19' Boat owners and their Garages

[tonyb]

Talk about frustrating!

 

I am just curious how most people store their boats, I need to move to accomodate a 19' boat and it is next to impossible to find a place that has a garage that is ~25' in length!

 

Most of the garages in homes in the Burlington/Milton/Waterdown areas are 20' in length and the majority have 2 garage doors instead of one single garage door, making it impossible to get a boat of that size into the garage.

 

I know that it is possible to get a swing tongue on the trailer and park the boat diagonally to fit it in a 20' deep garage but that can be a real pain when you are exhausted after spending a day on the water.

 

I am really looking hard for a property that has a big garage, but man is it tough!

 

It's also overlooked on places like mls.ca where they rarely list garage dimensions. I also found that a 'double' car garage is more like 1.5 cars, and that counting the 'squares' on the garage door can make the difference (6 squares is 1.5, 8 is closer to a real 2 car garage)

 

Tony

Edited March 27, 2007 by tonyb

[Headhunter]

Tony, I feel your pain! I don't have a boat as of yet, it's in the plans for when I move, but I have been looking at properties since the middle of January and have only really found one that I was interested in. Long story short, I didn't get the house

Good luck on the house hunt!

HH

[tonyb]

It's brutal since the only reason why I don't have a boat right now is because I have nowhere to put it

 

Even new developments can't make accomodations for larger garages if requested since the approved lots are zoned for a specific house plan.

 

Tony

[Jen]

Hello Tony,

 

I sell real estate in the Greater Hamilton Area, if you are not already contracted with a realtor, pm me, as I would be more than happy to help you in your search.

 

Cheers

 

Jen

[Fishmaster]

There ya go Tony i don't think you will find a better real estate agent around ....Jen is a very nice person and will help you with great customer service ...Fishmaster

[tonyb]

Thanks for the offer Jen, but I couldn't put anyone else through this headache without being able to offer something in return. Unfortunately, we will be selling our current home privately when the time comes.

 

Tony

 

EDIT: I should explain why we are selling privately. When we bought the house, the previous owners were selling privately. They were so great, and made our private purchase with them a very enjoyable experience. We also saved some money as they had listed it less than other properties in the neighbourhood that were for sale by an agent. My wife and I talked about it and we want to do the same thing for someone else, and pass on that good experience that put as at ease during our hectic first home buying experience.

Edited March 27, 2007 by tonyb

[fishnsled]

I know your pain Tony. Everytime the girlfriend brings up a house to go and look at I look at the pic of the house. If it doesn't have a double door instead of 2 singles I don't even want to look at it. Try talking to these new home builders and ask about making the garage bigger - no deal. . And to top that off, in most of these newer developments they won't allow you to park your boat in the driveway! They won't be getting my money until they offer a garage that will hold my boat and sled. Needless to say that the house hunting has been put on the back burner.

[Dartee]

Good luck tring to find a garage big enough. Chances are most of the houses you see will have the standard garage sizes. You may have better luck if the property has a detached garage/workshop.

 

The in-laws went through this delema a couple of years ago. He ended up custom building. The garage is almost as big as the house. The garage has 2 8ft tall doors and 3 ft between the doors. My father in-law can put his 19ft Crestliner in at a slight angle and still fit in his F150 in front of the boat.

There is also room for the Mother in-laws car, and a small work shop at the back.

 

Best of luck

[pigeonfisher]

I know of a realy GEM in Grand Valley if you want to live near a nice river. 65' heated shed on the property.

 

Priced less than a town house in Burlington.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Pigeonfisher

[tonyb]

Thanks pigeonfisher, I need to stay in the Burlington/Milton/Waterdown/Oakville area. My wife already commutes to near Toronto Int'l airport for work, if anything it would have to be closer to that.

 

I too found some amazing properties, all ~2hrs+ outside of Toronto though. It's crazy what the cost of housing is in this area compared to outside of commuting range to Toronto.

 

Tony

Edited March 27, 2007 by tonyb

[pigeonfisher]

It is about a 55 minute trip to the airport at 90km/h

[Joey]

There's a place in Richmond Hill coming available on May 1, huge garage, but slight racoon problem

 

Joey

[NBR]

Good luck Tony. When we built our house I had to extend two walls so my boat would have the 25' length required for a 19' boat. Since I did that I heated the thing also and my boat rests in 55 to 60F comfort all winter. You might be able to convert your trailer to a swing away tongue and fit in a smaller garage.

[Weedman]

Hey Tony,

 

You can call me a self-proclaimed expert on the matter of storing a boat in the garage, Unfortunately, I had to take the opposite approach and find the right boat to fit in my garage. We do love our neighbourhood out in Brooklin (north Whitby), so moving was not an option.....yet! What an arduous process it was. I had 18 1/2 ft. of space from the back wall of my garage to the garage door. For me a trailer with swing tongue was the only option. I had to be mindful of the length of the boat and motor, length of the total package, width of the boat and width of the trailer. Just a reminder to anyone who's looking to buy a boat, motor and trailer.....remember you only have 94 inches maximum to work with on 2 car garages with individual doors. That leaves an inch or so on each side of the garage opening. It takes some practice, but it's doable. The majority of manufacturers are making their boats wider all the time, which is a major consideration, even with 16 footers. I looked at Princecraft and Smokercraft in that length range, and the beams were 90", thus making the trailer were too wide for the opening. My Crestliner has an 87 inch beam, and the trailer is 92" wide.

 

Even when I finally settled on my Crestliner Sport Angler 1650, it's 16' 3" in length, with a 90hp Merc Opti on it, I had to make some adjustments to the bed of the trailer and the winch location to make it fit. It wasn't a game of inches, it was a game of one inch! I have a 1/2 inch of clearance with the boat on a very slight angle and the motor turned to one side.

 

Just to add to my headache of storage, I had a couple neighbours that I knew were aware of our municipal by-law (Town of Whitby) forbidding a homeowner from parking a boat in your own driveway, and as I expected, ratted me out after leaving my new baby in the driveway for only a week. I know we had a very lengthy debate on the board here about that issue recently. That by-law is very real, because I've seen it and the threatening letters that go with it. I had already planned for that in the selection of the right boat package. I left the garage open for two days straight after I slid the package in just to say "" Some people just have too much time on their hands.....

 

In summary, there's no question that developers are buidling shorter garages, and they have for some time. Many can barely accomodate a full sized car today. If you can find a 25 ft. garage, more power to you. It will be a great find. One day, I'll build my own house and make sure the garage is good and long.

 

Cheers,

Paul

[tonyb]

Thanks for the feedback guys. As I initially mentioned, I know that by adding a swing tongue and angling the boat in the garage can get a 19' boat squeezed into a 20' garage, but it's not exactly a smooth operation, and you must be exact on placement when you back the boat in. (Aaron does this now and I have helped him on numerous occasions, I don't know how the heck he does it on his own, a 19' boat isn't exactly light to push around and manuever by hand)

 

I thought the most difficult part of getting a boat would be convinving my wife that I need something that expensive Turns out now I have the green light, but can't find a place to accomodate it.

 

I have even looked at self-storage options, but for a heated storage unit large enough to house the boat around here you're talking $400 a month! That goes a lot further when you can add it to your mortgage.

 

Tony

 

EDIT: Weedman, I thought about staying in my townhouse and getting a smaller boat that would fit in the garage, but it would significantly reduce the amount of opportunities I would be able to use the boat since I would be fishing primarily on the big water (Lake O., Erie, Niagara River, Bay of Quinte) I even thought about just fishing small inland lakes, but then I realized I wouldn't really be happy with that arrangement.

Edited March 27, 2007 by tonyb

[fishdawg]

hmmm

 

how much thought have you given into buying a house with adequate land to put up your own garage?

Edited March 27, 2007 by fishdawg

[Hooked]

hmmm

 

how much thought have you given into buying a house with adequate land to put up your own garage?

 

Thats exactly what I was thinking fishdawg!

[LeXXington]

Like all its a big issue for us Suburb people. I only have a single garage so no twisting in the wind for me..

 

Remember just cause the boat says 19" there is neck and engine so it all adds to the length.

 

I fit my 15.1 Legend with a 25hp with 4" to spare into a 19' single.

 

Love a bigger boat but no way am I paying for storage!! CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP

[Uncle Buck]

19' boat is a little big for the grand prix no?

[aniceguy]

tony you can park it in my garage it will accomadate it to perfection, of course along with the free stroage there is a casual user agreeement lol

[SlowPoke]

I know your dilemma... 18' garage. My initial solution was to open up the back wall of the garage to accomodate the motor in the kitchen. My wife was pretty unreasonable about that.

I eventually found offsite indoor storage... year round at $10/foot. Great deal but it was 45 minutes away. I eventually sold the boat.

Fast forward a few years to now and I have a larger boat and we're discussing widening the driveway or putting it in the side yard or backyard... all of which will be reletively expensive.

I am fortunate that my local bylaw permits boat storage up to (m) 2.4 width, 2.4 height and 6 length. I am also permitted to widen my driveway to 50% or 6 meters whichever is less within road allowance. This of course means the boat will still be outside. I can get outside controlled access storage for $30/month... hmmmm.... but enough about me.

 

Do you have to have your boat indoors?

 

-Brian

[tonyb]

Yes space is an issue in Burlington area, otherwise I could build a garage on a lot next to the house. I wish that my wife and I could work away from the city but our fields of expertise are in I.T. and close to the GTA is where the jobs are at...

 

Uncle Buck, the plan is Move -- Buy Boat -- Trade Grand prix for Pick-up truck.

 

aniceguy...fitting name, I won't be able to sleep at night unless my baby is secure in my own garage

 

Tony

[tonyb]

I would prefer to have my boat indoors. I'd hate to leave it exposed to the elements in winter - Not to mention it will need to melt after a day on the Niagara River in December

 

Plus, if I left it outside I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving all my gear in it, removing sonar, gps, trolling motor, etc. another hassle.

 

It really is going to be a needle in the haystack if I do find something that can accomodate our needs.

 

Tony

[Gerry]

I had a similar issue a few years ago and I decided to ask a builder to modify an existing house plan to give me the demensions that I required. I have a 21' bassboat without a swing tongue so I asked for 30' inside length. He was able to give 28'3". I also asked to have the garage widened and he gave me an extra foot. I then asked for a larger door, single door (for a 2 car garage) but 9' high. I got it and I'm in heaven. The wife says we built a house around a garage ..... works for me. We had to give up some interior space but that was OK. The builder was very good about it but he had an in-house architect which helped with the mods.

 

So, perhaps you need to speak to builders again. If you're serious about it and willing to absorb some additonal cost he should be willing to accomodate you. Good luck.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Gerry

[Daplumma]

This is the garage we ended up building if you can.It holds my 1975 trcuk,my 17' boat and my 1965 truck.I also has room for my tools,a work bench and a fridge full of beverages.It uses mostly nominal dimensions,has no posts in the middle but does require some engineered trusses for the roof.I only wish I had gone bigger.

https://www.behmdesign.com/garageplans/1080-1.html

Here is a pic.