Where Do You Park Your Campervan (RV) when not in use?

RoboLB · Senior Member

Where Do You Park Your Campervan (RV) when not in use?

hufnpuf · Senior Member

You might not be allowed to park it on the street. Check with your local council as to whether there are any by-laws before going that route.
I'm sure that something kept under cover won't weather as much as something exposed to the elements, but my caravan is in the open, I don't have a huge shed to put it in. My car got hail dings when it was under the carport behind a rolladoor, the hail ricocheted off the ground and up. My van might get hail damage if we have another major storm but there's no point worrying about it. My insurer knows it's not in a shed, so it's covered. You could possibly put a cover over it, if you could be bothered and you can find one to fit.
I sacrificed part of the garden and brickpaved it for the caravan. I wouldn't like it to be outside the property line.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Our MH is now 18 years since I completed it.
During that time it has been under cover for about 5 months total.
The rest of the time it is either "on the road" or parked in the driveway.
I find this question a bit like asking what you cover the house with. confuse It is actually designed to be out in the weather. smile
Cheers,
Peter

Tony Bev · Guru

To answer this part of the question

Does the weather have an impact? Maybe hail?

What about human damage?

My RV is parked outside my home all the time

I assume that the weather would have some bearing, that it is ageing

There has been no human damage, as my footpath is wide enough for people to walk around it

I suppose the bottom line would depend, on which part of the country you live in, weather wise
I suppose it would also depend, if you had bad neighbours, or people walking around, doing malicious damage

oldbloke · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Our MH is now 18 years since I completed it.
During that time it has been under cover for about 5 months total.
The rest of the time it is either "on the road" or parked in the driveway.
I find this question a bit like asking what you cover the house with. It is actually designed to be out in the weather.
Cheers,
Peter

Seems a good answer.

Mine is in storage, outside, when not in use.

RoboLB · Senior Member

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Our MH is now 18 years since I completed it.
During that time it has been under cover for about 5 months total.
The rest of the time it is either "on the road" or parked in the driveway.
I find this question a bit like asking what you cover the house with. It is actually designed to be out in the weather.
Cheers,
Peter

LOL. I was waiting for that Peter. And of course you are right..

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

I would add, that any RV that can't withstand a moderate hail storm without significant damage is not fit for purpose, in my view.
Nothing that is designed to be outside should be made from aluminium that is under 1mm thick.
No wonder caravan insurance is so expensive.
Cheers,
Peter

Mein · Senior Member

Cars are designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Your Lexus ES300 was designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Motorcycles are designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Bicycles are designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Outdoor furniture is designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Kids (and persons for whom senility has robbed them of the ability of rational thought) say the darndest things!

shakey55 · Senior Member

I to had this problem when I recently bought the caravan. I cant park on the street, so I had two choices. 1. Park on the grass in front yard and ruin large section 2. Have new full length double driveway put in at a cost of $13k (ouch) Unfortunately I went with option 2.

Cassie63 · Senior Member

Park our van in the back yard with sleepers under the wheels, grass will grow back

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Cassie63 wrote:
Park our van in the back yard with sleepers under the wheels, grass will grow back

What are the sleepers supposed to do?

Cheers,

Peter

Cupie · Guru

In the run up to retirement in 1998 we decided to move home & rent out our old family home.

The search for the 'new' home was complicated because we wanted to remain in the same general location but the 'new' home had to have enough room down the side to park the proposed caravan & have a garage to fit a 4WD. Small blocks & large houses made this a difficult task.

We eventually found one that has increased in value by at least 600%!! but that's just flukeinstance?

So for the last 20 or so years the same GQ Patrol when not in use, has lived under the house in the garage with a solar trickle charge for the battery. The duco still looks like new except for the dings & from the scratches due to loading the kayaks on top, that I declined to repair.

The same 1999 Jayco Westport van, when not in use, has lived down one side of the house on a gravel 'hard stand' area and covered by a heavy silver tarp, separated from the van roof by broccoli boxes front and rear & on top of the AC unit. This provides an air gap & cools it down a bit as well as providing improved hail protection. Increased hail protection is provided by putting my shade cloth 'floor' over the top of the tarp. The tarp lasts longer too (circa 3 years). BTW, I put it on axel stands when I am likely to be home for more than a month or so. Perhaps good for the tyres/bearings/leaf springs etc but certainly makes it easier to service & do repairs on running gear etc. The size of the tarp I use (it hangs down past the windows) allows me to leave most windows and the door open for ventilation & cooling in summer.

I should have put down a concrete slab with a carport cover 20 years ago, as my neighbour did. Too late now as the end of my caravanning days approaches.

I have only had to redo the secondary caulking on the van roof once in over 20 years. I'm sure that if it had been left out in the sun permanently there would have been far more deterioration of the caulking. Some of the uncovered 'plastic' exterior fittings have been replaced eg - wheel arch spats & rear light fitting end caps. The Aluminium cladding is as good as new, but some of it has been replaced due to dings. The front vinyl covering that also is uncovered is a bit RS.

All in all, I am of the view that the tug & van have benefited by being under cover. I'm not sure that they have been designed to last out in the elements for 20 years or more, especially the new generation of mass produced beautiful RVs

Radar · Guru

Hi.

My photo tells the complete story, street parking is out of the question with our small block in now 20 year old estate where we live

10 years ago when we upgraded to a caravan from a camper trailer that fitted nicely at the end of the patio area under cover, the need for a concrete slab become quickly evident.

So bit the bullet and put the slab down, widen the gates, I could back it in ok but going out when the caravan rocked going down the gutter, the rear end was so close.

The grass on the south side of the caravan did not like no sun and weeds become a problem, solved this by turning it into a garden, at the moment brute tomatoes and spinach happily growing.

Now I can skite, it was a great move putting the slab down, increasing the resale value of our home and with less lawn to mow plus other advantages for maintenance.

Sorry about quality of the photo but it gives you a good idea of our situation and where we park our caravan outside enjoying the weather for nearly 10 years and it still looks good.

Cassie63 · Senior Member

Sleepers just keep the tyres off the ground, helps with whipper snipping the grass

Phlipper · Senior Member

Mein wrote:
Cars are designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Your Lexus ES300 was designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Motorcycles are designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Bicycles are designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Outdoor furniture is designed to be out in the weather but, . . . .

Kids (and persons for whom senility has robbed them of the ability of rational thought) say the darndest things!

This about sums it up, weatherproof does not mean eternal

Dee_Tony · Member

We live in an apartment with secure height restricted basement parking for passenger vehicles. We store our motorhome in the open at a secure facility about 30 minutes away, for an annual cost of around $1800. This is a cost that we are happy to pay as the site has extensive CCTV, electric fences and individual pin code access, which means that our major investment is well protected from thugs and hooligans. As far as being in the open, unless you had access to power, how else would you keep the solar panels charged?

RoboLB · Senior Member

Dee_Tony wrote:
We live in an apartment with secure height restricted basement parking for passenger vehicles. We store our motorhome in the open at a secure facility about 30 minutes away, for an annual cost of around $1800. This is a cost that we are happy to pay as the site has extensive CCTV, electric fences and individual pin code access, which means that our major investment is well protected from thugs and hooligans. As far as being in the open, unless you had access to power, how else would you keep the solar panels charged?

Sounds good, thanks

The Belmont Bear · Guru

When we bought our Retreat van in 2016 we also had the problem of where to store it. We have a steep block and there was nowhere to park a van other than on the road or the footpath. We sometimes put it on the footpath but only for a night or 2 just to load it, get the fridge cold etc. before doing a trip. I dont like leaving it down there because it restricts the vision for both drivers and pedestrians - as in any estate little kids can run out onto the road at anytime. The streets around here have become like chicanes with all the RVs, boats and trucks that are being parked in front of peoples houses..

For the first 2 years like Dee_Tony we paid $1800/yr to store it at a storage facility in Redhead about 1km from the beach, it was convenient being only 5 minutes from home, it was definatley secure and had a 24hr pin code access. The problem was the corrosion on the chasis, hubs and fittings etc. from the salt air (even with a caravan cover). A mate offered to let us keep it on his property at Williamtown near Newcastle airport so I was giving him $30 a month for his trouble. It was secure and I could access it at any time but it took me over an hour to drive up there whenever I wanted to do any maintenence or to prepare for a trip. We sold the Retreat in February and are now waiting for delivery of a new Concorde (June) we are still weighing up our storage options. We can pay around $3000/yr to keep it it under cover in a storage facility or we can do the drive up to Williamtown again. Whatever way we decide to go hopefully it will only be short term as we are planning on downsizing the house and finding somewhere with enough room for a van, some of these over 55 developments now provide RV storage for residents.

BB