Do you cover your RV?

Ice is always a concern of mine here in the Northern winters. Kept a cover over my B camper van in the winter. When we moved up in size we also built a garage with an RV bay for the new one. Unless we're using it, it's always out of the wet weather, snow and ice, and the sun (which I think is the worst thing for it). Spent more on the garage than we did for the RV but it holds the RV, all the toys, and the cars.

My opinion on this matter is the best thing an RV owner can do is spend less on their coach and use the savings to get covered storage at their home. A metal enclosure to keep it in. Period. There is no cover that will protect like one of these, while keeping function. It will also prolong the life of the coach by decades usually.

I live in rainy Vancouver, and if you don't cover it, you'll be pressure washing every inch of surface to get the green mildew off. Just having upgraded from Rialta to LTV Libero, I'm in the market for a cover.

So for those on the "Aye" side, do you use a cover with a Tyvek or other impermeable roof (as offered by higher end Classic Accessories or Adco), or a more breathable one like Carver & lower cost Classic Accessories?


Regards,
Gary
Delta, BC
2008 Leisure Travel Van Libero

I have covered it with a Anco cover in the winter months, but not in the summer months. But i have just bought a 14ft X 36ft recycled billboard material vinyl tarp to use in the summer to keep the sun and the rain off it. The tarp may have graphics on it from whatever product it was used to advertise, but for 43.00 SHIPPED, i am fine with that. I may just use it under the Anco cover during the winter also. You can never be too covered

I cover mine with a barn.:)

Never covered any of my rv's . All looked bad after a few years. Had the boat covered most of the time, water pooled on it and it tore and mildewed. Current unit looks like it has never been covered, red stripes faded, corrosion on skin due to paint cracks, black spots on the roof. I'd take a carport type cover over a canvas one. Kinda hard to get a cover over mine, too many antennas sticking up. (yes, there are 7 antennas on top)

I cover ours in the winter out of concern of the wet and melting snow that sits there around all the openings. Vents, AC, antennae, plumbing vents, front and rear cap seams. I climb up the rear ladder, roll it out over the front, have it ready to go down the rear. Climb down the back ladder and pull the cover down along with me. And yes it is a big pain especially if you just put it on backwards!
Brian (Mark Front and Back on your cover)

I always covered our last TT and that paid off in spades at trade in. It was also nice to have a 13 y/o that looked like new.
RV's are made of junk materials that just don't stand up to the weather. You cant begin to compare them to a house - nothing is the same.
The sun is especially hard on graphics, caulking and roofs.
Our ADCO cover finally wore out and I didn't cover it last winter. I was amazed at the wear it suffered - especially to the roof. The white material coated the gutters with itself and it came out like long rubber bands. It was only the seoncd time I ever had to touch up the caulking too.
The more you can keep them out of the weather, the longer they will look, smell and work like new.
With a acover I would uncover it in the spring and it would be fresh and clean like the day I put it away.
In the end, I got at least 40% more on trade in than I would have (from the historical data I collected).
So it not only kept the rig nice, it paid me back thousands of dollars.

We're on our 4th class c, the first 2 "lived" outdoors, the last two, which includes our current one, have a pole "barn" garage I built. Not fancy but good roof and sides.
We can tell the difference in both the roof and the sides. Our current rig is going on ten years but looks "pretty" good.

I recommend covering if you got the time, place, and oh yeah, the cash.

My 5th wheel and truck camper are kept in my metal shop building. I was fortunate as it came with the property. I would never have spent the money to put it up. But over the last thirty years it has kept machinery and rv's etc looking almost new. Its amazing the difference it makes not being in the direct sunlight.
I would bet my 5th wheel would look very close to new with a good washing and wax. It is 12 years old. Also the interior does not suffer the fading caused by the sun.