I try my best to keep my motorhome covered when we’re not using it. Not having to winterize is a benefit of living in Southern California, but the UV rays here can cause damage in a short amount of time.
In my 30's, I could throw my cover over my shoulder and climb up to the roof. In my 40's, I had to acquire to help of my son, who would climb up on the roof and pull the cover up as I shimmy-ed it up the sidewall of the RV. Now I’m in my 50's...my knees and back are shot and my son moved out and started his own family. Last year I began looking for an alternate way of getting the heavy RV cover up to the roof. I tried the RV cover hoist sold at CW, but it was junk. Several members of this forum came up with some good ideas, but most of them didn’t work for me, mainly because of my lousy back. One member suggested I buy a drywall lift and hoist the cover up to the roof. That seemed like overkill, besides the lifts started at $300 and up.
My motorhome went uncovered most of the winter. It kills me to leave my baby unprotected, so I decided to act before summer hits. Harbor Freight sells a drywall hoist that gets fairly good reviews. They are normally $300, but are currently $100 off. Add the 20% off coupon that I received in the mail, and the price drops down to $160. Then I found out that the stores have an in-house coupon for 25% off, but it is good only on Easter Sunday. I called my local store and they told me they only had one drywall hoist in stock. Fearing it would get snatched up by Sunday, I decided 20% off was good enough.
I brought it home and assembled it. The owner’s manual is worthless, but I found a very good assembly video on YouTube. It took me about 15 minutes to put it together. I wheeled it over to the motorhome and it reaches the roof perfectly. Overkill? Perhaps, but it makes a cumbersome job a heck of a lot easier! Now I just have to figure out where to store the darn thing...
Craig
__________________