Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting USING ENCLOSED TRAILERS FOR A HUNTING CAMP

We are planning to take our stock trailer to Colorado to haul our UTV's in and then sleep in it at night. Want to see if anyone has ideas for heat or any other thoughts on doing this. Thinking of using one of the Buddy Heaters since it has a safety shut off on it. Also our openings have plexy glass covering them so we can slide open if need be to vent. Not sure we would even leave heat on at night anyway since we all have good sleeping bags rated to -20. Thanks

I used this one for several years. The open slats were filled with plexiglass and the back door I closed in with a piece of plywood that had clips on it that hooked on the top frame.

I hauled gear in the front stall and mules in the back. Then broomed out and washed the back stall out before setting up camp. In the pedestrian door in the front stall,I had a vent for the wood stove when needed. Most of the time,heat was the Blue Flame 30K btu propane as shown. I don't think your buddy heater will fill the bill.You have all that cold steel around you. Northern Tool has those heaters on sale right now I think. Heck of a better buy than the over priced Buddy heaters.

For a quick morning heat up I had one of those heaters that attaches to the top of a 20# propane tank.

We had a Minnesota fella bring his portable ice fishing hut to use as he domicile one year.
He said it was very comfortable.

I've used my plain old 7x14 box trailer and have learned some things. With three guys in the closed trailer with a Coleman lantern running it will rain - enough moisture accumulates on the ceiling to drip and there's a lot and my ceiling vent is less than good. With the humidity inside approaching 100% it actually make the outside feel warmer. Set up a wood stove or an RV catalytic vented heater. We used a Buddy and 20# bottle but left the door propped open, this is far from ideal.

Need a step to get in and out. Sure you can get by without one but it gets old fast. Climbing in with gear get dangerous.

Don't sleep on the floor, get a cot. Bring more bedding than you would think, my trailer sleeps colder than a tent and on the ground. Set up hangers ahead of time.

Hide your extra fuel. Seems people think it is acceptable to steal your fuel cans if they are left in sight.

I know of some guys who used a 4 horse bumper pull. They rigged fold-down cots & tables from the walls. They'd unload the horses, sweep it out and throw a tarp on the floor.They had another tarp to throw over the top with a chimney hole for a wood stove. It helped hold the heat a lot better besides closing off the partially open sides. A 4 or more horse will have a side door that's a lot more handy than using the big rear door.

For a heater, I have a Big Buddy in my 23' camper. So far its worked fine down to 25 on medium heat but of course the camper is insulated. I haven't had it out in 0 temps so I don't know how cold it's good for.

Coldest conditions for us was about -5 at 10,000 ft my partners froze their butts off running 3 heaters in an Uninsulated box trailer . We were in a tent trailer with a tiny heater and we're comfortable because of a tarp covering the tent trailer creating a big air insulation cushion. If you don't insulate the trailer you might consider covering the trailer with a stand alone tarp and letting the air help, as low as you can around the trailer with 2' clear air gap is what I remember working for us.

If conditions are mild leave tarp and poles out of the way or cover your gear for rain protection.

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Enjoy

Bare metal will pull the heat out in a hurry. Any kind of wood interior or canvas tarp over the top will slow down then heat transfer a lot.

I had a bus for a camp once. That darn thing was colder inside than out. I hung some moving blankets on the inside so i wasnt sleeping right against the metal side. Warmed it up considerably..

I use a 7'x17' enclosed trailer for camp and it works great. If I have more than one person with me I set up my wall tent and use the trailer as a cooking and gathering space. For heat I use the Buddy heater and it does a fine job. For light I have gone to battery lanterns (after using propane for many years) to cut down on the carbon monoxide.

Sleep on a cot with a good pad and cut the heat off when you go to bed and back on as you get up. The best sleeping bag you can afford really helps. A trailer is especially nice during a wind storm, makes cooking much less of a chore.

I've used this set up in TN, KY, IL, IA, MS, CO and WY and it is a pretty slick system. The only problem I've had is during a blizzard in Iowa the knob on my buddy heater broke and couldn't be fixed or rigged. No heat made for an uncomfortable camp. I ordered three knobs once I made it home but not having a back up heating plan was not well thought out.

Our trailer will be a Aluminum one. Do you think it will sweat as much as a steel on or no difference? Thanks for the ideas.

YES

No need to go outside when nature calls - your stock has been pissing on the floor for years

True story.... We leave our truck/horse trailer at a trailhead and pack in to camp. The floor has about 6 inches of pine shavings on it to absorb horse pizz. We sifted out all the stuff when we left for camp, so it wouldn't be frozen blocks when we came off the mountain. When we came down, we found that everyone in the campground had thoroughly enjoyed the privacy and windproof outhouse we had left for them......I chit you not (pun), I had to shovel it ALL out before we loaded horses to come home. There were literally hundreds of piles, and the accompanying amount of toilet paper left for our discovery upon arrival to the truck. Before the next season, I had drilled all the door latches to take padlocks......never want to go thru THAT again.

Yep , learned a long time ago.If you want it left alone,lock it up.

huntsman22, as per usual I am laughing out loud after reading your last post. I almost Pi@#ed myself!

We had a group of out of staters join us near Meeker, CO in a metal trailer. If I recall, they said they froze their rear ends off at night. I think they were using electric heat with a Honda generator.


My advice, split the cost of a wall tent and a good wood stove. The best $1600 you will spend.

I bought a 16ft v nose with a RV door, and Windows that's big enough to put a 1-2 quads in plus gear, then I insulated it and put a 20k RV furnace in it.. All good.

I'll probably put it on Craigslist this year, I changed by style of hunting, and I was using it for work so now it's just a extra toy hauler....

You can get the RV furnaces off eBay.. I put in a thermostat and everything... Given the vent to the outside you can sleep easy, no chance of exhaust...

Trailer from the back with the doors open before I put in the cabinet with the RV furnace


Exhaust port hole I cut into the trailer


Furnace in cabinet before I slid it up to the exhaust hole in trailer


Cabinet top view, furnace in left side, battery goes in the right side

I have used horse trailers for years as a trail head camp. I have a hole cut in top side of trailer for wood stove. Keeps it warm. Sleep on cots with backpacker foam under sleeping bag. I think those enclosed trailers that are lined with plywood would make a good camp. Should not be as cold as all metal horse trailer. The ones I have seen have a man door in front so easy access in and out.