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Diy Tyvek Camper Cover - El Cheapo


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Many years back when I lived in the fine city of Liberty, MO I had a convertible that I had to park outside, the dang thing leaked like a mof@.

Anyway, I bought a budget car cover for it from wallys or target, after 2 summers, the cover just disintegrated. The material was bit like Tyvek building wrap.

I want to cover my winni as I have a few leaks to address in spring.

I am on a tight budget so I thought I would make one out of Tyvek

I found a similar product at Menards for $80 for 100 ft long and 10 ft wide.

I cut a 20 ft length and gorilla glued some garden chair polyester bands (see yellow things attached to Tyvek).

total cost for 1 cover = $20

Here is my rational, pls critic it:

Pros:

1. This stuff will breathe and work better than blue tarp

2. Lighter than blue trap

3. white and should reflect light (probably can be seen from outer space)

4. cheap

Cons:

1. Material will NOT last with UV exposure

2. will tear from abrasion easily

I have not covered the camper with it yet as I still have to take off an antenna (CB) first.

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Nice work shibs, Tyvek is prolly better stronger than the "professional" covers made for Rvs . As mentioned in previous posts my rv cover from adco disintegrated rather quickly in year one and ripped to shreds. admittedly i hadn't taken the precaution of tarping over or underneath the cover but man... if that's what i need to do then screw it for a couple hundred more i can buy a metal garage... speaking of which... anyone know a good site that sells a small metal garage port tall enough to fit a toy? Ive seen them as cheap as < $1000 before if build your own. All steel.

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anyone know a good site that sells a small metal garage port tall enough to fit a toy? Ive seen them as cheap as < $1000 before if build your own. All steel.

I bought two this year in Northern Michigan and am getting another next spring. I don't think it pays to buy and put up yourself. Last I checked, there was no savings that way - as compared to letting the Mexicans come to your place and have it up in 3 hours.

I've bought them in New York and here in Michigan and with all - Mexicans showed up to install and none spoke a word of English.

You're not going to get one for $1000 that is legal but that aspect is up to to you. Unless you live in one of those rare places that either has no building codes - or does not call one of these "tin can" car parts a building - you have to meet minimum building codes. Here in Alpena (northern Michigan) - my tin-cans had to meet 50 lbs. snow-load specs on the roof and X amount of wind-load specs on the sides. That adds to the price. Special ground anchors are also required.

$1600 can buy you one tall enough and long enough for a 21 foot Toyota RV. The cheaper 14 gauge units probably are not allowed where you live. Must be 12 gauge and must have more steel rafters then they show in the photos to meet code.

There are dealers everywhere I go in Michigan so finding a place to buy should be no problem. Like I said - seems no matter what part of the country you are in - the ports seem to come from the same source and same installers. My Mexicans had either Virginia or Texas license plates when they showed up.

By the way, a friend of mine was one of those dealers for awhile. His "demonstrator" port collapsed on his brand new Chevy truck. Kind of bad advertising. He had about 3 feet of snow on top when it came down.

My first one in New York blew away two weeks after the Mexicans installed it. I had a Ford truck and a big backhoe in it. It was a big one 28 feet wide. Came home one day and there sat my truck and backhoe but no building. I later found it near 1/8th mile away, laying upside down in the woods. I still have it. Towed it back home and it was - and still is - a mess.

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Jde, just curious,

did you not pole mount it on purpose for some reason?, like avoiding building permits or did it shear the ground mount bolts?

I am curious on the necessity of a permit for one of these also, because its implied they do not need one.

I for one would enjoy putting mine up myself for peace of mind if not for any other reason then to assure myself that my footings were at least 42" deep, hardened steel bolted at grade 5 and also I would fully enclose it and put a wood burner inside. Once 2 feet of snow are on it the fire gets built and it melts.

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Jde, just curious,

did you not pole mount it on purpose for some reason?, like avoiding building permits or did it shear the ground mount bolts?

I am curious on the necessity of a permit for one of these also, because its implied they do not need one.

I for one would enjoy putting mine up myself for peace of mind if not for any other reason then to assure myself that my footings were at least 42" deep, hardened steel bolted at grade 5 and also I would fully enclose it and put a wood burner inside. Once 2 feet of snow are on it the fire gets built and it melts.

When I first ordered mine - I was told the company crew would do the entire installation including ground anchors. I was given no details though. When the crew showed up at my place in New York - it was freezing cold and 8 PM, i.e. pitch dark. These two Mexicans worked with a few lights and got the first building up in three hours. I tried asking them about the ground anchor system but since they spoke NO English and I don't speak Spanish all that well - I never got an answer. When all done the guy's drove some long ground spikes into the bottom made of re-rod. Certainly not adequate. Since I had a registered farm - I did not need any permits so I got away with it. I was planning to do a better job of anchors but the damn thing blew away before I got around to it. And note - I'm not picking on the Mexican installers. I give them credit as they really work their as*es off. When they got done - the driver turned on a GPS and it gave him instructions, in Spanish, where the company had a hotel room for them for the night.

In Michigan I live in two rural areas near the "tip of the mitt. Presque Isle County and Alpena County. In both, these steel car-ports have to meet snow-load specs, wind side-load specs, and ground-fastening specs. So what you see in the pretty color brochures is not what you can use legally (most likely). In Alpena, an $1195 car-port became a $1895 car-port to become legal.

This spring - with the next one - I will put some 6" X 6" pressure treated poles in the ground spaced maybe 4 feet apart and have them sticking up above ground maybe 2 feet. I'm then going to lay 6" X 6" down on them for the length of each side of the car-port (all bolted together). Then I'm going to have the new car-port installed right on top of that wood frame. This way it's legally anchored and I gain 2 feet of height. The local dealer sells Alpena-County certified car-ports and he told me they come with a special Michigan-legal anchor system. What that is - I do not know. I am kind of amazed at how strict the building codes are here considering how rural the area is. The head of the Presque Isle County code-enforcement office told me that is because so many "city people" from down-state buy land up here and then try to cheat. Who the heck knows? In Presque Isle County you can are not allowed to build or install any sort of port or pole-barn unless there is a house on the property first. Why? Again - so-called cheating. I was told that too many "down-staters" were putting in cheap pole-barns and then sleeping in them while on vacation or hunting. Does not seem like a problem to me. But I'm not the boss around here.

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I assume you already saw this - but this is what I just built for my Toyota (and other stuff). It too had to meet some very rigid building codes. Got it done in the snow. Cost me almost $15,000 but I'll be glad (someday) I did it. I'm not done moving all my stuff up to MI from NY yet and I really needed more barns. This one is 50 feet by 36 feet and 10 feet high. Got my 1988 Toyota Minicruiser in there, along with my 1994 diesel F250, 1985 diesel Isuzu PUP, 1960 John Deere 1010 crawler, 1952 Oliver HG dozer, 1960 Case 310G dozer, IH 3414 backhoe loader, 1960 IH B275 farm tractor, two boats, one equipment trailer, 5 foot wide 3 point snow-blower, 20KW gas-powered generator, and lots of smaller stuff.

I got real lucky and found a truck from southern Michigan that went to New York and loaded a 50 foot step-deck trailer with four pieces of equipment. Trucked it 800 miles to my place near Rogers City for $1500. That was an extreme bargain for what he did. I'm trying to get him to take another load including my 1978 Toyota Chinook that is still sitting in New York.

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Totem . . passed a car-port dealer today and got a price list. Northern Michigan certified with a 60 lb. snow-load roof and required anchors is priced like this. Don't forget to add sales tax for Jennifer Granholm's retirement package.

Standard port is 5 foot high on the sides and approx. 8 foot high in the center. To fit a 9 1/2 foot tall Toyota RV, you need 8 foot side walls and an 11 foot center height.

18' X 26' base car-port with 12 gauge steel - $1745

Add $670 for 8 foot side-wall legs instead of 5 foot (to fit a Toyota RV into)

Add 3 extra roof trusses to meet 60 lb. snow load - extra $375

Add Michigan code anchors - extra $200

Non-code car-port if NO building regs or lesser regs then for northern MI.

18' X 26' base 14 gauge car-port $1345

8 foot side-wall legs instead of 5 foot $225

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