Word to the wise - shovel off your roof!

[maple_leaf_eh]

Some time between last evening and this afternoon the tubular frame on my vehicle shelter suffered a serious overloading. The front half of the arches collapsed under the weight of recent snow. The top of the wheel-around hoist and the roll cage on the M151A2 kept the collapse from being too bad. However, now I have to shovel or rake (more of a wide hoe actually) the accumulation off and survey the damage. I suspect there will be a 'tube measure and fit' party at my place during Easter weekend. MTF

So, word to the wise - go shovel snow! Or, if you are Down Under - go blow away the flammable leaf litter!

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Terry

Sorry to hear snow was to much for your vehicle shelter. Good cautionary tail for any of us in snow country.

In talking with Hagerty Insurance for information for an article, they told me that one of there single largest causes for claims on antique vehicles was/is building collapse. Back when I first insured my HUP with them years and years ago they asked where the vehicle was stored, this was before they required that all vehicles be garaged, I responded in a barn. Their response was to have the local agent inspect the barn before insuring coverage.

Hope that the actual damage is minimal.

Cheers Phil

[Jon Skagfeld]

I too have a "Garage-in-a-Box" shelter where my M38A1CDN3 is winter stored.

I use a wide squeegee to pull down the snow. But there's so damn much of it that the removed snow is at the roof eaves and there's not much room for any more.

One thing I found out a couple of years ago was to secure a very large tarp over the shelter. I've found that the prevailing winds here tend to "flap" the outer tarp and thus flex much of the snow. I also stops excessive abrasion on the original cover.

[Bob Carriere]

We are meticulous....correction Rob Clarke has been meticulous at raking the snow off our shelters for most of the Winter....

Installing a sacrificial tarp over the original shelter tarp will extend the U V protection.

Installing your sacrificail tarp upside down with the black side up which is also shiny and smoother helpd the JON S. prevailing wind effect.

Finally installing cheap one inch cargo strap in two places between each tube helps tremendously...... cheaper on sale and cheaper that replacing the Winter shelters.

Another 3 weeks and we should be out of this risk period.

Bob

[chris vickery]

Garage in a box or as I like to refer to them POS in a box... Grrr
I learned very quickly at my home that there is no use for these here.
Where I live we always have some sort of wind as our lot sits atop one of the higher elevations in the area.
My first attemp at one of these was when I first moved up here about 8 years ago.
I followed all of the instructions carefully and even lag bolted the legs into
2x8s which also had bags of concrete mix placed on them.
My garage in a box lasted all of 24 hours. Believe it or not, when I came home, all my lawn and garden stuff was sitting in a nice pile which used to be inside my tent. I thought someone had stolen it.
I searched and found my garage all right; it was ripped and torn to shreds and all the frame work mangled about 300 yards in the back 40 from where it once stood.
Guess I should have learned when the boys trampoline suffered the same fate earlier.
My garage sale canopies also met the same demise. Set up on Friday night and Saturday morning- gone. Never did find where it ended up.
So, in the end I learned that here, unless it is made of concrete, wood and steel it does not get erected.

[Scott Bentley]

Originally Posted by chris vickery

Garage in a box or as I like to refer to them POS in a box... Grrr
I learned very quickly at my home that there is no use for these here.
Where I live we always have some sort of wind as our lot sits atop one of the higher elevations in the area.
My first attemp at one of these was when I first moved up here about 8 years ago.
I followed all of the instructions carefully and even lag bolted the legs into
2x8s which also had bags of concrete mix placed on them.
My garage in a box lasted all of 24 hours. Believe it or not, when I came home, all my lawn and garden stuff was sitting in a nice pile which used to be inside my tent. I thought someone had stolen it.
I searched and found my garage all right; it was ripped and torn to shreds and all the frame work mangled about 300 yards in the back 40 from where it once stood.
Guess I should have learned when the boys trampoline suffered the same fate earlier.
My garage sale canopies also met the same demise. Set up on Friday night and Saturday morning- gone. Never did find where it ended up.
So, in the end I learned that here, unless it is made of concrete, wood and steel it does not get erected.

Several municipalities i've lived in over the years actually specifically forbid these "Montreal Garages" in the bylaws for that exact reason. The way it was explained to me was that the shelters often get blown onto roads, into neighbours cars, etc.

I've got a nice photo somewhere of a Command Post complete with tables and chairs, 100 cupper coffee maker, computers and printer, map boards, the whole nine yards sitting in the middle of a field with the four sections of modular tentage off in the treeline. Apparently the sandbags alone weren't "good enough"

[Bob Carriere]

Our 6 shelters are used primarily to store complete vehicles plus a whole bunch of other things but always a complete CMP.

We tie ropes from the centre ridge of the shelter to the truck bumpers, frame, cabs, etc .......according to some neighbors they have seen them dance off the ground and even displace the railroad ties we use as ballast but they have never flown away....yet.

Bob

[chris vickery]

As I said to my wife, if it needs to be temporary it will be a sea can from now on.
Bob, I am glad you guys have had some luck but of course when lashed to a 8000lb truck one would expect it to stay put.
On that note, seems like a lot of time is invested by your crew maintaining said tentage during the winter months

[rob love]

Those two fellows in Toronto had the right idea: Go underground.

[motto]

If going below ground. Before you start, make sure you have the drainage sorted and an accurate fix on the water table.
A high shed is a dry shed.

David

[maple_leaf_eh]

I used the engine hoist as a lifter to push the kinked tubes back into place and then I lashed angle steel (actually garbage day pickup bedrails) with 550 cord across the weak spots. I found a lumber man who sawed and delivered 5/4 white pine boards 6" x 8'. Starting during early, I dismantled the broken wooden arches and one by one reinstalled good wood. So far the only problem is some of my existing arches are thicker. Another trip to the hardsware store for longer bolts.

Tomorrow will be the challenging part of the resurrection (it is Easter weekend after all) will be to build the new arches in situ for the bent steel. But, hope springs eternal.