Costco shelter

[Murphie]

I kept my previous trailer under a Costco shelter during the winter. Last year because of a snow load the shelter's plastic roof almost collapsed. I was able to get a number sheets of zinc plated corrugated steel panels form a building that was being rennovated. My plan is to replace the plastic roof with these panels. I hope to use tek screws to secure the panels to the frame.The shelter legs sit on two screen blocks to give it height and weight. Because our new trailer is ten feet longer an addition to the shelter will need to be made. The town I live in doesn't allow you to keep your trailer parked in your driveway during the winter, so many RV owners park theirs in their side yard like I do. I will post some pictures once I finish the shelter but I would like to know if it's nessisarry to remove the group 27 battery for the winter or can I just keep it pluged in and let the converter maintain it? Also do any of you use the new aluminum disk like heaters in your RV instead of the pots with the white crystals. I think they are around 60 dollars. Do you do something similar with your trailer in the winter?

[clutch]

Sometimes we would just charge the battery and disconnect it and other years we would leave it plugged in. Either will work.

[RoyBraddy]

I have two trailers in my yard and I keep both of them plugged into the garage where i have two separate 120VAC circuits. i just run an heavy duty 10-gauge extension cord out to the trailers across the yard and plug the 30A Shore Power cables into the ends of the extension cords using a RV30A-15A "DOGBONE TYPE" 18-inch long adapter from WALMART. The small round black 30A-15A adapter never seem to work for me as they always start getting warm to hot after being on for a long time.

I leave my batteries in both trailers and let the trailer converter/charger keep them up and running. I also usually turn on a 120VAC oil-filled radiaitor looking electric heater set to a low setting during the worse part of the season and maybe run a 100W light bulb in a couple of places. We dont have bad winters here so all I do is drain the water tanks and leave it at that.

Been doing this for many years without any problems. We actually enjoy spending some nights in the trailers and the grandkids always make them their home away from home when they visit.

[Terry]

You can keep it plugged in, just keep an eye on the water - that is what I do. If you decide to pull it, I would highly recommend a battery maintainer such as a Battery Tender, Jr or other similar device. Allowing your battery to sit all winter unattended can lessen the overall life.

[norty1]

Is this what you have? I was not familiar with the term.

http://www.rvstuff.ca/costcoshelter.html

[Murphie]

Yes, that is what I have. It is quite common to see these where extensions using emt have been added to the lower legs. When I've been in Washington State, I've seen many of the commercial aluminum shelters specifically built for RVs. Only recently have I seen them for sale in B.C. There is an easement on the side of my property where I store my trailer so I'm not allowed to put up a perminent structure. As long as I can keep my trailer out of the weather during the winter I'm happy.

[norty1]

I have the metal pole type shelter. When we got the new rig this year I had to raise the whole 16' x 34' shelter by 12 inches for additional clearance.