winter storage and cover

[slav]

Those who lives in north states and store Oliver outside in winter.

1) What cover do you use if any?

2) How do you protect from humidity inside of the trailer?

Thank you.

[Frank C]

Calmark cover.  And a couple of the Damp-Rid buckets inside the camper to absorb any excess moisture, but it’s always extremely dry inside the camper if there’s nothing inside to generate moisture such as people breathing or cooking. 

https://calmarkcovers.com
 

Edited December 14, 2020 by FrankC

[Mainiac]

Have not covered since bringing home in 2017. Have seen no adverse problems. We do use Maquires Wash and Wax as part of our winterization process. Three reasons we have not used: we have seen wind take covers and tie downs flutter enough that they have worn through the finish.  We have seen where the cover was snowed and iced in preventing the camper from moving in a late winter/early Spring excursion, unless cut off. The solar panel still works with some ice and snow on it.

Very little humidity in northern climes. We tried a tub of DampRid (it was given to us). It did accumulate some. We have to assume it was early and/or late season. We did spend and hour or two in there here and there. Maybe our breathe?

[topgun2]

slav - 

1) Calmark.  Pre-Oliver I did use a similar brand but even though they are about the same price and use the same material I believe that the Calmark is the better cover.  This is due to the fact that the Calmark has a cinch rope at the bottom (along with grommets) and two or three straps that circle around the entire camper - see the black vertical straps in  FrankC's pic above.

2) I also use a couple of buckets of Damprid.  Living in the mountains of Western North Carolina we get days (usually early or late in the season) when humidity levels are higher than I would like.  The Damprid takes care of that issue.

3) question not asked - when covering the Oliver, the solar panels cease to function and Calmark will not make a cover with clear panels on the top.  Therefore, since I do not have electric available where I store my Oliver, I have a 25 watt solar panel connected directly to the batteries in order to make sure that the batteries are fully charged all winter.

4) question not asked - these covers are NOT light.  Putting a cover on is not all that easy - particularly so if you do this job alone.  Taking the cover off is much easier.

5) question not asked - My cover is now several years old and I understand that the price of these covers is now in excess of $800.

Bill

[John E Davies]

How do you clean these cloth covers in the spring? It is really hard to fold up and store a dirty one without contaminating the inside, that rests and chafes against the trailer gelcoat. (It is impossible to get a clean cover onto a clean trailer without getting it dirty, unless the ground is paved and freshly hosed off.) I had one decades ago and used a pressure washer with the cover hung on a tall fence. An amazing amount of muck came off it, what a mess. It was not at all  satisfactory. This was in Western WA where needles, sap and moss were the main problem, not so much airborne dust.

IMHO a free standing carport would be a better choice if you don’t have restrictive codes. Unless you just don’t care about the cosmetic damage to the Ollie.. it can be a real PITA and costly to repair. Dirt washes off your Ollie, but fixing damaged gel coat is big $$$$. Invest in a structure now, save heartache later.

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited December 14, 2020 by John E Davies

[slav]

14 hours ago, FrankC said:

Calmark cover.  https://calmarkcovers.com

Frank, Thank you for sharing, very helpful. I have noticed a hydraulic jack, do you lift trailer up for storage and keep it on stands of some sort?

Edited December 14, 2020 by slav

[topgun2]

JD is certainly correct about a structure being better than a cover.  Unfortunately there are a number of us that simply do not have that choice either due to home owner restrictions or cost or a simple lack of alternatives.

I too used to use the wash it directly on the Oliver method or hang it over a fence method, butt I've found that I can hang the cover from one of my decks, take a electric power washer to it (in order to not have too strong or heavy of a stream as I would from my gas powered unit), some mild soap and it is good to go for the next season.

Bill

[slav]

Wow, so much useful feedback on covers! The chores of putting and cleaning covers are pushing me to the direction of applying "Meguiar's Ultimate Wash & Wax" once a year as part of Spring clean up instead of covering. Having a cap of DampRid inside and keep all windows closed. The fiberglass should be strong enough for elements (life time warranty). Would be nice to hear a fact based opinion from manufacturer.

Base on my experience of keeping the car in long storage, two things are important:
- wheels should not bear the weight in long term storage or need to be rolled every few weeks and pressure maintaned.
- the battery needs to be fully charged and disconnected (is there a switch for that in Oliver). Keeping 120V/solar power is alternative for that. The cold weather does not hurt acid batteries, storing undercharged keels it.

[John E Davies]

7 minutes ago, topgun2 said:

I too used to use the wash it directly on the Oliver method or hang it over a fence method, butt I've found that I can hang the cover from one of my decks, take a electric power washer to it (in order to not have too strong or heavy of a stream as I would from my gas powered unit), some mild soap and it is good to go for the next season.

That works, but if an owner has no tall fence or raised deck it could be problematic. I suppose he could invest in a couple of these: ... https://www.geargrid.com/product/windsor-outdoor-hose-drying-rack/

Maybe not, if code doesn’t allow a carport it wouldn’t allow the tables either 😬

John Davies

Spokane WA

[John E Davies]

slav, in addition to what you mentioned, an “exposed” Ollie needs to have all the tires that face direct sunlight covered with opaque shields to prevent UV damage. And consider Rejex, it is a PITA to apply correctly, but it is really long lasting and easy to clean. Those that have bad comments about it may not have prepped the surfaces by removing previous wax and debris. 

John Davies

Spokane WA

Edited December 14, 2020 by John E Davies

[slav]

John, thanks for useful links on gel coat maintenance.

No one would argue with you on carport / barn storage. In fact no one even asks that question. Yes, being close to big city does take a toll in restrictions on property structures.

As of tires, I am not sold on covers. Yes having them is a good thing. But generally the car tires last for 8-10 yrs no problem without any covers. So it may be an overkill if you have so many things to do. Damages from the road will likely kill them, and you DOT ask to change tires every 10 yr anyway. 🙂  Can you post picture on your setup for keeping trailer off the ground?

Edited December 14, 2020 by slav

[Frank C]

1 hour ago, slav said:

Frank, Thank you for sharing, very helpful. I have noticed a hydraulic jack, do you lift trailer up for storage and keep it on stands of some sort?

I just level the trailer with the standard Oliver electric stabilizers and that takes a little bit of load off of the tires.  No other stands or jacks used.  But I haven’t had any problems yet with the tires getting flat spotted after last winter storage.  Wheels & tires are covered to protect them from exposure.  And the trailer is plugged into a house AC power outlet to keep the batteries charged.   It is a two person job though to get the cover on the trailer.  It’s a lot of fabric that is pretty clumsy to handle.  And I have not seen any signs of chafing or scuffing of the fiberglass gel coat finish caused by the cover (and I inspect my trailer very careful all the time when I wash and wax it during camping season). 

Edited December 14, 2020 by FrankC

[topgun2]

Since the storage area where I park my Oliver is very level and basically on gravel, I do not use the onboard jacks at all - other than the front jack.  However, I do use some pressure treated plywood covered with 8 mil plastic sheeting to slightly raise the tires off direct contact with the ground.  And, using the front jack I make sure that the camper is slightly tilted towards the rear so that water runs off the cover easily.  Like FrankC, I cover the tires to protect from UV damage and have not had any trouble with "flat spots" on the tires in the Spring.

 

[Jairon]

On 12/14/2020 at 9:08 AM, topgun2 said:

My cover is now several years old and I understand that the price of these covers is now in excess of $800.

I had CalMark quote one for me last week. 1280 plus shipping. 😞 I hope their employees saw a similar wage increase...