Who stores their boat outside during the summer (and winter if applicable)?

[BurnMac42]

So just curious who stores their boats outside during the summer months (or year round if you do). I'm admitably having anxiety attacks about storing a $70k+ boat outside in the elements. I eventually want to build another detached garage or carport but just not sure if it's in the cards this summer. I'm worried about fading, depreciation in value, etc....

Who has tips, etc on keeping the boat looking new while storing outside. Sadly, our zoning does not allow temporary shelters so a cheap portable garage isn't really an option.....

[UNSTUCK]

This is where mine lives during the winter. It is cleaned and everything is removed. There are several dryer sheets throughout the boat. Seems to do a great job of keeping critters out. Never have had spider issues or anything else. It's a pain to get it under the covered patio, so during the summer months it lives on the slab to the right of this picture. It's behind a gate and relatively out of sight, but it gets all the weather mother nature wants to give it. I keep it covered and it does a great job of keeping everything out of the boat. I think the prep work that goes into storing a boat is key to keeping it nice. We usually boat on Saturdays. So Saturday night and most of Sunday it dries out. Every hatch is opened to air, everything is removed to hang dry. Once it's dry it gets vacuumed, and wiped down. Every few trips a new coat of 303 goes on the vinyl. New wax at the start of the season and then your favorite cleaner/water spot remover when you pull the boat out of the water keeps the hull looking nice throughout the season.

While these boats are beautiful, they are not paintings to put on a wall. Get out and use it. It's a boat, it can get wet. It will always be worth less today than it was yesterday. On the other hand, the memories you make with your friends and family will be worth more today than they were yesterday. If you have a loan on it, make more than the minimum payments to stay ahead of the depreciation. Have some fun.

020.jpg

[Zackdogg]

I’m with Unstuck. There are so many people that have “toys”, which boats are way up that list, that don’t, or barely, use them that I’ve never understood the point of ownership. Maybe just as a status symbol. They put 15 hours a season on, and sure it looks brand new still, but at that point you may as well rent a boat for the 6 days a year that you actually use it.

We store ours at an indoor facility during the harshest of the winter months, but it’s outside, in our backyard during the summer. We’ll use it on the weekend, spray it down with Boat Bling products while still damp and give it a good wipe down on the ramp, usually throw it in my shop when we get back to town at like 10pm Sunday night, Monday it sits with everything open to dry, and gets a better cleaning, before going back in the backyard on Monday night.

It’s also parked in a slab, and it’s shaded about half the day where it sits. I’m sure the cover won’t last forever, but nothing else seems to be overly affected. Keeping quality products on all the surfaces, and letting everything air out seems to be the key, for us, to keeping everything in good shape.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[BCRider]

My boat lives in the driveway during the summer as well. This will be the last year however as my garage renovation starts this spring so the boat can live inside year round.

The only time it's an issue is in the spring and fall up here when we get more rain. I pull a 20'x30' tarp over the whole thing. That way it keeps the boat hidden from prying eyes. It also allows me to keep the actual boat cover on loose or open in areas so the boat can vent better. If I wasn't doing the renovation I'd probably look in to one of these as it provides better protection overall https://www.sewlong.com/

[BrentP]

So mine sits in a covered slip on a hydrohoist, and has for the last 10 years. I went out and spent 3 hours a few weeks ago washing it and cleaning the vynl up, and (while I'm biased), I think she looked amazing. Yah, some spider webs in the wake tower, needed to clean up some dirt dobbers (the guy before me didnt use it much the years before), and it was in good shape.

I will point out, there is some fading on the side of the boat that gets blasted by the sun every afternoon. My hope is a solid compound and polish will bring that right back.. But, at 12 years old, I think things like that are to be expected, and I would argue that noone but me probably sees it.

As a poster above pointed out - maybe find a storage place in the winter when you know you won't use it. But I'll tell you from experience: Make your boat as easy and convenient to use as possible! The harder it is to use, the less you use it. And frankly, why buy it if you won't use it?

[freeheel4life]

We store lots of boats outside but we shrinkwrap. Only way to go if you are in a wet/snowy/cold environment.

[h2o-ski]

I store mine outside in the Texas sun, with no near term plans to put in a shelter. With that said it always has a cover on, though the covers don't last as long as they do in less harsh sun environments. My father has always stored his boats outside with only a boat cover and so far has never had to replace any upholstery or had any major fading in the 30 years I have known him to have a boat.

I have seen some less than 3 year old boats with upholstery that is basically non-existent because it never saw a cover.

[BurnMac42]

well dudes this does make me feel better. I'm looking at ordering a custom cover that will go over the boat/tower and have skirts that go all the way down to cover the trailer/tires too. Mine will also be stored indoors during the winter so it will only be exposed to the Ohio weather May-October and I figure with a decent cover it should be fine....makes me feel a little better about not being the only one storing these expensive toys outside...

With that being said, I saw the link for sewlong above, anybody else have any custom (or mass produced) cover companies they recommend that would make a cover w/ trailer skirts? I had an Evolution Cover for my previous Tige and I know he makes a killer cover but they are a tad pricey....

[sandm]

I think you know my situation. evolution wouldn't touch what I wanted made nor would any of the other online companies. I tried 5 different. best to go local. yes, it's expensive but imo worth the investment. I know the factory covers with tower up protect but for me covering the whole thing while being stored outside gives me peace of mind that nothing is getting inside the boat.

good luck.

[skiguy]

Covers will lose their waterproofing after a while - about year 3 from my experience. It’s easy enough to wash the cover and reapply water proofing every spring. You would need to tent the cover in strategic places to keep water from pooling.

I like the idea of tire covers. The sun ages the tires quickly and blown trailer tires that are only a couple years old and low mileage are no fun at all, not to mention expensive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Bamer]

Covers will lose their waterproofing after a while - about year 3 from my experience. It’s easy enough to wash the cover and reapply water proofing every spring. You would need to tent the cover in strategic places to keep water from pooling.

I like the idea of tire covers. The sun ages the tires quickly and blown trailer tires that are only a couple years old and low mileage are no fun at all, not to mention expensive.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Do 2yr old tires blow from sun exposure or from getting flat spots when sitting for 5 months at a time? Does anyone put their trailer on blocks during storage months to prevent flat spots? My truck sits outside 24/7 and the sun doesn’t appear to shorten their usable life span.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[sandm]

we have a f250 that has never seen a garage. bought tires for it when we left montana back in '13. I bet they have maybe 7 or 8k on them and still look new. no cracking at all. and that's after last summer in the brutal las vegas sun.
your experiences may vary

[UNSTUCK]

Tires tend to rot from the inside out. So a great looking tire on the outside could be ready to retire on the inside. Every tire has a date code on it and really should be retired after 5-6 years. Your truck, while not yet retirement age, should be retired for safety. (see what I did there? )

[Bamer]

Does anyone put their trailer on blocks during storage months to prevent flat spots on trailer tires? Or is this not a concern?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[UNSTUCK]

Flat spots were more of an issue with bias ply tires. Not so much with radials. Make sure to keep your tires at max pressure through the winter or even just over max pressure. You shouldn't have an issue. Any flat spotting that may occur will disappear in a few miles anyways.