Some of your writers have questions about winter use. I don't think most RVs are user friendly when it comes to cold weather and I would offer the following experience.

We live in Michigan (Sterling Heights). We have owned a 34 ft Damon Intruder on a Ford chassis (gasoline) for the last 18 months. I have had quite a bit of experience with winterizing/de-winterizing, since we use our RV year round, including its use as a base when we ski at Boyne Mountain, Michigan in the winter. At first, I was intimidated by the winterizing-dewinterizing issue. But, I have bought several books, talked to several experts and now its no big deal.

The first thing is that you have to be sure that your water supply, holding tanks and supply lines can be heated. I discovered one problem with my unit in that the water tank and the main supply line sit next to the access door. When sitting or driving for an extended period (i.e. 5+ hours) in very cold temperatures (i.e. below 20 degrees), the water lines kept freezing up, even though the tank compartment is heated by the main furnace. I solved the problem by wrapping the pipes with 110V AC heating tape and placing some insulation between the supply lines and the access door. Of course this means that, when driving in the dead of winter, one has to wait to fill the water tank until plugged into power or run the generator to produce power. The other option is to not add water to the tank until plugged in at the destination. But this is a small price to pay.

In any case, I have found that the winterizing process is fairly simple. Empty the holding tanks. Drain all supply lines as best as possible. Shift your water heater valve to the bypass position. Open the water heater access door and unscrew the drain plug and open the air valve to let it drain. Connect an adapter to the main water inlet connector and attach an air compressor (I found that a small unit from Sears meant for tires, air mattresses, etc. works just fine) in order to blow out most of the water from the lines. If I do not do this step, the water between the main inlet and the water tank and lines will freeze. Even if they don't rupture, I am not be able to add new water to the system until it thaws out!

Next, I installed a by-pass valve just before the water pump. In the normal position, the valve brings in water from the tank or the main water supply. In the other position, it allows me to screw on a small hose that I place into a gallon of RV antifreeze. I then pump antifreeze by opening each faucet until the pink liquid appears. One gallon does the whole system. I leave the by-pass valve in the antifreeze position and unscrew the hose. The whole process takes about fifteen minutes. There are no other special winterizing functions on my moter home.

To de-winterize, I hook up the water, run the water faucets until the pink antifreeze disappears, open the water heater bypass valve and then turn the valve next to the water pump to its normal position. That's it, other than my previous comments about keeping all water tanks and lines above freezing.

As for the batteries, I always have problems because even with everything turned off, certain things draw current. For example, federal law requires that the carbon monoxide detector be activated at all times and those things will deplete batteries in as little as 3 weeks in the winter. So, I installed battery cutoff switches on both RV batteries and that solved the problem.