THE VAN IS FREEZING COLD IN THE MORNING | Van Life Canada

So you want to start van life but you're worried about the winter time and sleeping in a super cold van. Look at this it was like minus six degrees yesterday today is like feels like a whole lot colder. As you can tell even the little bit of moisture that's on the front window of my van is well frozen and it's uh it's cold. We just tried to film this outside yeah not gonna happen a little bit too cold for me. I'm the kind of guy that I don't do cold weather. I'm a sunshine guy 100 percent. On that note this video is for everybody watching that wants to know if van life is really cold. Yes it is freaking cold. If you're expecting to get into this lifestyle and doing something like me with a minimal build minimal insulation and running just a basic simple olympian wave 3 or a small propane heater then watch this video because then you might learn something. I don't know what you're gonna learn but you're gonna learn that yep it's cold in this lifestyle. That's for sure. It's not cold in the van though. Let me explain. Okay it is cold in the van just not cold in the van at the times that you need it to be warm. When you're in bed and underneath your covers you are so snug and warm it's perfect. It's just exactly how you'd expect your bed to feel. It's comfortable and it's warm and you're gonna have a damn good night's sleep. When you wake up in the morning on the other hand totally different story. When you wake up and you just get out of the blankets and you just start to shiver you start to shiver things like oh it's cold. You turn the heater on crawl back in bed give it a little bit your van will warm up and it'll be back to a good comfortable temperature. We're sitting in the van right now the windows are open just a little bit on both sides for some ventilation and I've got my olympian wave 3 heater on on the floor and the temperature in here is perfect. So if you're thinking about running a heater like that all night long you can if you want to but some things you need to keep in mind any kind of a propane heat source like a portable propane heat source like the olympian wave 3 or the mr buddy kind of thing you're gonna get a moisture kickoff. Okay moisture kickoff when you're in the van and you're sleeping for eight hours. Imagine what you're gonna wake up to eight hours later. Sure you're gonna be warm probably warm enough to the point you've kicked your blankets off meaning that it was probably too warm but imagine what that heater and the moisture has done to your van while you slept. Your windows for one are gonna be soaking wet and you're gonna get moisture in places in the van that you never thought would ever get moist. So I myself have never ever ran that heater at night because there's no point. Get a sub zero sleeping bag if you're worried about being cold get one because on those cold nights just crawl into the sub zero and you'll stay totally toasty warm. Last night I never used my sub zero sleeping bag and I slept underneath two down quilts and I was so comfy and so warm so was this guy. I even woke up last night in the middle of the night and pulled him underneath the blanket snuggled up with him and I woke up to him at the foot of my bed outside of the blankets. So he was warm enough to get out and just say I'm gonna go sleep at the foot of my bed so and it was probably at least zero degrees celsius inside the van this morning enough that you could see my breath and it froze that little bit of a frostiness on my front window. Two things are gonna happen when you're running your heater at night. One is you're gonna be warm when you sleep but the room's gonna be warm so there's really no need to heat the room when underneath your blankets are warm so I think running it all night is kind of silly. And two you know you're gonna like red alert everybody that you're sleeping in your van because your front windows are going to be fully completely soaking wet or completely fogged over. So complete red alert no matter where you're parking people are gonna be like what is going on inside of that van because that is nasty and it does it looks disgusting. So for me I like to sleep in a colder van because it cuts down on anything that hits my window. If anything I'll wake up sometimes it's a bit foggy around the outsides but never on the windows and never overly obvious. So the only time I do get that is if I'm parked somewhere in the middle of the afternoon it's cold outside and my heater's running you know sometimes I will let it run for four hours in a day to edit some videos or something and it will fog my windows right over. So that's why I don't run my heater at night. I prefer to sleep in a bit of a colder van because you know it keeps things a lot more stealth and that is for damn sure. Because walking by a gross foggy window you're always thinking okay what's going on inside that thing imagine that walking by a car that's fully dripping wet yeah what's going on in there. Now you know that you're gonna have some cold mornings in the van is that something to deter somebody from getting into it maybe but it's if you think of this lifestyle as permanent camping and the freedom of camping wherever you want it's just like camping you're gonna have to deal with the elements and nature and life that you would have never had to have dealt with inside of your condo. In your cushy little condo or apartment life you can avoid all the temperatures outside because you have a climate control system inside of your place that keeps the air dry keeps the air warm and all of that stuff that your home needs to stay its own climate just say. Your van on the other hand is exposed to nature unlike your houses you're in and out the doors all the time you know you're in a metal container out inside of this great world that we live in exposed to everything so you're bringing in a lot of wet stuff from outside on a rainy day you're losing a ton of heat through all the door seals and the windows so heating a van and staying warm in the winter in a van is going to be totally different than your condo for one you don't have that climate control system you have a propane heater and that's what we're talking about today we're not talking about a wood stove because that's a whole different story but you got a propane heater in your van just a simple little one that's gotten you started you haven't bought dry source propane heaters that you spent a thousand dollars for we're not talking about those ones we're talking about simple van builds with a simple propane heater so just know guys that getting into this stuff you're gonna have some damn cold days let's touch on insulation because it kind of goes along with this whole staying warm in the morning or being cold in the van i have really simple insulation i have two layers on the roof it's sealed completely airtight is that airtight it's sealed so there's nothing going in or out of it and you know i think that's the most important thing you gotta insulate is the roof the rest of it all around my van all that those aren't windows those are actually two layers of pink foam board that are painted black and i've stuffed insulation and all the doors and major cavities around the bottom of the van to keep you know cold air from getting up and in it but do i think if i were to do double layers of insulation over top of everything i have there would be a difference in my climate i don't think there would be i don't think that if i doubled up all of that stuff back there it would make that much of a difference it might hold heat for an extra half hour maybe an hour if i'm lucky longer but who gives a crap because i'm sleeping anyway it's still going to be cold in the morning so for me i think in my climate basic insulation is all i needed that won't be doing anymore that's for sure but i don't think doubling all that up is going to make a difference for me being ice cold in the morning running a heater all night definitely is so and if you're thinking about um a wood stove i don't cover that kind of stuff in here because my channel is for people that are just kind of starting out you know because i'm still kind of starting out i still got the basics in my van and living it out simple style but if you're the kind of person that was thinking about a wood stove i think they're awesome i think the wood stoves are just badass um i wouldn't put one in my van you know maybe at some point but i wouldn't put one in my van because i don't like the stack that sticks out of the roof and then those things are pretty decent in size and you know i don't want one sticking out the roof but they produce really good dry heat but let's think about this you stalk the fire it's good snug and warm you crawl into bed and you're just like this is the best feeling in the world you got the fireplace beside you going it's beautiful then the fire goes out and you're passed out sleeping six hours later you wake up in the morning and your van is not gonna be warm because the heater shut off six hours ago when it stopped burning so you're gonna be in the same scenario as me you're gonna have a cold morning and no big deal it's just something you gotta suck up and deal with in this lifestyle is that you're gonna be cold whoopee day well that's all i really wanted today was to tell you guys and share with you guys the truth that you're gonna be freaking cold some mornings in this lifestyle think of it your home is now in mother nature you're in it no matter what the weather forecast is if it's a super beautiful sunny day or it's an overly hot day or a cold winter day like today rain storm thunderstorm wind storm snow storm whatever your home is parked inside of that whatever's going on you're in it you can't avoid it you can't run from it because your house is parked right in that weather system so you're gonna have to deal with cold mornings and wet days and rocking windy vans and that's the whole other aspect of van life that i love i love that i'm exposed to this stuff because normally on a winter day i has no way i'd be hanging out the window of my condo enjoying all this crisp air and i love that part of it i love it that this has got me out in the rain this has gotten me out into like the wet gross days that i would have just avoided it got me out in the snow it got me out in you you know what i mean you're either in this lifestyle because you're ready for whatever life throws at you or you're just not you know if you're the kind of person that enjoys the condo life and expects that same cushy condo life in your van it ain't gonna happen so if you're not ready for what all of this brings then you might want to rethink this whole van life stuff i think it's freaking awesome i would rather be sitting in my van on this icy chill day than sitting in any condo that i paid way too much money for on rent this lifestyle to me so far has been freaking just a dream come true like i i love it suck it up on those cold mornings and just deal with it it's no big deal it's cold for a couple of hours whatever turn your heater on make yourself coffee and warm up but anyway guys it's all i wanted to share my icy cold morning with you um smash the subscribe button say what's up to everybody in the comments and uh i'll see you guys soon i don't know when but it'll be soon anyway all right weirdos say bye disco yeah i got a funny feeling it just might snow today it's got that feeling you know what i mean it just might all right guys adios