Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

[Willyclay]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

I passed on buying a Trophy or Sea Pro 18WA for the same reasons, garage door opening size and HOA rules. One of my neighbors built a $20K garage to store his boat and comply with the rules. Good luck!

 

[seaman campbell]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Its a boat....boats are happy outdoors.....boats get wet....boats are happy when wet.....buy a cover,call it done

^^^^^^^ What he said....

 

[Doneuald]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

The floor jacks I use are 3 ton jacks not the little ones, have loaded stuff you wouldn't believe on trailers of all kinds with floor jacks, the floor jack idea would work but it would only be for the out in spring back in in fall trip, you could take a 2x4 and put it up against the boat at the 6'11" level and find out exactly what needs to be moved then you could make a better decision on whether the door can be modified to accomodate the boat, if the ceiling is 10' you could possibly get another 18 inches out of the door.
Good luck
Don

 

[guiltypleasure]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

I'm facing a similar problem except that it's a bridge, not a garage so I have to be able to do it on the water and then put it back up when I clear the bridge - yeah, skinny water. From the investigating I've done so far it's a two part solution. First, how can I pivot the windshield, second I will put a hinge on the cc grab bar.

My other option is to permanently reduce the height of the windshield and grab bar by about 6-8 inches and forget the pivoting all together.

Mine's a KW 211.

 

[oops!]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Should be easy enough to hinge the base of the windshield (or either the "roll bar" that goes around it) so that it would fold down, but be easily raised and clamped into place. Maybe kind of like the foldable wakeboard towers. Couple of hours with a milling machine, lathe, and TIG welder should fix it right up!

other than tiny trailer tires that wont allow you to tow very fast.......this is the best.....cheapest solution that doesnt include a sawzall....

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Or, if you don't have any neighborhood restrictions, you could park it outside and put a hoop structure or carport over it plus a good cover.

 

[phwrd]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

I live in a community and there are covenant restrictions (i.e no boats outside). I guess removing the windshield will be a every trip thing.

"no boats outside", how about a canvas covered portable garage with a boat hidden in it ?

 

[Pierutrus]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

sell it....

You were a dummy before measuring it in the first place!

 

[fichrman2]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

My neighbor deals with a very simular issue at high tide when exiting our canal- low bridge- he has a hinged windshield on his 18-20ft? center console and it seems to work very well. If you like I can take a few pictures of it ?

Andy

 

[water wiggle]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Save the grief. Buy a good cover and put the boat in a 24hour storage yard.

 

[Bass Tracker TX17]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

The easiest way IMO is to do what I did to a friends boat trailer.

WE installed 2 heavy duty casters to the trailer axles ( in your case 4 for dual axles) and just took the wheels off and lowered the trailer onto the casters. the casters were low enough to keep the hubs off the ground.

lots of measuring and double checking is required but after it was all done it became a very simple job to get it in and out of his shed. It could be a solution for you.

Or get some real small tires like someone mentioned and swap them out.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

"no boats outside", how about a canvas covered portable garage with a boat hidden in it ?

That is not going to work in a HOA ruled neighborhood.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Or, if you don't have any neighborhood restrictions, you could park it outside and put a hoop structure or carport over it plus a good cover.

Read the post again. He said he lives in a HOA ruled neighborhood.

 

[littlebookworm]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

I was going to suggest raising the door header and putting in a taller door, but I have a feeling that the community has rules against doing that because your house will then look "different" from your neighbors' houses. Therefore, your best bet is to follow the advice a number of people have given you: have the windshield and grab bar changed/adapted into a flip down set-up. A couple of hinges and some locking pins should do it. Find a local fabricator who knows how to work with stainless steel tubing and you'll be all set. You don't want the PITA of removing tires and using dollies. You'll just stop using the boat - too much work. Good luck. Hy

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Now I have no experience living where others "rule," but I'm guessing the objection is that the neighbors don't want to look at your boat. I'd check into whether a structure is allowable. If not, store your boat somewhere...if that's not an option, move to a non-HOA ruled neighborhood or hinge the windshield as suggested. Gotta wonder if, sooner or later, someone in the 'hood' objects to seeing your boat coming/going from the garage even if you make it fit.

 

[INJUN]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

Rent a backhoe and lower the floor.
.
Sorry, I just had to go there since no one else did.
I'd go with the hinges.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

I live in a community and there are covenant restrictions (i.e no boats outside). I guess removing the windshield will be a every trip thing.

Speaking as someone with similar (if a bit less strict) ordinances in place, let me recommend moving to a less idiotic community.

I'm living in a whole block of people who think "Boats? Why, we don't own boats and would never want to. That's something only young folks do. Let's outlaw parking them in driveways".

What I did to get my overtall (9 feet at windshield top) boat into my short (7 feet at the cross beams) garage was to remove the windshield and carefully back it into the garage. Then to get extra space to work on the top I took it off the trailer.

This winter it's going to go into a mini storage unit nearby so it's inside. I'd rather have it at home, but I can at least work on it a bit at the mini storage.

Erik

 

[Nandy]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

In my hoa community you can have a boat as long as you have a fenced lot. In my case that will cost me around 5k, which is about 9 years of storage. Since I am not leaving here for ever I just pay for the storage for the large boat and have the other 2 boats at a friends house. If I were to think I would stay here for ever I would just get the backyard fenced and that will work great. That is something you might consider as will increase the value of your property. Of course, you have to have the clearance in the side of the house to drive the boat and enough space in the backyard to maneuver your boat.

 

[mudslinging79]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

i once had to put my boat in a small garage, what i did was make a cradle using the stern as a pattern out of some 2x12, eueballed the shape to cut under the front end, and put some heavy duty swivel castors on it. it wasnt too hard to push it off the trailer onto the cradle and again onto the trailer.
think a box with cutouts in oposite ends to hold an object.

 

[xxturbowesxx]

Re: Help!! The boat is too tall and won't fit in my garage!

This may sound stupid but let all the air out of the tires and that may give you something to work with for now..