There are different ways to heat your vintage camper.  Maybe you already have a  furnace installed.  Regardless of what brand furnace you have in yours, you will need to check the furnace, connections, lines and make sure your propane tank is full.  This is something that you should do on a regular basis as connections can come loose and lines get clogged.  This is a safety issue and like any propane appliance, they should be checked often !

Now, if you have no heater/furnace and you would like to have heat for it, then here are some other choices you might want to use.

1. Install a permanent furnace or heater. 
   
2. Use a portable electric space heater.
3. Use a portable catalytic propane heater.

1.  To install a permanent type furnace or heater is a major job.  In this case, you will need to find a furnace.  Probably if you could find one that was original to yours would be the easiest way to go.  In this case, where you put the furnace would already be decided and a matter of installing it.    Also, most are going to have an outside vent, so you will need to install one, if it isn't already there.  Once you have the furnace installed and connected to the propane, then you need to check for good connections and any leaks before using it.  Also, you will need to have 110 vac and/or 12 vdc for the furnace fan and/or thermostat.  This is something you may want to consider BEFORE you decide to install a permanent type furnace.  You can check the WIRING  IDEAS and WIRING - TRAILER SPECS pages on the Resource Site for information about wiring.

2-3. Using a portable electric or catalytic propane heater is the easiest way to get heat in your camper.  This is just a matter of finding one you like at the right price. You will want to get one that has a fan and oscillates too.  This will help in distributing the heat and work better.  Finding a propane type with a fan may not be as easy, but they are available as I have a Coleman Powercat, which is a portable catalytic heater with fan.  I would recommend you get a ceramic type electric heaters.  This type has the heating element encased in ceramic and tend to be safer.  Also, most have an over heat and tip over safety devices and I would recommend those features as well.  You can decide on ones with or without a thermostat? From my experience the one with a thermostat is nice and there isn't a big difference in prices.


There are other types of heating available, like heat strips, air conditioning units with heat and oil cooled units.  But, in general these type are more expensive, bigger and not the best choice for a smaller camper.  Plus, they will likely always require electric to work and in some cases a separate circuit, so they are not in the case of a portable heater.