Hey buddy, can you let me hold a Scamp?

[Francesca Knowles]

An inch may as well be a mile... I s'pose there's no chance of enlarging the door opening?

Francesca

[ShawnKK]

The only reason I would have to put it in the garage is because of HOA. I live on the beach in Florida and we cant even have a boat in the driveway. I guess if I want the Scamp bad enough I will have to get storage but we plan on moving soon so maybe our next house if we can find one without a HOA will work. Seems like in Forida all the homes are in HOA areas. I have till Sunday to think of something! Thanks again...

[Francesca Knowles]

Oh, yeah- the dread HOA rules...

Since you're moving anyway, short term offsite storage sounds like a good solution...if you're committed to buying a trailer and this one's a good deal it'd be a shame to let it slip away.

And hopefully you'll find a new house with either taller garage doors or no HOA rules against parking the trailer outside!

Best of luck to you...

Francesca

[Carol H]

Shawn the over all outside height of a basic Scamp 16' trailer from the factory (taken from a 1991 form that came with my trailer) would have been 7' 6". Thats only with the big escape hatch they had on the roof. Adding AC or an TV antenna will change that. I added a Fantastic Fan to mine and that takes it up about an 1" due to its cover being more dome shaped than the flat cover on the escape hatch. If someone has added a rain protection cover over the fan then that again raises the height up - but that can be removed.

The HOA issues is pretty common to developed neighbourhoods. Have some rules re how long and when boats and trailers can be in front facing driveways here as well. But it is across the whole city.

[ShawnKK]

7 ft 6 you say is better than what I was told of 7 ft 10. It only has the vent on top which I would have no problem to remove it has needed if I had to. So if I ride the drums and it would get me 4 to 5 more inches I would still be short by 2 inches. I just called storage and it is 60 a month and if that is what I have to do, so be it. I want to take my kids camping. I always look back as a kid thining of the days of camping......... Great times.....

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by ShawnKK

........ I would still be short by 2 inches...........

You can also load it with sand bags and compress the suspension 2 to 4 inches - I'd guess.

[Francesca Knowles]

That's the spirit, Shawn- my favorite trips with my Trillium have ALL been with the Grandkids....

Keep us posted!

Francesca

P.S.

Here's one more peabrained thought: This would be a radical solution, but if you can't go "up" with the opening, can you then perhaps go down?

It occurs to my remodeler's soul that if one were to bust out the concrete directly beneath the door and dig down a ways, a "trough" might be formed that for everyday purposes could be bridged with, say, composite decking or some other attractive but relatively light material. But when moving the trailer in/out of the space the decking piece could be removed, allowing the wheels to drop down and ride through the low spot.

Simpler still would be to do something similar, but just for the footprint of the Scamp wheels...a couple of strategically placed foot wide "troughs" perpendicular to the door and through that stretch would do the trick.

Just a thought from Make-it-Fit Central!

Francesca

[ShawnKK]

Again WOW, So stupid but yet so smart. And to think I am a Prototype Mech. I never even thought of that. And it is cheaper! Dig out two grooves a couple of inches and fill it in a the level you need. Gd I could kiss you. You my lady have won the sweet heart of the day award. And to think all I need was a kick in the a$$.
A hammer drill should do the trick. Now you have me thinking of ideas for the ground level and not the top. Wonder how thick the pad is on the garage floor. Bet I will find out. Thank you Thank YOu Thank You. And it is cheaper than a storage unit. Has anyone done this before??

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by ShawnKK

And it is cheaper than a storage unit. Has anyone done this before??

Not that I ever remember reading about. But hey, here's always a first time!! But don't forget... you STILL have to clear the garage door and the door has to come down and seal against the bottom area of the opening or everytime it rains, you may have problems inside your garage.

[Francesca Knowles]

Donna's right- mind the drainage! First thing to check is gutters, of course. After that:

If you're going to do the groove solution, my suggestion would be to make sure to provide a removable "cap" directly beneath the door- perhaps a 12 inch square concrete paver? Carefully matched to driveway/floor grade, that should allow for doorseal and at the same time prevent direct surface water intrusion. Beneath that, you might go down deep (below pad level) with coarse gravel so as to allow any intruding water to percolate away. As a matter of fact, it might make sense to do the same along the whole length of the groove. This would also allow for easy "repair" if/when you move out of the house and want to restore the garage to its original level for a prospective owner.

And do us all a favor and post pics of the project so we can all see if/how it works!

Francesca

P.S.

A concrete saw would give you a nice clean line- though it's not as much fun as a jackhammer!

F.

[ShawnKK]

The way I am looking at this is, Take wheels off, ride on drums, and cut a couple of inches into the floor to lower should work. A saw should be able to do the job. I am not going to worry about how petty it looks and since my drive way takes the water away from my garage I should be ok. Also note I wash my car in the garage and also collect rain water in 55 gal drums so standing water is never a problem with 4 inches of concrete walls before it hit dry way. I wash my garage floor twice and year with a power washer so I thought why not wash my car in the garage too. It works out great. SO water will not be a problem as I see it. And if I only need a couple more inches, why not take it from the floor? I know is sounds stupid but why not? The Scamp will only be in that spot for a sec or two at the most and if I get standing water in the 2 areas no biggie as I see it (for now). So I should be able to get a 7 ft6 or 10 inch Scamp in a 7 ft garage door. God is great

[Roger C H]

I would avoid riding on the drums. Brake drums are not made for that. Typically they are made of cast iron which can be very brittle. A cracked or broken drum would be bad. Rather make or have made a steel disk with the bolt hole pattern which is a little bigger than your drums.

Deja vu. Wasn't there another recent thread covering this same problem?

Look at post 24 at
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...bie-57627.html
this has a link to another post from years ago on how I did it.

PS: I no longer put the Trillium in the garage because removing the MaxAir fan was too much hassle. I now just park it alongside the garage. Of course I have to remove a lot of black stuff periodically - ah, the joys of living in the PNW where mold is an exotic houseplant and we don't have grass, we have moss.

[ShawnKK]

Let me give a tip for some type of pay back for the good you guys did for me. If you like to smoke or grill try using cotton balls and rubbing alcohol. It is hard to pay back those that help you so I hope someone will run with this. I put cotton balls (cheap) in a pint jar with rubbing alcohol to start my grill. It is clean burning and it is as cheap as can be. And once again Thanks for all the mess I have caused.

[Francesca Knowles]

Thanks for the tip per lighters, Shawn!

About Roger's post:

I can't remember the fella's name, but there's a site somewhere about a Trillium resto done by a fella with the same too-low garage door problem. He cut some plywood discs that he'd attach to the drums after removing the wheels so as to avoid riding on the drum and potentially damaging it.

Probably better for the concrete, too....

Francesca

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

I can't remember the fella's name, but there's a site somewhere about a Trillium resto done by a fella with the same too-low garage door problem. He cut some plywood discs that he'd attach to the drums after removing the wheels so as to avoid riding on the drum and potentially damaging it.

Probably better for the concrete, too....

Francesca

Kevin? This direct link? http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post130094

[Francesca Knowles]

That's not the one I was thinking of, but it's a perfect- even better- example. Thanks, Donna!

Side note, if I can pick your brain for a minute (with apologies to the O.P. for the swerve off-topic):

The guy I was thinking of had a standalone blog-type page for a long time- it was all about the little things he'd done to his Trillium, and I think it predates even this site, if that can be believed. It was one of the few things about Trilliums I could find on the web when I first got my trailer in 2005.
He was an older fella, and some of his "mods" included a back rack all built out of wood and a whole page about his (I think original equipment) screen room attachment.

For some reason I think his name was "Gordon" or "Gordy" or something like that but I'm getting nowhere searching for it....does any of that ring a bell with you?

Francesca

[Donna D.]

Gord100 and his site was the Antitomato. Humm, let me see if I can find a link.

I'm having IE problems, can you see this?
http://www.gord100.com/emily2002.cfm

[Francesca Knowles]

I'm getting the "Google can't find this" message with the link, Donna...on the bright side, "Gord 100" sounds right.

I'll try a search on my own, too...thanks!

Francesca

ON EDIT:

The only result I got just now was this post referring to the site, here at FGRV, posted here in 2011...a lesson for us all on the short longevity of the Internet World, I guess.

Originally Posted by james kent

Very nice! I also looked at Gord 100's site before building ours. Will you be at the Gathering in Ontario this summer so we can get a better look at it?

F.

[ShawnKK]

Update, I went to see the Scamp early. This deal was too good to be true. Has anyone ever washed a Scamp with Ajax and a Scotch Brite pad? Has anyone bought a re-glassed Scamp floor but still you can see grass thur the floor? It didnt get any better. This was a total re-do project. He did lower the price to 3 grand so if anyone is looking for a wreck let me know and I will send you his link for the Scamp. Good thing I left the money in the back till after I saw it.

I am still looking for my Scamp.

[Bob Miller]

The outer edge of brake drums are not designed to support any weight. You could be well on your way to cracked drums if you try.

By that age many Scamps are in need of new axles due to suspension sag. The good news: It may help it fit into a garage. The bad news: You still need a new axle.

BTW: It may help if you remove the roof top vent.