Suburban / snow camping

[Groz's Burb]

Had some heavy snow but managed to stay safe and warm. The Burb handled great in 4Low and even anchored the Jeep up to the camping spot after my buddy buried himself.
I sleep in the Suburban with a heated blanket. We also had a diesel heater to his tent which kept the temp well above 65F and it got down to 0F at night. Stay safe out there and have fun

 

[mrk5]

I sometimes think winter camping could be fun, but I'm too chicken to try it. I think sleeping in the burb might be one of the better ways to do it.

Did you guys use the tracks on the back of the Jeep. Curious if they work well.

 

[Groz's Burb]

I sometimes think winter camping could be fun, but I'm too chicken to try it. I think sleeping in the burb might be one of the better ways to do it.

Did you guys use the tracks on the back of the Jeep. Curious if they work well.

We did use the tracks. They seemed to actually work! I was a bit skeptical before.
I personally deflated my tires ~50% and the Suburban crawled through the heavy snow

 

[mrk5]

We did use the tracks. They seemed to actually work! I was a bit skeptical before.
I personally deflated my tires ~50% and the Suburban crawled through the heavy snow

When I was stuck hard on our snow run Sunday, I was thinking some of the tracks might have helped. They are one of those things I've always been curious about, but they are a bit of an investment to just try them out.

 

[doubletrouble]

When I was stuck hard on our snow run Sunday, I was thinking some of the tracks might have helped. They are one of those things I've always been curious about, but they are a bit of an investment to just try them out.

You would have to add a roof top tent if you get tracks.

 

[mrk5]

You would have to add a roof top tent if you get tracks.

They would all go well with a snorkel.

 

[Wes Harden]

This heated blanket you speak of, how is powered?

 

[Groz's Burb]

I sometimes think winter camping could be fun, but I'm too chicken to try it. I think sleeping in the burb might be one of the better ways to do it.

Did you guys use the tracks on the back of the Jeep. Curious if they work well.

We did use the tracks, they worked out well. Apparently my buddy bought them on Amazon for $38, not bad at all.
Sleeping in the Burb is nice because it feels safe. I used a heated blanket and a small propane heater to take the chill out of the air every now and again (it was below 0 that night) but the heated blanket would've been fine on its own.

 

[Groz's Burb]

This heated blanket you speak of, how is powered?

Excellent question; it's a typical heated blanket you'd plug in at home, it pulls a consistent 300 watts but is pretty large.
I power the blanket with a 2000w inverter, which I have hooked onto a large deep cycle AGM battery.

 

[bigjbear]

That looks like an awesome trip.

 

[Wes Harden]

So curious, I went looking for electric blanket voltage. I found some that are 12v DC. Which would be way more efficient for camping in vehicle.
Unless you are using the inverter as a heat source also.
Our power grid and home building/solar installation, should start considering the many appliances we are converting to 5-12volt DC from 120v ac.
The solar system is generating DC voltage, then we invert it to 120v ac, only to have many appliance's power supply convert it back to DC at whatever voltage they need. A lot of waste here.

 

[HankScorpio]

I have done a fair amount of winter camping with questionable gear. Usually didn't have a 4 season tent. One of my tricks was to throw a heavy blanket over the tent and then put the rain fly on over it. This sealed up the vents in the standard 3 season tent and held heat a lot better. I usually added a tarp over the whole thing also. Sleeping bag inside a 2nd sleeping bag works pretty good too. I found the biggest hassle of winter camping was drying gear so it wasn't frozen solid the next morning.

 

[bigjbear]

My winter camping gear was to use my small dome tent set up on top of a blue tarp instead of the normal ground sheet. Set the tent up, top with a synthetic quilt, then the rain fly, then either a canvas tarp (dry trips) or a heavyweight blue/brown tarp (wet trips) over that. A full length sleeping pad to keep me off the ground was a must. That was a lot less expensive than buying a real 4 season tent. Obviously this was for camping out of the truck and not for backpacking.

 

[ZooMad75]

I’m done tent camping. Here’s my process.

Step one park truck level.

Step two pop top on camper.

Step three hang blanket over opening to front seats.

Step four fire up furnace and set thermostat.

Give it 20 minutes and come back to toasty warm cabin on wheels. Sleep with 40 degree bag.

Key point make sure the propane bottle is full.

 

[shrineboy]

Yeah, always sleep in the suburban. Weather doesn’t matter.

 

[Big Ray]

You guys put insulation in your trucks?

 

[shrineboy]

You guys put insulation in your trucks?

Nope, just use an insulated air mattress and a good sleeping bag. Of course getting out of the bag on really cold mornings can be…invigorating to say the least.

 

[Big Ray]

When I camped in the cold I'd roll up my clothes and keep them in the bag with me.
They'd be all warm and toasty in the morning.

 

[scouthead]

this really makes me miss the '90 suburban i drove for years when i was young and dumb (dumber). It was before I ever owned my own 4x4 and I learned all kinds of different ways to get a 5700 lb 2wd vehicle stuck and unstuck during the weekends... a stock 2wd suburban with street tires will go lots of places as long as you can keep the weight over the rear tires! -will also make you a better driver

I camped in that thing ALL THE TIME. kick everything out of the back door, close and lock, go to sleep.

wish I could find an affordable 4wd suburban that was either pre smog or already had a diesel in it... then put nv4500 and np241, and go camping.