If you don't have indoor garage/shop storage, what do you do for the winter?

[trayson]

Okay, let's hear some of your winter storage methods.

I'm a little nervous about how to make my boat weather the winter. I have a nice sunbrella cover that fits around the tower and has the cinch strap and the vent/pole. But it still seems to puddle water in 4 spots kind of around the cover's pole. Some of this is because of the railing around the rear trunk. I know that doesn't make the cover very happy as standing water on a cover is bound to seep through eventually. I did order another bottle of 303 Fabric Guard, so maybe that will help??? And obviously if I was closing it up for the winter, I'd find a way to tent up those 4 areas where the water's been puddling... But something more substantial over the boat would of course be best.

I looked at the Harbor Freight and they have a 20x10x8 portable carport tent thing. I have one of these that I've used for extra garage space and I know that the tarps on these things only last 2 seasons at best. It retails for $300 and I could easily get it for 20% off making it $240. But it's not very tall so I'd have to hope my tower fits in it folded down and know that I'll have to hassle with it in the future.

I'd LOVE to get a metal carport kit and have a full metal roof and 1/2 metal sides for $1300 to $1500. (20' x 10' wide by between 9' to 12' tall depending on what I could afford was the best "value" for the metal roof carport. The problem is that I really don't have that money to spare right now.

I have a gut feeling that if I try to just have the cover protect the boat that I'm going to regret it. I'm sure water will find its way in and then it'll be a moisture filled area. I'm sure they don't make enough Damp-Rid to combat the wet that we have all winter in the Pacific NW.

We really only get a few days of snow, so that's not a big concern. It would be nice to have something covering the boat that would allow me to actually work on it when the weather was lame. I know I have to repack my rudder's packing rope and that's not exactly something I could do if I didn't have some kind of tent or carport over the boat...

So what does everyone here do? Or are you all so spoiled that you have garage space for your boats?

[villain]

Have it shrink wrapped. We do it for 10.50 a foot. A 20' boat comes out to about $230. Well worth the money. I have wrapped boats that sit with a 4' snow load on them all winter and pull it off In the spring and they are dry as a bone. Even if I had to pay to wrap my boat every winter I would.

[92SupraComp]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You come over here. You see tons of boats sitting in huge lots shrink wrapped... Me though, I keep 5 boats, 64 t-bird, Case 580D, and a bunch of junk in a barn :P

[villain]

And when you do put your boat away for the winter, make sure you hang a couple of these in it. They will absorb any moisture that is still in your boat. There is always more than you think.

http://www.damprid.com/product/hanging-moisture-absorber-fragrance-free-fg80ff

[Salty87]

my cover does the same pooling and i've got the cover tented by the tower (cover doesn't go over the tower) with a pole near the stern. you're right about the rails causing issues. almost never have snow to worry about here though.

maybe put the tower up and wrap over it? i've seen pics of people putting doors in shrink wrap. you could access just about everything except the rear locker.

[villain]

There is shrink wrap in doors, but they are spendy. I want to say $50ish.

[beat taco]

Before I had a shop here is what I did. My boat would be put away detailed and look that way when I uncovered it in the spring.
Cover your boat with your regular cover and then buy a blue tarp big enough to go over your tower and trailer. Tie the tarp to your trailer. Done.

A few things I learned over the years:
1. tarp is only good for one year. I tried to get an extra year a couple if times and would get leaks.
2. I bought too big a tarp one year and doubled it over and it sweat bad, do not double it over! One blue tarp over the tower tied to the trailer seems to breathe just fine. I've had no sweating issues other then that year.
3. When we do get a few inches of snow pull it off with a broom. Not a big worry around here and I had up to six or more inches on it without issues, but its a good idea to pull the extra weight off.

Maybe not you end all solution but worked for me for years and believe me I tried a few different ways. Had one of those tarp garage things pick up in a wind storm and do some real damage one year, and that was with 100#'s of concrete on each support leg!

[DAFF]

Paid $350 for heated storage for the whole winter last season.... Look around on CL or Kijiji you will be surprised. My next thought would be shrink wrap.

[villain]

Damn daff, that's a smoking deal!! It is around 5-600 for the winter here. We charge 30 a month for storage at our lot and require you to shrink wrap first.

[blackout_58]

Living here in Memphis I use the bow/cockpit cover and a heavy duty tarp from harbor freight. I leave it covers behind the house in the driveway, so relatively inexpensive

13108

[trayson]

Living here in Memphis I use the bow/cockpit cover and a heavy duty tarp from harbor freight. I leave it covers behind the house in the driveway, so relatively inexpensive

13108

Do you have a tower?

[blackout_58]

Yes, last year I left it up, but this year I may try letting it down to start the winter.

[trayson]

Yes, last year I left it up, but this year I may try letting it down to start the winter.

Just wondering if you tarp it under the tower... I would assume you tarp on top of the boat cover, then kinda wrap it around the tower legs??

[wotan2525]

Do it right or do it twice. You may not have enough money for the metal carport right now but it's only going to cost you more in the long run to do something different. You're still going to want that carport in 5 years except you'll have already spent $1000 on shrink-wrap or wrecking covers.

I would never shrink wrap one of these old boats with original wooden stringers. There is just too much bad to happen as there will be moisture trapped inside and the shrink-wrap does not breathe at all.

I put an ad on CraigsList looking for a pole-barn for storage. I found one within 10 miles of me for $250/year. It's dry, on a slab and has power available (I still pull my batteries.)

I now fill the entire space with friends boats/RVs/jet-skis, etc. The guy has offered to give me free storage for "managing" it for him but I just tell him that $250 is a fair price and as long as he'll keep it that low for everyone, we'll all be happy. Probably have 20 spots in there rented out for him.

[trayson]

Do it right or do it twice. You may not have enough money for the metal carport right now but it's only going to cost you more in the long run to do something different. You're still going to want that carport in 5 years except you'll have already spent $1000 on shrink-wrap or wrecking covers.

I would never shrink wrap one of these old boats with original wooden stringers. There is just too much bad to happen as there will be moisture trapped inside and the shrink-wrap does not breathe at all.

I put an ad on CraigsList looking for a pole-barn for storage. I found one within 10 miles of me for $250/year. It's dry, on a slab and has power available (I still pull my batteries.)

I now fill the entire space with friends boats/RVs/jet-skis, etc. The guy has offered to give me free storage for "managing" it for him but I just tell him that $250 is a fair price and as long as he'll keep it that low for everyone, we'll all be happy. Probably have 20 spots in there rented out for him.

The wife of course likes the idea of the metal carport. She might be willing to help a little with it. We'll just have to see. I did a lot of measuring. Looks like the optimal size would be:

21 feet long (because if I go any longer, the price jumps up dramatically)
11 to 12 feet wide (same price either way, 12 feet is as wide as I could really go on the RV parking on that side of my house).
9 to 12 feet tall sides. (9' would mean I'd have to fold the tower. I measured and my boat on the trailer is 10' tall with the tower up. 11' sides seems like a comfortable amount as the roof has extra height built in above the level of the side posts. I don't want to go TOO high and piss off the neighbors even more and have height I don't need, but I also don't want to go too low and mess myself up if I got a different boat in the future that for whatever reason sat higher...

http://www.carport.com/images/faq-clearance-height.png

[mabbore]

I was in a similar situation last Winter. I wanted to pay the cost to store it indoors, but its like 300 at least around me. I had looked into shrink wrapping but the cheapest I could find was like 12$ a foot by me. 21 ft. ~250 a year, hell no. So...I looked into shrink wrapping myself. I was originally daunted as I have never done it, but watching some videos I got the guts to try it. I bought a 180ft role and all the banding etc that I needed all for about ~$200. Thats enough to do my boat at least 5 times. One thing I did not splurge on was the heat gun. The Dr. Shrink gun was like $500 and I pondered it but just bought the $12 harbor freight version instead. The harbor freight one is harder to work with and definitely slower.......but i mean come on. Its not as pretty as some of the ones you see at the Marina, but pretty damm good for my first try and only ~$50 in materials. I even had a few offers to do a couple of my friends but got too busy at work. I will agree, the shrink does not breath as well as my sumbrella cover in a barn, but i fyou dry it out and place qty 4 vents on the wrap, its pretty good.

Google Dr. Shrink. There are a couple others, but Dr. Shrink seemed the most legit one.


13118

[trayson]

The wife of course likes the idea of the metal carport. She might be willing to help a little with it. We'll just have to see. I did a lot of measuring. Looks like the optimal size would be:

21 feet long (because if I go any longer, the price jumps up dramatically)
11 to 12 feet wide (same price either way, 12 feet is as wide as I could really go on the RV parking on that side of my house).
9 to 12 feet tall sides. (9' would mean I'd have to fold the tower. I measured and my boat on the trailer is 10' tall with the tower up. 11' sides seems like a comfortable amount as the roof has extra height built in above the level of the side posts. I don't want to go TOO high and piss off the neighbors even more and have height I don't need, but I also don't want to go too low and mess myself up if I got a different boat in the future that for whatever reason sat higher...


https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a1IELHtoDD0/Ui4VtfgYYBI/AAAAAAAAO7o/JX23hF59w0g/s800/Carport.jpg

This is a mockup of the 21L x 12W x 11H with half walls at the top and the standard roof. Thoughts? I would think that with one of these it would dramatically decrease the dew/moisture that the boat would see...

The half sides seem like a legit upgrade, and that's in the above mockup. kicking out for full sides would be a lot more ($350 for a structure that had 11' walls, and $205 if I had gone with as low of roof height (10 foot) as I could justify. Would I be kicking myself for going with 1/2 sides vs. full sides? Will it make that much of a difference?

[inair]

I researched doing the metal carport route last year. Here I could have had one installed large enough to cover my boat for just under $900. The ones I have seen here dont have sides and are just tall enough to part the boat under and by all reports that keeps you dry if you also have your canvas cover on. Only problem was I am not allowed to have one of those in my sub-division and the yard I store my boat in won't let me put one up there either. I'm still looking for a barn.

[trayson]

Luckily I don't have to worry about it this week! SUMMER IS NOT OVER in the Pacific NW!

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1_92xfuEhWk/Ui-eiKeEZ5I/AAAAAAAAO8E/pctzhDroS5k/s800/Weather.jpg

[Blackntan90]

I keep the sharkskin cover over the tower, I have closed cell foam tied to all sharp points. I then place a VERY heavy duty PVC tarp over that. The PVC tarp came from a 'soft-top' carport that had a metal frame. It works quite well as it allows the snow and ice to slide off pretty well. I got the sharkskin online, and have to buy a new one every few years(5-6). I do really wish I was allowed to put up the metal type you are looking at, damn HOA! I would think that the 1/2 sides would allow mush more airflow, this could help keep things dry- then again you could possibly add more wall later on.

[92SupraComp]

holy crap! lucky for you and the warm weather! Here in NY, it has been 60's for a week. Low 80'd yesterday, high 80's today (hot!), still hot now, fan on high.... and tomorrow 80's again, only to have thrusday and on go right back down to mid and low 60's for the fly in weekend at the lake -.-

[Cusefan78]

How bad of a job is it to shrink wrap your boat. I'm thinking about buying the Gun and material and tryinging. Watched a few videos doesn't look too bad.

[92SupraComp]

buy the shrink wrap and a HF special weed burner. My dad bought our weed burner years ago. Its a great fire starter and we used to shrink wrap our Supra when moving from Texas back to NY.

[Cusefan78]

Does the weed burner do a good job? I found a good gun for around 300 with a self igniter

[Sirgonz]

Okay, let's hear some of your winter storage methods.

I'm a little nervous about how to make my boat weather the winter. I have a nice sunbrella cover that fits around the tower and has the cinch strap and the vent/pole. But it still seems to puddle water in 4 spots kind of around the cover's pole. Some of this is because of the railing around the rear trunk. I know that doesn't make the cover very happy as standing water on a cover is bound to seep through eventually. I did order another bottle of 303 Fabric Guard, so maybe that will help??? And obviously if I was closing it up for the winter, I'd find a way to tent up those 4 areas where the water's been puddling... But something more substantial over the boat would of course be best.

I looked at the Harbor Freight and they have a 20x10x8 portable carport tent thing. I have one of these that I've used for extra garage space and I know that the tarps on these things only last 2 seasons at best. It retails for $300 and I could easily get it for 20% off making it $240. But it's not very tall so I'd have to hope my tower fits in it folded down and know that I'll have to hassle with it in the future.

I'd LOVE to get a metal carport kit and have a full metal roof and 1/2 metal sides for $1300 to $1500. (20' x 10' wide by between 9' to 12' tall depending on what I could afford was the best "value" for the metal roof carport. The problem is that I really don't have that money to spare right now.

I have a gut feeling that if I try to just have the cover protect the boat that I'm going to regret it. I'm sure water will find its way in and then it'll be a moisture filled area. I'm sure they don't make enough Damp-Rid to combat the wet that we have all winter in the Pacific NW.

We really only get a few days of snow, so that's not a big concern. It would be nice to have something covering the boat that would allow me to actually work on it when the weather was lame. I know I have to repack my rudder's packing rope and that's not exactly something I could do if I didn't have some kind of tent or carport over the boat...

So what does everyone here do? Or are you all so spoiled that you have garage space for your boats?

Buy the cheaper car port and then as you can buy metal roofing panels from home depot... screw them to the poles of the cheaper cover thus making it sturdier and longer lasting? just an idea....Storage unit might also work though they want a lot around here... I kept mine at Oregon city marina last year un heated indoor space was $70 per month

[Sirgonz]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a1IELHtoDD0/Ui4VtfgYYBI/AAAAAAAAO7o/JX23hF59w0g/s800/Carport.jpg

This is a mockup of the 21L x 12W x 11H with half walls at the top and the standard roof. Thoughts? I would think that with one of these it would dramatically decrease the dew/moisture that the boat would see...

The half sides seem like a legit upgrade, and that's in the above mockup. kicking out for full sides would be a lot more ($350 for a structure that had 11' walls, and $205 if I had gone with as low of roof height (10 foot) as I could justify. Would I be kicking myself for going with 1/2 sides vs. full sides? Will it make that much of a difference?

start where you can afford and add to it as you go...t he roof panels can be bought even at home depot so then as you get $ you can add to the walls.