Tarps?...How to keep your project car dry

i went to a local outdoor sign co and they gave me a 12x24 canvas sign.it has been on a pvc frame for the past 6yrs .

 

Do not use plastic! It will hold dampness and rust everything to hell. You can cover a car with plastic in a dry garage and it will rust it out. Better no cover at all than plastic.

If you get a portable garage anchor it down real good or it will blow away, guaranteed. To make it last longer put sheets of plywood on before you put on the cover. This will prevent snow and rain from weighing it down and ripping the cover.

You can make a damp proof floor by covering the ground with plastic then cover the plastic with old carpet.

 

for a dirt or gravel floor, I would look for used rubber membrane roofing material. heavy duty, will last a long time and you might get it free from a large roofing Co. when they do a replacement.

 

Similar to Rusty.
Got a little carried away though. Portable garage well anchored & able to take snow load, plastic underlay, plywood sheathing laid over & a Car Jacket from Carbag.com. The garage allows air to circulate & is a better environment. A car bag requires that the fluids be drained & the battery removed so no liquids are stored in the bag with the car to keep it dry. The bag came with silica gel that was put into some old nylon stockings & placed to collect humidity. Silica gel is cheap & effective at absorbing moisture that can be bought in gallon sized containers. Use a SG that changes color when it has absorbed all the moisture it can. It can be put in the oven on an old cookie sheet to be dried & it can be recycled indefinitely. I have to store it for about a year & half until I can put it inside & work on it.

We bagged & boxed an airplane engine for years with a gallon sized amount of silica gel in nylons. The SG never changed color & when the engine was pulled from storage it looked exactly the same as it did when it was put away.

 

A friend of mine uses one of those drive in storage bags to store his FINISHED 39 sedan in each winter. His "barn" isn't much more than a roof and three sides with a gravel floor and his car comes out of there perfect every spring. No critters either.

 

The finished car, wax it well, it will be fine outside. The primered car, depends on the primer. If its epoxy I'd just roll it out and plan on DA'ing the primer and applying a new coat later on. Epoxy is waterproof but most are not UV resistant so it will begin to chalk up.

Keep both washed and clean.

 

I put heavy lumber tarp directly on OT car years ago for a winter storage. In the spring I found much paint had blistered due to this and believe it had to do with trapping moisture and frost building at night,melting in the sun,,for 5 months. Now use wigwam.
You have to put vapour barrier on floor as sun will heat up portable shelter in winter... I learned first cold spell when i checked on truck and there was frost though out cab. I remedied it with StegaWrap on floor..Its a heavy poly, does not puncture easy and keeps moisture..During warmer weather I use it for sandblasting,,,easy recovery of media off plastic sheeting, and a false front with swinging doors to protect shelter from prevailing NW wind