storing boat outside. any tips?

[mellen_mpz]

I just bought an 06 23 LSV in mint condition. The boat has been stored in a garage since it was brand new. It KILLS me to have to store this thing outside. What are you guys doing to keep the boat and trailer in good condition? Is there a bigger cover I can buy that will fit over the whole tower when its collapsed and also cover the sides of the boat???

[jim05rlxi]

buy a shelter logic portable building for about 500 dollars and stuff her in that.no buiding permits and you can move it around with a couple of guys.

[DONTW8]

If you can't store it inside then here are your best options in sequence.

1. Build a carport alongside your garage. Keep your boat alongside or back of your garage to keep your neighbors happy.

2. Buy one of the carports available at Costco.

3. If you don't want to do either above you can go to a big trucking outfit and ask if they have any old truck tarps for sale. These will be made of a rubberized material and are very heavy. Because of this they will not flap around in the wind. They will already have built in rings that you can use rubber snubbers to secure the tarp around your boat. These will stay on and will be waterproof in gale force winds.

4. Costco had generic style name brand boat covers a while back. Check them out. You can install these over your fitted boat cover.

5. The blue tarps deteriorate in a hurry. Costco has some very heavy duty ones that come in a two pack and are the best buy I've seen on these. I think they are 12 x 16.

6. You can have a custom heavy duty rubberized cover made out of truck tarp material by somebody such as Bend Tarp and Liner. This will last a lifetime but is more expensive than options 3, 4, and 5.

7. The better you cover your boat the longer you will be happy with it. It's cheaper to build the carport now than trade your boat later.

[WakeGirl]

Just a comment on #2....

I think a caveat needs to be made with that recommendation. If you look at any of those portable carports around here, they never last more than 1 season because of the rugged winter weather. If you live in a milder climate, then it's probably fine. But if not, buyer beware.

[Deltawake]

1 tip- DON'T

[DIE2SURF]

I assume putting it in a storage facility for a monthly or annual fee is not something you would be interested in. I used to store mine in a huge facility that held yachts, vintage cars, expensive cars, even the huge RVs. It was around $120/month and fortunately was no more than 5 miles away from my house and river.

Just a thought...

[DUKENO1]

I can understand your desire not to keep the boat outside. The first year and a half that I owned my boat I was able to store it in a insulated garage...very nice. However when that option became unavailable I had to come up with another solution. What I did was purchase a shelter online from this website:

http://www.mdmshelters.com/barn_style.php

This is the actual one that I have in gray. It has rollup doors and is very well made. It is much much more heavy duty than those ones at Costco. The skeleton is made of large galvanized tubing

and is anchored with cables that are driven deep into the ground. I have had it for a couple of years and it has worked great for me. I wired in some lights on the ceiling. The cover has faded a little but other than that it has held up great. I paid a couple hundred less than they are advertising them for now.

Now I know this may not be an option if you are in a restricted neigborhood or something like that.

I am lucky in that my parents have a farm with plenty of room in the country and that's where I have mine. I hope to have a new house with a nice big garage in a few years but this has been a nice solution in the meantime.

[68Slalom]

I just bought an 06 23 LSV in mint condition. The boat has been stored in a garage since it was brand new. It KILLS me to have to store this thing outside. What are you guys doing to keep the boat and trailer in good condition? Is there a bigger cover I can buy that will fit over the whole tower when its collapsed and also cover the sides of the boat???

If you are restricted by any of the things that have been mentioned, you can have a custom cover made for the tower and another customer cover made to go over the boat and trailer. It would be a hassle to get on and off but you really have no other options than what has been mentioned already, we bit the bullet and made the boat storage part of an additional expense, it's away from home out of the garage which is all another problem in itself when you need to get something done but you can't have it all.

[Bill_AirJunky]

All these temp shelters are OK when the weather is not too harsh. But when the weather does get crazy there are a couple of things you can do to improve your odds on surviving the storm.

- close the doors. If either end or the sides are open at all, the wind can get under it & take it away like a kite. So seal it up as good as possible.

- anchor from the footings. And most importantly, anchor from the top. Tie it to your tower, or run ropes from the top of the roof to anchors driven deep in the ground. You can make anchors out of bent rebar. The more the better.

- If it snows in your area, get out there as often as you can & brush it off..... especially if it's wet, heavy snow.

[mellen_mpz]

thanks for the ideas guys. I forgot to mention that my HOA is made up of all the old people from Nazi Germany that havent died yet (or at least thats my guess)......Nothing taller than the fence allowed. I am able to get it in my back yard which is a good thing but I'm worried I'm gonna get a letter even with the tower collapsed. I'm just gonna have to get a better cover I guess. I was also thinking about building a shield (no more than about 7 feet tall) out of wood around the left and rear of the boat where the sun can get to it.

[electricjohn]

My Malibu is kept in a Shelter Logic enclosure like others have mentioned. So far so good and I have been quite happy with it. It has held up to snow and wind very well. My friend gave it to me used when it was about 4 years old back in 2003 and it is still holding up fine. It is in the shade during the summer which I think helps. One zipper has failed. Looking at newer Shelter Logic enclosures, the quality of the covering does not seem to be as good as it used to be though. Appears to be thinner.

My other boat, a 1970 Winner runabout, has never been in any kind of shelter and I keep that covered with a pool liner for a rectangular pool. I have been doing this for almost 40 years. The liners last about 10-15 years if you can find a shaded spot. Just don't disturb it to much when it is cold. The cover reaches the ground where I lay pipes on it and wind doesn't disturb it that way.

Edited April 8, 2009 by electricjohn

[Mike00LXI]

When I first bought my boat I stored it outside for the first two years. I had a custom Sunbrella cover made that covered all the way down to the sides of the boat past the water lane and over the swim deck. It was costly but worth it.

[winddawg]

I keep mine floating under a metal RV carport and I had a sunbrella cover made that covers the sides and swim platform. She stays dry and charged and can be floating in less than 3 minutes. My only pest are the birds that sit on the tower and decorate the cover for me.

I would have brought the sides of the carport down but my HOA does not allow sides or structures taller than 10' off of the deck.

-Dave

[68Slalom]

I keep mine floating under a metal RV carport and I had a sunbrella cover made that covers the sides and swim platform. She stays dry and charged and can be floating in less than 3 minutes. My only pest are the birds that sit on the tower and decorate the cover for me.

I would have brought the sides of the carport down but my HOA does not allow sides or structures taller than 10' off of the deck.

-Dave

I would get a scare crow in the baby somewhere to keep those birds away

[Baddog]

thanks for the ideas guys. I forgot to mention that my HOA is made up of all the old people from Nazi Germany that havent died yet (or at least thats my guess)......Nothing taller than the fence allowed. I am able to get it in my back yard which is a good thing but I'm worried I'm gonna get a letter even with the tower collapsed. I'm just gonna have to get a better cover I guess. I was also thinking about building a shield (no more than about 7 feet tall) out of wood around the left and rear of the boat where the sun can get to it.

If you can't raise the roof, lower the floor. Dig a mini trench to stay below the fence line and the Rhino cover type shelter might be just the ticket.

[beast]

http://skiboatcovers.com/ Check out the picture, bottom left hand corner.

This guy makes a really quality cover at a geat price....Get Sunbrella !!

[DONTW8]

Plan B:

You might search for covered storage. Enclosed storage may cost $120+ per month. I keep my 21 ' travel trailer at a fenced gated storage facilty that has huge sheds. It is a roof only setup and the stalls are 13 x 25 and are back to back. Mine is on the north side of the building. I pay $90 per month for this space. I know there is at least one other storage place that offers this covered but no door type rv storage in the area.

I live in a restricted HOA and prefer that anyway. My boat is parked behind my sports car in a 50 foot garage stall built into the house I built. But I have stored my boat at the same rv facility for a couple of months the last time I had an extra car.

Edited April 8, 2009 by DONTW8

[68Slalom]

http://skiboatcovers.com/ Check out the picture, bottom left hand corner.

This guy makes a really quality cover at a geat price....Get Sunbrella !!

This is kind of what I was talking about but make it lower to cover the trailer almost done to the floor so you can strap it secure under the trailer and around the tires. That would keep the neighbors happy and not risk any problems with the HOA

[geogilbert]

OK, all of those suggestions are much better then this but if you are stuck without an extra covering one thing i noticed was i sometimes got leaves that woudl blow through the holes in the cover where the tower comes out. Simple solution to that was to take some streaky velcro straps and make the cover tight around the tower. And once winter comes get it indoors even if that means renting a storage unit for $100 a month.

[mellen_mpz]

still trying to figure out what to do. I'm thinking the short term fix is to buy a giant tarp and some cinder blocks to keep it from going anywhere. PS...... Winters arent too big of a problem here in az. Barely gets to freezing on some nights and down to the 50's during the day. The biggest threat here is the sun!

[DONTW8]

Steel tarps with flap, like this:

16 x 27 with flap

ugly as can be, black. But you can completely cover your boat by using tight straps from your tower to bow and stern rings.

one source:

http://www.myteeproducts.com/Steel-Tarps-c-6.html

Probably available in Phoenix, also.

[tnsouthpaw]

I have the same issue with outdoor storage until I build a garage or buy a new house. For the meantime, I purchased a $50 tarp and some tarp tie-downs (the kind that attach anywhere on the tarp). I put on the factory cover, lowered the tower, covered entire bu w/ the tarp and strapped it to the trailer every 3-4 feet. It's snug so it doesn't blow in the wind and it's worked well for the few snow flurries and thunderstorms here in TN.

[CLOUT1]

I have had a "portable shelter" for my BU since I bought it. I live in MA so we are no stranger to snow. The

one thing I would look at is most of the shelters have a "regular" weight and heavy duty weight vinyl. If you

go with the heavier weight vinyl it may also come with thicker tubes (3 inch plus) and they are very solid. It

will cost twice as much but worth it. I paid $1,800 for mine (12x10x28) and I will also say that 80% of the shelters

are made by the same company down in CT...Shelter Logic (used to be Cover-it but they did the old file for

bancruptcy and come back under another name).

[AzSyndicate]

The other major killer here in AZ is the Dust. It eats Fabric materials quickly.

I have a shop I am able to keep mine in.

[Faceplant409]

In NorCal I used to use a regular universal canvas boat cover with the tower collapsed then I had a silver tarp that I put over that with bungees. The silver tarp covered most of the trailer also. I still have 2 of the silver tarps in the packaging if interested.... (silver tarps are way heavier than the cheapo blue ones.) One silver tarp lasted me 5 seasons. When I bought the '04 VLX I had a custom cover made that covered the gunnels. I also built a garage for myself so I don't have to use the cover too often....

If you do use a tarp or something that does not breathe, be sure to use a couple of dehumidifying buckets during the winter. (may not be needed in AZ...)

Good luck!

Patrick