Van / RV Storage

[rob_gendreau]

I've seen people do a couple of clever things to get storage. Not with vans, but with non-street legal cars (for track use).

One guy just solicited garage space in nearby neighborhoods. Turned out some folks nearby were willing to rent. He needed indoor storage, but if you could deal with outdoor and someone had space in their driveway that might work. There is even an app coming, PAMG, to facilitate these kind of rentals. There might also be some that already exist.

Another alternative I've had friends use is a campground. They got a favorable rate for just parking at a first night camping area they used anyway, so just left their rig and used a car to drive home. With our vans that might require a shuttle or something, but maybe you have something nearby. Lots of private campgrounds rent space, and in their case they paid less than 25% of what they'd pay in a nearby "storage" lot, plus they could just stay in camp, load up with water, dump, etc.

[mikracer]

Our local Elks lodge offers RV parking/storage but its not covered. Maybe something like that is available nearby. Usually stuff at the Elks is very reasonably priced...drinks especially!

[berns378]

I have a outdoor cover for a rb350 also fits over rear bike rack. 700 dollars used it twice. will let it go for half price

[GrumpyBadger]

I'll keep it in mind, thanks! I need to convince myself I have exhausted possibilities and decide by the time it is done in September. I have a few months till I get it (well... actually till next Spring when hail season starts again since I won't get the van back here till Autumn after the weather turns).

The base alternative in all this is to just park it cheap outside and hope I don't have to bother the insurance company much. That is, after all, what we pay them for...

[flyfisher]

Another thing to keep in mind is being able to keep the van hooked to shore power while it's not being used. I've heard it's best to keep your house batteries topped up. I'm fortunate that I can keep my Van in my garage and plugged in. Since I don't use it as a daily driver, I'm also a little obsessive about driving it once a week or so, just to keep things loose and moving.

[johnolden]

We keep our SMB in a covered, carport like, stall in a local storage place. I wanted to keep it out of the sun, Cost is $60/mo, No electricity, so I can't plug it in there. I was experiencing the aux battery running down quickly, even with everything shut off and the CO and Propane detecter fuses pulled. I found that there were 2 small wires connected to the battery terminal. I think the wires power the battery and solar panel gages. (SMB prewired it for solar but I have not bought the panels yet,) I had a local guy install disconnect plugs on both the neg and pos battery cables, He connected the 2 wires downstream of the pos disconnect plug. I disconnect the plugs when I put the van in storage. Vola, the drain on the aux battery ceased. I've had it in storage for as long as 3 mo. with almost zero voltage drop. Crawling under the van to do the disconnect is a pain, but sure saves the battery.

If your build is still underway, you could ask SMB to connect those 2 wires downstream of the master shut-off switch instead of directly to the battery terminal,

[daveb]

Depending on what those wires actually are, they might have to be connected to the battery to work correctly. Many battery monitor shunts must be wired in that fashion to read correctly. Then again maybe it's just where they decided to land the solar charge wire. Probably best to just E-mail SMB to ask.