Boat Garage

[Mullet Dredge]

I am currently in the process of selling a house and have recently purchased a new house. My old house had a small two car garage that my 16' Hewes would fit in at a slight angle with a folding trailer tongue....not the best set up but it worked. New house has no garage. Building a detached garage has always been a dream of mine and the new place has plenty of room to go as large as I need to, within budget of course.

in the very early stages of planning now, but I am thinking of going with something in the 24'x32' range with 10' ceilings. Something with space down one side for the boat and the opposite side be a workshop type area...already have a 8'x16' shed for yard tools and general storage.

Would love hear any ideas and opinions from anyone who has built a garage in the past, or anyone with boat storage ideas in general. Pictures are always a plus!

[fin-addict]

SHOUT OUT TO JUSTFISH, his is great !!!!

[justfish]

Haha well thank you fin.  Still making repairs to it and using it while fixin  our house from Matthew flood but I will snap some pics tomorrow when I get home  but it's kinda a mess.  Mine is 20'x30'. That was literally as big as I could go with setbacks and honestly it got small quick so go bigger than you think.  

Things id recommend - 

I put a small 5x5' half bath in left corner so I wouldn't have to go in and out of house when working on stuff.  Very happy with that decision still. I plumbed it for hot and cold outdoor shower out back once I pass inspection. I also added a drain and water on one wall for shop sink  

You can do a 9' door with 10' ceilings and a sidewinder opener. I did a 16'x 9' garage door and then French doors on East side it usually gives me a nice cross breeze and makes it tolerable

I did spray foam insulation through walls and roof deck and that prob helps with the above, but also makes the attic space really usable for storage Since it doesn't get near as hot as an uninsulated attic.

I did a pretty big fan in center. Wish I had done two but with outlets and attic access it gets full up there pretty quick  

I put upper and lower outlets every 6' all the way around and a few in ceiling for chargers etc. I also wired for a 220 plug for welder or big compressor. I did all the upper plugs on wall 50" so I could lean sheet material against wall and still get to them.

things I wish I had done - more lights, lights and more Lights! Tons of light....I still need to add a bunch more

 

[FROZEN]

I have a friend who designed a man cave garage for his British sports car and Corvette collection.

His wife made him put a urinal on one of the walls so he didn't grease up any house bathrooms while working on the cars. No partitions, or walls......just a real, working, white urinal hanging on the wall next to his work bench. Cheap, too, especially when putting a shower/sink.

Pure genius!!!

[JEM]

10 minutes ago, FROZEN said:

I have a friend who designed a man cave garage for his British sports car and Corvette collection.

His wife made him put a urinal on one of the walls so he didn't grease up any house bathrooms while working on the cars. No partitions, or walls......just a real, working, white urinal hanging on the wall next to his work bench. Cheap, too, especially when putting a shower/sink.

Pure genius!!!

What a waste of money!  I just use the bushes behind the garage.  No upfront capital cost nor any recurring water bills.

[FROZEN]

8 minutes ago, JEM said:

What a waste of money!  I just use the bushes behind the garage.  No upfront capital cost nor any recurring water bills.

True, but the real waste is the stacked on lifts, 15 cars in his double deep 4 hole garage. Money is not an issue with him. He drinks a lot of beer while working, and keeps all cold in a $25, 20 year old fridge. I might have put a tap somewhere in there with his money.

Oh snap! Another idea for Justfish and Mullet Dredge!

[justfish]

Some pics I had on my phone....

You can see all the outlet boxes. I had no idea how I was gonna set it up so figured I couldn't add too many.   I added the front porch to try and give it more of a pool house look rather than garage but I don't think there's much mistaking it !

[FLDXT]

I am.in the process of building a shop, waiting on a man to come and start clearing now. I'm doing a pole barn that I will eventually enclose. Thinking 30x50 or 40x40 or some.variant of those sizes, I want it long enough to pull a 26ft boat with a upper station in.

The advice I've been giving is it can't be too big, that being said concrete will probably cost as much as my building some.im.planning on doing it in sections to spread the cost out. 

[HoneyB]

i have been putting dirt under my pole barn today actually. I will throw up some pictures in a day or so.

[Drummer]

Dang, JustFish, that is impressive! I went the cheap route and added a Carolina Carport (steel building) on my property. Works great to keep the Hewes out of the weather. You could live in yours!  Hey - that's an idea...  

[SCFD rtrd.]

Justfish is right. Can't have too many receptacles or too much light. I painted the walls and ceiling of my shop with white acrylic paint to reflect light. You're going to need one exhaust fan and one or two directional fans for those summer days.  

Additionally, if you have a ten foot ceiling, that means your garage door is limited to about 9 ft. in height. Is that enough clearance for any future boats??

[HoneyB]

Dirt going in to eable the slab to be poured 

[conocean]

I've had two friends that built small steel barns and detached garages to store their toys but they both wish they would've built them bigger.

The coolest idea I ever saw was my brother in laws friend in central Florida built a full drive thru steel barn that was 25' x 50' with 10' garage doors on each end, a side door, two huge bay windows and concrete floors. He had enough land to make a half moon driveway around it and was able to keep his truck permanently hooked up to his skiff. He washed, serviced & tinkered with his atvs, boat, trailers & truck in full a/c with lots of lights (as justfish mentioned) complete with small propane backup generator, 3 hanging directional fans, work bench & cabinets, couch, recliner, flat screen TV, surround sound, small galley & bar, bathroom with shower & fart fan (a must) and queen bed suspended from the ceiling above the side door which had a partial wall around it for privacy. He originally built it for he and his wife to live in part-time while they developed a home on the property. I was told the steel building was completed for $85k about 15 years ago. Surely it must cost more today for the same project.

About 50 feet away from the steel barn these people built a beautiful 3 bed/2 bath bardominium with loft overlooking a lake, fireplace, double carport and wraparound porch for about 2/3 the cost of a traditional home and there's virtually no maintenance. I've been doing my research and may end up doing the same thing in the future somewhere off a dirt road in north FL.

[conocean]

Looks nice, HoneyB. What year is that pickup?

My dad used to drive that same truck for work.....brown, 3 speed automatic with an old trusty 350 small block. Or was it a 305 motor? Can't remember.

[whichwaysup]

Another thought.  Saw someone on here who installed a lift system to hoist the boat off the trailer.  A REALLY nice feature for doing trailer work or cleaning, waxing the hull!

[BradM]

1 hour ago, whichwaysup said:

Another thought.  Saw someone on here who installed a lift system to hoist the boat off the trailer.  A REALLY nice feature for doing trailer work or cleaning, waxing the hull!

That would be SCFD, who posted above.   

For a pole barn, check out these guys http://www.affordablebuildingsllc.com/

They built my pole barn over and existing slab I had, in about 4 hours. They have a little lead time and almost sound sketchy when you talk to them, but they're solid guys and do great work. They also give you the option to install it yourself. Mine is not for the boat, but the boat is currently under there.  

 

[SCFD rtrd.]

Beam supported by 4x4's with a 1 ton chain hoist on each corner. Strap connects to one chain hoist, then through the bow eye to the other chai hoist. In the rear, each chain hoist is centered over the lifting rings.

 

[whichwaysup]

Yes, when I dream of boat garages - it looks a lot like this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[HoneyB]

10 hours ago, conocean said:

Looks nice, HoneyB. What year is that pickup?

My dad used to drive that same truck for work.....brown, 3 speed automatic with an old trusty 350 small block. Or was it a 305 motor? Can't remember.

Good catch on the old chevy! mine is a 1987. It was my dads truck as well. The truck is a bit special as in it was the last year they made that body. it has throttle body fuel injection and automatic with overdrive. Also a step side body on the bed. It did come with a 305. but i put in a 350 short block years ago. 

[conocean]

I believe my Dad's Chevy was a 1982 or 3(?) and his partner drove a black and silver early 80's El Camino. I can still remember the smell of those trucks. The good ole days....

[aywolf]

Since we changed from boat porn to barn porn I'll share pics of my new barn. I converted my detached garage into an in law suite for my mother. I had to have some space so I built a 30x40 on a 60x30 pad. Hardy plank siding with a shingled roof. 14 foot ceiling 12x12 overhead door and a 7x7 overhead at other end. A bathroom and a multi purpose room with hot water heater all insulated. 20 foot patio with canned lighting. 50 watt led lights on all 4 corners combined with 4 on the new inlaw suite should light up my entire 1.5 acres. Large led lights in ceiling. It should be finished in a week or so. 

 

[fin-addict]

some little compound you have going there, look great.

 

[HoneyB]

Nice barn. I am trying to talk myself into spending up on the hardie board 

[fishmanjj]

Awesome barn ! 

[SCFD rtrd.]

Now that's what I call a real barn/shop.