Boat Storage

WickedWake · Newbie Joined: 22 Apr 2011 Posts: 2 City: Scottsdale

Hey guys,

About a year ago my grandparents gifted me their boat they never use for graduation. I had to put a little money into but now it runs great. My problem is up until about two months ago I was towing it with an 05' F150. Well the 150 has bit the dust and I was forced to sell it for something more gas friendly because I work an hour away from home. So now I do not have a vehicle capable of towing the boat. Im looking for a good way to store it close to the lake that gives me a way to get it in and out of the water until the end of the season. I thought about having it dry docked at the marina as they will put it in and take it out of the water for me, but their website does not have the prices listed and they have been pretty relaxed about returning my phone calls. Anyone know how much it would cost me a month for a 23' boat a month till say October? Anyone have any other suggestions on ways to do this that are not too expensive? My only alternative is to sell the boat ive only had for eight months which i would really not like to do. Any help would be most appreciated, thanks!

shonuff · Criminal Joined: 23 Aug 2010 Posts: 58 City: Atlanta

I dry stack my boat. My SANTE 210 is 22' 8" tip to tip with the swim platform. Its $220 per month for me. If you only want to keep it there for the season, marinas will usually charge more per month. I looked at buying a cheap dedicated tow vehicle and keeping the boat at a storage lot close to the lake but dry stacking was cheaper.

So far I love it. I just call them an hour ahead of time and they have my boat waiting for me. They can also put the boat on a wash rack for me where I can work on my boat out of the water, clean it, etc.

cadunkle · Criminal Joined: 16 Jul 2009 Posts: 60 City: NJ

If price is a concern, as I assume it is since you're downsizing to save on gas, I would get an old F-150/250/350 to tow with. You can find a decent truck for under $1000 and it shouldn't be too bad to insure it as a second vehicle liability only.

I'm actually looking at econoboxes now since driving the lifted big block F-350 every day is getting expensive. If I do get an econobox I'll only use the truck to pull the boat and for 2-3 months over winter when we have snow. I figure I can save well over $2000 a year in gas, so I'd expect you'd save even more than that since you have such a long commute. If I were to keep my boat at a marina I wouldn't be saving any money, as all my gas savings would be going into boat storage.