Covered Slip Collapsed

MarkB

Holy crap Ray, that is a lot of money.

My boat is around $2500 for pick up at my marina, trailor to dealer, winterize, annual maintenance, INDOOR storage (so no shrink wrap needed), spring prep, and delivery back at my marina. 

I know my boat is smaller, being a single engine, but $4000 without storage sounds pretty high.

partlowr

That $550 does not cover my storage, winterizing my single 5.7 motor is cheap and simple, some antifreeze and some fogger, it is not a major job. In addition to the winterize I pay $160 a month for non climate controlled indoor storage. I probably don't have to get the shrink wrap done since I am indoors but I like to play it safe and wan to keep moisture and mice away from my canvas cover and interior. **** I think I spent another $100 on several big buckets of Damp Rid for the cabin.  

Some of you guys crying about your winterization costs is laughable....I guess some of you guys can't really afford those big boats after all if you don't want to pay the proper storage and maintenance for them. You gotta pay to play fella's

Not to be the bearer of bad news but I have a friend that is a claims adjuster(auto) for a big insurance company and he is a boat owner. I sent him a link to this thread. He said depending on the insurance company some have clauses that will not pay out for winter/freeze related damages to boats under any circumstances and some require and offer a separate "freeze coverage" rider on their policy.  He said this one will get ugly because the boat owners are going to go after the marina for the structural collapse and the marina's insurance is going to say the individual boat owners policy's need to file claims. He did say that things are different in each state and every insurance company has a different set of rules but he did promise me that it will get ugly before anything gets settled. Hopefully he is wrong and everyone affected will be back out on the water soon.

 

Dream_Inn

Shrink wrap in my marina is $17/ft.  A lot of people spend around what Ray does for winterizing.  Then, a lot of us take/make the time to do it ourselves.  It is what it is.

I just came back from the boat a half hour ago and my cover is nice and bone dry as well as everything under it   I'm a happy man!  Sure was nice and toasty inside.  Enough that I could've sat and had a drink.  I got to watch the marina workers run around in a boat breaking up all the ice.  They looked like they were having a good time.  Since almost all boats that were in the water was on lifts, they also made some good wakes and cracked any ice that was underneath the lifts.  Didn't take long with the wind for the ice to clear out.  Sure felt like going for a ride!

MarkB

partlowr, it's not the winter costs that are the issue, it's the friggin winter! My point about ray is it just seems like over $1000 too high. I don't care how much money anyone has, it's careless to throw $1000 away (Ray not saying you are, but if I can point out a potential savings, I will). Parlowr, if you don't mind throwing ben franklin bills around, then send me a check anytime. LOL.

However, my main point is, we all pay out of our butt holes, give or take a few $1000, but it would be nice to have the boat for more than 5 months a year.  That's why I envy the guys on the west coast. There boats sit in the water year round. It's a pain in the butt to prepare, winterize and say goodbye for 6 to 7 months.

On another note, I would be avoiding shrink wrap 100% in your situation. Shrink wrap is your enemy when it comes to moisture. If you are indoors, cold air does not hold much moisture, in fact it's considered dry by normal standards. It's better to just have the canvas on and let the boat breathe.

Dream_Inn

Mark, have you ever looked into a canvas for winter?  It surprises me to this day how many people complain about cost of shrinkwrap and how bad it is for the boat, but do nothing about it.  I've owned a boat for 16 years, never ever had a boat shrinkwrapped.  So, you ask how to save money??

Cableguy Greg

Dream_Inn said:

Mark, have you ever looked into a canvas for winter?  It surprises me to this day how many people complain about cost of shrinkwrap and how bad it is for the boat, but do nothing about it.  I've owned a boat for 16 years, never ever had a boat shrinkwrapped.  So, you ask how to save money??

I agree with the canvas winter cover. I could be the Pittsburgh dealer for Fisher right now. I have had dozens of other boaters ask me about my cover and where to get one. A friend of mine from Baltimore is going to get one. His shrink wrap guy never called him back, so his boat is sitting uncovered on his lift this winter. You make up the cost over a few seasons and if stored correctly, one can get 8 to 10 years out of a cover. If you can't already tell, I love my Fisher winter cover.

Cableguy Greg

@partlowr, I agree with @MarkB on not shrink wrapping your boat if it is stored indoors. I stored my 232cc in an old unconditioned dairy barn for years and I never shrink wrapped it. I just used the canvas cockpit cover. Once inside, I did put the drain plug back in to keep the mice out.

rasbury

Oops! I may have forgotten to winterize....let me check..........whew. Everything is fine. I thought I forgot to pull the plug out! In all seriousness I'm amazed for what our northern Rinker brothers endure for a limited boating season. I'm sure there are others on the forum and perhaps more with smaller boats that are financially limited for their fun-this boat is a large expense for me and although I love our boat, if it was not a year round use, o don't know that I could handle the expense. Lots of you have the ability to afford other winter time toys which I could not. It goes with it I guess and I'm sure some make sacrifices to have their boat like we do. Good luck with it and hope the marinas get back in business and the repairs handled as your next season is around the corner!

Dream_Inn

Ras, the winterization process itself is not really a big task.  In an extended day weekend (I get every other Friday off, so a 3-day weekend), I can get everything done from the yearly maintenance of oil changes, filter changes, strainers cleaned (I could go on for a bit) to winterizing, waxing and putting the cover on...all in that weekend.  70% of it is stuff we all have to do anyhow, this just makes it a perfect time to get it all done at once.  & really, for me, it's nice to relax this time of year at home, in front of a nice fire (& hey, right now homemade cookies are coming out of the oven!). & in 4 or 5 weeks I'll be back down at the boat.  It also gives a perfect time for upgrading or working on things under a nice toasty cover.  I guarantee you most of put more hours on the boat up here than those down south that use them "all year round". 

Cableguy Greg

Dream_Inn said:

I guarantee you most of put more hours on the boat up here than those down south that use them "all year round". 

I agree with that statement. I spend every weekend on my boat from May until September. Last summer, which was shortened due to the June monsoon, I put 95 hours on the boat. If June wouldn't have been a rain out, I would have been closer to 130 hours. If I had access to the Chesapeake, I know it would be a lot more.

raybo3

The cost of winterizing is the cost of winterizing. Its really that simple. Like anything you do it to keep your investment nice and safe. I dont do my own winterizing because of time constraints and because quite frankly I dont want to do it. As far a shrink wrap I have never ever had a problem using shrink wrap. I use some moisture containers and the shrink wrap is vented. Works great for outside storage. Hardly any inside storage around here.

MarkB

@Dream_Inn I haven't looked at a canvas but don't need one. They keep my boat in a warehouse. It's clean and dry. I just keep my Bimini canvas on. But the boat comes back in pretty good shape.

Michael T

I do the same, leave canvas and Windows zipped in and hose off in the Spring. 

MarkB

I replaced my front and rear canvas connector pieces a few years ago. What I do now is put the old ones on for winter storage and the new ones go back on in spring.

MarkB

Also I treat my canvas with sealant just before the boat goes into storage. This prevents dust from penetrating into the canvas especially the top section.

Hamdog

Hamdog

Hamdog

Hamdog

Maybe not as bad as we thought. At least the radar arch is still up. Still could not get to boat due to pathway being blocked. Pictures are from a dock mate that took a pontoon over and got off on the dock at his boat. Hopefully have access tomorrow as they were clearing the rest of the roof today and then need to remove the rust colored steel beams you see in the pictures.

raybo3

What a shame......... 

Glassguy54

Is there any way marinas could use more robust construction for these covered slips? I'm sure there is a weight issue and you're not building from a solid foundation, but they just seem incredibly flimsy.

Michael T

Those are such sad pictures. I hope everyone gets fixed-up soon!

Hamdog

From what I understand, the easiest way to prevent damage is to just increase the slope on the roof. Not sure what the dock plans but I heard the slips would be built back stronger but don't know details. I know the damage estimate, not including the boats, was $4 million bucks just at our Marina. 

LaRea

Some places take the opposite approach: use a canvas cover so the snow weight will tear the canvas before it can bring down the supporting structure.