Carport/Shelter for Camper and Truck Storage

super doody

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2012
Messages
638
Location
San Mateo Coast
Unfortunately my garage is not tall enough to park my truck with camper. I have a daily driver so leave my camper on the truck parked on the side of my drive way. I'm thinking about buying portable garage canopy to store my truck and camper in our back lot. I had a cover but it was pain in the butt to put on.

I'm looking at something like this:

http://www.shelterlogic.com/shop/garages/sheltercoat-custom-garages-peak

1.Do you have a car canopy/carport to store your truck and camper?
2.Any experiences with canopy shelter? It doesn't look like a long term option unless you upgrade to heavy duty version.


Thanks,

Jim
 
My 2 cents:

Problem with many light canopies is the material degrades over a short time caused by UL light interacting with the plastic material

1. consider raising the garage header bar 6" to a foot. My buddy did that. Cost about 2,000 (includes a new garage door.)

2. Can you park rig next to your garage? If so Build a "lean to" roof to cover it. Material either wood with a shake roof or aluminum patio cover....if your CC&R's allow it.

We live in a mobile home with a carport. After 4 years there is no fading and the sun hasn't cooked the paint caulking materials on the roof or truck. Your investment will be in better shape when it comes time to selling it.
 
RC Pilot Jim said:
1. consider raising the garage header bar 6" to a foot. My buddy did that. Cost about 2,000 (includes a new garage door.)
If possible, this is the best solution by far. I raised my 7' door to 8' and it just clears my Hawk and 3/4 ton Chevy. My crew cab was also too long to fit....no problem!

Moved the whole front facade and door out 5" and cut a hole/window for the front of the truck into the back wall of the garage for another 4". I spent "a little" more than $2,000 :cautious:. I live in hail country so it was worth every penny for me.

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Rotti I do miss my garage....and yours looks great.

Though the average cost of buying a garage (with house attached) around here is $600,000. Now retired its not in my budget. :(
 
Jim that looks beautiful, spacious and real convenient. I'm also a fan of regular cabs. I like how the Ford has a bit of extra room in a regular cab to recline your seat. I wish my GMC had that extra few inches of space.

Hey, I just noticed in the second pic that your wife must have stole your shed once you completed it :p


Rotti, nice door, make sure you stop before the drywall creaks.


I had a cheap shed from Costco for about $500 it fell apart in about 3 years. I then just put a tarp on top of the frame.
 
Wow Rotti that looks professional grade on your garage...Very nice work. We live in a new home that did not plan for getting a camper or a truck! I can't even pull in due the the tight alley and short drive. So with a daily driver we opted for covered storage for $50 a month. It has a high roof for big rigs, so we get plenty of South exposure sun on the solar panels to keep the battery bank charged. Hate the monthly payment and not having it at home, but was all I could do.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Wander The West mobile app
 
I have seen a lot of failures of the frame and tent style shelters locally. UV light, wind and snow typically destroy them within 2-3 years. I have a garage that is large enough to park the truck and camper (as long as I don't have the kayaks on the roof rack) but wanted a shelter for the camper when it is not on the truck. There was just enough room in the back yard to build this:

Total cost of materials was about $5,000
 
jimjxsn said:
What about one of these?

Not too expensive and a little more permanent than a tent.
Last year I helped a friend dismantle and move a shelter like that. It looks like the manufacturer is Versatube.
It all unbolted easily and loaded in her pickup.

My impression was that it was a very sturdy shed - I wasn't on the roof but someone else was. It had been out in the weather for 10 years or more, and looked unaffected and ready to go another 20 or more!

This one was bolted to a concrete pad...

Here's a little film I made of it coming down. It should give you a good idea of how it fits together and it's sturdiness!
https://vimeo.com/111487213

Sent from my iPad using Wander The West
 
Jim,

I bought a shelter from Shelterlogic this fall for my truck and camper which stays on the truck full time. It has been working perfectly especially with all the snow we have had this year. The snow slides off the shelter and the shelter has stood up to 80 mph winds with no problem. I upgraded to the heavy duty version and am pleased with my purchase so far.

Joe
 
Thanks all for your input. Would love to do the Rotti mod but I just installed garage loft. Versatube is a good option but we may do some construction on our lot soon. I might just have to go with the Shelterlogic as this is all just a short term solution.
 
Hello. Thank you for all the wonderful posts. I am new to the forum and considering buying a Hawk or Fleet flatbed for a Ford F-150 and would love some advice on storage and raising my garage height like Rotti did. I live in Tahoe, in a particularly snowy area and am planning to leave the camper on full time. This is such an expensive purchase I really want to be able to park it out of the elements in the Winter.

The Ford F-150 is 77 inches high; the flatbed manufacturer says I should consider it to be 6-7 inches and the Hawk and Fleet flatbed had a cabover height between 13 1/4 and 14 3/8. I need to add another 2-3 inches for the solar panel and am wondering if I need to add extra inches for heavier duty tires and suspension? This gets me to 101 inches. So it seems like I must need at least an 8'6 garage door or bigger. Does this seem right? Does anyone have a flatbed camper that can measure how much I need to allocate to that measurement. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

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