Covering Trailers

[Dale C]

Hi,

I am fairly new here. I have been looking for a small Molded Fiberglass Trailer and am happily in the process of purchasing an older used 13' Scamp. I live on a dirt road where in the summer the dust is awful as other cars pass by. I am wondering how concerned I should be for my little Scamp? Will dust negatively affect it or is it easy to just wash it off once in awhile? My other option is to spend money on one of those portable garages (canvas over frame) and keep it in there. Or does someone make covers for them?
Thanks for any feedback and you all seem like a friendly group here. Glad I found you.

Dale

[Christi V.]

Dale....
I had one of those portable garages, and i liked it... BE sure to anchor it down!! if you get any winds it will go sailing! When i just put the top roof part on, before I got it really anchored down i had to remove the roof.. as it will act like a parachoot.. If the wind goes thru length wise you might be ok.. but winds hitting sideways is a disaster... remember to remove snow also..
Or you might consider one of those metal ones, but those also have to be anchored down.
Hope this helps..

[bbuehler]

Dale,
I believe both the Scamp and Casita factories make covers for the little EGGS. I've also seen them for sale on EBay, when you do a search for Scamp.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Glass EGGS. I'm an admitted EGGIE ADDICT: "Hi, my name's Barbara and I'm an addict..."
Barbara

[Doug Mager]

Dale,
I believe both the Scamp and Casita factories make covers for the little EGGS. I've also seen them for sale on EBay, when you do a search for Scamp.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Glass EGGS. I'm an admitted EGGIE ADDICT: "Hi, my name's Barbara and I'm an addict..."
Barbara

NOW, get back to work, so you won't get FIRED and can afford to re-tire and travel with your 'll'.

Dale: there are some of these portable shelters that have a 'vented' roof which helps greatly to decrease the 'parachute effect' that most of these shelter (including mine) are prone to.

[Donna D.]

What you absolutely don't want to happen is have dirt getting underneath any cover that touches the trailer. Wind movement will cause the cover to "sand" the gel coat. I have my Scamp under a metal carport cover. It gets dusty from sitting, but due to a good coating of wax, I can just hose it off and away I go.

[Norris Jeffrey]

We have a U-Haul CT-13 and recently purchased one of the metal carports (18X21) for storage. Our carport has sides down to ground level and is anchored at all four corners with 3ft deep soil augers and certified against 120mph winds. Yes -The Carolina's are in hurricane country. We plan to add ends with garage doors at some point but the current arrangement with top and sides only seems to work well for now. Cloth covers range from $200-$500 and the metal carports range from $600 (12X18)top only-$1900(18X21)with top and sides). Be sure and have soil auger anchors placed at the four corners. One important factor is height......Our U-Haul has an A/C on top and requires 9ft clearance.

[Dale C]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm going to look at all my options and appreciate hearing what your experience has been.

Dale

[Roger C H]

Welcome New Eggie.

Are you coming to the Spring Oregon event?

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/board/in...howtopic=32169

[Connie M.]

Our portable garage does the job, and allows us access to the Trillium year-round, but removing the snow in the winter gets tiresome. We used to use a big tarp for the winter, and that worked, too. We leave ours outside in the summer, as our road got paved some years back - so nice not having to eat all that dust.
Welcome to FGRV! Lots of friendly and helpful people here!!

[Dale C]

Can't make the Spring get together but just was notified of an opening for the Summer one and managed to get it.

Thanks!

Dale

[Donna D.]

My cover is like the one Norris posted... only just a bit bigger. I don't have sides on mine, but plan to put some on in the future. What I'm going to do is clear fiberglass panels... or maybe white. It's dark under there as it is, I want all the light I can get.

Lowes has wavy fiberglass panels with some UV protection. Said to last 25+ years.... that's good enough for me!

[Loren G. Hedahl]

The concern that you mention is dust -- but dust just washes off with no lasting effect.

What you might want to be more concerned about is the damage due to sunlight. Also your likelihood of a snow weight problem should be pretty remote where you live. Each region is unique. For us it is mildew and moss growing in the pores of the fiberglass gel coat.

Now if I would just make up my mind that I can spend my winters in Arizona, my moss/mildew problems would be solved! :>}

[Patty C.]

Dale, there are a number of good waxes out there that also have UV protection for sun damage. Meguiars is one and is available from westmarine.com. We treat our Casita's like they are boats being stored outside and use marine supplies for maintaining that nice coat. Hubby and I believe that several light coats of wax are better than one heavy one, but the key is to get a good marine wax on it asap. We usually wash and wax twice a year and our trailers are covered in the winter time.

With a nice wax job on it, you can just rinse off the dust that accumulates and you don't have to worry about sun damage either. If you end up going with a cover be sure to get one that is breathable...who knew that fiberglass needs to breathe, but it does.

Best of luck with your Scamp and may you have many days of enjoyment with it!

Patty

[Dale C]

Thanks for the great info. I like the idea of using the marine wax and other products. I do live on the coast where it gets quite windy and so I am kind of moving away from the portable garage idea. I did find this cover which is breathable and I like that I can uncover the door to get in.

http://www.calmarkcustomrvcovers.com/Scamp_13.html

I'm not in a hurry so plan to give this plenty of thought.

Dale