Boat storage

Mike sandor

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
175
Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Boat Info
2007 320 Sundancer
Twin 496. Bravo 3
2018 3500 Chevy, Loadmaster trailer
Raymarine Axiom, Quantum 2
Engines
496 Mercruiser/Bravo III drives
so am I crazy to consider this?
I am three years from retiring, we recently bought 65 acres just 4 miles from our marina.
Currently designing our retirement home and shop/storage. There already is a small pole barn on the property we used to store a few boats. 50’ x 40’.
Here’s the deal, the wife knows how important my wood and machine shop are to me and stated the the shop needs to be huge. Ya I know, awesome right.
So I drew up a few versions in Auto Cad. I am at 100’ x 80’. That allows me a pretty generous shop and regular garage, with 10 spots to store boats similar to mine. (320 DA).
With heated storage going around here for 1500 to 2000 a season, it looks interesting.
Possibly offer to allow folks to do work thru the winter.
Am I crazy?
 
My brother in law stored peoples boats and cars in his pole barns in the winter not heated.... he made some pretty good money doing it. Most people would end up being return customers. He never let them work on them though... pure storage until a certain date in spring then they had to be out.
 
Not crazy. just be realistic in terms of your future capabilities. As we head into retirement our bodies tend to slow down and bigger buildings = bigger maintenance commitments.
 
Only do it if you're completely comfortable absorbing the additional construction/ownership expense and not banking on others storing there to cover costs. Four miles is still a decent distance to move a 30'-40' boat, especially since many don't have trailers.

But if I were in your shoes, I'd love to have my boat stored in my own garage.
 
so am I crazy to consider this?
I am three years from retiring, we recently bought 65 acres just 4 miles from our marina.
Currently designing our retirement home and shop/storage. There already is a small pole barn on the property we used to store a few boats. 50’ x 40’.
Here’s the deal, the wife knows how important my wood and machine shop are to me and stated the the shop needs to be huge. Ya I know, awesome right.
So I drew up a few versions in Auto Cad. I am at 100’ x 80’. That allows me a pretty generous shop and regular garage, with 10 spots to store boats similar to mine. (320 DA).
With heated storage going around here for 1500 to 2000 a season, it looks interesting.
Possibly offer to allow folks to do work thru the winter.
Am I crazy?

Have you run the math on what it would cost to heat an 80x100 in Wisconsin? I'm wondering if you could potentially spend 1,500-2,000 per month in the dead of winter to keep it at 50 +/-?

It would be interesting to see the layout you have for (10) 320's in that space along with your garage and shop. In my mind I'm struggling to see how you would get two 320's lengthwise along your 100' side. You still have to be able to pull the trailer out from under the second boat after it's on blocks. If you put them width-wise on the 100' wall you could stack 'em 7 wide? Then 3 more in front of those, but you're still going to have a challenge unless the three on the second row are directly in front of overhead doors? Or maybe I'm missing something??

It would be cool to have a shop that big but I'd never want to do this. Primarily because I wouldn't want to be responsible for other peoples gear. If I want to sand the bottom paint off my own boat I don't want to have to cover 10 other boats in my barn. And if storage customer # 9 sands his bottom paint without covering other peoples boats, I don't want to be responsible for him making a bad decision.....my two cents only of course.
 
Mike, what's the height of the boat on the trailer? You will need to factor in door height. You should be able to get a lot of things in there.
 
Have you run the math on what it would cost to heat an 80x100 in Wisconsin? I'm wondering if you could potentially spend 1,500-2,000 per month in the dead of winter to keep it at 50 +/-?
We are at 40x90 and did in floor heat with a propane boiler. Up front expensive but monthly isn't bad at all. Maintains 50 easily. Of course, my kids think it needs to be 70 at turn it up. Hard to convince them it will be a week before the concrete warms up to 70...I also built a sauna in the garage that takes up 12x12 in a corner.
 
Mike, what's the height of the boat on the trailer? You will need to factor in door height. You should be able to get a lot of things in there.
I will be going with a 16' clear height on the doors. I don't plan on putting any boats in there unless on a trailer.
My boat is a hair over 14' on the trailer.
 
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People in West Michigan are buying expensive storage condos for their boats. There is usually room for 2 or 3 extra boats and friends rent the space. The nicer condos have small kithens and baths with showers. The idea is you show up on Friday night and have a party on the boats. Saturday and Sunday are project days where people help each other with maintenance and other boat stuff. They sleep on their boats but have other facilities to eliminate any inconvenience from systems that are shut down for storage. Great concept. The utility cost raised earlier is a valid concern. You would need a well insulated building and a source of economical fuel to make that cost reasonable. Some marinas heat with used motor oil, but they have access to free oil. Our local condos are well built and energy efficient. A new shared Travel Hoist is part of the plan. Not a crazy plan but you would need a good clientele of responsible tenents to make it work.
 
so am I crazy to consider this?
I am three years from retiring, we recently bought 65 acres just 4 miles from our marina.
Currently designing our retirement home and shop/storage. There already is a small pole barn on the property we used to store a few boats. 50’ x 40’.
Here’s the deal, the wife knows how important my wood and machine shop are to me and stated the the shop needs to be huge. Ya I know, awesome right.
So I drew up a few versions in Auto Cad. I am at 100’ x 80’. That allows me a pretty generous shop and regular garage, with 10 spots to store boats similar to mine. (320 DA).
With heated storage going around here for 1500 to 2000 a season, it looks interesting.
Possibly offer to allow folks to do work thru the winter.
Am I crazy?
Not crazy at all. I've actually had that thought too. In my case it became more complicated because I didn't live there.

Something like a powered trailer dolly, bobcat, or little ford tractor would make easy work of tight maneuvering as the boats are parked. Nothing wrong with allowing some types of work on boats as long as you approve access. I would not hand out keys to renters. You want in, call me.

Some rules obviously on what's allowed and what isn't,...batteries disconnected during storage?

In floor hydronic heat will remove the stress from typical power outages when it's well below zero but backup power should be available.

I'm wondering how close I'd want this building to the house. I wouldn't want some DIY'er electrical work to take down both the storage bldg and my house.
 
so am I crazy to consider this?
I am three years from retiring, we recently bought 65 acres just 4 miles from our marina.
Currently designing our retirement home and shop/storage. There already is a small pole barn on the property we used to store a few boats. 50’ x 40’.
Here’s the deal, the wife knows how important my wood and machine shop are to me and stated the the shop needs to be huge. Ya I know, awesome right.
So I drew up a few versions in Auto Cad. I am at 100’ x 80’. That allows me a pretty generous shop and regular garage, with 10 spots to store boats similar to mine. (320 DA).
With heated storage going around here for 1500 to 2000 a season, it looks interesting.
Possibly offer to allow folks to do work thru the winter.
Am I crazy?
We are at 40x90 and did in floor heat with a propane boiler. Up front expensive but monthly isn't bad at all. Maintains 50 easily. Of course, my kids think it needs to be 70 at turn it up. Hard to convince them it will be a week before the concrete warms up to 70...I also built a sauna in the garage that takes up 12x12 in a corner.
80' x 100'...40' x 90' Geez, you guys are making me feel inadequate, your buildings are longer than mine, it's only 42' x 60'.:(
 
You should know by now.... Someone always has a bigger boat :)

View attachment 76876

You know...I'd be super excited to own the smaller yacht in this photo but I'd be pretty bummed if my view in the slip was primarily some guys bumper....that happens to be bigger than my tender!

That med mooring business....boggles the mind.
 
BCF99A9C-786D-4BA9-A8FC-130C70AA839A.JPG
IMG_4230.JPG
We get that feeling in Harbor Springs.
 
You should know by now.... Someone always has a bigger boat :)

View attachment 76876
woo.
Not crazy at all. I've actually had that thought too. In my case it became more complicated because I didn't live there.

Something like a powered trailer dolly, bobcat, or little ford tractor would make easy work of tight maneuvering as the boats are parked. Nothing wrong with allowing some types of work on boats as long as you approve access. I would not hand out keys to renters. You want in, call me.

Some rules obviously on what's allowed and what isn't,...batteries disconnected during storage?

In floor hydronic heat will remove the stress from typical power outages when it's well below zero but backup power should be available.

I'm wondering how close I'd want this building to the house. I wouldn't want some DIY'er electrical work to take down both the storage bldg and my house.
I would be backing in the boats myself. Pulling them as well, also thought about offering a service to deliver to the marina and pull back into storage. Allot of folks who don’t have a slip pay for yard storage on there trailer. Allot of this is still in the planning stages and considering that I already am going large for my personal use, going a bit bigger is not a huge jump in cost. Need to discuss with the insurance folks as well. I don’t intend for this to turn into a “business”. But suffer a loss and the insurance company will start looking for anyway to get out of covering a claim. Back and forth on attaching to the house, it has obvious advantages regarding the various utilities, plus I currently like going to the shop with out going outside. Thanks all for the opinions!
 

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Your last post beat me to it... insurance risk.

It can't be cheap to assume the risk for boats in the $50k-$500k range. I used to own a side detailing/repair/parts & accessory business for the marine world. My policy was very specific... I wasn't allowed to transport or have any boats in my possession. Should I have considered that type of policy where I did boat transport & took them back to my shop, the rates went up astronomically.
 
Your last post beat me to it... insurance risk.

It can't be cheap to assume the risk for boats in the $50k-$500k range. I used to own a side detailing/repair/parts & accessory business for the marine world. My policy was very specific... I wasn't allowed to transport or have any boats in my possession. Should I have considered that type of policy where I did boat transport & took them back to my shop, the rates went up astronomically.

Insurance for indoor storage for boats with fuel in them has got to be pretty expensive.
 
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I have never seen a situation where the owner of storage space assumes responsibility for the contents other than their own personal property. Boat owners normally insure their vessels for any losses. As a business owner you would insure for general liability in case something goes wrong that is your fault. Boat owners would insure their individual boats.
 
View attachment 76906 I have never seen a situation where the owner of storage space assumes responsibility for the contents other than their own personal property. Boat owners normally insure their vessels for any losses. As a business owner you would insure for general liability in case something goes wrong that is your fault. Boat owners would insure their individual boats.
That's it.... I have always had to give a copy of my insurance policy and carry a certain amount of liability to both store and slip
 
View attachment 76906 I have never seen a situation where the owner of storage space assumes responsibility for the contents other than their own personal property. Boat owners normally insure their vessels for any losses. As a business owner you would insure for general liability in case something goes wrong that is your fault. Boat owners would insure their individual boats.

I've seen it both ways at some facilities. Either way, it's a legal battle I wouldn't want to be involved in!
 

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