Keeping a Montana on a driveway

[captbanjo]

Due to space consraints, I keep my 3400RL on my blacktop driveway when not out exploring the universe. I've noticed that I could park the rear back further and let it overhang the yard and grass. That would maybe make it less imtimidating to the neighbors. But a friend has suggested that the dampness from the ground might be harmful. He owns a pop-up and said he had read this somewhere. My question is: do you agree, or could it be because a pop-up has wooden bottoms? I used to let my old travel trailer hang over the yard and I never noticed any issues but maybe I just missed them?

Wayne and Cathy Morrison

[vickster]

Captbanjo - This is a great question. Our Monty hangs over our concrete drive about two feet and we never thought about ground dampness being an issue. The Monty sits up fairly high off the ground and with air movement would this really be a concern? Our pop-up sits (wish I could say "sat" - hubby just can't part with his toys) a whole lot closer to the ground and can understand where dampness could be a problem. With the pop-up being so much smaller we are able to park it directly on concrete.

[CountryGuy]

Just a thought, if you keep the grass cut under it, that would help, our understanding is that tall grass really hurts/adds moisture, etc. Plus bugs, ewwwwwww!

We are doing the same thing, but keeping that grass cut nice and short under the unit. So far, so good, but only been doing this for a few months.

[NJ Hillbilly]

Why not just remove the grass and put down fabric and decorative stone. This way mowing the grass is not an issue.

John

[HamRad]

captbanjo
We have parked our rig over a section of grass for the past couple of years and have suffered no ill effects. Of course we live in Bakersfield, CA where it is very hot and relatively dry. Also it is the front of the rig that is over the grass. Unless you have grass that actually touches the trailer and or the grass is wet all the time I would think that you would have no problems.

Our plan is to someday remove the grass and either put in cement or blocks. But that is a ways down the road.....
HamRad

[H. John Kohl]

captbanjo,
Both of my concerns/comments were covered, tall grass and extra height to let air circulate. The other thought or concern is the tires sinking into the asphault when it gets real hot. You might consider a good 2x10 plank to help distribute the weight and prevent tire ridges.
Good luck and enjoy

[CountryGuy]

John,

Re: the rig sinking into black top, ours is parked on blacktop, and you have a point, when it gets hot, things tend to sink in.

Boards have left the most "damage", or in other words, have left the deepest ruts. Tires have left "divits".

Now, granted, we live in Michigan so we have a few days that are in the 90's, a few more in the 80's, but nothing like, say, Arizona. (Maybe they don't use blacktop in Arizona?? )

But, with our temps, the tires have not sunk into the blacktop enough to present a serious problem. Even the boards have not been a serious problem. We have always been able to get them OUT of the blacktop.

The divits and board ruts have never gone away once there. We just live with them, and since the 5er is always parked in the same spot, it does not effect our parking of cars or trucks or whatever.

[Montana Sky]

Wayne,
My 3400RL hangs over into the grass down at the lake all summer. It has been there since May and I have had no problems. I dont want the grass growing under the coach so I just take about 25mins and trim when needed. As far as black top goes, I would place the 2x12 under the wheels, but the biggest part is the landing gear. Find yourself a big wide long board to get under the landing gear. The feet will dig/sink into the blacktop. Try to get one as long as possible to keep as much of the weight even across the driveway on the landing gear.

[Montana_655]

quote:Originally posted by captbanjo

Due to space consraints, I keep my 3400RL on my blacktop driveway when not out exploring the universe. I've noticed that I could park the rear back further and let it overhang the yard and grass. That would maybe make it less imtimidating to the neighbors. But a friend has suggested that the dampness from the ground might be harmful. He owns a pop-up and said he had read this somewhere. My question is: do you agree, or could it be because a pop-up has wooden bottoms? I used to let my old travel trailer hang over the yard and I never noticed any issues but maybe I just missed them?

Wayne and Cathy Morrison

We park ours in the side yard in the same place. Grass doesn't seem to be a problem since it is disapearing as time goes by. Although we tend to have a high dewpoint in our area I never see any condensation on the under skin of the trailer.