How to Store a Boat in Your Garage

Many people around the world like boating as a hobby. With the glistening water and the crisp breeze, it feels wonderful and soothing. Finding a place to store your boat once the season ends may be difficult.

Nevertheless, there are numerous locations where you can keep the boat during the off-season. For example, you can keep your boat outside your home for easy access, store it in a warehouse with adequate temperature or ventilation, or at a nearby pier.

A boat will only endure climate extremes and most land-based transportation equipment if kept in a marina.

One of the most important responsibilities of boat ownership is maintaining your vessel. If you leave it outside in the weather, your boat will quickly exhibit signs of wear. Therefore, where feasible, protect your boat from decreasing its lifespan and lessening the amount of routine maintenance.

Here, we’d like to demonstrate boat classification and tips on storing boats in your garage.

Which Boats Can You Store in Your Garage?

Over the winter, you will use your sailboat sparingly. The lake will likely freeze in any case. So how are you storing your boat? Can you store your boat in your garage? Let’s see how.

It may be challenging to find the ideal combination because a boat and garage range widely in size. Class A and Class I boats may fit in a single or two-car garage. All Class A and Class I boats, as well as some Class II boats, can fit in a three-car garage.

Knowing what class your boat falls into is crucial when determining what size garage it can fit into. There are two groupings based on the boat’s type and category.

You can choose your boat type in one of two methods. The first is the boat’s propulsion system. They might be:

• Manual boats (ex., rafts, gondolas, kayaks, etc.)
• Sail-operated boats.
• Boats powered by the engine.

The second is the wide variety of styles that fall within this group, which may or may not include:

• Bass boats,
• Dinghy boats,
• Deck boats,
• Cabin cruisers.
• Bowrider Yacht,
• Sport fishing boats.
• Pontoon boats.

It might be simple to assess whether or not your boat will accommodate the garage by knowing what kind it is. These boats come in various sizes, but some are bigger or lesser than others. Knowing what class it belongs to is, of course, the simplest way to ascertain its size.

The boat’s class determines the length of the boat. For example, class A boats are almost 16 inches long, Class I measures 16’-26’, Class II measures 26’-40’, and Class III measures 40-65’.

A family of four typically uses personal boats belonging to Class A or Class I. Fishing, cruising, and water sports can all be done in boats Class A or Class I.

Storing a Boat in Your Garage

Setting up Your Garage

The easiest way to ensure that your garage has the most space available before keeping your boat inside is to set it up earlier. You can’t shift a few things to give your garage more space and a cleaner look. Instead, you should re-arrange things or rack some in containers properly.

Sliding Your Boat in the Garage

The boat plus the trailer travels on measure 23′ in total length. If the boat is parked in a straight direction, it will still have one foot outside the door. To learn how to park your boat, pay attention to the tips.

Bring the boat into the garage so that the centerlines of the boat trailer align with the garage, and the beam, or the widest part, extends the length of the garage entrance.

Take note of the hitch’s location and move the boat trailer’s hitch in a straight path from its initial location towards one of the borders of the door while backing your boat trailer towards the opposing garage corner. This will offer the ideal incline at which the greatest maneuverability may be accomplished.

When successfully squeezing the boat trailer within, make more adjustments to get the greatest alignment while still meeting your other garage requirements.

Using Breakaway Tongue

Consider engaging a breakaway tongue with a boat trailer if, despite numerous adjusting attempts, the trailer pulling the boat appears to be excessively long. You can employ either a swing tongue that can be bent back or a detachable tongue that can be removed fully to shorten the length of the trailer.

Though some trailers have built-in breakaway tongues, you can add these tongues to a trailer already built. The tongue must be precisely sawed and drilled and acquire a joint that snugly fits within the tongue’s breadth.

Take special care when calculating, charting, and drilling the locations of the hinge bolts on the primary and detached tongues because you will only get one chance to get the holes just right.

Boat Storage Regulations for Garages

Boat Length with Trailer

Many first-boat owners and prospective buyers place a lot of emphasis on the boat’s physical length. However, its measurement is significantly less critical than the length and width of the boat with the trailer, which is more crucial for fishing and boating.

You will only be able to park the boat in the garage with a trailer if you can somehow manage to hoist the boat up on blocks, which is a feat that is far more challenging than most people are willing to try.

Even with binding or fold-away trailers, the trailer frequently adds 2 to 4 feet to the boat’s length.

Boat Height with Trailer

This dimension is another important when determining the boat size that will fit in your garage since most boats are very low-profile (unlike saltwater boats).

Because personal boats ought to be able to pass most garage doors easily, this indicates that the elevation of a boat on a trailer won’t be a major problem. That being said, an outboard motor and raised fishing seats are frequently the features of a boat that cause the most trouble with garage doors.

You’re in luck if the seats and motor are lower than the clearance of your garage door. If not, disconnecting the seats and lowering the motors will likely allow easy passage.

Trailer Width

Frequently, the trailer will be 1-2 feet wider overall than the boat. It is crucial to pay attention to trailer width rather than boat width. You would rather not back up your new boat into the garage only to find that the door needs to be more spacious for the boat to pass through securely.

When making a purchase, determine the exact width of the trailer and the size of your garage door. Giving yourself an extra 2-4 feet of space is highly advised.

A garage may easily accommodate a personal boat’s many fishing, touring, or water sports uses. Therefore, it is crucial to find a fit between the boat’s dimensions (while it is on the trailer) in terms of length, width, and height and those of the garage, including the width and height of the garage door.

The biggest advantage of storing your boat in your garage is that it will cost you less money than renting a space at a marina or paying for storage there.

Your boat is also conveniently accessible in your garage for upkeep and quick trips to the sea whenever you’d like.