Heated RV Water Hose, Build or Buy

As our time here in Florida quickly comes to an end. I'm trying to prepare us for the trip north to North Carolina. I'm mostly concerned with traveling from Atlanta to Cherokee. Not completely sure what to expect I'm trying to plan for the worst case scenario.

Will we be able to find a campground? If we can will the water spigot freeze or be frozen already. I'm not calling ahead because I'm not sure how far we'll go each day. But the preparations continue to boondock if needed.

I've checked out the generator, its good to go, I've got extra fuel for it. Filling the fresh water tank I'll do just before we leave. I'm looking at getting a couple of batteries and an inverter to run my Cpap machine if boondocking has to happen.

I've already made us a heated water hose just because I've looked at the weather trend for March in Cherokee. It calls for freezing temps for the entire month. Below are the steps I took to build it. The first one I've made so don't know if this is correct or not, all I can say is it works.

 

First I ordered a heat tape from amazon priced at $41.32.

Next I gathered all the materials I would need. 

This included a 25 foot water hose

5 5 foot pipe insulation tubes

1 roll of high heat electric tape

1 roll of aluminum foil

1 roll of duct tape

1 Frost King pipe heat cable

Total cost of these materials $16.13 from Home Depot.

I next wrapped the hose with the alum. foil and taped it about every 18" just to help hold the foil in place

After that I attached the heat tape to the hose again with the electric tape.

Now comes putting the whole thing inside the insulation tubes. Once that's done I sealed along the seam with the duct tape and also taped each joint.

Here's the finished project. I made this for a total of $57.45 in about one hour. Or you can buy one from amazon for $146.00.

         

Keep your fingers crossed for us. Maybe we won't need the hose after all, but I'm not counting on that.

Safe Travels, And I Hope To See You Down The Road.