Anyone live in a travel trailer/RV?

Originally Posted by Cygnet

Yeah, about the only thing that smells worse than cat pee is mouse pee.

I have three cats in my trailer -- or two and a half, LOL, since one gets booted out to the storage barn whenever he gets too wild. They do keep the rodent population down to a bare minimum, but I've still had mice eat holes through my underwear and towels and eat the wiring to the lights in one of the slides. I have traps out, too, and no food in the trailer except in the fridge or mouse proof containers. That's just part of life in the country in a travel trailer.

And with mice come things that eat mice. I had a large gopher snake living in one of the compartments for the water tanks last winter. The cats were fascinated and stared down the air vents in the floor all winter. Good snake. He was welcome to stay. I get narrow headed and terrestrial garter snakes in the trailer occasionally too -- the first are a threatened species and are almost as big as gopher snakes. I MUCH prefer the snakes to mice and don't mind them as long as they don't have buzzy tails ... but it is a real indication that travel trailers, even good ones, aren't exactly hermetically sealed. There's all kinds of places critters can get in.

(The cats killed a BIG pack rat not too long ago and left it for my on the kitchen floor. Good kitties. I had to apologize to them for throwing a pillow at them at two AM -- I thought they were just running around because they had the zoomies, and didn't realize they were killing something with enthusiasm.)

Originally Posted by Peasant

Buffy, one thing I haven't seen mentioned (maybe missed it) was the poor insulation of RVs. I had my RV parked in full sun at my last location, it was like a prison hot box when I got home from work. Had to run AC to cool it down. Current location is in near full shade, so not as bad, highest temp I've seen is upper 80s.

Yes, they have thin walls, but there are measures to deal with the heat and cold. Parking them where they will be shade at least in the afternoon, will greatly help keep the temperature more regulated. Insuring the screens are in good condition, opening all the windows during the day, and just using the screen door allows for better air flow. We aren't in a hot climate, so 80s is usually the top temp here, so our rig is in full sun. Since that is going to be best for the Winter.

Winter is cold. I have two propane space heaters, an Olympian Wave 3 for when it's not too cold, a Mr. Heater Buddy for when it's really cold (~30F and below). They work OK, but I still have to wear multiple layers in winter.

Yes, that is cold. We won't see under the 20s here. We have multiple heater types, which include an electric furnace, an oil heater which is electric, and a few other electric space heaters. There are blinds on all windows and I will be making heavy curtains to put up, as well.

Before the mice infested it and the blower fan died, my furnace used an enormous amount of electricity and propane. Prefer space heaters, but they don't get the RV quite as warm.