My wife and I just bought our 1st (used, 2003 Bounder 36S) class a motor home / future retirement home. It is fantastic condition, looks like it was garage kept, and I want to keep it that way the best I can but I don't have a garage to store it in. I was thing of getting a RV cover for it but not sure what the pros and cons are and the only place I seem to be able to find an opinion is the RV cover sales websites. (care to guess what their opinion is? lol). At $200 - $400 dollars it seems like a decent deal. I am fairly young and in good shape so I don't mind wrestling with it a bit, it looks like it may be a challenge to put on. Anyway share your wisdom and / or thoughts with me please.
Hi, RV covers are a great way to destroy the finish on an RV. The wind causes it to shift and grind away at the surface.
QUOTE(pianotuna @ Aug 8 2010, 02:56 PM) [snapback]23392[/snapback] Hi, RV covers are a great way to destroy the finish on an RV. The wind causes it to shift and grind away at the surface. That is exactly right. I've restored vehicles worth more than a lot of motor homes and occasionally I would leave them outside. It was better to expose them to the elements than to ever cover them up. When the cover is new, it is fairly clean on the inside. There is no way to take the cover off without some dirt getting on the inside surfaces. Any dirt on the inside surface, which is a cumulative amount of dirt, will act like sand paper on the surfaces of the rig when the wind blows it. The wind blowing against the cover will cause it to billow somewhat and that just allows more dirt to blow under it. Besides that, I have also heard of owners getting hurt while trying to cover or uncover their coach. The cover is heavy, the coach is high, and all it takes is one misstep to ruin your day. Just keep the coach washed occasionally, with a yearly coat of a good quality wax and the paint will last a long time. I should add that on another forum that I go to, an owner had a problem with the cover sticking to the roof coating on his coach. He ended up damaging the roof trying to get the cover off. Apparently the heat was too much and it caused the roof coating to soften and the cover to stick.
Thanks for the information! I have been doing some addition research and it appears that you are in the majority with your opinions. I think I will go the wash and wax route. Thanks again.
If it were an Airstream Land Yacht, I would say COVER IT, but the Bounder has a correctly engineered roof. Do not cover it. The wind will cause the cover to flap and pretty soon, you will have damaged exterior surface where the straps go under the RV.
Thanks for the wisdom and experience. I'll not be covering the new rig, but she'll get a nice coat of wax in late September/Early October.
QUOTE(edcornflake @ Sep 2 2010, 11:56 AM) [snapback]23893[/snapback] Thanks for the wisdom and experience. I'll not be covering the new rig, but she'll get a nice coat of wax in late September/Early October. Good move...avoid the cover. h34r:
The new urethane paints do not need the same protection as the older paint products. The base coat/clear coat finishes, which are used on most coaches today already have UV inhibitors, etc. Putting a cover on them can cause abrasion which can possibly wear through the outer clear coat and cause it to start to peel like we have all seen on some cars that were waxed/polished with an abrasive product. Make sure that you keep your coach clean and occasionally waxed with a product that is "clear coat" safe.
