I'm not really sure this is a "tech" question, but I didn't know where else to post this. I recently moved from Las Vegas, where I had two huge garages, to San Diego, where my garage is much smaller and taken up entirely by my business. So now my 40, which was a desert truck for as long as I can trace back, is now stuck outside. I've been here for about 4 months and have already seen rust in new places it didn't have before. It's rained a lot since we got here and I have made a good effort to tarp it when I knew rain was coming. But it has been naked for many rain storms that I couldn't cover it in time for, or was just too lazy to go out and cover it.
I want my 50 year old 40 to last another 50 years. So I am ready to build a carport or garage right away. In fact, I am going to start setting posts tomorrow morning. With the roof rack, my 40 is about 88" tall. I looked at those tent canopy type portable garages, but it seems like I need to spend $500+ to get one tall enough to fit with the rack. So I have settled on building something myself. I have the option to either just build a carport, or an enclosed garage. What I am not sure about is if the carport will be good enough to protect it from the moisture we have here.
I'm just not used to this damper weather. I go out at night and notice everything seems to be wet. Not wet from rain, but just the dew or wet fog. I am about 8 miles from the beach, so I don't have saltwater or beach issues, but things are still wet. I have been told that once spring comes, it will dry out here and we will have dry dry weather until next winter. I'm not convinced these CA folks know what dry weather is. But maybe it will be dry, I don't know. It would be cheaper and easier to go with a carport, obviously. But for those of you in a similar climate, is that enough to protect my 40 from the dampness in the air? If I went real cheap and find a canopy type garage instead, make it taller and add canvas to the sides, would this be a better option than a carport? Or would that just make a humid tent and make it worse? Finally, I can enclose the carport and make a garage, but then I lose my outside ventilation from my shop window which the new garage will be built next to.
I'm really torn between the options and need a little help deciding what to do. The only issues I have with the canopy garages is that I want a place I can also work on my truck and they are just too small. I'd prefer to build this planned 16'x20' carport or garage and pour a cement pad so I can also have a place to wrench.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will start putting my posts in tomorrow either way, but I need to decide soon if I want to enclose it or leave it an open carport.
I want my 50 year old 40 to last another 50 years. So I am ready to build a carport or garage right away. In fact, I am going to start setting posts tomorrow morning. With the roof rack, my 40 is about 88" tall. I looked at those tent canopy type portable garages, but it seems like I need to spend $500+ to get one tall enough to fit with the rack. So I have settled on building something myself. I have the option to either just build a carport, or an enclosed garage. What I am not sure about is if the carport will be good enough to protect it from the moisture we have here.
I'm just not used to this damper weather. I go out at night and notice everything seems to be wet. Not wet from rain, but just the dew or wet fog. I am about 8 miles from the beach, so I don't have saltwater or beach issues, but things are still wet. I have been told that once spring comes, it will dry out here and we will have dry dry weather until next winter. I'm not convinced these CA folks know what dry weather is. But maybe it will be dry, I don't know. It would be cheaper and easier to go with a carport, obviously. But for those of you in a similar climate, is that enough to protect my 40 from the dampness in the air? If I went real cheap and find a canopy type garage instead, make it taller and add canvas to the sides, would this be a better option than a carport? Or would that just make a humid tent and make it worse? Finally, I can enclose the carport and make a garage, but then I lose my outside ventilation from my shop window which the new garage will be built next to.
I'm really torn between the options and need a little help deciding what to do. The only issues I have with the canopy garages is that I want a place I can also work on my truck and they are just too small. I'd prefer to build this planned 16'x20' carport or garage and pour a cement pad so I can also have a place to wrench.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will start putting my posts in tomorrow either way, but I need to decide soon if I want to enclose it or leave it an open carport.