Over Christmas we drove the Navion (an Itasca Navion is another name for the Winnebago View) to the ski resort for a night. It had been dumping snow for days, and we wanted some of it, and it seemed a great chance to try the motorhome in the snow.
Because the weather had been so bad/awesome, chains were required on the road up to the mountain. So here’s what I learned:
- With duallies, you need to be careful with chain clearance between tires. So even though there’s a ton of clearance in the wheel well for chains, low-clearance chains are still recommended because of the smaller space between the inner and outer tires.
- Installing chains on a duallie motorhome isn’t too bad. You drive the inner tire up on a ramp (in my case my Lynx leveling blocks
), so that the outer tire is suspended in the air.
- Bring foul-weather gear. You’ll be on the ground checking the chains, and that ground is going to be slushy, cold, and filthy.
Once the chains are on, try to stay on the snow-covered portion of the roads. Driving on bare pavement drastically reduces the life of your chains – and it rattles the heck out of the occupants! I kept to 25mph with my emergency flashers on, and was quite happy.
For chains, I bought these:
Security Chain Company SZ429 Super Z6 Cable Chain
They were easy to install, remove, and store away, and cost less than $100.
Thanks for sharing. I need chains just in case for a trip in January Denver to Seattle and this was a big help.
Glad it helped!
My only other piece of advice: when you’re putting on the chains, note where they attach at the back (this will make sense when you’re installing them). That way, when it’s time to take them off, you’ll know where to reach around behind the tire to unclip them. I didn’t do this the first time, and it took a while to blindly find the clip.
Have a fun and safe trip!
Mike.
Mike, did you have any issues on other storm chasing trip with your Navion/View? I’m about to buy one and was hoping to use it as our storm chasing camper for next winter. Let me know your thoughts and experience with the camper on passes and snowy roads, please. Thank you, Thomas
Hey Thomas!
I didn’t drive it too often in the snow. When I did, I took it slow and safe. I think it handles just as well as any other motorhome, and I’m sure the duallies give some extra grip.
I think it makes a decent winter camper, but it’s not really made for that. I seem to recall that I had the heating pads on the tanks, and I don’t think I had issues with pipes freezing. There’s not a lot of insulation, so the heater runs a lot. I brought a ceramic plug-in heater, because the propane heater cycles on and off at night and is loud. The plug-in only works when there’s shore power available, though. I’d make a heavy curtain for over the door, and get insulated window coverings, if I was serious about winter camping.
I didn’t want to bring boards inside the camper, so I stored them in the lockers under the camper – unfortunately those are hard to get at when the slide-out is extended, and they get pretty wet and full of snow, so you’ll probably get rust on your edges.
There’s not a lot of good spaces for hanging wet stuff. We hung what we could in the shower, but with 4 of us there was a lot of wet clothing!! We also brought glove/boot dryers which are key. Things don’t dry as well in the motorhome as they do in a properly-heated house.
There’s no perfect vehicle for everything. If I was looking for a winter-specific storm-chasing vehicle, I’d probably consider a 4×4 pickup with a camper shell. I’d put a vertical box on the back for boards and skis. Or maybe there are good 4×4 class Cs available now? I’m a bit out of the loop.
But if you go with the View, you’ll still be happy, I think 🙂 It’s popular for a reason. When I bought mine, buying a new one wasn’t much more expensive than buying a used one that was a few years old. I’m not sure what the market is like now, but I think something like 30% off MSRP was common for buying new, especially if you bought from dealerships near the factory.
Hope that helps!
Mike.