Grassroots Car Storage?

Anyone have a portable garage? I have a car too big for my real garage ... Are those tent like garage thingys any good?

You can spend $250 at the local parts place or $1000 online.

I'm just trying to protect my babe rally vehicle/project and maybe keep me dry/covered when I go out to wrench on it. I don't want to waste my money if the wind will blow it over, and I don't want to spend more then the car itself (thay may not be possible).

this one may work (e-bay link)

... and only cost slightly more than the car itself.

thoughts?

Jeff

A guy at work bought one for his new WRX STi.

The car was in the body shop with less than 800 miles on it, for a new rear spoiler and paint on the trunk lid and rear quarter when the portable garage collapsed in heavy wind.

like a huricane? or just normal wind?

littleturquoiseb wrote: like a huricane? or just normal wind?

Heavy wind, but not a hurricane.

we had one that we put at our autocross lot for registration.

wind picked it and the 4 drywall buckets full of cement holding it down up and deposited the mess on the roof of a nearby rental car. (doing a fair amount of damage)

if your gonna do one, i would dig holes and pour cement in the ground for anchor points at the least.

I have a 20'x10' from Costco for $180 that has six 2" legs and it's worked fine for the last 2 years. It has sides and a "zippered" door like a tent that I'm not using. It does leak a little now around the seams but it hasn't "blown away" even in heavy wind, but I've got it wedged between the side fence, the house, the front gate and a part of the house that extends out so only about 4 feet of one side is "exposed" to the wind and allows for a "walk-through" to the back yard. But I'm only using it to cover our 24hrs of LeMons entry, so it's no big deal if it collapses on that one...

ww wrote: But I'm only using it to cover our 24hrs of LeMons entry, so it's no big deal if it collapses on that one...

Would anyone notice?

I'm covering something worth less then a lemons car ... I'm goint to be putting this up in a rather wooded area so it will have some protection, but will also increase the amount of debris that will hit it.

I gotta find this harbor freight $200.00 garage. (I don't have a costco membership or have one near me) Jeff

Is this it?

HF Garage

If it is it's too small (16ft long and the lincoln is 19+ft)

Gotta find a costco!

Jeff

A friend has a bunch of those HF tents. They definitely can be blown over. One thing you can do is only set them up half height, most cars will still fit, just a bit harder access. The other characteristic is if they are in the sun, the plastic degrades fairly quickly so you will need to recover them every few years. Of course the cover will likely cost you almost as much as a new one so he has started to cover the original cover with standard HF tarps (hopefully bought on sale), which works out pretty good.

It's more expensive than Costco and it'll cost you to have it shipped, but they've got a great selection:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/NTESearch?Ne=1&Ntt=garage&Ntk=All&storeId=6970&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&N=224712

I did a cheapy one, but I put it beside the garage. I was able to anchor it to the side of the garage and give it stability. I think a stiff breeze would have shredded it otherwise.

I parked my car under it with a cover. The tent didn't provide much UV protection, and it did tend to draw in birds. That plus blowing rain made the tent alone a pretty useless thing. Combined with a parts-store car cover (the gooder one) made a nice place to store a car. $180 for the tent and $150 for the cover.

Guy up the alley behind me has one that he uses to keep his hovercraft in. It has been up for 10 years with no problems even though the 6x6 metal shed beside it has been blown down twice.

The frame is 1 1/2" dia aluminum tube that he bolted to some concrete pads. The cover is very heavy duty rubberized canvas. I'm sure it wasn't cheap but it sure seems to hold up well.

I've got one, been in use three years now. Works great.

Mine happened to get caught in a hurricane (literally) when it was new. Lucky for me I had used my coyote trapping anchors, so while it flew a good foot, foot and a half off the ground for two days, it didn't travel and didn't get damaged.

Don't let a snow load sit on it. That will pull the fabric something fierce, and can rip it. I've had mine with upwards of 18" of snow on it, but I would never recommend that.

Do use ratchet straps or rope to tie the front to the back on both sides. Makes things much more secure and easier to deal with. Both in getting it together, and keeping it together after it's up.

Really cheap ones are just that, and last accordingly. If you spend something like $400 you can get one that will last for years. A much better deal, at least in my opinion.

The Cover-it shelters have always been the ones to have IMHO. Myself and several friends have had them for 10+ years with no blowovers. The key is proper anchorage. Also I think the curved roof models do much better in shedding both wind and snow/ice.

Sam's Club sells a canpoy with side walls for $200, or a round-top garage for $230. The garage may be better-suited for long-term use and less prone to blow overs. However, for short-term use I think a canopy would be fine if anchored properly. Tents can stand some pretty high winds, but remember, even houses blow over sometimes.

It seems Anchoring may be the Key ... I plan to build/fab something secure.

I found the northern tool ones to be in the right price range ... The Cover it people seem to be using the same pics and pricing as the as the e-bay link.

I'm going to find the cheepest delivery as 400-500 seems to get me the 20X12X8 ... The e-bay one has pick up in conn ... that may be the ticket save the shipping!

Jeff

Hal wrote: Guy up the alley behind me has one that he uses to keep his hovercraft in. It has been up for 10 years with no problems even though the 6x6 metal shed beside it has been blown down twice.

hovercraft, eh?

my hovercraft is full of eels!

Eeek I just jacked my own thread!

I have the $200 HF 'garage' for storing my 68' fairlane. While its no show car, it is rust free and I couldn't stand seeing it out in the yard covered in snow during the winter. The first time I tried to put it up the whole thing flipped over and rolled down my back yard. Im sure it was hilarious to watch from across the street. But the second try worked well and has been standing for over a year now. I go out and check the stakes every so often and pound them back into the ground. Im rubbing some paint off the trunk lid because the back side bellows in with the wind up the hill in my back yard but it hasn't blown away either.

isn't grassroots car storage parking the car on the street?

In reply to internetautomart:

I think, technically(or maybe un-technically), that would be parked on cinder blocks in the front yard.

thatsnowinnebago wrote:

Hal wrote: Guy up the alley behind me has one that he uses to keep his hovercraft in. It has been up for 10 years with no problems even though the 6x6 metal shed beside it has been blown down twice.

hovercraft, eh?

Yep, A "grassroots" ie:homebuilt hovercraft. Scares the hell out of all the neighborhood dogs (and some neighbors) when he runs it up and down the alley to test it.

I have a 20X10 model from Sam's Club that cost about $250. Put another $100-150 into making a platform out of Pressure treated 4X4s and plywood (we have an uneven gravel driveway). So far it's been working out pretty well, as others have mentioned, proper anchoring is the key. We've had some pretty high winds and it's held up pretty well.

DJ

A few people have mentioned building wood platforms ... insted of using in ground stakes?
or along with in ground stakes?

anyone have a picture?