[xmonad] Avoid struts, but not by default!

Hi everybody, I am using avoidStruts from XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks to toggle between the dock gaps, so I have something like myLayout = avoidStruts $ ... in my xmonad.hs. Now, I only have the tiniest panel ever which only consists of a clock and the icon of the nm-applet. I would prefer if xmonad would cover up the docks by default, and only when I'd like to check the time or like to have a look at the Internet connection, to toggle the gap to appear. Is there any neat and straight forward way to do so? Thanks so much in advance! Cheers, Thomas