Community Forums

BobJones · 02-13-2019, 03:57 PM

Hi Folks!

Just an FYI for anyone winter camping in the snow.... I was out getting the snow off the car today and I thought...why not check out the roof while I was at it?

So I went up with a broom and it turned out to be the smart move. Our snow is very wet and I would not be surprised if there was 500 pounds or more of it on the roof. I'm guessing I stumbled onto something that's actually important - getting that weight off the roof

winniman · 02-13-2019, 06:35 PM

Unfortunately, I am at home in Ontario this winter. I have cleaned mine off about six times so far. We got 16 inches of snow yesterday, so I guess I will be heading back up there on Saturday. Light fluffy snow isn't bad, but if it rains, or gets mild, it is best to remove it for sure. I normally store it for the winter if I don't go south. This will be the last time I leave it out for sure. Hopefully, I will be in it, somewhere around Arizona or Texas. My friend spent the winter in his in British Columbia. He pretty much had to clean off the slide toppers right away if it snowed. If he didn't, it would make the toppers sag, then the snow would melt, and turn to ice. If it was going to snow a lot, he would pull in the slides until the snow stopped.

Cwald · 02-13-2019, 06:39 PM

Me too, today I clean the 6 or so inches off. Here in ND we are getting our share of the white stuff.

BobJones · 02-13-2019, 06:39 PM

Me too! (Go South) - but I was shocked how much the wet snow weighed. I pushed it off with a broom in chunks and it seemed that each chunk must have been 25 or 30 pounds - and there was a lot of it up there. A significant portion of it was thick ice with two feet of snow on top.

96 Wideglide · 02-13-2019, 11:33 PM

Yeah, you can easily be looking at a few thousand pounds of wet snow on a large RV roof.

tcg · 02-14-2019, 03:18 AM

My RV is in storage in Michigan.

I haven't visited in a couple weeks but we just had a few inches of snow followed by a day of freezing rain.

It's too cold to climb up there, I think of all the things I'm worried about today I'll skip that one.

Soppy · 02-14-2019, 06:42 AM

I clean mine off after about 16" to 18" of snow accumulate on the roof. Done it 3 times so far this year. I had a truck topper collapse with the weight of snow on it . I'm not going to take any chances with the motorhome.

peterdube · 02-15-2019, 11:46 AM

Me too, up here in Maine . UGGG!!!! Peter in Maine.

96 Wideglide · 02-15-2019, 06:42 PM

Another tip, I learned last week while traveling. Started snowing heavy one morning I was planning on moving. Had two slides out, both passenger side. Front hyd slide came in ok, bedroom cable slide stopped about 3" out. Snow jambed in topper cover. Had to pull the ladder out and get the snow out.

Moral of this story .... Snow in the forcast, and you plan on moving, keep the slides in

!

Steveo57 · 02-15-2019, 08:42 PM

They say that a square foot of snow weighs an average of 1 pound per inch. So 12 inches of snow on an 8*25 foot long trailer can weigh over 2400 pounds. And if it's wet it weighs even more!

BobJones · 02-15-2019, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steveo57

They say that a square foot of snow weighs an average of 1 pound per inch. So 12 inches of snow on an 8*25 foot long trailer can weigh over 2400 pounds. And if it's wet it weighs even more!

Holy crap!! My unit is 36 feet long and it had two feet of snow on top and it was fully wet and the bottom inch was ice.....

I thought maybe 500 pounds but now that you say that.....it must have been a lot more. And to be sure, it makes sense, each chunk I moved off seemed to be something like 30 - 50 pounds and I moved off probably at least 50 chunks...if not more....

SKI COACH · 03-29-2019, 11:48 AM

I am in the mountains every weekend in the winter and know all about sweeping snow off my roof and slides... I installed nonskids all over the roof to help me up there.

BobJones · 03-29-2019, 12:22 PM

Priceless. Everyone on here goes south for the winter and never sees rain. You go North and into the snow. I love it!

I bet the manufacturer never thought they would see that!

Monaco Wolfy · 03-29-2019, 10:07 PM

I spent many years as a volunteer ski patroller. If it was snowing, I always kept the slides in. It wasn't worth the daily effort keeping snow off the slide covers. The fabric won't roll in if it's frozen. Nearly impossible to keep up with it during snow storms. Then all I had to do is clear the snow of the roof once a day in heavy snow fall. If I didn't get it off the same day, it was much harder to remove on day two. The average snow fall can be a foot day, so you have to keep after it.