total newbie question

[butterflyfish]

 This is such a newbie question, I am (almost) embarassed to ask it.  But here goes.  We are planning only our second camping trip this weekend and depending on the station you watch we could have anywhere from isolated thunderstorms on Saturday to light rain on Sunday or light rain Sat. and clouds on Sun.  
Anyway, my stupid question is this...  When the need arised that you have to pack up the PU wet and then get home and the home owner association (HOA) rules fobid trailers/boats/campers etc. in yards/driveways (not that that stops everybody), what do you do?  We currently store the PU in my grandmother's garage and DH said we could open it a little in the garage to let it dry.  I said we could leave it in the driveway on Sunday night so I could set it up Monday if it is nice (and hope the HOA doesn't do a drive by that day.  :rolleyes:  :rolleyes: )  
Our HOA is somewhat picky since we've been written up for having 2 adirondak chairs (that we always use) on our front lawn and our neighbor has been written up for having a basketball goal and his garbage can out too long... but then there is they guy on the next block that stores his rather large boat on the side of his house (wonder if he's gotten written up... ok, enough with the HOA vent.)  

I guess my questions are...  any tips for packing up the PU in the rain?
How do you dry it out after with a picky HOA (if you deal with that sort of thing)?

Thanks for any help with this newbie question...

[bmbkamp]

Is there a grace period for having your PU in the driveway? Our HOA will let PU's and trailers live in the driveway for about 48 hours before they complain.  I've found that giving a friendly "heads up" to someone on the HOA governing body usually does the trick.  But it sounds like your HOA is a heck of alot more picky than ours.  And much also depends on your HOA's penalties and whether you want to deal with that.  You may also want to think about petitioning the HOA to change the rules - it's happened here.

As far as drying it out, I've been able to pop it up in the driveway while we unpack, leave it open in the sun, and it usually dries out in a few hours.  I've never had to dry the PU in the garage, but if you have to use the garage, much depends on how high you can get it, and maybe a well-placed fan or two would do it.  When you get home, pop it up and unpack, grab a roll of paper towels and try to get as much water off the canvas as you can - which I've done.
 
I'm sure others here have had more experience, and they'll chime in for sure.  Good luck.
 
Bob

[badabing67]

what happens when you get written up? can your hoa force you to move the camper? I would put it up in my driveway and let it dry, then close it and move it to grannys. you should have some kind of time allowed to do that.
we have a hoa also but nowhere as strict as what you're saying and when they have tried to be stupid we all get together and "smack" their hand and tell them no. but like I said our rules are very vague.

[butterflyfish]

There is a grace period for car parking on the street which is 24 consecutive hours (so you can technically park on the street for 23 hours. move the car about 3 feet and then have another 24 hour period)  The ironic thing about this is one of the people who is the biggest offender of street parking is also one of the biggest complainers of other's violations :rolleyes:

The hoa is relatively new, so they are pretty strict.  In a way it is a good thing since it keeps the neighborhood clean...  I mean there are a lot of people with boats and big TT,  work trailers, horse trailers etc. and I don't know that I would want to see them in the yards 24/7.  But to be able to clean it out or keep it there until you can get it to storage, that would be handy.  They usually do their drive by's on Mon. or Tues. and the first offense or so you get written up and it goes in your "file" after that they start to fine you.  I think I will risk trying to park it in the driveway... I mean if I am out there cleaning it out and everything, then I don't think they can say too much...  I could (and have been known to be) wrong, but don't tell anyone   .  Now if I run the extention cord to it, set the grill up outside and run a cable wire and hose and have the chairs all around, then they might start to worry!   :p  

As for the chairs on the lawn, I called the hoa and left a pretty nasty message when that happened because no where in the covenants does it say we cannot have chairs on our lawn.  I told them that I will leave the chairs on the lawn until they can specifically show me where it says I can't.  They never replied to me until some other neighbors (who also got letters) called.  Then they told me we weren't allowed to store chairs in the front of the house (any idiot could tell they were functional chairs and not stored chairs with the way they are aranged  :banghead: ) and since ours are there for use when we all sit out front they will remove the letter from our "file."

[wayner]

I saw a picture somewhere of a guy who had his in his garage after he took it down in the rain.  He just popped it up as much as he could in his garage and pulled the tenting out of us as best as he good and turned on some fans and he said it dried pretty good...

Sorry to hear about the HOA...  here you can do whatever you want..   tire fires in the front yard...  pop ups old cars.. whatever...  I love our HOA...   ha ha....

[Recumbentman]

You can go for up to a week with your PU closed up, so I would get it home un-pack and take it to your grandma's place. once it clears, go back and set it up in her driveway for a few hours until everything dries up.
Good luck and happy camping

[Funrover]

MOVE!!  That sounds like BS to me. but yeah if you can set it up i your garage or in your driveway!

[wavery]

I agree........MOVE.....Your HOA sounds as bad as my apt bldg rules :sombraro:

Come to think of it, I set up my PU in the garage all the time..

[dthurk]

One year when the rain wouldn't stop, I made arrangements for us to put our PUP in a hanger at the local grass strip airport.  It was only there for about a week, they didn't charge us at all for the storage.  I think we gave them a gift certificate to a local restaurant.  The camper was very dry when we finally packed it up and put it away.  Something similar might allow you to get it dry and back to it's final storage spot.

[aw738]

Does HOA stand for Hounding Our ***? I guess living in rual West Virginia a HOA is one of the stupidest things I could imagine.

[McCampers]

When you get home pup it up in the Sun and let it dry out.  I would call my rep at the HOA right now and tell him of the impending need to occaisionally dry out my PUP in my driveway.  I'd tell that this weekend will the be the first of many needs of this type, but that I promise to get out of the way as soon as it drys.  DO NOT store your PUP for a week while wet.  That is a very bad idea.  You will regret doing that, I guarantee.  I don't know much about PUPs but I know that moisture is their biggest enemy.  Rats, ants, and rust are better for PUPs than mold and mildew.  Not saying that any are good for them.  I'm sure you HOA will work with you.  If they don't work with you.  Hire an attorney.

[HersheyGirl]

I am the VP of our HOA and let me tell you there are complainers in our neighborhood. All the members of our board try to ignore all of the complaints that are summitted. We wait and wait and discuss it and then wait some more. We kind of act on the them, but we end up ignoring almost all of them. Most every complaint has something to do with someone being mad at someone else, or someone who has way tooo much time on their hands...blah blah blah. I agree about calling the HOA and give them a heads up about drying the popup and that you will be moving it when it is dry. Don't worry too much about the HOA, they really don't have the power that they want you to think they have. Good luck.

[AZsix]

I don't have any tips for packing up wet but I know with our HOA they let us keep it overnight if we are camping the next day and then overnight when we get it home. If we call them and tell them that we have to work on it (even if we don't have to) they will let us keep it most of the week. I just had mine in front of the house for six days. I'm waiting for my letter from the HOA since I didn't call them to tell them it would be there. Oh well, they'll get over it.

[spearmint]

Don't get me started about HOAs! I HATE the condo I live in because of the HOA! I wish these little nazis would disappear!

[spearmint]

I am the VP of our HOA and let me tell you there are complainers in our neighborhood. All the members of our board try to ignore all of the complaints that are summitted. We wait and wait and discuss it and then wait some more. We kind of act on the them, but we end up ignoring almost all of them. Most every complaint has something to do with someone being mad at someone else, or someone who has way tooo much time on their hands...blah blah blah. I agree about calling the HOA and give them a heads up about drying the popup and that you will be moving it when it is dry. Don't worry too much about the HOA, they really don't have the power that they want you to think they have. Good luck.

Oh yes they do! The laws are on the side of the HOAs, not the homeowners.