Leaving van on chocks?

[Heebson]

Hi folks,
Just gave my AS Nuevo a long overdue clean at the weekend and by far the worst was the roof, where there had been a lot of standing water.

Whilst we cleaned it, we put it on the chocks on the passenger front & back wheels, so the crap drained away from the mounted awning.

This could be monumentally stupid, please be kind, but I did then wonder if we should perhaps leave it on the ramps, so the water drains whilst it sits on our drive during winter (we still intend to use the van once or twice a month).

We could also do both front wheels, to drain off the back. It’s a Luton at the front.

Thoughts?

Thnx,
Heeb

 

[Minxy]

I can't think of a reason why it would be a problem except if the levelling ramps are 'digging' into the tyres themselves. Personally I'd put both under the front wheels so the water runs off the back and keeps it away from the side seams.

 

[Phill D]

when we are at home for more than a couple of weeks i always put our van up on ramps. to get the water draining off the back.

if its going to be up more than a couple of weeks ( say Dec and Jan, ) i us e the ramps to drive up onto a couple of concrete blocks laid flat.

 

[Nanniemate]

I bought a house with a slightly sloping drive

 

[Widge]

I have a ducato chausson, it is normaly slightly nose down but was amazed to discover that when I leveled it at campsites, the roof was also level, rolling down off the ramps one morning, a torrent of water came from the roof, surely that cannot be good for the van to have a pool of water on its roof for long periods.

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[Riverbankannie]

I bought a house with a slightly sloping drive

We would have to turn around every day to drain off the water as like L' Hobo said in another thread today, someone has blocked up the corrugated roof channels by putting 3 skylight’s in.

 

[Figaro]

I find the same, massive amount of water pools on the roof when the van is level. In fact, if there is enough it will start to drip down the winding handle mechanism on the main roof light. I think the O ring has perrished
Parked up at home it's slightly nose down and never had a problem

 

[Phill D]

I bought a house with a slightly sloping drive

ours slopes the wrong way!

 

[Guigsy]

We have to park on the drive with the van pointing slightly downhill. And the van is naturally nose heavy anyway. So I'd expect it to drain well.

But we get a pool near the front. It gets dammed up behind the joining strip between the main roof panel and the moulding that curves down to the front window. Every time we move off the drive, litres of water floods off.

I'm getting air suspension fitted soon with leveling. Hopefully that'll reduce the pooling. Either that or I'll have a full ice rink this winter.

 

[Richard n Ann]

Just spend a couple of grand on your garage

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[Wildbill]

I just run up on to wood sleepers using my ramps it helps drain rain water the roof
Bill

 

[Stag man]

Always a good idea to get standing water off the roof.
Later in the year when it gets really cold, ice can play havoc with seals and mastic.

 

[Bramidan]

So good idea to have it sloping. My drive does that, but should I have the water running off the front as it does now or drive in so it goes off the back?
The only reason I back on the drive, so nose down, is because the habitation door is then my side and I don’t need to trample on the neighbours border!
Am I worrying too much and should I just let it drain off the front? I never really thought about it, after all it is a vehicle and surely it should be able to cope with rain on the front?

Next question, I’ve just purchased a cover for the front windscreen ( along with mirror protectors, this motorhome seems a money pit) do you leave the cover on during the winter? My theory is that I never bothered with a car so why do it with a motorhome?

You will have gathered I do worry!

 

[Wildbill]

So good idea to have it sloping. My drive does that, but should I have the water running off the front as it does now or drive in so it goes off the back?
The only reason I back on the drive, so nose down, is because the habitation door is then my side and I don’t need to trample on the neighbours border!
Am I worrying too much and should I just let it drain off the front? I never really thought about it, after all it is a vehicle and surely it should be able to cope with rain on the front?

Next question, I’ve just purchased a cover for the front windscreen ( along with mirror protectors, this motorhome seems a money pit) do you leave the cover on during the winter? My theory is that I never bothered with a car so why do it with a motorhome?

You will have gathered I do worry!

Let it drane off the back as long as you get on with your nabors
As previously mentioned pooled water frezes and can cause seem damage best to keep it as dry as you can.
Bill

 

[Nanniemate]

Draining down water is more important to make sure no water in pipes that can freeze and cause them to split I would have thought .sometimes a put windscreen cover on others not.

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[Phill D]

So good idea to have it sloping. My drive does that, but should I have the water running off the front as it does now or drive in so it goes off the back?
The only reason I back on the drive, so nose down, is because the habitation door is then my side and I don’t need to trample on the neighbours border!
Am I worrying too much and should I just let it drain off the front? I never really thought about it, after all it is a vehicle and surely it should be able to cope with rain on the front?

Next question, I’ve just purchased a cover for the front windscreen ( along with mirror protectors, this motorhome seems a money pit) do you leave the cover on during the winter? My theory is that I never bothered with a car so why do it with a motorhome?

You will have gathered I do worry!

i park ours to run off the back but that is because the van has a run off for water at the rear.
i am not sure its a good idea to leave the screen cover on all over winter, given that FIAT paint is suspect and the screen does tend to rub / pull on the screen pillars in wind, it can also trap some water between the cover and screen.

 

[Gellyneck]

ours slopes the wrong way!

Stupid boy!

Just turn the house around and the drive will slope the right way!

 

[Wildbill]

ours slopes the wrong way!

Reverse it on
Bill

 

[Phill D]

Reverse it on
Bill

I was just honest

 

[Widge]

Regarding chocking up or not, i dont know what is best. But our camper had new tyres in 2019 but due to health the previous owners hardly used it in the last two years they had it, all was fine until we had done about 800km then started to get a vibration that soon got so bad I wouldn't do more that 50km/h when i took it to the garage, it turned out to be all the tyres had distorted.

They were a cheap brand but i was told that tyres harden up when not used for long periods, when you use them again the rubber gets softer again, but if a tyre has been left in one position for a long time this dosent happen evenly hence the distortion.

I have heard of several options including blocking up and increasing the tyre pressure whilst it is standing, but i guess the best solution is to regularly take it for a drive.

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[stevewagner]

I just press a button

 

[Blackadder]

Our Travel Van has a seam all the way round so needs a fair degree of "tilt" to get rid of pooling. On our drive it's nose-down slightly so water pooled along the front seam and eventually turned sticky and red (don't know why - something to do with SW Water?). Didn't like to use levelling ramps due to the sharp edges but a couple of short pieces of 2cm thick plank under the offside wheels ensured it poured down the nearside front instead. Now we have hydraulic levelling so I just leave it on "tank emptying" and clean the black stain off the side of the van occasionally.
As for the windscreen cover, mine came with a warning that it should not be used in storage; when asked why I was told that it promotes mould. I just make sure the heater control is on "recycle" to reduce damp ingress and leave it at that.

 

[DerryW]

Thats what we do, however we do have the luxury of having EP levelers.

 

[berni109]

You can get fiamma tyre saver ramps which are designed to fit the tyre so they are supported around part of the bottom circumference rather than standing on the bottom. Mounted on a bit of 6x2 give enough lift to drain the roof.
(I dont bother with the back as most standing weight at front)

 

[Bessy765]

Ours stays dry but gets no solar gain, had to put 200 watts on the garage roof to keep the batteries topped up.

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[pappajohn]

If you go ahead with this plan, and I see no reason not to, make sure you regularly wipe around the bottom of any window frames, on the lower side in particular, to avoid black streaks forming.
A good coating of wax will also help.
Much easier to prevent black streaks than it is to remove them.

 

[Stag man]

IMO front or back doesn’t really matter, the objective is to get the water off the roof asap.
Most ‘vans have a nose down stance which can be a deciding factor when parking up.
I drain forwards and have an old silver screen for parking up at home (they get pretty mucky) and a posh one for travelling

 

[Heebson]

Thanks for all the input folks!
Unfortunately, I don’t benefit from the ’nose down’ effect, as I’ve a Luton front for the bed.
Good points about running to back and perhaps ramping up onto sleepers or similar.
Heeb

 

[royandsharont]

I made some large timber 3 stage ramps so the tyres were fully flat on each level and used to put them under our front wheels, chock the rears, engage 1st gear and release the handbrake during storage to keep the rain from standing on the roof. Worked fine for the 9 years we did this.

 

[Phill D]

Yep! I chock the rear wheels and handbrake off.