A New Parking Space For "The Camper" (pic's)

[JohnB]

Fellow Campers

Here is the new parking spot for the new camper. Thought I would share as I always like seeing what other folks do with their campers. It sparks more ideas for me to build on. Now if I just had Kitty’s roof…

Some day “The Camper” will be undercover, but that building is in the future right now. Until then I needed to park it on a spot where we can get to it all year round and not sink out of sight in the mud. And, where the south sun is blocked from eating up the camper plastics.

I’ll do this with pic’s as they seem to go over well.

I have to make a large U turn in my driveway to turn around. This involves going off the pavement, problem number 1. Here are the basics of the turn.

Starts out like this. A Full 8 foot off the pavement


Then part of the turn


Then backed into my temporary parking position.




This worked OK until it rains. And here in central OH the clay soil is pretty good, for clay that is. And does not drain…. Most evaporates…. as compared to upper NY gravel and loam I grew up on. See the rocks, they where in the tire path so I would not get stuck. She was a sinking… . After this episode I knew I had to do something different and quick


Here is where the upgrade started. With a pile of stones. 9 yards (18 tons) for those counting. I told the lady at the gravel bank to have the driver put them all in one spot on my driveway. I would spread them myself. She gasped, thinking of the normal home delivery of a truck load of stones spread by hand…... I assured her it would be OK.


Then came the dig phase. I brought some of my bigger toys with me from NY when I sold the farm. They come in handy around the house


And the new spot leveling phase. A view from the front.


A view from the back.


And now the stones all spread out.


I also put down 2 pressure treated 2 x 12’s with 4 x 4 stops anchored on the ends. These 2 boards are leveled up in all directions.


Now all backed in. Needs to be fairly exact to miss my transformer, but all I do is aim for the 2 x 12 as a guide to shoot for and all goes well.


And a side view in place


And a front view all parked. The T310SR’s sister (the T2499) sleeps in side the shed still until she finds a new home to camp at. The T310SR is ready to roll to the nearest campsite just waiting for us.


And here is the F350 backing her in.


Hope you all enjoyed the project.

John

[kanyonkitty]

WOW John

Wonderful job. You were lucky to be able to get that job completed so quickly. Once your 2499 is gone, will the 310 fit in the garage? or will you have to build a new shed? And yes, pictures sure do tell a much better story. Thanks for sharing.

Kitty

[nickster60]

John
Nice job I just did a similar job in my yard what did you use for the pad for the tires and how did you attach the stops.

Nick

[Sunline Fan]

OK John, you did spark my interest, but not about your gravel job. What's the deal with your garage doors? I see the door is much shorter than the 2499 and it looks like you have removable panels. I'm stuck on a concrete pad at the moment (I can't complain though). But, there's a nice 30'x50' garage right next to the pad, and it only has 7' doors on it. The dumb township won't let the building go any higher, but ceiling inside is 9' clear. By no means will the TT fit in like it is, but it may work if I put donut tires on.

I also don't think much could be done to the side door due to the overhang, but the front door could go up:



I'll admit, there's no way I could fit anything that big in there at the moment, but we're working on that. It would be great to get it in there because it's well insulated and heated, kept at at least 50 degrees all year long.

Gee John, you haven't had that 310 very long and it already looks like the 2499 has been tucked in there for years!

Jon

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by kanyonkitty

WOW John

Wonderful job. You were lucky to be able to get that job completed so quickly. Once your 2499 is gone, will the 310 fit in the garage? or will you have to build a new shed? And yes, pictures sure do tell a much better story. Thanks for sharing.

Kitty

Kitty,

Thanks for the kind words. Yeh I know I need to get it done or deal with possible getting stuck in my own yard, again. The T2499 was stuck one spring….

When I bought the T2499 new, that 2004 year model was just under 10 foot. Which was one of the things I did not want the 2005 as it grew slightly over 10 feet. My garage is 10' 6" to the bottom of the truss so all the door opening I can get is 10’1”. After some door mod’s she sleeps inside.

The T310SR, will it fit? Well I thought hard on how to do this and “almost” had it. I can come up with a way to take care of the 1 foot to long problem, but I also have about a 8' too high problem, which a low profile AC unit would not completely correct.

Most likely a new building on the back of my property will be in the future. I have been contemplating that for some time, as all my "toys" from the farm have my building filled. And a lot of machinery non motorized still sits out side.

Thanks

John

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by nickster60

John
Nice job I just did a similar job in my yard what did you use for the pad for the tires and how did you attach the stops.

Nick

Nick

Thanks

The pads by 2 x 12’s 8 feet long pressure treated. The stops, noting fancy. I nailed (galvanized) to the end a 2 x 4 laying flat as a stop plate, then put in front of it a 4 x 4 and toe nailed it to it. The 2 x 4 will not shear off as a stop and just holds the load of the 4 x 4 against it.

If I was going to keep this permanent for 20 some years I would of done this different. But it will out last the time I will use it here. A 2nd building will be coming when??? Well it will be somewhere in the future.

John

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

OK John, you did spark my interest, but not about your gravel job. What's the deal with your garage doors? I see the door is much shorter than the 2499 and it looks like you have removable panels.

Snip…

Gee John, you haven't had that 310 very long and it already looks like the 2499 has been tucked in there for years!

Jon

Jon, I differed the $1500 new 10 x 16 foot overhead door and turned the 8 x 16 into a high lift door that goes up to make 10’ 1" clear opening.

The panels are bi folds. It is a 5 minute job to open them, but it saved me having to buy permanent 10 foot new door. A new building was in my future, just the T310SR will accelerate it. When the new building comes, The bi folds will go away and back to the 8 foot opening.

Unless you are really into figuring, this was a good weekend project to do once I had the door reworked. And very heavy duty hinges.

See if this solves your curiosity.






John

PS the stuff in front of the T2499, yeh I know, that is 1/2 the 5 minute opening job, moving it each time. I am room strapped or "stuff" straped.... And there is a John Deere 445 mover in front of the Ford tractor. I have a lot of stuff in my sons 40 x 60 building 20 miles away. That I’m sure will come back when Sunny leaves.

[Al in PA]

John:

I know it would be unrelated to Sunlines, but I'd enjoy seeing some pictures of your "toys" from the farm if you wouldn't mind an OT post. It's amazing what you can do with a tractor and a few implements as we can all see by the excellent job you did with your Ford. I have a couple of 3000 Fords that come in real handy: They're great for moving trailers around.

I checked out the building permit requirements for an RV port like Kitty's. We are not required to get a permit for one. However, a lean-to addition on the end of the barn would require a permit - go figure. I just have to decide where to place it for easy access to electricity.

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Jon, I differed the $1500 new 10 x 16 foot overhead door and turned the 8 x 16 into a high lift door that goes up to make 10’ 1" clear opening.

The panels are bi folds. It is a 5 minute job to open them, but it saved me having to buy permanent 10 foot new door. A new building was in my future, just the T310SR will accelerate it. When the new building comes, The bi folds will go away and back to the 8 foot opening.

Unless you are really into figuring, this was a good weekend project to do once I had the door reworked. And very heavy duty hinges.

OK John, so you just put a shorter door on a tall track. It would be nice to be able to put the car hauler in without having to change tires. That's a real PIA. It would also be nice to get rid of those angled pieces on the edges of the doors. I have no idea what my dad had in mind 15 years ago, but I guess it wasn't an issue with 5 cars and an open trailer. I've almost hit that angled piece a few times and it makes moving things around quite challenging.

Jon

[emam]

Hey John, great job with the new addition and the swing open doors to resolve the garage door.

In looking at your set-up, a thought came to mind. For fairly cheap and a great way to put a roof over the newer camper, you could simply take off the gutter on the side of the garage, and attach some joists across the top of the camper. With 3 4x4's and one header for the joists to sit on, you would have a roof over the camper creating an easy lean-to.

Like one of the other members said, your area might not allow a lean-to due to code, so you could simply put some sheeting along the side and make it look like an addition to the garage. This could all be done for under $1000 I bet and knowing of your handyness with a saw and hammer, I bet you could finish it in under a weekend and a case of beer

That's just one suggestion I thought of. If Cindy and I hadnt sold our house, this is exactly what we were going to do with our garage and I had it priced out and all. That is why I knew it would be under $1000. In one year of storage costs or long term damage for storing it outside, you would probably pay for the cost of the project.

Good luck, and great job with the dirt work. Always one of my favorite things to play around with.

Pat