STORING COACH INSIDE

[KC Snellgrove]

GOOD DAY! We live n the Portland, Oregon area. I am not traveling this winter and wondering if I should store my 2005 Monterey Coach? Do many Beaver owners store their rigs inside or just covered? I found a inside storage, but I do not think they let you plug in the coach. Is it harmful to the coach if it is not plugged in while sitting idle for 2 months? Should I detach the cables to the batteries? What else should I do? Is it necessary for me to put it in inside storage or am I just babying my baby too much? Thank you,
KC Snellgrove
2005 Monterey Beaver "Olivia -  Jean".   

[Bill Borden]

Hi KC,

We store our coach inside when we are not using it, there is a company local that stores 150+ rigs in a huge warehouse.  Since there are so many they do the parking and per your instructions; dump the air, turn off the batteries and so on.  For a fee you can have it washed, waxed, cleaned inside, serviced and plug it in, among other things.

When we store the coach for a month or two in the winter we elected not to pay to plug it in, but to help the batteries stay up we turn off the house batteries and I installed a Blue Sea disconnect switch to shut off the chassis batteries.  When we know we will pick it up, a few days before I will call them and at no charge they will plug in the coach and turn on the chassis batteries.  And they will prep anything you want.  One nice service is they always clean the windshield inside and out before we arrive nc, one less thing.

This system seems to be working.  But before the disconnect switch the batteries would go dead without plugging in.

I would recommend if nothing else disconnecting the chassis batteries.

Bill

 

[Joel Ashley]

We're in Clackamas, KC.  Our coach has been stored uncovered next to the house most winters for the last 8 seasons.  I turn off both battery switches and allow the solar panel to keep the batteries up.  I keep an eye on the water level in the 4 house deep cycle batteries, usually adding distilled water 3-4 times a year, more often if the coach is used much.  I monitor the Magnum inverter panel over the entry door, especially in the winter when solar input is minimal, and like to see around 13.2 volts.

If the solar seems to be inadequate, which is rare, I may plug the coach in, and I do anyway if I opt to use our electric air dryer to help restrict any potential for mold growth.  Of course the solar aspect is lost if you decide to store inside, but your coach won't require as much attention to keep clean.  Our batteries all seem to relish the routine, factory originals and still good.   If you store inside but without power, I'd disconnect the battery cables to prevent parasitic drains that your main switches don't affect.

Joel

[Dwight Wilson]

Hi KC,
I just shut off the main disconnect switches and the solar panels maintain the battery levels while parked outside. I also check the cell levels and add as necessary and start the coach and genset about once a month. I load up the genset and bring the C13 up to about 150 degrees before shutting down. I am parked outside in the winter for several months where it can get pretty cold but it is dry in Calgary and we get tons of sun. This process has worked well for several years without any problems.
Dwight

[Bill Sprague]

Adding to Dwight's suggestion, I think it is good to exercise the Hydro/Aqua-Hot while exercising the engine and genset.  It can be run even when full of pink antifreeze.

[Joel Ashley]

I don't start the CAT while in storage unless absolutely necessary.  You can't adequately exercise it unless you take it out on the road for a few miles, and getting our coach out onto our street is just too big a project due to our pad configuration.  I've read many opinions and tend to think I'm best off to not start it at all.  If it's not thoroughly ramped up after starting, like only street time can offer, problems from moist air and other issues can be worse than not starting it at all;  so I don't.

Like Dwight and Bill, I do run the genset and the HydroHot occasionally since, unlike the engine, I can stress them enough with loads to adequately exercise them.  It's a good idea, though certainly not a mandatory one, to top up the fuel tank with a 5 gal. yellow can of diesel once in a while following these regular storage exercises, so there's no room for winter air moisture, drawn into the tank by the fuel use, to condense out on cold tank walls.

Joel

[KC Snellgrove]

THANK YOU ALL!!!! I so appreciate all of your thoughtful and clear posts. I have not decided to store or not to store...it is like sending my kids to a nanny...which I would never do. I guess the bottom line leaving Olivia - Jean outside this winter will cause any damage? I believe they are built to be outside?  So what say you all? 

KC Snellgrove
2005 Beaver Monterey
Milwaukee (Portland) Oregon

[Joel Ashley]

If it were more convenient and affordable, I'd put Monty Rae inside. 

But a good coat of Meguiar's, especially on the roof, is my alternative.   This time of year that's likely not reasonable for you now, especially given the rare weather breaks this particular fall and winter so far in Portland.

But next spring I'd power wash at least the roof, dry it, and apply Meguiar's with my special Porter Cable polisher as per Monaco's advice when our coach was new.  It's done an awesome job of protection in the past.  A DVD with such directives was supplied with the rig.  Admittedly, I haven't cleaned and polished it as often as optimal, but some is better than none.

Joel

[Dick Simonis]

For what it's worth...this is my first winter with our new Beaver Barn.  This morning it was 26 degrees and I wondered how the coach was doing since I didn't have any heat sources energized so out I go at the crack of dawn to check on things.  With it 26 outside, the temp inside the barn was 34F by the CMP.  Inside it was 49F and the basement temp was also 49.

I see a couple of things going on.  First is that even in an un-insulated metal building the coach has so much thermal mass it's very slow to give up the latent heat.  This is probably only true in areas like this where the minimum temps are only several hours long than warms up nicely during the day.  Also with the barn not insulated it gets much warmer inside than the outside temp due to solar heating.

Of course the downside is that during the summer the barn becomes an oven but the upside of that is that we're gone.

Overall, inside storage is sooooo much better than letting the coach sit outside and it stays so nice an clean.