I was looking at my trailer the other day and I noticed that it was much filthier than in prior years. I usually only camp once a year and that's when I take the tarp off to clean it. It's often pretty dirty when I take it down but never before has it been as dirty as this year. Thankfully, we are nowhere near where the fires were in Northern Ontario, nevertheless there were several days this summer when the smoke was thick in the air. Even our neighbors to the south, in New York and Michigan, had several smoky days, courtesy of the Canadian wild fires.
If you have a trailer or other RV, why not protect it year-round from smoke, dirt and soot by covering it with a heavy duty tarp? It is much easier to take the tarp down for cleaning than it is to clean the top of your trailer. As I point out in another post, it is just a matter of time before you experience an RV leak. This is another reason why you should keep your camper covered most of the time. When sizing your tarp, be sure to make it long enough so that when the water runs off, it falls directly to the ground, not onto your trailer. If my tarp was a foot longer I would not have had the soiling you see here below the tarp. The sides of your trailer generally won't be a problem to keep clean since the water tends to run from end-to-end. Neverthess, you might want to prop up the sides of the tarp so that any run-off flows directly to the ground. 
