Car tent recomm ndations

[DWBOX2000]

I need to find a tent to park a car in. I will just use for the New England winter and then take down. The car will just be parked, no work on car involved. Any recommendations?

Thanks,
David

[Zeke]

Isn't snow going to be a problem with a tent? Why not a good cover?
When you say 'parked' do you mean stored?

[Rusty Heap]

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-ft-x-20-ft-trucksuv-portable-garage-58741.html

[flatbutt]

A friend had one very similar to the HF. It barely made it through one New England winter.

[jyl]

I have a car tent similar to the HF one linked. It works fine in rain which is what we mostly get here in the PNW. When we got a few inches of snow, though, I had to get it off the tent. A friend had the same tent and it collapsed on her car under snow.

PNW snow is wet and packs down densely, just 4-6” weighs a lot. Light fluffy powder might be a different story.

[cstreit]

Maybe a silly question but why do you need to keep the snow off? Why does it have to be a tent?

[2.7RS]

Why don't you rent 20 footer container?

[Targa68]

Yup

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Here's what 3 feet of heavy snow overnight does to ShelterLogic and similar other tents. They are great if you can get inside while snowing and use a broom to push from inside out to get the snow off but you don't want more than a foot on these things. My remedy in 2013 was to make my own with electrical conduit to create a 45º pitch so the snow slides off vs. 20º ShelterLogic where the snow just sits on top.

Pics from the build

[Shaun @ Tru6]

[Shaun @ Tru6]

It only lasted until 2021 but had a good run.

Used a massive hay tarp to cover everything again which made it weatherproof for the most part.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Isn't snow going to be a problem with a tent? Why not a good cover?
When you say 'parked' do you mean stored?

I second the car cover.

I bought a Covercraft, one of their high quality breathable covers, for my daily that sits outside. Most weeks I work from home so the car sits a lot. It's been snowed on, rained on, etc.

I'm impressed with the quality and sung fit - should have bought one years ago.

[RNajarian]

Maybe consider getting a large tarp as well. Park in the middle of it. Put the car cover on then fold up the tarp and “wrap the car,” tying the ends on the roof of the car with a small rope. Then if you have another (cheaper) car cover, put that over the original car cover and tarp.

This will prevent vermin from getting under (and into the car)

Just a thought

[dw1]

That "garage tent" is a very nice bit of work.

Some years back I did a similar but much simpler solution. Where I was living at the time, I had more cars that needed storage than I had garage space, but there was a deck on the back of my house and it was considerably above ground level. I made a "lean to" type of tent from the deck railing to the ground using a very large green reinforced plastic tarp and some long lengths of square-section metal tube and parked the car inside that for the winter. (I also put the car up on blocks so it wasn't sitting on the unpaved ground for the winter.)

(3) important points:

- I have yet to see a low-priced car tent that could stand up to a New England winter, and the collapsing metal under-structure would cause MUCH more damage than just letting the car be snow covered.

- One should NEVER wrap or cover a car with a plastic tarp. The plastic holds in the moisture causing much damage.

- Outdoor car covers are made quite well these days - they both protect and are "breathable" so as to minimize potential damage. Get a good one, and use the locking cable to hold it on in high winds and for a modicum of security and this will likely be much more cost effective than a winter car tent.

[DWBOX2000]

It’s for storing and maying tooling a little. I was more concerned with the car being a rag too. Not sure snow sitting on it is such a good idea.

[LWJ]

I think I see yet another business that Shaun should start. Car tents. His looks solid.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by RNajarian

Maybe consider getting a large tarp as well. Park in the middle of it. Put the car cover on then fold up the tarp and “wrap the car,” tying the ends on the roof of the car with a small rope. Then if you have another (cheaper) car cover, put that over the original car cover and tarp.

This will prevent vermin from getting under (and into the car)

Just a thought

This is a horrible idea.
This is how you destroy a car by trapping moisture.
NEVER wrap a car like this.

Tent idea is bad.
Park the car.
Breathable cover.
Wash it in Spring.

[RNajarian]

Originally Posted by sugarwood

This is a horrible idea.
This is how you destroy a car by trapping moisture.
NEVER wrap a car like this.

Tent idea is bad.
Park the car.
Breathable cover.
Wash it in Spring.

Is there an issue with mice/rats taking shelter under/inside the car when it is exposed from the bottom?

If so how do you prevent them from nesting?

[DWBOX2000]

I think I am just going to get a tent remove the crap from the garage and put inside, then try to get car in garage. Call it a day. I have another car I still need to figure out but that’s a question for another post.
Any South Carolina insurance folk on here?
Thanks everyone.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by DWBOX2000

I think I am just going to get a tent remove the crap from the garage and put inside, then try to get car in garage. Call it a day. I have another car I still need to figure out but that’s a question for another post.
Any South Carolina insurance folk on here?
Thanks everyone.

Much better idea. And throw away any crap that is not really needed. Garages are for cars. When my wife and I walk in our neighborhood and the one across the street, we often see a garage full of $500 in junk and a $40,000 car sitting outside. I do not understand that at all.

My garage is for cars. I do allow my wife to store some few items for the fountain in my garage. They have to be in front of her Macan, and in her way, not mine. The gardening and yard equipment goes in the storage shed in the back yard.