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Cheap shelter for winter storage.

john lamon

john lamon

Well-known member
I officially put the mate away yesterday, it has lost it's spot at home in the garage for winter to the wife's car :shakehead:

while I have a nice fitted tarp I still don't like leaving it outside, went to Costco and found a shelter on sale for $300.00 and set it up in the backyard at the lake to keep the snow off, it wasn't to hard to build and seems like it will do the trick.

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Hey John,

I bought one of those similar type car shelters from Canadian Tire last year and to be honest, it didn't last. Basically it bent up in the first wind storm and came apart. I even reinforced it with some wood strapping extra bolts etc. and that didn't help. :(

Make sure to anchor the feet and then if you're around on a regular basis, be sure to keep the snow off of it as it will not hold up under and type of snow load.

After ours went kaput, I did check around and many people were complaining of having the same issues with the same type as ours. There are however some heavier all weather shelters that are around, that are supposed to be much better, but they all seem to be 1K or more, at least when I checked last year.

Good luck with yours, I hope it holds up better than ours. :thumb:

-Chris
 
Thanks for the heads up Chris, I did anchor it with some 4 ft lengths of re-bar bent in half over the bottom of the frame and it is fairly sheltered from the wind by the fence on one side and the pontoon on the other.

Hopefully it will last a few years anyway.
 
John,

What mine technically did, was many of the pipes bent and the entire thing just sorta folded over. Even the elbows bent at the roof-line along with the pipes etc.

Mr. Buss- take note the toon didn't get a shelter! :D


-Chris
 
Chris said:
John,

What mine technically did, was many of the pipes bent and the entire thing just sorta folded over. Even the elbows bent at the roof-line along with the pipes etc.

Mr. Buss- take note the toon didn't get a shelter! :D


-Chris
Click to expand...

One of my close friends also had the same shelter come apart over the winter. His 2009 Mastercraft ski boat was under it. The broken legs of the shelter rubbed/banged against the boat and trailer and put the only marks the boat has in it. One mark is a 1"x3" chip out of the gelcoat.:(

Hope you have better luck but I just triple tarp and brush the snow off often.
Rob
 
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I hope I have better luck with mine, it seems pretty solid and the one I have is a 2x4 wood frame instead of the metal frame, my brother-in-law lives next door so at least he will be keeping an eye on it, I know a guy that has had this same shelter for 3 years with no problems.
 
john lamon said:
I hope I have better luck with mine, it seems pretty solid and the one I have is a 2x4 wood frame instead of the metal frame, my brother-in-law lives next door so at least he will be keeping an eye on it, I know a guy that has had this same shelter for 3 years with no problems.
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A Costco shelter with a wooden frame? I havn't seen that. It could be OK then. The metal ones are good for rain but I think not so good if it's snow and strong winds your up against.
 
If it has a wooden frame, you'll probably be better off.

Just make sure to keep the snow from building up on the tarps.

If you get inside the shelter and tap the tarp from underneath, that will most likely knock most of it off.

-Chris
 
Good luck with it. I'd contribe some sort of extra support from the inside using 2x4's somehow. It really only takes one heavy wet snow event and the whole mess comes down. Happened to me on a nice truck one winter.
 
ya guy's I might think about beefing it up some, If I get a couple years out of it I'll be happy, my long term plan is to build a three car garage right where the boats are parked, two spots for the boats and the rest of the space will be a bedroom and bathroom for guests to use, or for me when the wife kicks me out.:lol:
 
john lamon said:
I hope I have better luck with mine, it seems pretty solid and the one I have is a 2x4 wood frame instead of the metal frame, my brother-in-law lives next door so at least he will be keeping an eye on it, I know a guy that has had this same shelter for 3 years with no problems.
Click to expand...
I just noticed the 2x4s. Did you have to get them extra or are they part of the 300 bucks? They make my feel much better for you!!!
 
1st 7 or 8 yrs the boat got the Garage, Then the girlfriend/wife has had it since. But through this site I found KARY and for the last 3 or 4 yrs I get inside winter storage at very reasonable rate and for 3 yrs he's also fixed some proplems for me over the winter for me too!
If your in lower central MI or NW OH or NE IN, you might like to look into it. MERC245
 
Damn I'm sneaky

I ordered my interior last week and this morning finally told my wife about it, convinced her it will be easier to work on it at home in the garage and I will take it back to the lake when it's finished:rof:

I'll make sure that there is to much snow on the ground to take it back to the lake:devil:

The boat get's the spot in the garage another year :bigthumb:

I'm heading out in the morning to pick her up and put her inside where she belongs.
 
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john lamon said:
I ordered my interior last week and this morning finally told my wife about it today, convinced her it will be easier to work on it at home in the garage and I will take it back to the lake when it's finished:rof:

I'll make sure that there is to much snow on the ground to take it back to the lake:devil:

The boat get's the spot in the garage another year :bigthumb:

I'm heading out in the morning to pick her up and put her inside where she belongs.
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thats a trooper:cheers:
 
I have a 3 car garage and still no room for the boats . The trimate just went over to a friend of mines house to spend the winter in his garage with his trimate . And my Vmate will go in my sisters garage and the V141 will spend a winter outside up at the lake . I really need a nice pole barn lol
 
john lamon said:
It just started snowing like a mofo and is supposed to snow for a couple day's:brickwall:
I can't wait to tow that thing 100 miles with the loser cruiser in the snow.lol
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Wow that sucks . Its been really mild here this month . It was in the high 60's yesterday and we went for one more cruise on the detroit river . Its suposed to get into the mid 70's tues or wed here . We have been very lucky im not ready for the snow just yet ......
 
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