Calmark Cover, Part 3

Today we found new success in installing the Calmark cover on the Escape 19 and Great Husband summed it up, “Super-duper! It was a cinch!”  We are no longer fighting gravity to get the cover up onto the roof, and the whole operation took only a half hour, including installing the padding.

New method for removing the cover:

Unfasten the two black cords and pull them from under the belly of the camper to the non-door side of the camper. 

Near the buckle on each cord, bundle up all the excess cord length with bungees or wire ties. Fortunately, we never cut off all the excess length of these cords, and that extra weight was helpful later. 

Roll the front and back ends of the cover to the center of the camper, between the air conditioner and the Maxx fan. We do this with me helping on the ground and Great Husband moving a ladder around.

Secure the rolled-up cover by wrapping it with two bungees, one at each edge of the roof. The rolled-up cover doesn’t have to look especially tidy.  But the bungees keep the cover under control while it is stored so you can easily recognize the proper orientation when you are ready to put the cover back up.

From the door side of the camper, tug the rolled-up cover straight down into a large, clean trash can. The black cords should end up on top of the cover. The cover will remain stored in the trash can until you are ready to reinstall it on the camper.

New method for putting the cover back on:

Set up the trash can at the side of the camper.

The weight of the bundled-up black cords now becomes essential, because you can easily toss each of the black cords over the center top of the camper to the other side. Toss them over.

From the non-door side, pull the black cords toward that side while another person on the door side helps feed up the cover fabric out of the trash can. This is remarkably easy.

When the bungee cords are positioned at the edges of the roof, you know your cover is balanced from side to side.

Remove the bungee cords, and gradually unroll the cover toward the front and the back. Some of this can be done from the ground but some must be done by moving a ladder around.

Calmark cover stored in a trash can

Toss each black cord over the roof to the opposite side of the camper.

With me pulling the black cords from the non-door side,
Great Husband assists the cover fabric over the awning.
You can see the bungee around the fabric below his hand.

Here is the rolled-up and still-bungeed cover
on the non-door side.

We've taken off the bungees and started to unroll toward the front and back ends.

Assisting the fabric over the Maxx fan

And assisting the fabric over the pool noodles around the air conditioner

A bit more fabric-lifting to get it gently over the air conditioner

It's on! And nobody's cranky!