Winter Storage

[flintsters]

We have a new to us 2012 Jay Feather 29L Select. When we purchased it the guy always had it covered and included the cover in the purchase. Living in New England, I am wondering what your thoughts are about whether it's fine to keep it at our house with the cover on it for the winter or if I need to find a place with a roof to store it. There is a place a few miles down the road that I can keep it for $450 for the winter in an enclosed area with security systems. I am mostly concerned about snow load on the roof. Thoughts?

[Force]

Have covered mine with an Adco for 3 years and counting, and for at least 1 of those 3 years I am pretty sure I got more snow than you did No issue with snow load or anything, these campers can hold quite a bit on the roof and so I've never gone and shoveled anything off the roof at any point.

EDIT: That said, inside storage is better more or less by definition.

[jloco]

My new 2016 will be stored down the Cape with no cover. I'm a little skeptical as to what effect a cover may have on the edges of the rubber roof.

[DebKen]

We keep ours in our driveway, uncovered.

[flintsters]

Where we live is in a bit of a wind tunnel, which would certainly give the cover ample opportunity to wear away whatever it is in contact with. The flip side to that is unless the snow becomes drifted, it will likely be blown off. While storing inside would be ideal, the thought of spending $450 is a tough pill to swallow.

[Jagiven]

Lots of people leave them out all year. I store mine in a farmers barn, about 100 miles from my house. $80 all winter.

I believe keeping it in a building in the winter just extends it's life, reduces the amount of maintenance.

The roof is designed to handle the weight, with reason.

If you decide to remove some of the snow load, be careful as the roofing membrane tears really easily.

[mike837go]

Either garage it or cover it.

Your choice: the wear and tear of a New England winter on your expensive RV or on a cover that'll be replaced every 2 years.

I keep my TT covered from late October until almost May (any possibility of water-system destroying frost).

[Force]

Originally Posted by jloco

My new 2016 will be stored down the Cape with no cover. I'm a little skeptical as to what effect a cover may have on the edges of the rubber roof.

I happen to live just off the Cape. No effect if you can manage to park out of the wind. Most if not all stories I've read about covers failing prematurely are due to strong or gusty winds.

The Adco one I had on my last camper fit very snugly and had straps in front, back, and that ran underneath the camper. I am lucky in that I have tons of trees around so no direct wind really (as compared to, say, parking in a field). And like most I use tennis balls on the corner downspouts, which is the main spot you'd expect a cover to tear.

Net net...you would be hard pressed to point out any spot on the camper or the roof where you could say "oh look what the cover did" after 3 consecutive years with the same cover (and it's in good enough shape for a 4th)

Such is my experience anyway. I spend a lot of time cleaning and maintaining the roof and will take whatever additional protection I can get over the winter (I don't have the option of constructing any sort of permanent storage)

[Kim Gass]

here in Maine none of the dealers cover any of their units till there is about three feet of snow on the roof
so a good ladder and crampons for the ladder ( dont go on the roof with them) is handy. If you rake the roof..gentle and not with a metal bladed roof rake.

I have plenty of neighbors with tts and no cover. One did build a roof high up supported by the corners with trusses and open walls. The rood slant was about 8 on 12 and metal

[Marcm157]

I'm exploring options for inside storage now. If I have to keep her outside she will be covered for sure...

[ctbailey]

Originally Posted by flintsters

We have a new to us 2012 Jay Feather 29L Select. When we purchased it the guy always had it covered and included the cover in the purchase. Living in New England, I am wondering what your thoughts are about whether it's fine to keep it at our house with the cover on it for the winter or if I need to find a place with a roof to store it. There is a place a few miles down the road that I can keep it for $450 for the winter in an enclosed area with security systems. I am mostly concerned about snow load on the roof. Thoughts?

Snow load isn't a real issue, since it melts down so quickly... So try and find a fully exposed lot. I hated covering mine the first winter. I couldn't extend the slides, and where to store the cover in summer? The second winter I sold it on Craigslist.


Craig Bailey
New England
2007 Chevy 2500HD crew
2015 Jayco Jayflight 32BHDS

[Kim Gass]

oh wow what part of NH are you in? We often have five feet in the lee of Mt Washington. And have a couple of roof rakes.
It never melts. You can see Miss November squashed under the other Missuses December-April. It does compact and get heavy which is why you see house roof collapses with rains in April

[bap]

We cover ours each winter with a heavy duty grey tarp that cost about $40 at the local discount store. We tie it down well and 2 winters ago when we had 5+ feet of snow on the ground, we raked it off a couple of times with a rubber edged roof rake. With the tarp on it, it was easy to rake it off without damaging anything.

[herewego]

Winter storage ??? no need for that here not on the Texas coast

[dewey02]

I think it all depends upon how long you plan to keep your trailer.
Remember, dealers don't cover them because they plan to get rid of them within the year. If you plan on keeping your trailer for several years, then storing inside can be worth the money.

We store ours over winter at the county fairgrounds in an enclosed building with concrete floors. We pay about $350 and feel this is a good expenditure to keep the trailer out of the weather (any weather) for a good period of the year. No wind, no snow, no rain, no sun. During the use season, when not camping we just park it in our driveway, but if I had a large enough pole building at home, I'd store it in there when not camping.

It only makes sense that the more protection from the elements that you can provide to your trailer, the better and longer it will last.

[ctbailey]

Originally Posted by Kim Gass

oh wow what part of NH are you in? We often have five feet in the lee of Mt Washington. And have a couple of roof rakes.
It never melts. You can see Miss November squashed under the other Missuses December-April. It does compact and get heavy which is why you see house roof collapses with rains in April

Southern NH. But the trailer is parked where it gets good southern exposure.

It all depends on the wind pattern and how much sun gets to it.


Craig Bailey
New England
2007 Chevy 2500HD crew
2015 Jayco Jayflight 32BHDS

[flintsters]

Where we are able to park it at our house it would be on the north side of the, so not much direct sunlight. The wind is pretty relentless...so much so that when we go outside with our kids it usually isn't for very long. I would expect a quite a bit of snow drifting from both a north and a south wind. I don't know that I have a timeline for how long we'd plan to keep the camper, but we aren't looking to unload it anytime soon since we just got it and absolutely love it.

This is what I'm inferring based on the variety of responses.

- while it is ideal to store it in an enclosed area, most people do not and have not experienced significant issues.

- there is a mixed bag of people who use a cover, but if using a cover make sure that things like the downspout is covered with tennis balls to help prevent tearing and wear.

- if there is accumulating snow use something soft, like a brush or rubber, to push the snow off so that the roof isn't damaged.

I am still not sure what I'm going to do, but it helps to know that if I keep it outside at my house that it doesn't guarantee catastrophic consequences.

[JackMroz]

We have always stored our campers or RV's inside during our winters here. While we don't get the snow or ice the RVers do on the east coast we get enough here that I don't want to expose my RV to it. This winter I found inside storage with a lady who has a unused horse barn. She charges $270 for the winter which we feel is a bargain compared to leaving the coach out in the elements. You can never convince me that snow and ice are doing a coach and its roof any good whether you cover it or not. Inside storage to me is the only way to go to protect your investment for the winter...

[JayFlightJoe]

Keeping it covered is the way to go. It will keep all the caulking from being exposed to the sun. Jayco's roofs are amoungst the strongest roofs in the industry. Washing it thoroughly and tying the cover down securely is what I have been doing for the past 20 years owning a Trailer.