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My two cents on heat tapes: Given that any electric heating element is basically a controlled direct short through resistance wire, they draw quite a bit of power, and would be unsuitable for boondocking. Being AC, they would have to run from an inverter, and they would probably draw your battery(ies) down quite quickly. One could run them off a generator, but the generator would have to run pretty much the entire time the temps are below freezing for them to be effective. They don't have much mass, so cannot "store" heat. As soon as they lose power, they're effectiveness is over.
My thoughts are, since you do have a heated underbelly, once there there is some water in the tank and it's exposed to the heat in the underbelly for a long time, the mass of water will gain and hold some heat and your valve probably won't be sticky. Particularly after some hot water goes down there.
Since I didn't want to winterized yet, as we still have nice weather in the 50's and low 60's this time of year..with nights below freezing....I've been keeping the thermostat in the Passport set on 55-60 and that is keeping everything unfrozen despite nights as low as about 12 degrees. I have not experienced any freezing valves yet, but both rods do go to valves that are up in the underbelly.
If you are truly "boondocking" in the backcountry, check into your local laws concerning draining gray water directly onto the ground. In my state, New Mexico, if the amount of gray water is less than 250 gallons per day, it can go directly onto the ground. I've camped in BLM campgrounds in our old RV, that has no holding tank for the shower, and just left the shower drain valve open. Of course, this applies to gray water only. If legal in your area, if the valve freezing becomes a continuous issue, I would likely just leave the valve open at a remote site.
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