Parking your boat outside? Any good ideas?

This is the second year my 21V has to sit outside. Last year we ran a monster tarp over the whole boat, including the tower. This helps to save the canvas and also to make a little less attractive to thieving bastards. Does anyone else have a better idea? Any experience with those higher-end "temporary" eclosures? Thanks for ANY input you may have on this matter.

Also, how about any alarm advice. With the new system this year I'll have to do something...

Do you own a garage?

Will it not fit in the garage?
Too many cars in the garage?
Too much crap in the garage?

Where do you live that they let you have a tarp big enough to cover the whole boat (tower and all)?

I know it's proabbly not the advice your lookign for but stoage is the best easiest way to take care of your problem. Down here I cna find good storage for only $75-100/month.

I thought the 21V would fit in a standard garage?

Do you want something that is temporary? What part of the country are you in?

If you have the space for it, I highly recommend the Costco enclosure ($160)… I put one up to store my new (used) Supreme for the rainy Seattle winter and am nothing but pleased with it, though you do have to remove the tower. I often walk in there during rain storms with a smile on my face knowing that my baby is protected. With my last boat I used the tarp method and never felt comfortable.

I second what Adam said... I used to do the outside/behind the house storage and was always worried about thieves, curious kids, critters, etc. Then one day is rained pretty hard and the temp dipped into the teens for a couple of day (yes it does freeze in Dallas and i had the boat cover on). My seating surfaces cracked from the change in temps and the fact that my boat at the time had perforated seating surfaces. After a few hundred dollars in vinyl repairs i decided to just suck it up and pay for a storage unit. I don't like to write that check but i do it. An added benefit for enclosed storage is my boat looks almost brand new! My other boat was beat down after a couple years in the elements.

I live in a very urban neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN. My garage is teeny. Storage would be an option, but what a pain to go somewhere off-site before and after every ride. Not to mention the $$$. The tarp in conjunction with the canvas almost does too good of a job keeping out the elements (never dries out). I was considering something like...



Not sure if my girl would like the looks of this by her garden, but hey it's better looking than an ugly tarp blowing in the wind...

Obviously tower would have to come down, that might be a trick with all the speakers, light bars and such we just added. Also, I'm not sure you could even use the factory Supra cover with the tower down. Anyone?

oooh, look at this one ;)

On a related know, anyone know (generally) how tall a boat+trailer+fold down tower is? I know different boat will be different, but generally...would a fold down tower fit under there?

My tower folds down to 7'2"...just tall enough not to fit into a standard 7 foot garage opening.

Matt, I used one of those temporary shelters for less than 1 mo. Don't waste your money! Consider a steel carport. The same one that I'm sure you've seen set up in parking lots for sale for $795 installed. Call the company that install's them. They have larger models available that work great. I had one installed last spring (after a storm destroyed the one shown above) that is 12' tall at the peak and 24' long for less than $2500. They have a galvanized steel frame and metal roof and sides as low as you want. I had sides and the back installed to about 5' from the ground. It is a little more permanent, but it will hold up, it's anchored to the ground, your boat will dry out, and you can even pick up some covered parking in the off season(the roof will easily handle the snow load). Trust me it is $ well spent. I will try to track down a picture of my set-up to give you an idea of the structure and post it later this evening.

What is the Costco enclosure you are referring to? I did a search on costco.com and couldn't find anything. Do you know the name of it? Thanks

Here is what I ordered. Pictured is a 7' high door, 20' long and 12' wide. I ordered 9' high, 25' long and 14' wide. $1600

Found at www.cover-tech.com

Post up some more examples of steel storage that is in the same price range like Josh mentioned.

Josh do you have a pic of your storage shelter?

Sorry rookie mistake

(Message edited by jemiller06 on March 28, 2006)

I found a few. Sorry I couldn't find a shot from far away. If you guys want one of the whole structure I can drive over tomorrow and get a shot of it. Also, I found my paperwork and the total was just under $2000 installed with tax.

Josh - How wide is that carport? Also, is there a reason you didn't go all the way to the ground with the sides, and can the make a roll-up door for the front?

heres mine.. its 31 feet long and abot 14 high.. it was 3500.00 with three sides all the way to the ground, a roll up door is an option but i would have to take the boards off the racks and it would have been a really tight fit.. i love not having to lower the tower or take the boards down..the last pic is what happened to my costco carport in a wind storm.. with 8 cement blocks bolted to it... you better make sure its out of the direct weather if you go that route..lol

I am not positive of the width, but it is at least 12-14ft. I have 2ft. minimum on each side of a VLX on Boatmate Tandem trailer. I can pull in and out with boards on the racks without a problem. I didn't take the sides all the way down on the one side because that side looks off of a bluff over the water. We have the ability to put picknick tables under there when the boat is gone and we are entertaining. The sides are low enough to keep it protected from blowing rain and in the shade all day. The other side comes down further and that is only to block it from view. Having the sides and back open also lets air flow and keeps it cool and the boat drys very quickly. I am not in a real populated area so I can leave the boat uncovered for a few days after long days of riding. If you are in a populated area or have to worry about theft I would probably opt for taking the sides all the way down. It doesn't cost much more. If you don't have to worry about it you may want to keep them open. It makes it real easy to clean and load the boat while it is still in the shade.

As far as the door. I am sure you can get something like that. The problem would be framing in the opening for the door and still having enough height for the tower. If you can get your boat in a 10' door you wouldn't have a problem. I didn't opt for the door because I leave my boat attached to the tow vehicle all summer.

Let me know if I can be of anymore help.

you could build a real building for $3500. (but not with a slab)

I put mine in a costco 10x20...Had to raise it up 2 feet to fit the boat in with tower, ran some planking along the base and fit a 30x40 fishing tarp over top of it all securing it to the planking...it is in a sheltered area under large trees and has worked out fine thus far....including stronger winds and some pretty heavy west coast snowfall..although..I went inside and pushed the snow off just to make sure..
for the price...it's an easy quick fix... to keep the boat sheltered.

The trick with the Costco shelters is to have them properly secured to the ground. Concrete blocks don't count, the wind will lift those right up. A friend is facing a $1300 repair bill for a leg that went through a neighbors RV door.

We have one with 3' pole extensions on the legs so that it will clear our pontoon boat. You MUST stake the feet securely into the ground with rebar or something similar. In the same storage facility there are countless shelters on concrete blocks that were blown apart. Ours is 1'-3' taller than these (more wind exposure) and has held up great for 2 seasons now.

$2500

City said it couldn't have sides or it would have 3 sides on it, but actually not having them there makes it easy to work on the boat in the back yard. Even when it does storm really hard, the roof keeps almost everything dry. The nose and swim step do get a little damp.

Whoops, try that again.

i got really lucky with my new boat, i have a 23' XLV and my garage just happened to be exactly 23' deep, so the boat is wall to wall literally! the nose touches the door when closed. i couldn't even think about leaving my boat outside all winter in oregon. but it does suck not having a garage all winter i might look into storing it somewhere else next winter

I don't know if there are any caves around you guys, but you we have a 30' travel trailer stored for I believe around $400 a year. You have to be careful where you store it as some caves don't have gated areas. Ours is somewhat secluded and has cameras that see who goes in or out + security to open the gate via video & phone.

caves, huh? that's a new one on me.

I have a "bu" 21'XTi
my problem is that I dont think my city will allow a permanent structure
I also want one that I can keep the tower up
Mendo, does your city consider that a temp building?
how tall is that?
thanks

well i kinda live out in the country but the county considers that a temporary building.. i actually wanted to build a garage where the suburban is parked but they said i was to close to the property line lol so i put that monstrosity right on top of the property line.. its actually 14 feet high in the center and 12 on the sides, when the tower is up it easily clears, its only down in the pics cause i moved it from the carport it was in.. i checked in with a few contractors and there is know way you could have built anything close to this for the price even doing it yourself.. i know a few people in town who have similar setups and have never been hassled by the city or county..

I think that the tarps suck, wind ***** better than outside 24-7 next winter we will have a garage

this is what i did.
it works well for me.

thanks for the input!
I will check around locally

hate to bring back this old of a post...but i'm in the same boat (no pun intended) now. richard and/or josh, what company makes those "buildings" that you guys have? i'm looking at something like that now so i can just pay cash for it and be done...my boat just needs to be inside so it can stop getting abused by the elements. i could handle $2 or 3k for something like that versus $11k for a full-on shop building with no floor. anyone know of a solid brand that won't blow away in our 60 mph winds??

mine is www.americansteelinc.com

Matt,
I don't know if you have the Cover-it brand in MN but they make great enclosures. I'm in CT and we have two one for a pontoon boat and one for our Mastercraft. Anyway the constuction is very good, much better than the costco ones. They are pretty inexpensive around $800 for one that will fit most wakeboard boats.

http://www.coverquest.com/covers/instant_garages/cover-it.php
http://www.sheltersofnewengland.com/

ha ha we have a big ass quanset

hey disco, do you keep your boat parked like that all year?

Thanks for all the input on this, but here'e the latest... no temporary structures allowed by code. Basically put up a new garage or dial in a tarp set-up. So that's what I'm doing...

-Buy new high quality tarp
-Cut down to match contour of hull
-Hem, sew and grommet
-Custom-cut new bungies

more details to come...

well a little late with the input but heres ours.
12*12*30 with a roll up door on zippers.
never have to take the tower down.

Kevin what did that run u?

installed for $2,400
most local canopy places can build one to your
requested measurements.

If anyone in my neighborhood dared to put anything like these "portable garages", the Home Owner's Association would slap a fine on them so fast that their mail-box would be smokin... I get nasty reminders if my boat is just a few inches in front of the house (parked on the side).

my last house was under an HOA. i would get letters if the boat was at my house longer than 3 days so i moved into a house that would fit my 23' boat in the garage

some jerk that lives around the corner from me racked up $4,000 in HOA fines for leaving his 30' Baja half in his garage, half in the drive way for about 6 months. my mastercraft stays in the garage in the winter and at a storage unit during the season.

I aquired one of those covers they use when shipping your boat. It covers the boat to the trailer. It is vinal with soft cotton on the under side and vented. None of my boat it exposed the the sunlight and or weather. The only way it would get wet during the rain, it would have to bounce off the driveway and up...

Richard - where did you find one of those?? how much?

funny, I also bought one of those covers, but I don't want to fold my tower everyday... I found mine on ebay.

I bought a 06 mc x-1 in january. When I went to put in in my 8ft garage it doesn't fit. With the tower lowered it has the lower poles that stick up about 5in too high. I thought I was crazy and just being a girl, and new boat owner having no clue, but no they just stick up too high. I parked it in my front yard but I guess the bright orange boat attracted the code enforcement. I now pay $53/month to store it outside at a lot halfway to where I ride. Saves gas on my jeep though. It costs $315 to store it in a garage, that is if you can find one thats not booked. This is the only thing I don't like about my boat.

Academy sports sells those ones that look like garages for $299.99


Danny