Lancia Motor Club

I would like to pick the collective brains out there on this subject. Basically it is storage for my (non-Lancia) racing car, especially over winter. I have bought a concrete pre-fab lock up about 3 miles from home for this purpose but unfortunately there seem to be some (dried up) drops of moisture on the car. I have been in the lock up when it is raining to check if it leaks and it does not seem to even in very heavy rain. So I am assuming it is some form of condensation (though any ideas welcome).

I was thinking of a carcoon or similar bubble especially since the car sits for some period of time between use and particularly over winter. Only problem is that there is no mains power. I know you can run them off a large 12 volt battery but this only lasts a week or so.  I seem to recall that is what fay66 does and changes it over every week. I would prefer to avoid that job every week if I can.
If the battery goes flat the bubble collapses.

I was thinking of putting a solar battery charger on the roof of the garage but not sure how feasible that would be or how much it would help especially in winter

Any ideas?

Thanks
Jai

Thanks

,
Don't get a car cocoon, while it's a good product it's not self supporting, have an look at an Airchamber
http://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/air-chamber/airchamber-car.aspx, this is what I have, it has a self supporting frame so that you unzip the end to get the car out and putting it back is the reverse procedure, if you only wish to get inside rather than getting the car out, it has two zipped doors.
I use 2 85 amp hour leisure batteries one on charge and one in use, don't get ordinary batteries as they won't stand the constant discharge and charging, you could possibly extend the changeover with 120 AH batteries but I hate to think how much they would cost, as you rightly say with mine it is once a week, but I don't think you'd be able to extend much more than a couple of days,
I did look into using a solar panel but it wasn't feasible where I had the garage, the solar panel should work, probably even in the winter but with reduced operation time, if you just use it to top up the batteries, Changing once a week can get a bit tiresome but I always try to take my 2c out at least once or twice a month in the winter.
One absolute golden rule though do not put the car away wet as it won't cope with that.
I'm sure if I hadn't been using my Airchamber for the last 9 years, all "fay" would be now is a pile of rust as my concrete garage used to sweat like hell in the winter.
Prior to paying £395 for the airchamber and £65 each for the batteries ( replaced twice) I was paying £90 a month for storage, so once I got the concrete garage it was a no brainer to go for the airchamber.

Brian
8227 8)

Experiance with damp railway arches and various barns over the years is to somehow arrange a through draft.

As for solar some friends were trying to stop a boat sinking and thought it was the answer.  I had (arrrggggg) a good link giving real world performance and in the winter its pretty pathetic.   A wind turbine is the other standard approach.   For them the answer was bailing it regularly and getting it out and fixed ASAP.

David

Half way down the stairs I remembered where to look and its this link:

http://shop.freesolarenergy.co.uk/index.php?p=page&page_id=Solar_Panel_Narrowboats

"typically in the depth's of winter will only produce approx 10-20 % of there stated capacity"

Its a good site overall - and I expect they'd be sensible and helpful if you phoned them.  They also sell a wind turbine.

The price of this stuff the problem would become stopping it being nicked off the roof.  Tilting panels brings efficiency gains but if it was me I'd have a low profile solution WELL stuck down, and install on a quiet day.  Then again I do live in Lewisham  ::)

David

Forgot to say there's an even better chamber but I can't find it at present, it's by a company that usually shows at Goodwood Revival, Hamilton? and it has a outside frame and the airchamber is hung from the frame like an inner tent, big advantage is it doesn't flop around like mine does with the thin fibreglass poles, and not a lot more expensive and  it also has 3 fans opposed to my 2.

Brian
8227 8)

Thanks Guys. Any other input would also be very welcome.

David, I saw you were in Top Gear magazine this month as a result of your 370Z drive.

This, I think, is the Hamilton job that was mentioned;
http://www.hamilton-motorsport.co.uk/acatalog/Cair-O-Port.html#aCOP_2dSMALL

Thank you William ,
I knew what I was after but couldn't find it! much better arrangement that my airchamber, and miles ahead of a carcoon.

Brian
8227 8)

There is another company who sell the Cair-o-port, see  http://www.rudler.co.uk/

yep can recomend, i bought my 2 from you and they work a treat, even if the car goes in wet it comes out dry!

while we're on the topic of storage/garages - here's one way to make the most of limited space.

This made my day  :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N87nTdoniAg

I've had very good value out of a seven man frame tent to store my 'project' fulvia in a quiet corner of our garden. I was put on the spot a couple of years ago when I suddenly lost the use of warehouse storage at work and had to rapidly find a way of keeping the car dry and reasonably secure. I was unable to find any local garages/dry barns at the time so this was a desperation solution which has turned out to be surprisingly successful.
 From what I remember the tent was about £80-00 in a sale at a garden centre near Norwich and has proved to be capable of withstanding the most severe weather without any sign of the dreaded condensation. There is a gauze hooded cowl at each end which allows for a through draught and the fulvia stands on sand bedded concrete paving slabs which fit neatly within the area covered by the tent. My only expense has been to replace two of the guy ropes which frayed and looked likely to snap. The down side is that the fulvia is an extemely snug fit so work on the car is not really feasible while its inside.

Kind regards, Murf.

Sorry Ade,
I didn't realise you sold them, you would of course be my first recommended supplier! :-[

Brian
8227 8)

Re-erected Airchamber in new garage, 9 years since last time but I don't remember it being such hard work, perhaps I had help ???
Got it sorted and up, put "Fay" inside only to find I couldn't shut the door as it caught the front edge of the airchamber, I'd left enough room so I could get around the back,but that's now gone, anyway a relief to have it back up before the Autumn.
One feature the photos don't show is the blow up stiffeners in the roof panel that help keep it rigid.

Brian
8227 8)

Guys thanks very much and Brian especially thanks for the photos.

Something I am wondering about is the car in terms of length is about 40cm shorter than the lock up, so that should be o.k., but in terms of width I can't remember exactly how much clearance there is. Do you buy the chamber/frame so the car can just squeeze in and then walk out of the garage on the outside of the chamber or do you buy the gizmo the full width of the garage and walk out inside it?

Jai,
In my old garage I had the right side against the wall and end, but with the left hand side I had just enough room to get down the outside as I kept the battery down by the fans at the far end on the outside which is where the cable connection to the fans are, that way I could get to change the battery without going inside the airchamber if I didn't need to go inside.
I always put "Fay" nose in (that way you don't gas yourself on startup!) and as far over to the right side as possible, then if I shuffle over and get out the front passenger door ( something we can do, that you can't with modern cars) that leaves me enough room to get out of the airchamber on the inside, I then re-zip and that's it.

So it's worth getting as bigger one as you can fit in the garage but leaving a walkway down the outside of one side.
As you can see from the photos there wasn't a lot of room to spare in my old garage.

Brian
8227 8)

Just to update, I didn't need a chamber over last winter as one car was elsewhere, but I've recently ordered a Cair-o-port from sliding pillar http://www.rudler.co.uk/
which arrived quickly and I was happy with the service. I have just finished putting it up. I'm pretty happy with it, it was quite straightforward to erect.

Now I'll move onto the powering of the fans off a battery/solar panel top up!