Hi, thanks for all the great information on this forum! As a total amateur/new-old Scamp owner, so many of my questions have been answered in existing threads, and now I am looking for ideas on a dilemma that's more situation-specific: What type of shelter would work best for a 16-foot Scamp that I'm using as a home office/guest room in my backyard in Florida, taking out occasionally on weekends mostly during the winter for camping?
I bought a tarp-carport on Amazon, thinking it was 10 feet tall, and oops, the shelter is 10 feet wide. It's too short for the Scamp. I think all the other tarp-carports online may have this same problem, right? I got the cheapest one, looks like it's sold under a variety of names.
While I'm deciding whether to return/exchange this or keep and modify: Does anyone have ideas for the best way to extend this in height by a couple of feet (concrete blocks/buckets of rocks?) OR would it be better to go with another solution given our unique climate/use?
- I need a shelter rather than a fitted cover as I'm using the camper every day. Also not looking to store it in my garage for this reason (and it's a couple of inches taller than my garage).
- We are not in an HOA, and are in a camper-friendly city, so neighborhood/city regs are not an issue
- Climate: We do not have snow. We have rain, humidity and wind. My worries are first, rain, second, sun, and to a lesser extent, tree limbs. I may want to install something more permanent to shield it from tree limbs later on once I've lived with the camper and am certain that this is the spot for it. In the meantime, I am thinking of something a bit more temporary like a tarp while I get used to it.
- The Scamp has a five-foot fence, five-foot clothesline and ten-foot pergola on 3 sides. In theory we could anchor a tarp here but I'd need a pole or something to get some height on the fence or pergola. Seems like we could work with this spot and do something creative but we are NOT handy and I could use some ideas. How would you anchor a tarp and pitch it to keep rain off? And by "rain" I mean Florida rain. I will post a photo here as well once I figure out how to do that ...
Let me know what you all think of the relative cost/benefit of a temporary tarp, carport/tarp, metal roof carport, or other creative solution! Anything I haven't considered that I should as a newbie? If you have any specific products to recommend please do.
Thanks!
Meghan
How much height are you lacking? You could possibly build short knee walls on either side, then erect the shelter you bought on top of those to give you the extra height.
Thanks! I think that might be the best temporary solution. We are lacking a foot or two, three would give us some space to be on the safe side.
link the shelter you have on amazon. You could also extend the posts depending on what you bought.
Thanks! I didn’t see any leg extenders as a product but would definitely try that if there is a way to do it. Here’s what I bought:Caravan Canopy 10 X 20-Feet Domain Carport, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0032UY0C4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QQAVEbJ6P42NP
Might get some treated 4x4 fence posts and sink about 2 feet in concrete and leave 2 feet above ground at each footing. Then you could lag bolt the feet on each post. You'll probably have to tension guy most any type of shelter real well given storms that hit where you are.
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Thanks! My thinking on the wind was, like any outdoor addition from pergolas to tomato cages, the shelter either needs to be built to withstand a hurricane or easily disassembled and stored. I would try this temporarily and build something permanent if it seems like a good spot. Meanwhile if we are in a cone for a hurricane, we would leave with the Scamp. Ideally I would like to take down most of the shelter and stash it in the garage. If it’s borderline - and storms usually are - we might release air from the tires and try to squeeze the Scamp into the garage. It might work.
I would love to hear how others in Florida and hurricane-prone states handle this dilemma.
Yeah basically the same as Gregs idea, You can put stilts on each post. You got a flange at the bottom there, so easy to bolt to a 3 foot stilt, wood, metal whatever. or If you can weld, get some metal tubing and weld the same size tubing inline on the top of the posts and just drill new holes for the pins