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Thread: Two Hacks for Stealth Camping in Winter

  1. #1
    Winter is 5 months away (it starts snowing in the Sierras in November). My AP buddies are getting ready for the cold months ahead.

    First hack is Sock Tires. These traction devices are allowed in place of chains or cables when chains are required in CA & NV. These socks are a lot lighter & compact than chains and much easier to install when it’s snowing out there.

    https://autosock.us/snow-socks-guide/

    Second hack is a small one person tent or bivy used indoors, e.g. inside the vehicle.

    People don’t understand an indoor tent raises the sleeping temperature vs the ambient temperature. It all start in South Korea in 2013 when they had record cold temperatures and they needed a way to save money to stay warm at night when sleeping, watching TV, etc.

    So the hack is to sleep inside a bivy or tent that traps the body heat and keeps you warmer when sleeping in your vehicle.

    https://www.businessinsider.com.au/c...ide-the-tent-6

    It was 65 degrees F outside the tent but 79 degrees F inside the tent or a pick up of 14 degrees F. Some of my buddies get very creative with a stealth cover and insulation like a reflective blanket. So if it’s 35 degrees F outside, it’s 50 degrees F inside the tent/bivy. No heater, no electric blankets, no engine running, etc.

    Or, as I tell my buddies, just get a BEV like a Tesla model Y and sleep in camper mode where the car keeps the heater on without running the engine since “big batteries rock”. The problem with a hybrid is the battery is too small so the engine has to fire up and run for a bit to recharge the batteries.

    There’s this back street outside the Atlantis and there is so many campers, RV’s on this street in the winter time. In contrast the stealth campers are in Atlantis parking lot or in the garage at Peppermill.

  2. #2
    Don’t spend money an air mattress ... it will be money down the drain.

    People spend money on custom made memory foam or specialty products for their mattress.

    Here is an example of a specialty mattress for a Honda CRV:

    https://www.space4dreams.com/photo-g...nda-cr-v/cr-v1

    Nice part is the mattress folds up into a compact space; or you roll up the custom made memory foam mattress. I used to spend $200 on a thermarest but once I got a custom made memory foam mattress, I don’t go back.

    There are different types of memory foam, different weights like 4 lb / sq ft^3, etc. You get exactly what you want and for the most part you can recycle it on the next vehicle.

    Some of my AP buddies would buy a $8,000 used car and drive it they put over 200,000 miles and on the other end (like me), we buy new cars every 3 to 4 year with the latest safety features and spend more money to get the comforts we want in our road vehicle.

    I don’t sleep in a casino hotel / motel for security reasons so I need a really nice bed when I crash at the truck stop. I have tinted windows, window shades for extra privacy, etc

    For a RAV4, you can get a full custom made sun shade package that covers all the windows:

    https://www.weathertech.com/toyota/2019/rav4/sunshade/

    The bad is you cannot recycle the product if you get a different vehicle but it blocks out the sunlight so you have total privacy.

    Window mesh shades are great for ventilation and privacy. Doesn’t work in the rain (which is why you stealth camp in the casino garage). With tinted windows and the mesh, it’s nearly impossible to see inside the vehicle.

    https://www.amazon.com/Windows-shade...3372346&sr=8-4

  3. #3
    This is 2020 and if I had a house, I would be buying the Tesla Model Y for its camp mode and spacious cargo space.

    Here is a video of a guy sleeping in 3 degrees F overnight in his Model 3. Camp mode allows the vehicle to maintain its climate controls at say 68 degrees F without the engine running so long as you have enough battery life.

    BEV’s and plug-in hybrids are going to revolutionize stealth camping in the summer heat and winter cold due to their large batteries. I have friends who slept in hybrids but the battery is too small to keep the heater on all night without the engine kicking up and firing up for a bit (so that ruins stealth mode if you run the engines). If you sleep in the casino garage, it should be warmer than ambient depending on the location (but all the good locations have taken up by the resident stealth campers).

    There is this cottage industry of APs who travel the US to make money from casinos via stealth camping. The old school approach was drive a camper or RV.

    The two things that have held me back from spending $70K on a Tesla are: I rent my place and no spare tire. So here is video explaining sleeping in cold weather with a Tesla.


  4. #4
    Priuses also have electric AC's. So it can run the engine, charge the battery,then turn off repeatedly throughout the night. It should take little gas unlike traditional car idling. I am not sure about other hybrids, but for those who are more worried about the heat than the cold at least some hybrids are useful for #vanlife.
    It is official. Redietz will never be on Dan Druff's podcast. "too much integrity"

  5. #5
    "More importantly, mickey thought 8-4 was two games over .500. Argued about it. C'mon, man. Nothing can top that for math expertise. If GWAE ever has you on again, you can be sure I'll be calling in with that gem.'Nuff said." REDIETZ

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