I'm Covering Her Up!

[Becky B.]

I've been doing my giant spring cleaning on the Sovereign for the past few days. I'm still not finished giving her the twice over with the polish job. I've decided to bite the bullet & cover her up with an actual cover when I'm finished. The amount of junk that was on top of the trailer from trees & birds took me at least 6 hours to clean. That's not to mention the pass with "C" nuvite & now the cyclo (I'm up to about 13 hours there). I am so so so aware of all the warnings of scratches if I cover it. I look at it this way.....I have no clear coat, I can polish out any scratches that may get made, I need to keep my sanity next spring! I keep tossing around the idea of selling the trailer since I have the polishing monkey on my back, but I'm going to give the cover a try first. Anybody tried it? Anybody who has & has some helpful hints about how to keep the scratches down? I love all of you who are going to tell me not to do it, but alas, the cover is sitting in my front hallway where the UPS guy left it!

[AIR-Quarius]

Seems like the wind blowing the cover would be the enemy from what I remember. We had covered ours with a large simple tarp at one time due to a hail storm coming. And left it on for two days and in that short time the wind had caused it to do a pounding on the surface, and it left every form of scratch, marr...etc you name it, I will never do that again.

[Becky B.]

This is the cover I got Deluxe Airstream Custom 32' Camper Trailer Traveler Cover | eBay.
I think I'm going to sew some old sheets or blankets together & put them under the cover.

[Airslide]

Its a bit more expensive than a tarp but will save you hours of work in the spring.

Galvanized Shelters:ShelterLogic

This is what I have. Its been up since 2007 and may need new fabric before winter. We get alot of wind and it holds up nice. Its not designed for snow load though.

Vinnie

[walwalla]

Becky, I experienced the same problems that you have described, so I too relented and am having a local upholsterer fabricate a cover. The cover will consist of Sunbrella material on the exterior and a foam material called Headliner on the inside. I was informed that Headliner is a material used in car covers.

I looked into buying a CalMark cover before deciding to have custom cover made. CalMark is a company located in California that fabricates covers for trailers including Airstreams, using only the Sunbrella material. They claim it will not scratch the aluminum but I am skeptical, given other Airstream owners experience with covers in general. I couldn't find any Forum posts on the CalMark covers.

[perryg114]

I have a cover for mine which came with the trailer and I never have used. I think I will use it just to keep the UV off the trailer. I want make a shed for it but I am not sure how long that is going to take. The clear coat is already dead so what is the harm. Now if you have a brand spanking new trailer with perfect clear coat then you might want to rethink the cover.

Perry

[Melody Ranch]

If you are polished or have a nice clearcoat....you will regret the cover idea.

[BIGED52]

Becky, If it was me after all that work polishing I would get the trailer clearcoated again. That would lock the shiney under it and allow you to Walbernize on top of it to keep your new clear coat in good shape for many years. The biggest reason the old clearcoat failed was years of sun (UV) exposure and very little regular maint. & cleaning. The expense for the clearcoat is easily justified by the time and costs involved in cleaning up the top and then re-polishing as you well know. I think Airstream as well as other paint/body shops can do this for you. I would call Jackson Center or your closest AS dealer and see what the cost is for your trailer. Ed

[tphan]

Hi Becky- I've used a light-weight ebay rv cover for my un-polished, non-clear-coated '72 for 7 years now and I've yet to see anything resembling a scratch or rub-mark on it. I use an old climbing rope that goes back and forth over the top and sides in several places to keep the wind from blowing it off. Sure, a barn or big garage would be ideal, but I have had 100% success with a cover keeping the bird poop, pine sap, and UV off of my rig, with no damage to it. I don't know how effective it would be in a big hail storm, probably not very. It is counter-intuitive to me that smooth, soft fabric can scratch metal, unless there is grit trapped in there- so wash your rig before putting the cover on. On the other hand, my trailer has several "drippy splotches" of discolored aluminum on it from where the PO had it parked- had to have been from something acidic from a tree or bird. Just my observations- tim

[Becky B.]

Thanks for all the comments. I still have the cover in the box, since I've been using the trailer lately. I'm glad to hear, Tim, that you have good success with a cover! I thought it would be wise (and you reaffirmed it) to give her a good bath before covering her up. I pondered ropes & am glad you have done that too!

The clear coat is a good idea too. But I've got so much $ sunk into both trailers right now, that I wouldn't even approach my DH with that suggestion! I have heard that P&S won't clear coat unless they did the polish job. I don't know if it's true or not. Anyhow, kind of out of the question for me right now.

I'll put the cover on in the fall when I put her to sleep for the winter!

[barbara4rb]

My 92 Sovereign 21 has failed clearcoat, and the prev owner covered it with a tarp over the last winter he owned it because the vents leaked. There are tarp marks where the clearcoat had come off. I've attached 2 photos of the damage. I am still working on removing all the clearcoat. Once all off, I'll experiment on trying to remove these black marks. I think my Airstream will polish nicely, but for now, it's got character (I guess).

[Becky B.]

These are the results of the cover:

I took a bunch of rope and wrapped it all round the trailer, both long & short ways. In February, I took the cover off to show the trailer to a potential buyer. (Yes, I decided to sell the trailer & got an Avion that I never have to polish again, but I still have my Bambi II to keep me entertained in the polishing career). I noticed a couple of marks on the top from the rope rubbing. So, when I covered it up again, I left the ropes off. I just took the cover off today, since the buyer of the trailer is finally coming to inspect/pick up this week. It looks just fine!!! I am going to purchase a cover for my Bambi II now. I sure wish I had tried this a long time ago. I could have saved myself a TON of spring clean up! No, I'm not sorry I covered it. Pleased as punch!



These pictures were taken right after I took the cover off. FINALLY we have some sunshine here!

[ROBERT CROSS]

TETO.....

I'll never do it again, lesson learned.

Bob

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

TETO.....

I'll never do it again, lesson learned.

Bob

I'm not quite sure what this means.......But if it means you're going to try it.....get a good cover!

[ROBERT CROSS]

Becky,

Oh contraire, I tried it on our 63 Safari, never again. Moisture got underneath the ($$$) cover, froze to the roof, end cap's and most of the curbside. Plus a lot of wind damage.

The first time I washed the Classic using a premium wash brush, I spent a day and a half polishing the scratches. Lessons learned.

Not worth the time, effort or cost IMO.

But TETO....

Bob

[Becky B.]

Yep, TETO....different results, maybe different covers or weather conditions.
Was worth the time & effort for me IMHO.

[rportillo]

Hi Becky,
Glad to hear you got good results. Did you sew blankets or sheets under the cover as you mentioned earlier? Was your cover water proof?

I have been considering a cover for my polished Bambi also. Living in San Jose, our winters are mild, summers can be warm to hot and not windy most times. So I wanted the cover for UV protection, more than anything.
Thanks.
Ralph

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by rportillo

Hi Becky,
Glad to hear you got good results. Did you sew blankets or sheets under the cover as you mentioned earlier? Was your cover water proof?

I have been considering a cover for my polished Bambi also. Living in San Jose, our winters are mild, summers can be warm to hot and not windy most times. So I wanted the cover for UV protection, more than anything.
Thanks.
Ralph

No, I didn't sew blankets or sheets under the cover. It was water proof. It didn't have any grommets on it. It is vented so it dries if it does get wet. It has straps that go under the trailer to keep it on and straps that go across the front & back to snug it up. It cost about $180

[Tino643]

It is my third new airsteam and they were always cover but not in winter, they were in a garage. I have a sunbrella the one use for luxury car. I wash the airstrean and cover up.She is always clean, protected from uv and NO DAMAGE AT ALL. Just to say Ii am crazy whit my airstream. So if i do it that actually ok.....But like i said, for the winter i don't put a cover....

[Aage]

Becky, I've heard lots of horror stories about covering trailers, but yours look FABulous!

ps: what does TETO mean?