Now, if your rig is hit with some very large hailstones, it could still possibly sustain damage (look at that monster John is holding in the photo above)! But for the most part, in a mild-to-moderate hail storm, a quality cover will do a fine job of protecting your RV, solar panels included. (If you’re looking for an RV cover, check out our post on the best RV covers to consider.)Īn RV cover can protect the RV itself as well as everything mounted on the roof. In a previous post, we discussed the pros and cons of RV covers, but if you have one, an anticipated hail storm is the perfect time to bring it out to protect your RV. If you’re at home when a hail storm is expected to be rolling in and you’ve got an RV cover, there’s no better time to get your rig covered. And if your solar panels are damaged, they may not supply the power you need in the meantime. If you see that your rig may be exposed to hail and you’ve got glass solar panels, covering them is your first order of business. See our post on flexible solar panels vs rigid for more information.) (Not all solar panels have a glass surface. Not everyone has solar panels on their RVs, but if you do, hail can seriously damage them, especially rigid glass panels. You’ll probably have very little notice, so it’s good to have a plan in mind in advance. Let’s talk about what you can do if you’ve checked the weather forecast and you have a bit of warning that a hail storm may be coming your way. If unexpected hail does start to fall, with balls of ice slamming down on your rig, you need to take cover and deal with any damage later. We had a close call with potential tornadoes during our first year on the road, but that’s a topic for another day. Still, avoiding storms whenever possible is clearly the best protection from hail or any other type of inclement weather.

You might not be in transit like we were, so unable to move your rig quickly to a safer location.

Had we been hit with hail this big, we would have been toast! AVOIDING the storm would have been our only chance to avoid catastrophic damage.īut the truth is that hailstorms can sometimes emerge seemingly out of almost nowhere, and with little warning. When we showed them the dimples on the hood of our CR-V, they pulled THIS out of their freezer - a massive hailstone picked up in their yard after a recent storm. When we took the photo at the top of this post on the side of the highway in remote Montana, we were en route to visit friends in Hot Springs, SD. Our RV wasn’t damaged in any way, although our poor toad, our ’03 Honda CR-V, now has a hood with a lightly-dimpled design in it. We were incredibly lucky that the hail wasn’t larger. I was like, “I’m not gonna waste 45 minutes (and fuel) to avoid no stinkin’ rain!” Well, the featured image at the top of this post shows where we ended up: on the side of the road, hoping our RV wasn’t being destroyed. We were driving across Montana in 2022, and Google Maps wanted us to take a 45-minute detour to avoid thunderstorms. 🙈 (Remember our old mottos: “We learn things the hard way so that you don’t have to” and “We never stop learning”.) Apparently, after 20+ years on the road full-time, we’re still at it! 😂 Growing up in an area not prone to intense hailstorms, we did learn about this the hard way. Some even invest in an RV weather station of some sort to stay abreast of developing weather events. Some RVers are adept at watching weather patterns develop. Of course, we can only do this if we know a storm is coming and we have time to make a decision not to travel to a certain area until the storm passes. This may go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: The best way to avoid hail damage to your RV is to avoid the storm altogether. So, let’s take a look at how best to protect individual areas of our rigs from hail damage. This stuff can do some pretty serious damage to many parts of an RV. There’ve been some pretty serious hail storms over the past few years with some crazy size hail. We need to be able to protect r oof vent lids and protective covers, skylights, air conditioner shrouds, and even solar panels from serious damage if possible.

(you can sometimes pull a car into a garage or under a carport, but where would you find something like that at a campground?) But with our homes on wheels, we often have some pretty unique exposure. Of course, everyone wants to protect their vehicles and homes from the damage that can occur as a result of a hail storm. 2) Free RVing Tips, Tricks, Reviews, Giveaways & More.1.5) How to Protect Your RV AC Shroud From Hail.1.4) How to Protect an RV Vent From Hail.1.3) How to Protect RV Skylights From Hail.1.2.4) Protect Your Solar Panels With Methacrylate.1.2) How to Protect RV Solar Panels From Hail.

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