Storing Camper Outside Under Car Cover

[Quint]

How many bother with a cover for their camper? I will be parking my camper on my truck outside full time in my driveway and wanted to cover it. It will only be used for camping as I have a commuter car. I am trying to keep tree sap, etc. off the exterior. I found an extra large SUV auto cover that fits over my pop up truck camper but doesn't cover the hood of the truck. I'm ok with that. One concern I have is that the vented propane door is covered up and am wondering if I should remove the propane tank and keep it in the garage when the camper is covered. The bleed valve propane could probably settle and escape as the cover is not airtight but I am still thinking what if? How many use covers or not?

 

[PaulT]

On the floor of your propane compartment, you should have a screened hole where any leaked propane should be able to escape to the outside. If the propane tank leaks, it may be better for it to escape to the outside atomsphere rather than to the confines of your garage.

Paul

 

[Vic]

Sounds like a good approach to me. You'd still want to open it up every several weeks and air it out, but you'd want to do that just from having the top down. It would definitely keep the sun damage off, and avoid any water issues.

Just a note about car covers though - we had a neighbor that had a classic car under a loose cover for a long time. The wind action rubbed a nice line into his paint on one of the fender edges. I think this is pretty unusual but just be aware if you are retrofitting a cover that wasn't made for that shape.

 

[longhorn1]

My camper is stored on 3/4" plywood X's with a full 4' x 8' sheet set on top of the X's. I purchase a cheap 20' x 20' heavy duty tarp. I have 4' "L" shaped tie-down brackets that are help in place by the plywood shims under the jacks. The passenger side (West and the rear (North are fully covered, while the front and drivers side have enough tarp to shed water. A series of bungee cords hold in place. On the west exposure the tarp goes to the ground. The camper was well protected from the elements. Every 6-8 weeks I pulled the tarp back to get solar charging. I only had to do that twice between early November and March. During the spring and summer between trips I will use a small blue tarp. The roof will have yoga mats under the tarp to protect against hail storms.