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Enclosed cargo trailer as a bike garage

jimbc

Member
Hello

I'm planning to buy an enclosed cargo trailer to "garage" my bike during the riding season.

My biggest concern though, is humidity. This is because I used to own one of those cycle garages that had a tube frame and vinyl (non breathing) cover. I discovered through the use of a hygrometer, even after install an exhaust fan, that the humidity in that thing was 80 to 90%. And I discovered corrosion on my bike (insert sound of agony here).

I'd like to hear from the owners of cargo trailers to know if I need to be concerned about moisture inside a trailer. I will of course have side vents and a roof vent with a fan.

Now only if it would stop snowing!!

Cheers
 
With a solid floor and being off the ground, I think you will be in fine shape. I have trailers, truck bodies and a conex (shipping container) and the off the ground factor seems to be the most important. With the ventilation you plan on having, I think you have a winner :thumb
OM
 
I don't think you will have a problem.

I have a 20' enclosed cargo trailer that I use for hunting. It is designed as a mobile butcher station and also to haul all my hunting gear including clothing, knives (butchering equipment), camping gear, etc. I have been leaving ALL my gear in the trailer year round to keep my kids out of my hunting gear. When it's time to go hunting I just back up to the trailer and go.

My trailer has 2 side vents but no roof vent.

I live in Oklahoma on a large lake and during the summer the humidity can get high but not as high as coastal areas.

Hope this helps.
 
Trailer is probably better then unheated barn/garage. In the North, the floor slab gets cold in the winter, and when the warm humid days hit, the slab sweats bad. There are days in the spring and early summer, that it looks like it rained inside my barn.
 
Years ago I had a garage with a wooden floor , [tongue & groove hard wood] similar ? That garage was much warmer than a concrete floor building, and {IMO} much easier to heat.

A few years later a friend built a new garage , with a wood floor 2X12 's on end, filled with insulation then covered with treated 1" plywood. He says he can heat it with a candle...:dance.
 
Like Okiegman, I too live in Oklahoma. We have a couple of trailers we use a garages for motorcycles and have had no problems. You might want to make sure that the back end of the trailer has supports for ground contact, which will prevent the front end of the trailer from lifting off the ground as a bike is loaded from the rear. This happens when the tongue isn't hitched to a vehicle, if the trailer is small enough.
 
Interesting thread :)

I use my enclosed trailer for WINTER storage of my K1200LT for the very reasons other have mentioned, moisture on the winter garage floor. Up here in Northern Michigan, much salt and sand are poured on the roads during winter. That all gets tracked into the garage and make a mess that I rather not expose the bike to. When I want to putz with the bike over winter, the trailer warms comfortably with a small electric heater.
 
I have a friend who has stored his 07 RT in an enclosed trailer year around for nearly 7 years. I do his maintenance for him and have not noticed any undue corrosion or other harmful affects from doing so.
 
I live in Georgia where humidity can be a problem. I use a 5X8 enclosed cargo trailer for storing my '13 R1200GSW. This will sound crazy and overkill but I installed a dehumidifier as well as a small fan. The fan turns on just prior to sunrise and I keep it on for several hours pushing air across the floor. My big concern is condensation which can form on the motorcycle.

All in all, the fan might just do the trick but the dehumidifier really nails it! I keep the trailer around 45% humidity monitoring it with a remote sensor while reading the humidity level from the kitchen. Okay, the reason for all of this is that my previous bike encountered condensation forming rust on parts of the engine. I was not going to let this happen to my new one. Kinda my bucket list, don't you know.

FYI, after doing a little research, I found there were quite a few bikes in garages that were encountering condensation issues. Their resolve was to place plywood on the concrete/slab floor with the bike on the plywood. In addition, they would run a floor fan on the bike to keep the air flow moving. No more condensation problems.

With cargo trailers having plywood floors and air flowing underneath, one would think there would not be any condensation but that wasn't the case for me. Again, it is the temperature change during the morning hours that seemed to be my biggest problem. So, I use a fan (for the morning hours) and run a dehumidifier with an automatic humidity control on it. Somewhere around 45-50 percent humidity level is good.
 
Hey Robert

No way is that overkill.

I bought a cargo trailer for my bike and I'm very happy with the decision. I monitor the humidity with a hygrometer daily and I've also been watching the prices of dehumidifiers as one will be purchased if the levels rise above acceptable levels. August morning dew levels will be the tell tale where I live as that's when the levels peaked in my previous storage device.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers.
 
Hey Robert

No way is that overkill.

I bought a cargo trailer for my bike and I'm very happy with the decision. I monitor the humidity with a hygrometer daily and I've also been watching the prices of dehumidifiers as one will be purchased if the levels rise above acceptable levels. August morning dew levels will be the tell tale where I live as that's when the levels peaked in my previous storage device.

Thanks for your input.

Cheers.

Good to hear that everything is going well. All the best to you...Robert
 
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