There is no need to debate whether a truck is better in cold and wet weather than a tent. A truck has the advantages a house might give yet it has not the prison-alike feeling of a house.
A tent gets condensation, even an 800 euro Hilleberg. A truck not. It is certain that inside the truck it is dry. Even more so, it is incredible wonderful and utterly romantic to be in the cold and rain inside our own little house. Not much of a minus, I agree…
Going to the toilet keeps being a hassle in nature when it is wet, snowy and cold. We do have an inbuilt compost toilet but never have we used it when being together in the truck. It seems to be too intimate an activity to share it, being on such a small surface together. Our toilet is right in front of the window, and can be sealed off with a curtain and the truck door.
This toilet is based on a compost system that separates hard matter from pee. The poop is burried in saw dust and the pee collects in a container. Geo ordered the urine separator at Free Range Designs. I used the toilet when I was alone and there’s a faint odor only a second or so, and that was in the middle of the summer.
The little powerful Canadian ‘Cub’ stove makes it hot and steamy inside. We are even able to bake bread in it! It’s a tremendous adorable and super heat system. Quick to light, uses only little pieces of wood and burning like a true furnace. Not much of a minus at all, but…
But once the door opens an uninviting gust of cold enters. I hate cold gusts of air!
Although this wood stove needs air flow, when it is stormy weather the wind blows right into the pipe. Though the pipe has a protector on top of it, wind seems to know its way in. Accompanying us a nice cloud of black fumes, which we could do without.
It seems that there is a lot of dust at all times. But perhaps I am not used to having dust any longer…
Driving in such a big vehicle is stressful! Not to speak of the medieval Spanish towns to maneuver through! There needs to be a lot of open space to turn, and one can not expect this in cities.
No peace of mind
We never have peace of mind when we leave the truck alone. Geo has placed another lock to the door, yet all these locks are rather easy to molest. Though the outlook of our truck is shabby, I always take my most precious belongings with me.
We are constantly worried that someone smash the windows, vandalism occurs or batteries stolen when we need to leave the truck on the street somewhere. I had such worries also with my bicycle but never left my bicycle on its own for long.
We depend on the sturdiness of the truck, which gives us a very safe feeling, yet dare not think of what we have to do when a tire gets a flat! Technical issues have to be dealt with by Geo (who never owned a truck before nor wasn’t a truck driver). So, we are praising the truck for simply performing so well.
Yet, we have come to conclusion that for us it is better to live in the truck in wintery conditions than in the high summer of Spain.
Cycling Cindy 
9 replies on “Minuses of living in a truck in winter”
Wij deden dat ook toen we in het leger zaten
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Hoi ome Piet, wat deden jullie in het leger ook dan?
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For summer maybe it would be good to have an opening high up like a sunroof. Hot air rises and in rushes cool air from below. If it is made of glass it can also be a discreet window letting in natural light like a window but no on can see in. A good thing when stopped on a city or a town street. It’s good to look like a plain truck in populated areas….
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Hi again,
We talked all sorts of openings, windows and roofs through but decided to keep it almost as lowkey as possible.
Glass roof? I don’t know about these technical details but to me it seems glass is breakable in a truck. When I stay in and Geo moves the truck, there’s a lot of shaking going on!!
We actually went for full insulation (if I say this correctly?) So that in winter no wind would come in, no cold seeping through.
Hard plastic window panes were in our talks, but we decided not to. It’s also expensive and I argued that when we want to SEE the outside, we GO outside. Besides, we have that huge front window 😊👌
Also glass though 🤔 that is very stable in fact.
Have a good day and thanks for your input and thoughts.
Greetings Cindy and Geo
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You can get large sunroofs from wrecked SUV’s. The glass is very tough. Meant to take vibration, water and life in a vehicle. The cheaper ones are manual and just pop up at one end a few cm’s and make a good discreet vent to let out hot air in summer. I didn’t realise your back compartment is open to the cab in which case you do have daylight in the back even when locked up.
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Do you know that we actually did not know about such roofs. We learned it only now, now we are in serious money spending society 😂. Its new to us, such roofs. We learned much more about cars in general and how they can steer automatically!! Crazy!! Hahaha….
Yes, our whole back is made from glass. A huge light source and view.
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And, thank you so much for the pee separator idea. Awesome! I’m slowly working out how I want to do things when I finally get a shack and that is one of them! Ps love all those beautiful shots, especially ones of you both in your truck home.
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Hi there again, nice to read you again 😊 I thought the pee separator was a great idea. And that it could help someone else too! Good to hear it does so 😊👌 it takes practice for a lady though, but it does not take much effort to get used to it.
Thanks for your kind words 😊
In general, we loved it in there, that makes good shots of us together easy.
Have a good day.
Cindy and Geo
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