How we stay warm in our van during the winter
We do not have a diesel heater in our van, but we are able to keep cozy during the winter months camping with the following tricks:
Van Insulation
Our van has thermozite and ultra touch denim in the walls and a cork subfloor. We use insulated window covers from Moohah Creatives (code SOWEWENT10 for 10% off). The window covers are one of the most significant ways to manage heat loss in the winter, plus they act as blackout shades to keep the van dark.
Sleeping bags
We use cooler weather sleeping bags instead of just blankets/traditional bedding as these offer much better warmth.
- Adult sleeping bag
- Kids sleeping bag (code SOWEWENT10 saves 10%)
Heating blankets
In addition to our sleeping bags, we add a heating blanket underneath all of our bedding on low to cycle on and off throughout the night. If we use our sleeping bags, the lowest setting is adequate to keep things cozy below freezing.
- Heated blanket with 10 heat settings
- Power bank to run battery (if you don’t have a battery in your RV or are camping in car/tent). The first larger model will run the blanket longer, but there is smaller model that will run the blanket for around 2-3 hours that is a bit less expensive.
Clothing
We wear thermals, puffers, and hats in our bags.
- Women’s thermals top and bottom
- Mens thermals top and bottom
- Kids thermals (code SOWEWENT20 saves 20%)
- Puffer jackets- Men’s, Women’s, Kids
Mini space heater
We cycle this mini electric space heater (200 watt) on and off throughout the night. We can’t leave it on continuously because it will drain our house battery, but it’s good for taking the edge off the cold air around our faces when its VERY cold. We do not use the battery bank mentioned above because it will run that battery down too fast. We use our house battery which is a 100 Ah battery.
Van heat
Before we go to bed at night we will turn our van on and run the heat to warm up the cabin. This helps give us a warm starting point, the insulation and window covers aid in maintaining that heat, and then the temperature will slowly drop over the course of the night.
Snuggle
Last, but not least, snuggling helps when all else fails!
Happy camping!