Thinking about taking an oil field job in North Dakota

[Rudra]

Any Newell owners living in their coach while working a job? I have been handed a lucrative job offer up near Williston, ND and my concern is if I should just take my Newell and fultime in it while I working up there.

I've never really used my newell in the two years of ownership during winter months. I'm just concerned with finding an RV site to stay in around the area. I'm told everything is booked solid.

Thanks for any information one might have.

[Flydrifter]

Good luck finding a place to park it, you may have to get creative and find someone you work with that can put in a temporary hookup.
Remember, it gets really cold there, and you will have to keep the Aquahot going 24/7 to keep something from freezing. A Newell is probably better adapted to this than any other coach, but a word of caution, they are already getting below freezing at night, and 40 below will be here in the next 60 days.

Your arrival sooner than latter is probably better when it comes to getting everything in order before the really cold weather.

It's like a boom town, of the gold mining days up there, all infrastructure is pushed beyond limits, including roads, hotels, restraunts...............

Good Luck
It pays well, but you will earn every dollar, my 40 plus years experince in the "oil patch" tells me.

Ray Penick
'96 #420 Newell 45'
Tulsa, OK

[life time neweller]

I would have to 2nd what Ray stated. You will be in trouble finding a place to park with hookups right in that area. You have the right coach for the job, but you will have to keep some systems running the Aquahot. I've seen the Walmart near by just packed to the gills.

[NewellCrazy]

I made a search and found 7 RV Parks in or around Williston, ND. In my opinion if your going to be there awhile you might want to think about buying a vacant lot and pouring a concrete slab for your Newell and setting up 50 AMP service. Might be cheaper depending on rental prices/land values etc if its a long term/permanent job. 40 below your a brave soul :bolt: I thought 45 was cold and told the wife to start packing cause Sugar land here we come!.

Sean

[Gone Busing]

Definitely a single mans job. The wife would never go for sitting around with ice or snow on the ground and gloomy skys waiting for me to come home everyday to our Coach.:coffee:

[speedingsport]

Jay, I agree it's a single mans job. I don't think ANY woman would go for sitting up there all winter in the COLD, of course if you're think you'd leave the wife at home...and you go and make some good money, well then she could stay home and spend all your money comfortably. lol! Just kidding ladies! Like someone else said in reply to another post on here about going to the cold, we have our Newell to get away from the cold not to go to it! ;) Good luck!

[folivier]

I had a friend who worked a lot like this years ago. His wife made quite a bit of spending money by washing clothes and doing light house-cleaning for other workers. Plus it kept her busy, my friend said this way she was making money instead of spending money, so it worked out for them.

[ccjohnson]

I consulted in Rangely, CO for 5 yrs out of a 1982 Executive on a GMC chassis. Below zero my black water tank froze solid. Took 72 hrs to thaw it. I ended up underpenning the entire unit, left a 1500 watt electric heater underneath running all the time, had 2 fresh water heat taped hoses I constantly had to switch out to have a thawed hose hooked up for showers. Even with this I still had a blow dryer out often thawing water lines INSIDE and wore a jacket most of the time. But, the $$$ were good on the job! Don't think I would want to put our Newell through that much misery! From my experience, I would say you're better off to suck it up & motel in that bad of weather.

[ccjohnson]

As an additional thought: I had to cover inside windows with sheet plastic. Also, we work out of our coach all the time. We spent June 1 - Aug 25 in Spearfish, SD. We love it. Just wouldn't want to do it in severe cold. We spent +/-6 weeks in Phoenix at +/- 118 deg F. The Newell handled the heat much better than my Executive did the cold in Rangely. When I look at all the water lines in the plumbing bay, I am deathly afraid of having one freeze & burst. Repair would be bad enough in good weather in a heated shop not to mention outdoors in sub-zero for weeks weather.

[comfortable-bus]

CC, I been there done that and it's a real SOB when a heater quits and the whole darn thing freezes up. We had it happen in Minnesota one year, ended up taking the coach to an RV dealer to thaw things out and it wasn't on the cheap.

[stewart33]

I agree with Clint - I would say you're better off to suck it up & motel in that bad of weather.

[Randy J]

If I weren't semi retired. :laugh: I'd go for it! Although after reading what you guys said. About all that cold and freezing.:bolt: Nah, forget it! If I had to deal with frozen busted pipes. I'd cry like a baby! :bawling:

[MrE]

My coach was previously owned by a gentleman from Minnesota and he installed a Proheat diesel boiler. Hooks into the cooling system of the coach which is used for the water heater, bedroom heater and front coach heater. Has a thermostat that turns it on at 150 degrees and off at 185 degrees. Not sure how efficient it is compared to other power sources with the current price of diesel, but might be worth looking into. I would also suggest that you block the wind from going under your coach, have seen this done with hay bales and foam insulation. Not pretty and would make it a chore to move your coach, but will keep stuff from freezing.