Storage option thoughts. (1 Viewer)

[MrPG]

Thinking out loud here really and would welcome others imput.
We’ve had our van since Feb stored in an outdoor compound 5 mins from the house amongst 95% caravans. Access in the summer is ok, upto 8pm in the evening but more restricted in the winter (closing before I finish work) and we want to use the van all year round. The one thing that bothers me more than anything is the close proximity of the vans to each other. I have caravans on either side of me so close you can’t open the cab door fully. Having watched some of the caravan owners moving their vans about it worries me how close we all are and potential for damage.

Now I have an option 10 mins from the house, a farm with undercover storage and plenty of room. We have solar so that's a minus point under cover. The owner admits there can be birds roosting in the roof. Access is good, whenever we want. Plenty of room between units. Owners live on site and the site is secure.
If you were going for the second option would you cover the van to keep the bird mess off? Anything else I need to consider?

 

[Minxy]

You need to check with your insurers first to see if there are any issues with moving it to the farm instead of it being in, I assume, a 'proper' caravan storage site. If they don't have any problem with it being there then just get a cheap tarp to cover it when it's in storage, you don't need to worry about it rubbing as it won't be exposed to the wind, obviously you'd need to make sure you take it out fairly often as you won't be getting any charge into the batteries from your solar panel.

 

[TheBig1]

some undercover storage sites allow a low amp hookup to keep the batteries charged for a few quid a week extra

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[Silver-Fox]

I would definitely have a cover over it.
Providing it’s not blowy in there the cover shouldn’t cause any issues.
Where as the bird c**p will do major damage to the roof.

 

[Hymer 1961]

We have just moved to an undercover site on a farm. The barn has electricity so no problem with my redundant solar panel, I just leave the Motorhome plugged into the electric hookup in between trips.

No birds thankfully as the barn was completely gutted and painted throughout.

Although it is not a recognised Cassoa Site it does have an alarm and CCTV directly connected to the Police. On top of which as a belt and braces measure we had a VanBitz Strickback Growler and Non Starter fitted as the location is a little remote.

I would definitely go for the under cover option, especially in light of the close proximity of the caravans. Maybe you could rig up a tarp canopy over the motorhome to avoid the birds poop. Having to uncover and cover a Motorhome each time you move it might become a bit tedious.

 

[MrPG]

Thanks for the replys.
We have the Vanbitz Strikeback and Non Starter. I’ll enquire about charging. With two leisure batteries how long could I leave it idle before charging? So far we’ve been using the van every 3-4 weeks.

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[TerryL]

It's your starter battery that will probably suffer - it'll be running the alarm and other services. You'll probably be lucky to get three weeks without some form of assistance. A Battery Master will get the leisure batteries to keep the starter battery topped up, to a certain point, which will extend that but not indefinitely.

Only other thought is rodents, impossible to keep out of barns so you will need to take some precautions there too.

 

[mikebeaches]

I reckon there's a lot to be said for being under cover if that's an option. Keep it out of the wet, and less risk from frost too.

We're going one step further this winter, and garaging the van in Spain. A bugger to get insurance, but cracked it in the end - and at a reasonable price.

Professional enclosed indoor storage - secured like Fort Knox - and by the airport. Paying €400 for six months storage - less than £2 quid a day, with free transport to and from the terminal and free hook-up provided. Already have a few easyJet flights booked, so will be going down for a couple of weeks at a time.

 

[TerryL]

That's an excellent deal.