Prepping for Arctic road trip

[Green Giant]

Thought I’d start a thread for our winter Lapland trip up into Sweden and Finland.
I’m starting to get the van and various bits of kit ready, in no particular order, it’s going to be cold and snowy up there, that’s for sure.
Our inspiration for this trip has come from watching spiriT5_of_adventure, a couple on YouTube, who take their VW camper
touring around the arctic in winter, a very chilled out couple, not the usual YT hype, they once hit a temperature low of -42 when both heaters shut down, worth a watch that one.

 

[Green Giant]

Got the Autoterm liquid heater fitted under the van to heat up the engine coolant.
I’ve been watching the weather out there and it’s been below -30 lately

 

[Green Giant]

Tomorrow I’m getting some winter tyres fitted, they are not Nordic spec or studded, but I’ve used these tyres (conti winter contact) for years on my vans and car, never got stuck or skidded off the road in some deep steep snow, I drive kirkstone pass though the winter, so know their limits.

 

[Green Giant]

Covered most of the van floor with 12 mm camping sleeping mat to give some insulation, then a rug on top, will have rubber mats and separate rugs for the side door area.
I’ve removed all the cupboard doors to allow the warm air to circulate around, especially the gas and water cupboard, added bungee to keep things in place.
Removed rear plastic cover from leisure battery to help keep it from getting too cold.

Once we get to Sweden the diesel heater won’t be turned off, glad it’s German, not Chinese.


Covered over gas drop out vent but have 3 alarms dotted around for safety, I always close bottle valve when hob not in
use and open window/vent when using hob

 

[Green Giant]

This will be
the first time away in the van that the Crocs won’t be coming with us, we have upgraded to another type of high fashion plastic footwear, the Viking insulated wellies, and when you’re on a budget, the cheapest colour wins, they are actually proper Nordic spec winter wellies.
The dry robes will be coming along for the trip.

 

[Dellmassive]

Awesome... Keep us posted with your adventures.

Loving the cold twist.

Most adventures we see here are off to chace the sun.

Got a link for those wellies?

 

[Green Giant]

Awesome... Keep us posted with your adventures.

Loving the cold twist.

Most adventures we see here are off to chace the sun.

Got a link for those

Reviews say order a full size or two up, which is true

 

[Salty Spuds]

A couple of things we’ve picked up from our ski trips.
Washer fluid, fill the washer bottle with concentrated washer and make sure to run it through until it’s at the jets, including the headlamp washers if you have them. Once it freezes it’s too late you’re stuck. We buy the “invernale” grade stuff from supermarkets in the Alps, it’s good for -40C
Internal water pipes and tank, I’ve trace heated and lagged ours after having the lot freeze up in a -20C off grid foray.
Fill the kettle whenever you have running water, you can always boil a frozen kettle, filling a kettle from frozen pipes is a different thing.
Get an electric blanket, we picked up a Silentnight one from the Aisle of Dreams in Aldi. Best £20 we’ve spent for winter camping. We use it all night when on EHU, and use it to pre heat the bed for 10 mins when off grid using the inverter.
Snow shovel, don’t buy cheap, it’ll fail at the worst possible time.

I made a ski boot/boot drier that fits to the secondary outlet on the webasto, can’t beat warm dry boots on a morning.

 

[Green Giant]

Cheers for the info, I’m not sure how the water pipes and tap will function, I’ve done a test and the cupboard does keep warm, I’ve brought 3x 10 litre extra containers to store water as it will be more difficult to find a working tap in winter, we are already converts to electric blankets and run it off a Ecoflow power bank all night, to save the leisure battery, also brought a small heated pad that I could use if we have a problem with frozen water/gas/battery.

Note taken about cheap shovel, I have brought an Amazon special… but think I’ve got a proper mountaineering shovel in the loft, so a his and hers..I’ll make sure I have the one that breaks..
We are planning on a campsite stay every 3 nights, but there are not many open this time of year.
Van is going for a service next week and will check coolant/washer fluid temp and change oil to the thinner grade VW use in colder climates, it’s going to be an experience for sure, a bucket list trip
Drive on the ice roads in Lulea
Visit Kiruna NP to hopefully see Northern lights, visit the real ice hotel, dog sledding, visit Santa village in Finland, go on the long Toboggan run, do the ice hole dip, Royal Marine style (possibly)
Snowshoe out to an off grid cabin to stay overnight, chop wood, make fire, Hunt moose bears and wolves, joking about the hunting!
Oh, I’ve just remembered we have bought Amazon special snow shoes at £26 a pair, the proper ones cost around £200+ a pair, it’s going to be an interesting trek

 

[BuilderJay]

Like Dellmassive said. Keep us posted with pics!
I done my Winter Warfare Training up in Norway. Loved the place but absolutely freezing! Especially after jumping into the ice cutouts and pulling yourself under to the next hole!

 

[Green Giant]

Like Dellmassive said. Keep us posted with pics!
I done my Winter Warfare Training up in Norway. Loved the place but absolutely freezing! Especially after jumping into the ice cutouts and pulling yourself under to the next hole!

Yes will do, yes Norway is fantastic, if anyone has a camper it’s a must do trip.
We drove up to Nordkapp via Sweden/finland in September 24, then spent 3 weeks travelling down Norways coastal roads, did lots of hiking etc, we are short on time so can’t get over to Norway on this trip.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Like Dellmassive said. Keep us posted with pics!
I done my Winter Warfare Training up in Norway. Loved the place but absolutely freezing! Especially after jumping into the ice cutouts and pulling yourself under to the next hole!

Respect

 

[Green Giant]

Swapping over the tow hitch to the pin version, incase I need to put a tow strop on the rear of van, I use those soft shackles these days, very easy to use.
I have my homemade Front runner storage box mount fitted on the actual ball, handy extra storage and doesn’t need a lighting bar.
Ps, we have a u shape layout so don’t need to open the tailgate as everything is accessible from inside van.
The big bag on rack stores our external poptop/windscreen covers, steps snow shoes, etc, basically anything that gets wet and dirty.
The black water jerry can will be replaced with a yellow diesel jerry can, and will fill it up when we get to a garage that sells very low temp fuel in Sweden.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Swapping over the tow hitch to the pin version, incase I need to put a tow strop on the rear of van, I use those soft shackles these days, very easy to use.
I have my homemade Front runner storage box mount fitted on the actual ball, handy extra storage and doesn’t need a lighting bar.
Ps, we have a u shape layout so don’t need to open the tailgate as everything is accessible from inside van.
The big bag on rack stores our external poptop/windscreen covers, steps snow shoes, etc, basically anything that gets wet and dirty.
The black water jerry can will be replaced with a yellow diesel jerry can, and will fill it up when we get to a garage that sells very low temp fuel in Sweden.

View attachment 315191View attachment 315192

Re waste water, we use a collapsible bucket in winter under the drain. You can adjust the height to suit the conditions and it's easy to empty when frozen.

https://www.outdooraction.co.uk/images/kampa-10l-collapsible-bucket-p9457-68423_medium.jpg

 

[Dellmassive]

This will be

the first time away in the van that the Crocs won’t be coming with us, we have upgraded to another type of high fashion plastic footwear, the Viking insulated wellies, and when you’re on a budget, the cheapest colour wins, they are actually proper Nordic spec winter wellies.
The dry robes will be coming along for the trip.


View attachment 315174

Found them..

Viking.

Look like 11.5 is the largest

Viking Norse Low Boot - Wellington Boots | Buy online | Alpinetrek

Viking - Norse Low Boot - Wellington boots ➽ Free delivery to UK from £75 - Buy online now! ✓ 100 Day Return Policy ✓ Dispatch within 24h ✓ Expert advice

www.alpinetrek.co.uk

...

 

[Green Giant]

Re waste water, we use a collapsible bucket in winter under the drain. You can adjust the height to suit the conditions and it's easy to empty when frozen.

https://www.outdooraction.co.uk/images/kampa-10l-collapsible-bucket-p9457-68423_medium.jpg

Good idea, I’ve got a valve fitted under the sink (Pond pump diverter) and can toggle between the internal waste container or drain out under van, the pipe goes though gas drop out hole, but I think this pipe will gradually freeze up, I might get a rubber cap/bung to go over end of this external pipe.
-7 is our coldest camp overnight in the van so going to learn a lot of lessons on this trip

 

[chimpusmaximus]

Switchable waste, great idea, add that to the list of jobs I need to do.

 

[Green Giant]

Ordered an on board display so I can see the accurate engine coolant temperature and a few other gauges, plugs into the OBD port, also can scan for basic code faults, also ordered a mini ceramic heater as an emergency get out of jail if our van heater or battery packs up, we will head to a campsite and plug in EHU, needs to be small as space is tight on this trip.
It’s around 500w, just a on/off switch and safety knock over trip switch, quiet running.

 

[Dellmassive]

Ordered an on board display so I can see the accurate engine coolant temperature and a few other gauges, plugs into the OBD port, also can scan for basic code faults, also ordered a mini ceramic heater as an emergency get out of jail if our van heater or battery packs up, we will head to a campsite and plug in EHU, needs to be small as space is tight on this trip.
It’s around 500w, just a on/off switch and safety knock over trip switch, quiet running.View attachment 315214View attachment 315215View attachment 315216

I've got one of those kW 206 displays.....

Have you been watching mispronounced adventures... ... Lol.

I haven't fitted it yet though.

 

[Salty Spuds]

Ordered an on board display so I can see the accurate engine coolant temperature and a few other gauges, plugs into the OBD port, also can scan for basic code faults, also ordered a mini ceramic heater as an emergency get out of jail if our van heater or battery packs up, we will head to a campsite and plug in EHU, needs to be small as space is tight on this trip.
It’s around 500w, just a on/off switch and safety knock over trip switch, quiet running.View attachment 315214View attachment 315215View attachment 315216

We use a 1-2kW fan heater when on EHU. We also have a 700W mini oil filled radiator which we leave on all night and when we’re out. Speaking from experience, I don’t think a 500W heater is going to make much impression in Arctic temperatures. I’d consider something beefier personally.