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Posts: 8780
| Samantha and I are house shopping. One of our must-haves is a garage big enough for a boat. Because I'm me, and I'm nuts, I want a garage that will fit any boat I might ever want instead of having to buy a boat that fits in the garage.
Surprisingly, she's on board with this idea.
So here's my question for all of you who keep your boat in the garage:
1. What boat are you running?
2. What is the length on the trailer?
3. Do you have a swing-away tongue?
4. If so, how much room does that save?
5. Can you leave the transom saver on/motor trimmed up?
6. If you have to trim the motor all the way down and not use the transom saver, does this create any undue strain on the transom with the full weight of the motor hanging off it?
Edited by esoxaddict 12/5/2014 9:24 PM
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Location: varies | think pole barn. garage is for cars and rakes. |
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Posts: 20217
Location: oswego, il | Look around for a house with a lot that has a second garage or you are able to build a second garage. They are out there but you have to look around. |
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Posts: 43
Location: Central IA | My son and I have a Alumicraft Trophy 185. With the transom saver in place and the tongue straight, it is right at 24 feet long. Swing the tongue and you gain about 2 feet. We just bought it this year and the garage was long enough but we didn't think about height. It is an older garage and the door is only 6'6" and the boat on the trailer is 7'. We rented a 25 x 10 storage unit and it fit but the door was 9 foot wide so with a trailer about 8'6" wide, putting it away is a two person job.
The plan is to build a biger garage / shop this year.  I don't think storing it with the motor down will put any undue stress on the transom. Hang onto your wife, she's a keeper.
Edited by DMJones 12/6/2014 7:08 AM
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Posts: 670
Location: Otsego, MN | 3 car garage, 21"11 deep, Ranger z520 with a 250 on a jack plate. Boat fits backed in at an angle. If I swing the tounge I can park the truck inside also. I think the boat is nearly 24.5 with the tounge swung. Not ideal but it works my wife was not so cooperative in garage/house shopping. |
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Posts: 485
Location: On my favorite lake! | I have a alumacraft dominator 165 sport with a swing tongue . My garage is 19'6 and it just fits. |
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Posts: 2097
| Secondary garage. |
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Posts: 383
| When we built we went with a 3 1/2 car garage. Currently i have my car, the wife's Yukon XL, my 17' Lund Pro-V, and 2 Ski-Doos (without trailer) side by side by side by side. Its tight but theyre all there. I don't have a swing tongue, but converting my trailer is on the winter project list as I can pick up 30" of depth with a swing tongue. One other way we bought some extra depth for relatively little extra cost was to find a floor plan that calls for a garage with a separate stairwell to the basement and then NOT put in that stairwell. Doing that bought us an instant 4+ extra feet of depth. With the motor trimmed down, I have room for a game/fish cleaning area with a sink and countertop as well as the indoor half of the dogs' kennel and some good storage.
That being said, if I could do it all over again...pole building for sure!
Edited by hooked 12/6/2014 11:43 AM
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Posts: 63
| Pole building/shop in my future. Will have doors at both ends so I can pull through, leave the truck and boat hooked up overnight. No sense wasting time in the morning hooking up when you can pull out! |
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Posts: 1660
Location: central Wisconsin | I built my detached garage 24' wide by 28' deep with a 16' door. That way for winter storage I could store my 185 Nitro against the back wall with the tongue swung in. Took up probably 23' along the wall. Being 28' deep I still have room to store a couple of hot rods in front of it.
I used my attached garage for boat storage in the summer and keep my truck outside. A lot easier access to all vehicles that way. My attached is 32' wide by 26' deep so plenty of room.
I wiuld be careful about lowering the motor off the transom saver in the summer as you could forget to put it up and that is hard on the skeg being dragged across the concrete.
Buy as big as you can find, you cannot have to much inside storage. |
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Posts: 470
Location: Blaine, MN | rodbender - 12/5/2014 9:36 PM
think pole barn. garage is for cars and rakes.
Yep, Yep... Built a 40' x 60' a few years ago.... had a big party in it the night of completion, looked around and said I could never fill this thing up.... It's full. If you go the pole barn route, go as big as you can.... I wish I had gone bigger! |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | I have to take my motor off the transom saver, I can usually leave the motor up far enough in the event I forget it won't take any hits to the skeg. It just becomes part of your routine and I wouldn't worry as much about that.
I'd worry more about the house portion. You'll be in that far more than your boat. |
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Posts: 49
| I've got a 24' wide by 32' deep detached garage with a 16' wide door and it works out great for my rig. One thing that I think someone else mentioned is to pay attention to the garage door height. I've got a jet outboard which is mounted on an extended transom and I've only got a few inches to spare when I back thru the 7' high garage door. Now I wish I had an 8' high door. One other thing to take into account with a pole barn or detached garage are mice. I don't have a problem with mice in our home, but the garage sitting off by itself seems to be a magnet. I had the same problem when I used to store my camper under my parent's pole barn. |
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Posts: 688
Location: Already Gone | I know a guy who put his lower unit through the drywall into his family room...several times. It was a tight fit to get his garage door down. Bears fan, too.
Shop until you find the right fit, or a good plan for expansion..
I'm lucky, my ProV 1890 fits well but I have an extra deep garage.
Best wishes in your search. |
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Posts: 455
| Just keep in mind even if your an expert backing up you will want some room. My garage door is only three inches wider than my rig and it can be a chore getting it perfect. My fenders and garage trim have some minor scratches. Trimming down the motor for parking is fine. Why would it not be? |
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Posts: 1291
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin | What ever you do, get the oversize door! Double wide-extra high makes it easy to back my 19 1/2 foot Lund Tyee Magnum with full windshield in. Garage deep enough to take it straight in with no bent tongue and motor on toter...love it! |
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Posts: 283
| There is a lot of good advice on here already.
My advice would be to find the house that you both are in love with, it's a major undertaking to sell the house you are living in and buy a new house at the same time. We bought our first home 5 years ago with the intent on moving after 5-7 years after remodeling the entire house, landscaping, etc. I had imagined we would have had all of the "projects" done by now but we are lucky to be about halfway. The setup of our property really doesn't allow for a very good boat storage setup, the house is pretty close to the road so we really can't add a garage into the house. Our land slopes from the road down to a creek out back which makes it difficult in the late fall to bring the boat out of the backyard. Now we are unsure if we are going to move or not because we are really enjoying how the house is turning out. I now have a dilemma as to how I want to store my boat for the month of November without leaving it out by the road or trying to tow it uphill from out back through snow, mud and snowbanks. I guess I could put a driveway down through the middle of my yard but that really doesn't seem like a sensible approach for what it accomplishes.
If I were in your shoes or looking for a new house myself, I would look for a house that my wife and I really enjoy first, and think if it's possible to add storage for a long boat whether it's a pole barn, lean-to, shed or a large garage. My ideal setup (mentioned above) would be a structure I could drive through and leave the boat hooked to my vehicle, with at least 2' of clearance on both sides of the boat and a door tall enough to not worry about my motor/windshield hitting. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | muskyrat - 12/7/2014 7:59 AM
Just keep in mind even if your an expert backing up you will want some room. My garage door is only three inches wider than my rig and it can be a chore getting it perfect. My fenders and garage trim have some minor scratches. Trimming down the motor for parking is fine. Why would it not be?
I've got a sweet white stripe on the rubber protectant part of of the gunwale. I apparently did not leave enough room on the port side!
Most times it's no problem getting in and out but every now and again (when you're in a hurry) it gets frustrating and mistakes are made! |
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Posts: 84
| Your lucky your wife is ok with this the rest is all downhill. I would if I were you is to look for a house that has a pole barn or you could build one, and like others said I would get the biggest garage or pole barn you could with a 8ft door height and wide opening,you will never be sorry.I live in a subdivision were I cant build a pole barn or large out building. If you a find a property just outside of town a lot of them have pole barns and out buildings on them. First find a house that your wife likes then you can work on your needs. It took over 2yrs for my wife to find a house that had all the things we liked,fancy kitchen for her,3 car garage for me.I put my 620 Ranger in the 2 garage part and she has the 3rd stall for herself.I have a swing tongue,8in jack plate,with a 250HO evinrude Etec ,and its a very tight squeze to get in there. I would love large out building.We were very lucky we sold our old house and bought the new one in 3 weeks but it was in the summer. Good luck on your search. |
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Posts: 8780
| Crap. Door height. I was figuring that 7 feet would be enough. I need 8' wide x 22' deep x 6'6" high to get my truck in there, but I never thought about the boat being taller.
Putting up an out building might be an option.
For those of you who built one, what would the approximate cost be on something like that? Let's say I did a 24'x24' - big enough for the truck and the boat.
Are we talking $20,000?
Edited by esoxaddict 12/8/2014 1:54 PM
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Posts: 291
Location: Madison, WI | You can do about a 36x45 or so for about 13k. Depends on where your located. Thats most likely just materials and labor for the structure....and wont include floor. Id say 20k is a good estimate after all the flat work is done. I currently just went from a brand new house with a 3 car to an older home on 7 acres with a 72x36 insulated and heated shop (half finished) (in floor heating). Its fricken awesome.....
If your going to want to heat it, and why wouldnt you down the road, in floor is really nice....
Wife is actually thinking about putting another shed up....running out of room in the garage section between truck.....big boat....small boat.....4 wheeler....storage racks.....it WILL fill up...... |
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Location: Contrarian Island | yes, 20k range for that outbuilding.. standard garage doors are 8' tall.. rare to find a 7'? 24' deep will fit 'most' rigs.
having just built.. the old saying holds true, your garage can never be "too big"...
my boat stall has a 12' wide door, 9 feet tall... ~30 feet deep by 16 feet width
yah, shoulda built it bigger! ; ) never have too much room for 'stuff'
Edited by BNelson 12/8/2014 2:18 PM
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Posts: 2015
| Lots of variables on cost. if you are building it... build it bigger than that! A 620 is over 25' long, ya its around 23' with the tongue swung.. but messing around with a boat that barely fits is a pain in the arse, I'd build it at least 30' deep if possible. No man ever wishes they built a smaller garage.
Edited by IAJustin 12/8/2014 2:17 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | yah you'd want to at least build a 24 wide by 30...that would do it... and yes, an avg cost would be 20-25k if you aren't going too crazy...Parents finally kickin ya out EA ?  jk...glad to hear you are growing up! ; ))) good luck house hunting
Edited by BNelson 12/8/2014 2:21 PM
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | a huge garage with a peeer = i could live in that. |
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Posts: 135
| What everyone else said on oversize doors. I built a 28 X 36 garage with an additional 12' carport. If I could do it over, I would build one I could drive my truck and boat into, get out, go back the next morning and drive it out the other door. John |
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Posts: 8780
| The problem is that everything down here that isn't half a million dollars is built on a 60 foot wide lot = 2 car garage = no out building.
This would be easy if it wasn't for the #*^@ muskies!
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | build a toyshop in PI and downsize the housing ... invest more $$ into being a backwards northwoods redneck |
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Posts: 20217
Location: oswego, il | I live in Oswego and the subdivision out here has acre lots and many have second garages. A friend of mine in Romeoville has a second garage too on a small lot. Look around, you can find what you need. |
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Posts: 255
| This discussion is awesome. It'll drive you crazy, then blow your mind trying to get it perfect. I'm happy with my marriage, trying to raise 3 responsible kids, so I'm just glad the boat gets in the garage. But I did build a garage (30x36) at my old property and made boat stall 30' deep and 13' wide, worked out good. Have a 18' fish/ski with outboard no swing tongue. Yes, tall door is best for higher trailer and windshield and I can keep the tubing pole in. Wider door works good. Think about manuevering with a vacuum alongside the boat, getting in and out easily when you forgot your wallet. I keep the motor down and deal with getting it ready each time. Perfect would be me retired, on my home water, boat lift, on 10-20 acres land, four car garage. Likely be a 500K+ deal that I don't think I'll ever have. Have fun. |
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