Driveway parking...

[Souperfly]

My bu wont fit in my garage and my homeowners assoc wont let me park her in the street. I'd like to keep her at the house and forgo the $90/mo storage bill and park it in the driveway, but there's a problem... I'm not sure of the angle of my driveway, but its pretty steep and not sure if its safe. Its 35ft long and at that distance its in the area of 5 feet of incline. Would it even be safe to leave it in the driveway and it not jump over the wheel chocks? I don't want to wake up or come home from work and its crashed out on my street... I think that I can clear the prop guard by backin it in at an angle, but haven't tried...

Here's a rough est of my driveway from the base of the street to the base of the garage.

Edited August 19, 2007 by Souperfly

[chathamsolutions]

Nearly anything can be chaulked, if you take the time and figure out exactly what you need to properly chaulk EVERY tire. It may take some serious doing, but if that's your only option - make it happen.

[jetskipro550]

For added security and peace of mind, I would look into something like this Lag Bolted Lock but in a heavier duty version. The one in the link is for a motorcycle to be locked to, but maybe a big one could be mounted in your driveway and you could chain the trailer to it?

[RTS]

That looks like a pretty steep angle to be relying on chocks to hold.

Have you considered installing some sort of anchoring system in the driveway, then chaining the trailer to that? It might be worth the effort, if only for the peace of mind you'd have by not having to worry constantly about the thing ending up in the street, or worse, ending up crashed into a passing car.

Some sort of 'D' ring, installed with a proper masonry anchor, then maybe some chain (it wouldn't have to be super heavy duty) that you could just loop around the trailer when you back it in. If you could easily loop the chain around the trailer so that it had no slack, you would not need to worry about any momentum of a runaway trailer breaking the chain.

Something like this, perhaps...

Try this

[oldfooter]

As for dragging your prop gaurd, have you looked into installing the prop gaurd wheel kit. I just did it a couple of weeks ago and it works great. No more dragging as I back into the driveway. I have a dorsey trailer and they sell the kit as an accessory. I'm sure the other trailer manufacturs would have something similar. I had a local shop to weld them on and then I done the painting myself. They kit cost me $125 and then the welding was $80.....money well spent.

[TalleyHo]

If the [nazi] HOA won't let you park it in the street, are they going to let you park it in the driveway in the front? Our HOA has some draconian rules, but I'm fortunate enough to be able to 'hide' it in the back where the 'bu isn't visible from the street. The funny thing is -- I live in a middle-class neighborhood -- I hate the li'l ol ladies that have nothing better to do than P&M about a well kept working vehicle on site.

I haven't checked the grade on our driveway, but I chalk both wheels, and have a donut for the jack wheel. I also put a 4x4 under the front wheel so I can get close to a slight incline so the rain will run off the cover.

[Faceplant409]

I'd be worried that some little Sh!*&^%$ would remove the chalks to "see what happened..." So I'd secure them in place. Like with a chain around the tire somehow.... I'd also come up with a tie down system of chains (2) to further secure it to the driveway.

Good luck, Pat

[Souperfly]

Yeah, our HoA president lives 2 houses down. I moved into our new house a couple months ago on a Friday, parked the boat on the street to unload the truck, and on Sat she was knocking on my door seeing if I was planning on moving it... She said I can park the boat in my driveway though... Funny thing is that I live at the end of a street, pretty much a coldasac(sp?) with only 4 people that live down from me.... uggghhhhh

As far as anchoring it down, I love the idea but this house is a rental and our property managers SUCK! I don't want to do anything to improve this house. Its brand new and needs probably $5k worth of work still and they have the audicity to want to charge us for repairs that were done during construction. Needless to say I'm buying my first house AS SOON as the lease is up next March.

I like the prop guard rollers, that will make it a LOT nicer backing it in, but then again I'm thinking of selling this boat over the winter for a new VTX.

The picture is actually the boat in the street and I'm taking the pic from a level ground from my garage. As you can see, eye level of the pic is almost level with the top of the tower...

Edited August 20, 2007 by Souperfly

[jayjoans]

As far as anchoring it down, I love the idea but this house is a rental and our property managers SUCK! I don't want to do anything to improve this house.

The anchor is for the safety of your boat, not for the improvement of the house. I'd do the anchor, it's YOUR boat at risk, not their precious driveway.

Could you use one of those boots they use to lock to the wheels of illegally parked cars? The only way to get it off would be with a key, and I think it would work as a chock too. (in addition to chocks on all the other tires)

something like this:

http://www.universalboot.com/

Edited August 20, 2007 by jayjoans

[zilla]

I'd be worried that some little Sh!*&^%$ would remove the chalks to "see what happened..." So I'd secure them in place. Like with a chain around the tire somehow.... I'd also come up with a tie down system of chains (2) to further secure it to the driveway.

Good luck, Pat

If the chalks are under the tires some little Sh!*&^%$ is not gona be able to remove them.

I always have to back up the bu a little bit to get them out.

DO block all 4 tires tho

[Tory1340]

I think you all mean "Chock", not chalk or chaulk. Chalk is what was formerly used in classrooms and still used by kids around the world on driveways. Chocks are used by vehicle owner/operators to prevent undesired movement.

I'm amazed by some of the HOA rules out there, along with "garage doors cannot be parallel with the street" must be closed except for getting your vehicle in or out. No trucks can be parked there. Good grief, Charlie Brown!

As far as parking on that driveway? Use the highest and steepest angle version you can find. Good luck and start house hunting for a place without such crazy rules.

[bigD]

Since you'll only be there seven months I'd pay the storage fee and be happy. Winters coming anyway do you really want it sitting out on your driveway.

[Baddog]

Nearly anything can be chaulked, if you take the time and figure out exactly what you need to properly chaulk EVERY tire. It may take some serious doing, but if that's your only option - make it happen.

Here we go again, and with all due respect, wouldn't it be better to chock the tires?

[sunscapeJeff]

We store the boat at our house as well ... in the backyard. We tried the driveway thing, and there were two problems: It was difficult to get it in (rear entry driveway), and the rain coming off of the roof just poured right into the boat. The cover can only hold back so much. The backyard is working out OK, but it's still at an angle at which the front of the boat is quite a bit lower than the back, so the boat can't drain properly. This really worries me; even with the boat cover on there snug we still seem to get water in there. So, I'm desperately seeking a covered storage spot somewhere. They seem to be hard to come by.

Souperfly, have you thought about pulling the boat into the driveway, rather than backing it into the driveway? At 35 feet long, you'd probably still have room in front of it to maneuver the truck around it. And, with the incline that way, if you pull the plug in the transom, it'll drain good if water does happen to get in there. And, you won't have to worry about thieves backing their truck up to it and driving off with it. I would do the same, but my driveway is only 25 feet at the most.

Edited August 20, 2007 by sunscapeJeff

[sunscapeJeff]

And as far as chocking the tires ... I would think that the only way the trailer is going to jump the chocks is if it got some momentum behind it. I mean, the chocks won't stop a moving boat trailer, but they should keep a stationary boat trailer from moving in the first place. Also, if it is on an incline, those chocks will be in there good; it would take a sledgehammer to knock them loose, I would think. Especially if you use something heavy, like big rocks, and not the cheap plastic chocks.

[sv3854]

I would think that you could chock it and then put some chains through the rims. Since you have a tandem trailer, it would be a good fail safe incase someone moves the chocks, etc. Perhaps some of that plastic coated chain so it won't damage the wheels when putting it on.

[auto]

If the [nazi] HOA won't let you park it in the street, are they going to let you park it in the driveway in the front? Our HOA has some draconian rules, but I'm fortunate enough to be able to 'hide' it in the back where the 'bu isn't visible from the street. The funny thing is -- I live in a middle-class neighborhood -- I hate the li'l ol ladies that have nothing better to do than P&M about a well kept working vehicle on site.

I haven't checked the grade on our driveway, but I chalk both wheels, and have a donut for the jack wheel. I also put a 4x4 under the front wheel so I can get close to a slight incline so the rain will run off the cover.

Only suckers live where there is an HOA. Happiest day I ever had, is when I moved out of an HOA community.

I used chocks and homemade anchor system with dug hole, kryptonite chain, and rebar, worked great.

Sitting outside in a Texas winter is not exactly harsh, 2 years outdoors and I sold that boat for a great price.

Edited August 20, 2007 by auto

[SacRiverRat]

I used some RV wheel locks in conjunction with chocks. They are mechanical devices that go between the wheels and press them apart, keeping them from rolling.

On check I'd always do before releasing the trailer, was to see if the locks/chocks would hold the suburban, while in neutral. I'll tell ya, the chocks alone wouldn't hold it - they'd either skid, or go over the top

Best case is to put it in storage - you sure don't want that thing sitting in front of the house for very long. Or buy a house with side yard storage.. if you think the $90/month is bad - think of what you're throwing away on rent good luck

[Helinut]

Guess I got lucky and didn't even know it. When I moved in to my new house a couple of months ago, I didn't have a boat at the time. I hated that the driveway in front of my garage doors was so flat. And I mean FLAT! It might be something I need to worry about when it snows hard. Anyways, it's been great to park the Bu there! No need to worry about it rolling away. Hell, it looks like I'd have to worry about it rolling in to my garage before it'd head for the street!

Good luck on whatever you do!