Have you not found a covered winter parking space for your mobile home? Is your caravan or camping trailer too big to winterize in a garage? Then you have probably already thought about how you can protect your caravan or mobile home. After all, your camping vehicle will be out in the open for the next few months. With a cover for caravans and mobile homes, your camping trailer defies ice, rain, and snow.
If you leave your caravan or camping trailer outside, unprotected and unmoved for a long time, it can quickly become damaged. In this article, I would like to tell you from my personal experience what you can do if you cannot park the caravan or camping trailer safely.
This article or the statements made here do not only apply to winter. It is also important to protect the caravan or camping trailer in the summer. It also always depends on where you live. For example, if you live in a very hot region with high UV radiation, you should also protect the caravan or camping trailer. The sun, or rather UV radiation, can also severely damage the material.
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The days are getting shorter – time to winterize your caravan
As every autumn, many campers set about winterizing their mobile homes and camping trailers. Every year, this means thoroughly cleaning the outer skin of the caravan and removing dirt, preparing the interior for winter, impregnating rubber seals and locks, and draining the water from the tanks. You too may have just winterized your camper or plan to do so in the near future.
A winter-proof caravan cover can be a sensible purchase to get your camper through the winter unscathed. Especially if you haven’t found a covered winter parking space in a barn or carport. Overwintering in the open air leads to increased material stress on your caravan.
Paint and trim suffer from snow, moisture, and dirt. Rubber seals on doors and windows, cat eyes, and running lights are also susceptible to damage from the elements. The stickers you have brought back from your travels and which decorate the back of your camping trailer as a souvenir will fade due to UV radiation. Many camping friends, therefore, pack their caravan in a special caravan cover to make the camping vehicle additionally winter-proof.
Such caravan tarpaulins are not undisputed among campers. Some consider the tarpaulins to be simply superfluous. Others even believe that protective covers can cause damage to caravans and motorhomes.
The danger of dragging damage – do winterized caravan covers or trailer covers make sense at all?
If your caravan is not stored in a garage, barn, or carport over the winter, then your faithful companion will of course also be exposed to one or the other storm. In strong winds, it is possible that the caravan cover will rub against the outer skin. Paintwork and especially acrylic F suffer from this, which can become cloudy or even blind. However, you can counteract this by closing the winterproof cover under the camping trailer.
If the caravan cover or trailer cover is tight, the wind cannot easily get under the winterproof cover. That’s why good motorhome and caravan protective covers either have fastening straps or can be anchored to the ground. Most caravan covers or trailer covers are also made of very soft material so that there is no abrasion damage to the windows or even scratches in the paintwork.
Stay away from non-breathable covers
Waterproof covers from the hardware store are cheaper than special protective covers for caravans. However, a winter-proof cover for caravans is worth the money. Unlike pure tarpaulins, protective covers for mobile homes and caravans are breathable. You know the tiresome problem of condensation inside your caravan. Condensation is inevitable when the vehicle is parked for a long time in winter due to the high-temperature differences. Often with unpleasant consequences: mold and unsightly mold stains on your upholstery and mattresses. The situation is similar with non-breathable covers.
Water collects under these due to humidity. However, since the moisture cannot escape or diffuse through fine pores, as is the case with a professional caravan tarpaulin, it accumulates. If it then penetrates joints or locks, this can lead to doors freezing in winter. It is not for nothing that there are usually numerous dehumidifiers inside the vehicle in winter to keep the air in the caravan dry. There is also a risk of frost damage outside. Damage caused by ice, mold, or aluminum corrosion can be a lot more expensive than investing a little more money in a high-quality, winterproof, and breathable cover. Lastly, constant moisture makes rubber seals on doors and adhesives that hold your camper together quite brittle and should be avoided.
Pay attention to the right size – be careful with additional roof structures
To determine the correct dimensions for your caravan cover, you can rely on the length, width, and height information from your vehicle documents. But be careful: If you have additional structures on the roof of your caravan, such as a roof air conditioner, satellite antenna, or chimney, you must take these into account.
When choosing the motorhome or caravan cover, also make sure that the tarpaulin has openings for doors and external storage compartments. After all, once your caravan or mobile home has been packed and lashed down, you still want to be able to get inside – for example to carry out minor repairs or to ventilate the interior. After all, the winter break is the best time of year to repair damage or remodel the interior.
Before covering the caravan: Clean it thoroughly
Before you put on the cover, you should always thoroughly clean the outer skin of your caravan or camping trailer. Dirt and grime under the cover can act like sandpaper when the protective cover moves in the wind. If you’re already wearing your cleaning gear, you should take the opportunity to clean the underside of your camping vehicle right away. Many caravan underbodies are made of wood, which makes them particularly susceptible to moisture and moisture.
Even if you use a caravan cover, dirt and dirt on the underbody attract moisture and moisture, which can subsequently cause mold and corrosion. In addition, the dirt that dries on the underbody over the winter is difficult to remove again in the spring.
Next, you should wrap pointed parts or sharp-edged areas on the roof structure to avoid damage to the winterized caravan cover. You will need a ladder for this, which you can also put to good use when you start attaching the tarpaulin to your caravan.
Most caravan covers can also be pulled over your camping vehicle with telescopic rods. But a ladder can be very useful to lift the tarpaulin over roof chimneys, air conditioning systems, large skylights, or other structures.
Conclusion
If you don’t store your caravan in a dry and covered place during the winter break, a winter-proof caravan and mobile home cover is the ideal alternative. It effectively protects against snow, rain, fading, and the formation of lichen and moss. A cover extends the service life of sensitive and wear-prone components such as paintwork, rubber seals, windows, indicators, and cat’s eyes. With a high-quality caravan or camping trailer cover, you also make your camper more resilient and protect it from dirt, damage, and fading from UV radiation.
All in all, a breathable cover extends the life of your caravan. After the winter break, when spring has finally arrived, you don’t have to wash dirt and grime off the outer skin either. All you have to do is pull off the caravan cover and you can go straight to your next camping holiday.
It is also important that you do not buy the cheapest cover, as there is a huge difference in the quality of caravan covers. If you are looking for a good shop that offers high-quality covers at fair prices, you should take a look HERE.
