Can anyone tell me if it is okay to tilt the fc in winter via the legs to let water run off. We were told we could do this during the summer months between hols.But what about the winter lay up. As although we have not got many dips in the top under the winter cover but there are some that could pool or puddle.
Mine is tilted, I have the jockey wheel as high as it will go then have put the legs down front and back to steady it. I have also put a box under the middle of the cover. We have had some pretty severe rain here in Devon over the last few weeks and, no puddles.
------------- Give a man a fish and he'll feed his family for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he'll sit around on a boat all day drinking beer!
I can see no good reason why you shouldn't tilt your Fiesta. The important thing is that you use the jockey wheel to lift the front and then wind down the legs just to steady the rig, not to use the legs to lift the end of the Fiesta - you don't want any strain on the legs at all.
With out Pathfinder I sit our rolled up windbreaks, lengthways, along the top of the pathfinder so that when the cover is pulled over it forms a little 'spine' and stops water pooling anywhere on the the cover - especially at the front. I am fairly sure that when you fold up a Fiesta on of the bedboards is the last item to be folded over and sits pointing skywards - an ideal surface to sit something on to give you that spine - it only needs to be maybe 3 inches high and ideally doesn't want to have any sharp corners which might put stress marks into the cover.
If you are laying up for winter don't forget to chock the wheels and leave the handbrake off so it doesn't get stuck on and to be sure you have emptied all of the water out - you have a water heater in the Fiesta don't you?
Not sure if they still have them but a couple of weeks ago Aldi round here were selling some large dehumidifiers - the ones that use crystals in a plastic cage/box. I think they are well worth putting in the camper over winter to try and keep the condensation under control inside the folded camper. From memory it was about 13 quid for the box and extra refills which would be more than enough to see you through the winter - you do need to change them periodically but thats not hard if you put the box just inside the door.
Thanks Stix,Jimbo it looks as if we have done it right but Bob needs to get the middle he has not got much room left as he put the boards across the middle bit to put something on top. But if we put something too big underneath the main cover it will make the outter winter cover too high and rise up the sides.Just says he has about 4-6 inches left to find something. So he will forage about in the shed as on Tuesday it is supposed to be fine here.But I do not trust the weather especially here as we are nearly 530.feet above sea level. Only large hils or mountains are higher so we get very cold icy weather with fog quickly
Ours has been stored outside for the last couple of years on a tilt without any problem but we remove the battery first and keep it on a top-up charge throught the winter.
Quote: Originally posted by arthur.daley on 13/11/2011
Hi Chrissie
I can see no good reason why you shouldn't tilt your Fiesta. The important thing is that you use the jockey wheel to lift the front and then wind down the legs just to steady the rig, not to use the legs to lift the end of the Fiesta - you don't want any strain on the legs at all.
With out Pathfinder I sit our rolled up windbreaks, lengthways, along the top of the pathfinder so that when the cover is pulled over it forms a little 'spine' and stops water pooling anywhere on the the cover - especially at the front. I am fairly sure that when you fold up a Fiesta on of the bedboards is the last item to be folded over and sits pointing skywards - an ideal surface to sit something on to give you that spine - it only needs to be maybe 3 inches high and ideally doesn't want to have any sharp corners which might put stress marks into the cover.
If you are laying up for winter don't forget to chock the wheels and leave the handbrake off so it doesn't get stuck on and to be sure you have emptied all of the water out - you have a water heater in the Fiesta don't you?
Not sure if they still have them but a couple of weeks ago Aldi round here were selling some large dehumidifiers - the ones that use crystals in a plastic cage/box. I think they are well worth putting in the camper over winter to try and keep the condensation under control inside the folded camper. From memory it was about 13 quid for the box and extra refills which would be more than enough to see you through the winter - you do need to change them periodically but thats not hard if you put the box just inside the door.
regards
Arthur
I Arthur,
Thanks for coming back to me.We have doen all the right things th eright way. BUT we have put boards across between the main cover & winter cover but we have nothing ontop of the main cove to form a mound as yet. If we put our windbreaks along it wil be different than your Pathfinder as yours has side door & ours is back door.We have got the humidifiers 2 of them when we bought the duf c.van. The 2 still came from Towsure so we are going to put one inside the firebucket that way if it overfills it does so inside the bucket.That advice we got on here.
We have 2 windbreaks. But would they not dig into the main cover with snow?
Quote: Originally posted by Steve McV on 13/11/2011
Yeah, it is fine. Another trick is to put a kids ball under the cover to make a bit of a high spot to let the water drain off rather than pool.
That ball is a brilliant idea.Do you play footee with it after Thanks
Quote: Originally posted by subaru on 13/11/2011
Ours has been stored outside for the last couple of years on a tilt without any problem but we remove the battery first and keep it on a top-up charge throught the winter.
Thanks subaru. That had to be taken out straight away as we had a Rhyno mover fitted and the battery is so big you can hardly get your fingers through to switch off. But the battery is inside ready for the charger we had to buy the last holiday and it was a cheaper one as they are not very cheap. It is one that can be trickle charged and left on for caravans & boats etc. So it must be okay for the fc.
Thanks again. I guess the first year is always the worst . Will it be ok or not or have I done enough.