Road trip to Yellowknife, NWT

[FredVenne]

Good day everybody!

We are on a little road trip to Yellowknife, NWT! We are actually testing our Mighty Yeti and see how she’s doing in the cold and how we can improve it before our longer trip to Toktoyaktuk, NWT in a few weeks! We will post a few photos, hope you will enjoy them!

Kim and Fred

[FalcoColumbarius]

Whoa, nice pictures, Fred! So how is the Mighty Yeti holding out? Do you lose much heat through the canopy? What kind of tyres are you using? What's the temperature like this time of year up at sixty?

Falco.

[delidemon]

Have fun up there. I lived there for 8 years and loved it, still have lots of friends there. If you get the chance and like fish, head to Bullock's Bistro in old town for a fun dinner but get there early or call for reservation.

[jessef]

Do you lose much heat through the canopy?

When we camped in Turtle (same poptop as Yeti) anything above 5-10C was good with blankets/etc.. Below that, the heat escapes too much. It's a cotton/canvas and it doesn't retain or reflect heat well at all. In the summer months, it's nice and cool though.

What I did to keep the heat in was keep the poptop down and sleep in the bottom.

[Super Exceeded]

Are the ice roads open already? I was hoping to do Tuk in March

[fexlboi]

Are the ice roads open already? I was hoping to do Tuk in March

No, probably not open till mid Dec.

[FredVenne]

Ice road will not be open till mid december.

The Yeti is doing actually pretty good. Although we are loosing a lot of heat from the canvas. The Webasto is working full on every night. We are thinking of having some sort of insulator installed from the inside. Sleeping on the "main level”, I do love my lady a lot but with a little bit more space ;) So that is where we are in terms of keeping heat at night, having insulation that we could fold or roll and leave on the roof bag during the day. Not shure which material would be best to use.

Lost my camera cable, so no photos for now, maybe until we are in Yellowknife. Right now we are in Fort Smith, NT and it’s winter!!!

Happy Holiday everybody!!!

Kim and Fred

[FredVenne]

Made it to Yellowknife!!!

We did upgrade our Yeti with some bubble wrapped insulation material outside the canvas with a thick tarp and in the inside we have insulated all windows with the same material, light, cheap and effective. We actually slept at -20 so far and we did not needed a second down cover on us.

Talk to you soon!

Kim and Fred

[FalcoColumbarius]

Thanks for checking in, Fred ~ and with some more lovely photos, to boot. By the way, do you know what the difference is between a buffalo and a bison is? One is a great big curly haired beast, the other is something you wash your hands in.

Falco.

[jessef]

Are you guys using your espar heater while sleeping ?

[FredVenne]

Yep! It’s a Webasto, not sure if there is a big difference. The exhaust of the heater is outside in the back, so no danger for Co2.

[FredVenne]

Just a quick update... we are stranded in Yellowknife... the ferry is closed due to low level water never seen since 1998...

[FalcoColumbarius]

How low is the water? Perhaps you can drive across....

So, are you waiting for the ice to come? What is your plan?

I remember the Winter of '86, in London (UK). For three weeks there was about a foot of snow and London Transport & Brit Rail completely shut down. "They didn't expect it to be so bad this year". In fact every year leading up to that point in time had it snowed for two to three weeks in late January and every year LT & BR would repeat the same press release. It has been noted that the majority of the population got to stay home from school/work during this time. One thing, I remember it as being a very magical time, as the dull roar of the city was gone... it was dead quiet, apart from the crunch of my boots as I walked through the snow.

Are you okay for food and diesel? Are you warm?

Falco.

[FredVenne]

There is an accumulation of ice on the Great Slave lake at the Mackenzie river outlet, so the water level is going lower everyday. We cannot drive across the river yet, on ice rd. We are warm enough in the van and we just bought a Honda generator 1000W just to make the start easier for the poor little Mighty Yeti. She is awesome, but I came to realize that driving at -40, the power steering gets stiff, use more fuel then expected also (we barely do 400km with one tank). But again, we did a good job insulating the canvas, windows and today we will try to insulate the front, under the mat at our feet. Lots of cold air come from there. But just insulating the windows made a huge difference. Oh and we bought a cargo box also, makes it easier to store stuff that we don’t use everyday. I will put some more photos of the Yeti with all the upgrades soon!
Thanks for asking if we are warm Falco.

Talk to you guys soon!

Kim and Fred

[FredVenne]

Back from Yellowknife and now we know what we need in order to make it to Inuvik and hopefully Tuktoyaktuk. We got all windows insulated and the canvas. We bought a generator Honda 1000W for the block heater and others and we will get ride of half of our unnecessary stuff. We also got a cargo box... hate the look of it but it’s sooooo nice to store the tarps, stove, propane and more into it!!!

Cooking inside is fine, but it creates a lot of moisture. So we are still cooking outside and let me tell you that at -30... it’s cold and the propane works but I have to change tank after a while (less pressure). So now I’m thinking of making a shelter with a thick green tarp attached to the side door and heat it with those propane “indoor” heater, so cooking is more bearable. I may switch propane for a Coleman white gas stove.

Anyway, we will take a week off and will be back soon with photos of the Yeti and it’s upgrades and more detail on our journey to Tuk!!!

Cheers everyone and again, hope you are enjoying this little thread!