Does anyone store a boat in a garage? How do you make it fit?

[KC8QVO]

I have been thinking about getting a nicer boat for a while now. I had my mind set on a Princecraft Nanook but I happened to be at the dealer recently and they had both that and a Hudson in stock. Same boat, the Hudson is 19ft instead of 16.5. For what I am looking for in a boat I think the Hudson is a better fit. It will be more seaworthy on bigger water, the boat will handle 4 people fishing, the enclosure has plenty of room for all occupants to be comfortable and not crammed should the weather go to pot...

The catch is it is a foot and a half too long based on the rough measurement I took when I was there, for the 2 dimensional linear length of the garage space I have. I figured if I lift the tongue up between 6 and 7 ft that may give me the space I need. I am working on getting more measurements to model the geometry. The hard part is the lake, boats, and dealer are 6-700 miles away from home so I can't run over there myself to do it, not until I get back up (a couple months, if they still have the boats).

So my question here is if anyone has tried this before.

From modeling some things with the pictures I took the limiting factors are going to be the height of the bow above the trailer (tongue is a swing away tongue, sticks out about 2-4" from the length of the bow), and the dimensions of the motor. The height of the bow will run in to the ceiling before the tongue can get very far in to the top corner. I have almost 9ft of garage height so that helps - I may have more room there than I think. I have no real good way to model the motor. What is on the boat at the dealer, first off, is a Merc 4 stroke and I am looking pretty hard at the eTec's (though, I just saw for 2016 Evinrude has a G2 down to 150hp now), and second - there is so much movement in the motor - trim/tilt and turning. The bottom of the lower unit will limit how far the motor can be down. With the tongue high that may not be much, if any, unless the rear trailer frame is propped up on blocks, in which case that would take away vertical height to work with. I would probably gain more room quicker by getting the motor positioned for the best dimensions than I will with angling the boat/trailer...

 

[roffey]

I store my boat my garage over the winter. When I put the boat in I have to put the out drive all the way down and then, by hand very carefully push the boat up to the back wall so that it touches. I fold the tongue back on my trailer and that gives me one inch before the trailer hits the garage door. I have a F150 to pull the boat and have moved the boat as far forward on the trailer as I can. The only reason I mention the truck is I can take the extra tongue weight wit the boat moved forward. BTW. my boat measures 21 feet from bow to swim platform.

So... if you are going to store your boat in your garage you have to measure the boat on the trailer before you buy. Not sure if that's a good idea to base your very expensive purchase on how well it fits your garage.

Not sure if I answered your question or not...

 

[southkogs]

My boat is 19.5 + trailer. With the layout of my garage I have to angle the boat in there, so it soaks up the whole thing. My HOA doesn't allow boats in the driveway, so the cars are there instead

 

[JASinIL2006]

I keep my boat in the garage, and it has to be angled diagonally from corner to corner to fit. If you can spare your garage to nothing much beyond the boat, your plan might work. I think the best chance of this being a workable plan is if you're only having to go through this process when you put the boat up for winter. if you have to do all this finagling (jacking up the boat to get clearance for the drive, tilting the trailer at an extreme angle to clear the door, etc.) every time you use your boat, you will quickly get tired of it. Even climbing into the boat to check on batteries, make sure you have enough life jackets, etc., will be difficult given the storage picture you are painting. The more you have to screw around to use your boat, the longer it takes to get it ready for each trip and the less you will want to use your boat.

As I mentioned earlier, if this is a once-a-year thing, it wouldn't be that bad.

If it were me, and this was the regular storage challenge I were facing, I'd consider building a bump-out on the back of the garage (if possible) to give the boat a couple of extra feet of clearance.

 

[fhhuber]

You buy a boat that fits the garage....

Or build a garage to fit the boat.

If the boat is too big, its not going in.


Its like the guy who lifts his SUV and suddenly its 6 inches too tall to fit in under the garage door. Should have measured and checked if it would fit with the lift before doing it.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/atta...56144794-garage-door-question-katesqueeze.jpg
Redneck had to let the air out of the tires to put it in the garage....

 

[poconojoe]

Or build a bump-out in the rear of the garage just large enough to accommodate the motor or outdrive. Just a pocket that the motor can sit in to give you that extra couple of feet.

 

[tpenfield]

Fits perfectly . . . see . . .

 

[oldjeep]

Yup, sometimes even 2 The one on the left is my old 19ft bayliner, the one on the right is my 20ft Malibu vtx. Garage is about 25 feet deep so they fit without even folding tongues, just have to fold the towers down. The Malibu lives there year round

 

[jkust]

Well, as it turns out, my recently purchased boat will not fit in my dedicated storage garage at my lake place. I am in MN and do not store anything outside so am in a bit of a bind. Either I have a swing tongue put on my trailer and have the garage reframed and rebuilt a foot taller or pay for indoor storage which is crazy to me.
I can force the issue with the garage length but I need more additional height than lowering the tongue can provide unfortunately.

 

[Captain Caveman]

My 16.5' Alumacraft goes in on an angle with the motor down and the tongue swung to the side. My wife's car sits outside until boating season is over and then she gets the garage - so my two ladies share...

My buddy built a new house so that he could build a garage big enough for the boat he wanted. I got a 165 instead of a 175 because that's all that would fit in my garage, and I like my house as is...

 

[Grub54891]

Is the tongue removable?

 

[roffey]

Well, as it turns out, my recently purchased boat will not fit in my dedicated storage garage at my lake place. I am in MN and do not store anything outside so am in a bit of a bind. Either I have a swing tongue put on my trailer and have the garage reframed and rebuilt a foot taller or pay for indoor storage which is crazy to me.
I can force the issue with the garage length but I need more additional height than lowering the tongue can provide unfortunately.

try this ....
https://www.amazon.com/Fulton-HDPB230101-Fold-Away-Bolt-Trailer/dp/B002IVALW6

 

[Captain Caveman]

I am in MN and do not store anything outside so am in a bit of a bind.

I'm in Minnesota as well and have stored many boats outside. Keep it covered and breathing and you'll be fine in the summer. Put a good tarp on it in the winter with a sawhorse/pole in the middle to let the snow slide off. To me the biggest issue with storing outside is the sun, but that's where a good cover and tarp will pay for themselves.

 

[KC8QVO]

Thanks for the replies. I am wise to the dimensional challenge here. I have a crew cab long bed F350 with a cap over the bed. I have been playing the "tetrus" game since I moved here. Truck and cap fit, no problem, just not the truck with the cap on. So the only space I have for the boat is the shorter stall.

The trailer tongue swings off to the side, doesnt remove unless the bolts are pulled.

Jacking up the tongue and blocking wont be bad. I do that with other things already and can make that a pretty efficient process, really. That is a small sacrifice for a more useable boat.

As to framing a pocket for the front or motor to protrude in to the wall - there is a slim chance of being able to do that, but may look in to it.

 

[jkust]

try this ....
https://www.amazon.com/Fulton-HDPB23.../dp/B002IVALW6

Looks good....I would have to deal with the brakes as well. My local marina can cut and weld and deal with the brakes too. Betting $300 at least but they want to see the trailer before really even estimating.
Raising the door height of a garage that was not built to accommodate an 8 foot door I can imagine is going to be cost prohibitive but at the same time the $600 for winter indoor storage is just a sunk cost. As it is, I have to tear out a bunch of awesome custom cabinetry and a work shop to make the length fit even with the swing tongue. As you may have surmised, I hadn't intended on buying a new boat to replace the one that actually fit in the garage but that boat was totaled and so since I was forced into the market and my lake is big, might as well go bigger. Garage is 25 feet, boat is 24 feet plus the entire tongue of the trailer. Garage height with trim is 6'10 inches but boat is about 7'5 inches tall on the trailer.




Capt Caveman....good thought. The boat sits on my boat lift all summer and the trailer by itself fit in the garage but I won't store outside in the winter. if I had a gun to my head, I the worst I would do is shrink wrap it which is $19 per foot and leave it on my storage lot. Indoor storage is like $80 more only. Problem is It would be vulnerable to falling trees, vandalism or theft or whatever for 9 months out of the years while it sits up north on my property while the garage would sit half full.

 

[oldjeep]

Looks good....I would have to deal with the brakes as well. My local marina can cut and weld and deal with the brakes too. Betting $300 at least but they want to see the trailer before really even estimating.
Raising the door height of a garage that was not built to accommodate an 8 foot door I can imagine is going to be cost prohibitive but at the same time the $600 for winter indoor storage is just a sunk cost. As it is, I have to tear out a bunch of awesome custom cabinetry and a work shop to make the length fit even with the swing tongue. As you may have surmised, I hadn't intended on buying a new boat to replace the one that actually fit in the garage but that boat was totaled and so since I was forced into the market and my lake is big, might as well go bigger. Garage is 25 feet, boat is 24 feet plus the entire tongue of the trailer. Garage height with trim is 6'10 inches but boat is about 7'5 inches tall on the trailer.




Capt Caveman....good thought. The boat sits on my boat lift all summer and the trailer by itself fit in the garage but I won't store outside in the winter. if I had a gun to my head, I the worst I would do is shrink wrap it which is $19 per foot and leave it on my storage lot. Indoor storage is like $80 more only. Problem is It would be vulnerable to falling trees, vandalism or theft or whatever for 9 months out of the years while it sits up north on my property while the garage would sit half full.

Looks like you need to do some creative re-framing. And I think before I tried to raise the roof on an existing garage I would lower the floor.

 

[jkust]

Thanks for the replies. I am wise to the dimensional challenge here. I have a crew cab long bed F350 with a cap over the bed. I have been playing the "tetrus" game since I moved here. Truck and cap fit, no problem, just not the truck with the cap on. So the only space I have for the boat is the shorter stall.

The trailer tongue swings off to the side, doesnt remove unless the bolts are pulled.

Jacking up the tongue and blocking wont be bad. I do that with other things already and can make that a pretty efficient process, really. That is a small sacrifice for a more useable boat.

As to framing a pocket for the front or motor to protrude in to the wall - there is a slim chance of being able to do that, but may look in to it.

I am very familiar with the tetrus....for years I my statndard depth 3 stall garage at home, I stored two cars, two snowmobiles my 18 foot boat with 21 foot storage length, snowblower, built in work bench, and other miscellaneous. I had it down to a science to fit it all. I would angle the boat across the stall and barely be able to open my suv door all winter long. Angling the boat was the trick.

 

[airshot]

If your building code allows...build a pole barn, for the cost of a couple years storage you can pay for the pole barn. When I wanted a bigger boat I built a 24 x 40' pole barn...no problem now!

 

[JimS123]

I built a garage to fit the boat.....with the car still attached. You can't imagine how nice it is when you boat 2 or 3 days in a row and don't have to disconnect. The other toys are in a separate garage off a second driveway.







My son built a pole barn a good 20 feet longer than his boat to acommodate a future larger purchase.



If remodeling or moving isn't in the cards, build a slide out in the back to fit the rear end, and/or put on a swing-away tongue.

In any event, don't leave it outside if you want it to stay shiny and not lose value.

 

[roffey]

If it were me... I would store out side and build a cover for the boat. Not sure if you can store a boat out side or in your driveway. I bought a brand new boat and can tell you the fact that it fit or did not fit my garage was not a factor. I wanted a boat I could ski, tube and just do day boating was what I was looking for. If fit in my "boat house" is or was a bonus. This is most likely the only new boat I will ever buy so I got the one I wanted and spent extra to make sure it has all the bells and whistles I wanted.