Living in an RV I hate the rain. I don’t know if this is the case with all RVs, but our RV has a rubber roof, which creates a hard skin like a drum. Now imagine you are inside a drum where it is raining. Luckily, it only rains for a few weeks a year, that is, luckily for us; not so lucky for California agriculture.
The second problem is that our roof is old. It should probably be replaced. However, this can cost several thousand dollars. This is a high price to pay, when we are parked in a place with so little rain. However, I don’t want to repeat the multi-year process of climbing the roof with a dicor sealant tube at every opportunity. So, I have been looking for other solutions.
- Obviously the first solution would be to ship the RV instead of the roof. The length of time, a few days in between we’ll have to check out a motel. Cost, several thousand. I suspect this would be a popular choice.
- It’s DIY. Now, I don’t think I’m qualified to fix the roof, that is, if I had all the time in the world, I could fix it. However, it will require a building site (like a barn) and a few weeks. It’s not an option.
- Buying a large garage canopy to cover the RV. We are talking about covering something 8’x34. This will cost $2000-2500 and will be a permanent installation.
- A tarp canopy similar to a car. This can cost $500 or more. My concern would be that this would need to be large. We will have problems anchoring the concrete side of the RV.
- A standard tarp ($150) tied to the ground with bungee cords and sandbags.
Which one did I choose?
None of the above. I bought a scrap billboard ad on eBay. This is a canvas-like material that is three times thicker than a heavy duty work tarp and is water resistant and moderately dew resistant, 10’x36′. It cost me $30 plus $40 for shipping. Then I got a grommet kit and extra grommets for about $15. I found tarp bungee cords for $8 or so. Also found nylon and diamond braided cord, 200′ total, $20.
I spent the afternoon screwing in the grommets. I then rolled up the tarp and with a little help from DW pulled it up to the roof where I unrolled it. It wasn’t painful at all but it took a few hours in total. However, now that I know how to do it, in the future I can do it on my own in under an hour—now that I’ve gotten a lot better at tying boom straps. .
So now our RV is covered in big orange AT&T billboard advertising 
😀
.
So this should take care of our water problems and hopefully also prevent the “cool” raindrops from hitting our roof. 
Oh yeah, to respect the FCC’s new blogger compensation rules, I’m not being compensated by AT&T for saying this.
😛
I’m glad I’m not promoting Kleenex or laxatives or anything like that.
Update: An all-day rain storm is passing over us right now and it’s working pretty well. Instead of covering the small gutters, the water runs from the tarp overhang about 6″ from the walls. The sound from the rain is muffled but not as quiet as I expected. Being in the lower registers, it is not annoying as the rain usually is.
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