How cold does your camper get?

[Sullyman]

Hi - I am a long term camper who has been investigating a camper trailer over the past 12 months and whilst I suspect  will make a purchase (an ever growing family helps makes the decision easier!) I have heard a few comments from friends that they are much cooler in their camper than they were in their tent.

Now I know this answer depends on what time of year you go camping, but relatively speaking, have any tent to camper converts noticed a significant temperature drop?  I understand that more creature comforts can be enjoyed by using a camper eg extra blankets, doona etc but would be interested in peoples experiences.

Sully.

[Annie]

Last yr while in the gibson Desert and other places that where frosty morns, we where warm enough as we had blankets under the bed to stop the cold air getting in from underneath,

I use the fleecy blankets and they seem to be warm

[bullfrog]

Gday Sully,
We haven't noticed any real temp chance between tent / CT. Whether that is due to being under canvas or to different bedding used to sleeping in the tent, I'm not sure. I find the CT cooler in summer to sleep in than the tent.

[hookedon4wding]

I would say yes, camper tents are usually colder than tents. We have come from a touring tent background to a camper trailer. A lot of it comes down to the greater internal space in a camper. For us this is offset by the extra comforts as you say. We sleep with two doonas in winter and are toasty warm.

We're also using the camper a lot more in the colder months than we would have with the tent due to the extra comfort.

[skog]

We found it warmer going from a tent to a ct. But even summer nights in Tassie get cold. But nothing good blankets and a sherbert before bed wont fix  

[barneys]

i find that my trailer is heaps warmer than the tent .we use to sleep on a air maters now a proper bed the air above you in the camper  is smaller .so think it warms up faster  , the coldest we have slept in the camper was -3 and idid not feel likeit till the ice stated to melt on us . so i belive trailer is warmer

[oldblade]

we went from a tent to a jayco and yes it was colder as under the bed there is the cold air
but now we are in a caravan and it's nice and toasty

[GGV8Cruza]

Really cold when you forget the doona

GG

[bullfrog]

Maybe you could put a security cable on the doona Garrick, wouldn't leave it behind then.

[singo-26]

Maybe you could put a security cable on the doona Garrick, wouldn't leave it behind then.

Between me and Bullfrog we could put you onto the right bloke.   

[Black Diamond]

Really cold when you forget the doona

GG

Im still convinced you did that on purpose you filthy animal   but then again anything for a bit of body on body action  

[bullfrog]

Sounds the doona isn't the only thing in need of cable  
sorry for running off the track Sully 

[Silvo]

I've found it colder.. As hookedon4wdriving says, I think it is because of the larger internal space

[WogsRus]

have not had it out in to cold weather, down to 5 degc, and we find ours is hell warm. We close it up at night and find it nice and toasty. One thing i have noticed, in summer, it is MUCH cooler then a tent.

[Heiny]

We use old style woolen blanket over the mattress and another over the sleeping bags then the doona, we also have an electric blanket in case it gets really nippy

[Kman]

Went camping in -7 degrees on the Queens Birthday weekend.....flippin cold in anything I'd imagine, call me soft, but the electric blanket was my saviour. I added it that weekend and resolved any problems with freezing my n.....s off!

[Swogjb]

Went camping in -7 degrees on the Queens Birthday weekend.....flippin cold in anything I'd imagine, call me soft, but the electric blanket was my saviour. I added it that weekend and resolved any problems with freezing my n.....s off!

Hi Mate, what type of electric blanket are you using? 12 volt or 240volt through inverter
If 12 volt what brand and where did you get it from ?
 

[Kman]

Hi Mate, what type of electric blanket are you using? 12 volt or 240volt through inverter
If 12 volt what brand and where did you get it from ?
 

When its minus 7, you grab the nearest one....from coles, and was even on special, so just a 240V one. I have a 300W inverter and have been told that it will run the blanket because of their low power draw. I have not tried it on the inverter yet. But by jingoes it was warm on 240

[geordie4x4]

I have a hard alloy top camper that flipps over to become the bed.

I was worried about it being cold so when building the bed base I used pollypropylene roofing insulation bats (about 45mm thick with foil layer R2.5) under the 10mm marine ply bed base. We get verry little cold transfer through that to the materess. 

But if you touch any of the bare alluminum parts they are really cold and do transfer a lot of heat away. So I covered the area around the bed and all the camper floor and sides with carpet.

The other nice thing in verry cold desert locations is that we are about a metre up off the ground so I think it helps stay up out of the frost zone.

[rodsswag]

Hi, I have use both a swag and camper at Spring Gully Stays at the gold coast and I found the swag a lot warmer to sleep in than the camper (but that could have to do with the amount of bourbons empted before hand). But in the camper you can always use more doonas.


Rod

[Heiny]

When its minus 7, you grab the nearest one....from coles, and was even on special, so just a 240V one. I have a 300W inverter and have been told that it will run the blanket because of their low power draw. I have not tried it on the inverter yet. But by jingoes it was warm on 240

We just have a cheap one from Big W and run it off of the inverter, I have tested it out and we can get approx 10hrs continuous use with a Queen size blanket on setting #1.

[AussieBob]

We just have a cheap one from Big W and run it off of the inverter, I have tested it out and we can get approx 10hrs continuous use with a Queen size blanket on setting #1.

Hi Bubba,
What is the size of your battery/ies (Ahs), and what other power items are used.??
Bob

[WilSurf]

Don't let Captain reply on this topic. :-)

[Matto]

I would say yes, camper tents are usually colder than tents. We have come from a touring tent background to a camper trailer. A lot of it comes down to the greater internal space in a camper. For us this is offset by the extra comforts as you say. We sleep with two doonas in winter and are toasty warm.

This is our experience as well.

With the old canvas touring tent, we'd zip it up reasonably tight, and it was really good at keeping the heat in. The camper, with it's bigger internal volume seems to lose the heat as soon as the sun goes down.

That said, I wouldn't have it any other way. We've counteracted this by not trying to keep the tent warm - leaving the window near the bed open to get fresh air through and enjoying being able to look out through the night from the comfort of the blankets. 

Of course, my definition of "cold" might be slightly different to that of people living down the bottom end of this country...

Thanks!
Matto

[BigJules]

We've been cold, but that's because it was cold. When I mentioned that we camped at the snow people ask was it cold? We were at the snow idiot, of course it was cold.

I have silk liners for all our sleeping bags and we've needed them on a few occasions. I think these add about 5-10 degrees to the efficacy of your bag. Stopping air movement under the bed is a good plan if you can.