WD or not? You’ve no doubt thought extensively about this while choosing the base for your camper van, and there’s not really a right answer.
Obviously, 4WD is ideal, but it’s also very cost exclusive considering you’re pretty much talking a minimum $10k more if buying new.
A close second is front-wheel drive (FWD), which is what our Promaster has. This means the drivetrain is in the front, which pairs well with the fact that most of our weight is in the rear. This weighs down the non-drive-train wheels so we fishtail pretty minimally. Even on bad roads, we’ve never encountered much sliding.
Can you handle driving in the snow?
Whether you’re pursuing full-time winter van living or just a short winter van camping trip, knowing how to handle your van in inclement weather is crucial. Even if the forecast is good, you just never know what might blow in.
If you grew up in a snowy climate and as familiar with white roads and dirt ones, you’re probably well aware of your limitations on snowy and icy roads. If winter driving is somewhat new to you (or even if you just aren’t comfortable with it), do your reading on safety tips for driving in the snow.
Here are a few of our own driving in the snow safety tips to get you started:
Plan ahead and check road conditions maps. These are usually available on each state’s department of transportation website. AM radio stations often broadcast sudden changes and alerts.
Drive as slow as you need to feel comfortable and in control. If you like driving fast, slow it down a little bit and resist the urge to pass as sudden lane changes can cause you to lose control)
Accelerate and brake slowly. If your brakes lock up, you’ll slide, so pump them rather than applying static pressure.
Don’t tailgate. In fact, increase your following distance to five to six seconds. The guy in front of you might lose control.
Pull over if necessary. Maybe the visibility is getting too bad or maybe someone is tailgating you and making you nervous. Just pull over at the next safe opportunity and let them around.
Watch for advisory signs.
Chains! If it looks at all hairy, stop and chain up.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS FOR WINTER VANLIFERS
Aside from being generally cold and miserable, Vanlife in winter can lead to a lot of problems, most of which need to be solved immediately for your travels to continue smoothly. While you can always avoid these issues, knowing what they are can better help you tackle them when they arise.
Image credit MaxTrax
Getting stuck in the snow
The biggest fear people have of vanlife in the winter is the fear of getting their van stuck. Here’s the thing: it’s not the end of the world if it happens.
Be prepared with some basic vanlife safety equipment for if that (likely inevitably) happens. This includes:
Tire chains (if nothing else, carry these)
Being a member of a roadside assistance program (like Good Sam) doesn’t hurt either!
Less daylight= less battery charge
Batteries are far less susceptible to freezing when charged, but will freeze at much milder temperatures when empty. That means cold weather isn’t bad for batteries unless they’re empty, but if a battery freezes when it’s empty, it will ruin the battery.
Keeping your batteries charged is more important than ever in winter.
Unfortunately, it’s also harder than ever. Between cloudier conditions, fewer hours of daylight all around, and snow blocking the rays from hitting your solar panels, solar intake drops significantly in the winter months.
Meanwhile, you’re likely using more energy than ever.
That just means you’ll have to go a little out of your way to charge them up through shore power. It’s not easy to find shore power (because electricity costs money) but here some places:
Friends’ houses
Street lamps in urban areas: Be very cautious doing this as some places are friendlier about it than others.
RV Parks: Worse comes to worst, you reserve a night at an RV park to take advantage of the hookups. Shower and fill water while you’re at it!
Another option is to connect your batteries to your van’s alternator so they charge while driving. This is particularly great for winter roadtrips where longer distances will be traveled
More than anything, be mindful of your electricity consumption. Turn off appliances whenever you can. Even something as small as turning off our inverter at night saved us a lot of power (even though it wasn’t actively inverting anything through the night, it still consistently draws energy).
Frozen pipes
Frozen pipes can put a big damper on your morning when you go make morning coffee to discover nothing comes out of the tap. This happened to us our first cold night in the van somewhere around Bend, Oregon.
To prevent frozen pipes in your camper van, consider where your water is located. Inside? Outside? Inside, it’s less likely to freeze and easier to solve if it does.
Even though it would be super convenient to have a grey tank installed on the undercarriage, we opted for a simply 6-gallon removable jug to serve as out grey tank under the sink so it won’t freeze (and if does, there are options to remove it and unfreeze short of running a heater under your van).
Even though we don’t run any heat through the night, we learned we could prevent frozen pipes by simply pulling out the hose from our fresh water tank, pumping all the water from it and the tap using our Whale Water Systems foot pump, then place the hose back in the tank. Problem solved unless it hits close to 0°F in which case out 6-gallon tanks themselves would also freeze.
If you have pipes external to the van, wrap them in pipe insulation and heat tape. This still won’t guarantee they won’t freeze at really frigid temperatures but it’s better than nothing.
If not using your van for long periods of time in the winter, you’ll need to winterize, emptying out all water tanks and blowing out the pipes at a minimum. If storing all winter, you might even consider using RV antifreeze.
Image by Tiny Wood Stove
Moisture, mold, and mildew
Vanlife during winter means everything is wet all the time, and because it’s cold, nothing dries either.
From “wet” heat sources (i.e. propane) to something as simple as your hot breath, condensation builds up inside your van, which can lead to rust and mildew problems further down the road.
How do you deal with the moisture issues while camping in a van in the winter?
Use dry heat as much as possible. This includes things like an RV wood stove and electric heaters. While less convenient to set up and run, they prevent moisture buildup.
Crack a window or vent fan cracked to prevent condensation. It might seem counterintuitive to let the hot air out, but trust us, a little heat lost in the moment is much less of a problem than mold buildup later.
Keep a towel on hand to dry windows and damp walls.
Keep your van clean and dry. Take off wet shoes and boots right at the door (placing them in a waterproof boot tray) to prevent tracking even more moisture inside. If you get mud or snow on the floor, wipe it up as soon as possible. Something like a DEWALT 120V vacuum works great because it runs off a basic drill battery (which you probably already have) and can vacuum up mud and snow like a wet shop vac.
Perpetually wet clothes and gear
Damp, cold weather also means wet gear will take forever to truly dry, but here are some things you can do to help things dry faster:
Install a clothesline in the front cab so your wet clothes aren’t hanging in the house part.
Hang really wet stuff under the vent fan and turn it on in outtake mode.
Lay out any especially soggy clothes on the dash and boots on the floorboards while driving with the heat settings on the floor and windshield.
Buy an AC/DC boot dryer for wet footwear.
Finding open campsites
When fall ends, many campsites, state and national parks, and RV Parks close for the season. Even if you don’t use developed campsites, even BML and other wild camping sites may be inaccessible due to snow.
A lack of campsites can make winter van camping problematic for obvious reasons, but you aren’t S.O.L.
While they may not be as scenic and secluded, here are some winter camping parking options:
Year-round campsites: Apps like The Dyrt (especially with their Pro membership, complete with discounts) makes this a breeze.
People with space to spare: Use Vanly to connect with people with driveways or property open for van camping (and sometimes showers!).
Residential streets: Sometimes a tricky option that does involve you assuming the risk of getting the cops called. A reality of vanlife. Just know the worst thing that can really happen is they’ll ask you to move (as long as there are no “No Parking” signs).
Ski resort parking lots: Many have “No Overnight Parking” policies, but a few will allow it (and it never hurts to ask).
Walmart, cracker barrel, home depot, etc.: The fail-safe chains that are RV and vanlife friendly. These days, however, not all branches are, so call ahead and check with the manager that it’s allowed.
Small businesses: If you’re a patron at a business (like a bar or brewery), they might just allow you to stay overnight in their employee lot if you ask nicely.
Rest stops
Hotel parking lots. More or less now allowed, but it works in a punch as long as you arrive late and leave early.
Finding water refills
Another thing that gets harder to find in the winter is water. Gas stations, RV dump sites, and campground spigots are go-to water sources, but in the winter, these often get shut down and the water turned off so plumbing doesn’t freeze.
That means you’ll need to get a little creative. Here are some winter water sources to get you started:
Gas stations: Call gas stations ahead to check if they have active drinking water spigots. If not, ask if they have a sink inside you can fill at. Most are willing to let you do this, even if it takes a little longer. Just make sure you fuel up there as a thanks.
Friends’ houses
Businesses: Some businesses have faucets outside. Ask if you can use it and support the business in some way in exchange.
Showering in the cold
While vanlife showers are somewhat easy to come by in the summer (between being able to hang an outdoor shower on your van and wild bathing). In the winter, however, taking a scrub in the snowy forests becomes a whole lot less appealing.
Even if you have a fancy van without indoor showers and a hot water heater, if the ambient temperature is cold enough, you’ll use tons of juice to get your water lukewarm at best.
Here some alternative places to find vanlife showers in the winter:
Developed hot springs: Make a relaxing day out of it and scrub all the sulfur off afterward.
Wild hot springs: While not a shower per se, these are a good free way to melt the cold from your bones and blow some stink off (though you may leave smelling a little earthy after… better than BO!)
Community pools/aquatic centers
Truck stops
Ski lodges: If you’re skiing in an area where the Sierra Club has a lodge, they usually offer drop-in showers for non-guests for a minimal fee.
Friends’ houses: Again, never underestimate the power of friends with houses.
RV Parks: Just make sure they operate year-round before driving out of your way.
WINTER VANLIFE TIPS & TRICKS
Stick to warm areas. Chasing earlier weather (AKA being a snowbird) is an easy way to avoid winter vanlife altogether. If you’re just doing a winter road trip, plan to visit warmer, desert states where there is at least less chance of snow.
Watch the weather. Is a huge storm going to hit high altitudes? Maybe don’t park that night way up in the mountains and risk getting stuck. After testing a lot of disappointing weather apps, we like the app Dark Sky (though it does cost a few bucks).
Layer layer layer.
Sleep in socks and a hat. We like to sleep on the chilly side. Especially with two of us in the bed, we stay quite toasty even in single digits with just a few blankets.... Except for our feet and head, that is. If you know it’s going to get cold, throw on a hat and socks to avoid waking up in the middle of the night to that awful feeling of cold seeping into your scalp. You could be buck nude otherwise but my covered your top and your toes, you’ll sleep so much warmer.
Treat yourself to a budget hotel or AirBnB occasionally. Getting out of the cold and maybe having the chance to soak in a hot tub can boost morale.
Power up. Top up your batteries whenever you get the chance.
Avoid going TOO off-grid. If something happens, it’s less likely someone can find you and less likely that you can walk out and get help.
Insulate your van. This is more of a build stage thing but for those still there, take note! We discuss camper van insulation further here. Having a well-insulated van is also good for summer vanlife and keeping your van a little cooler.
Insulate your windows. You lose tons of heat through windows, even if the only ones you have are those in the can. Pop in some window coverings as often as possible.
Drink lots of warm beverages. Not only will the drink itself warm you up, but running the stove to heat it will warm up the whole van a bit.
Avoid idling your van too much. Your van’s built-in heating system may be the easiest way to warm up space, but too much idling is bad for your engine. Blast heat when you’re actually driving but limit running it otherwise.
Before You Drive Away…
Now, go forth into white wilds!
Equipped with these tips and tricks for surviving vanlife in winter, there should be nothing too cold or snowy for you to handle (well, you know what we mean).
Any van dwelling ski bums out there who have winter vanlife down to well it’s basically the bunny hill? Share the love (and warmth) by dropping your favorite winter vanlife tips in the comments below.
**This post contains affiliate links to support the continued creation of these van life guides. This just means that if you purchase something from one of the links above, I get a small commission from the sale at no cost to you. Read more here or reach out with more questions.