I’m so glad I didn’t take off traveling right away like I had intended. Something interesting about buying a bottom shelf camper; it’s like, made really poorly.
The mildness of this winter lulled me into a false sense of security. I knew I probably needed some sort of skirting to protect the pipes. I knew I probably needed to double and triple check that everything was working. I’m also excellent at procrastination. And so it went. Poorly.
About a week before the storm hit, meteorologists were already discussing not only that the storm would definitely hit and be pretty bad, but that it might break records for snowfall. And cold. Did I jump into action? I wish. But then I wouldn’t have this story to tell you. This warning.
So when the storm did hit, I had done exactly nothing. I already had my heated hose hooked up, dripped my faucets, and just hoped that would be enough. What I didn’t know was the the 120V that my heated hose was plugged into on the shore power bank had flipped a fuse and was no longer heating. I also didn’t realize how incredibly easy it is for the gray tank to freeze shut. Here is the series of unfortunate events that followed.
- Faucets dripping, heated hose not heating, as yet unknown
- Gray tank froze shut, which caused the dripping water to back up into the sink and the shower
- I started bailing water out of the sink and dumping it into the toilet like I was in a boat and drowning
- I attempted to unstick the gray tank, and just succeeded in breaking the pull handle in half and cutting my hand. Incidentally, it was so cold outside when that happened that I didn’t even feel pain. I just saw the blood streaming…
- Space heater aimed at pipes under sink got the 88 code of death only three months after I bought it
- Went into crash out mode, and coped by going to sleep
- Woke up the next day, packed up some things and my dogs, and fled to my sister’s house
- Came back when the roads cleared two days later, only to find an ice skating rink in my shower because I’d blown through all 20 lbs of propane and the standing water had nowhere to go
- Killed my one and only plant
- Went back to my sister’s and considered burning the camper down (I kid, I kid) but instead ignored it for two more days, opting to just wait until everything thawed out
Yeah, we aren’t even halfway through, so bear with me.
When I went back to evaluate the damage, I found quite a bit. I told the part of me that wanted to continue crashing out to shut up, and I got to work. Because the pipes had frozen solid WHILE backed up, a leak sprung out of the J pipe on the sink drain. So I replaced that. The frozen water also split my sink faucet so that it was leaking a steady stream of water even with the knobs all the way off. It also split my shower head down the middle. Water literally shoots everywhere.
So, I figured out how to replace the faucet and did that. I haven’t replaced the shower head yet, but that bitch is next. I also ordered the winter skirting I needed to wrap around the camper. I haven’t replaced the gray tank pull yet, but I’m becoming an expert at fixing dumb shit either I broke or broke because it was truly cheap junk.
What did I learn from all of this nightmare? I’m a badass even when I crash out. I’m an idiot for ignoring this stuff until it was too late. I apparently still really enjoy learning lessons the hard way. Camper life can be really hard in some ways, and really easy in others. I probably should’ve gone with a better camper (see here) but I think at this point it makes the most sense to just keep replacing all the bs that came with the camper with nicer stuff. Like second from bottom shelf.
All I keep thinking about is how incredibly glad I am that I was at home base when this went down. That I have my chosen family surrounding me to help me when I fuck up. I would’ve still been as badass, probably. But it would’ve been so much more scary.
I think I might understand why snowbirds exist and travel south for the winter lol. I’ve been so spoiled living in a solid structure my whole life.
Be well
-Ali
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