So I measured my garage to see if I could fit an F18 in there. It's 20 feet deep. Will it fit with the trailer?

No. The nose on the trailer has to be significantly more than 2ft or the hulls will hit the back of the tow vehicle when making a turn. Now if you made a detachable trailer nose it may fit. Where were you planning on keeping the mast?

Chris.

Chris is right, assuming that you keep the boat in the same position on the trailer for traveling vs. storage.

While it may be a PITA, one option may be to untie the boat and slide it forward on the trailer just so you can get it into the garage. You'd have to slide it back and tie it down each time you need to take the boat anywhere.

Mike

Thanks Chris. That'll be a bummer! I can keep the mast in my yard next to the fence. Might even be able to place it in hooks off the fence so it's not on the ground. The garage is 24ft wide. Not sure if the mast will fit corner to corner in the roof.

Mike, thanks! I might have to make the cat fit but turning it at an angle. The car might have to be outside.

Why can't he just roll the boat forward on the trailer when he backs it in?

Okay follow Chris on this figure out how to make the tongue detachable and use a pin to attach it. I used to have a Hobie 16 trailer that did this which I kept in a carport in an apartment. Mast will hang in the garage corner to corner. If your dimensions are accurate you should have 31.5 feet to hang it in: A²+B²=C²

Dan

I come up with 31.24 ft or 31' 2 15/16". How long is an F18 mast?

This is winter storage, but the Tiger fits into the garage quite nicely in the summer, too. You have to push it forward on the trailer to fit it in.

Actually, you have to push any boat forward on the trailer to fit in - it's the trailer that barely fits, not the boat.

Masts go sideways, hung from the ceiling. Three car garage and the Tiger mast has about 1 foot of clearance.

Karl's avatar


That is pretty sick Karl

Oh sorry the mast is just under 30 feet, so it should fit but not a cakewalk.

My friend Adam cut a 6 inch hole in the back wall of his garage for the mast to fit through. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I've got enough room to fit 4 cats hanging from the ceiling plus masts......my builder wondered why I wasnt upset when I ended up with 12 foot clear in the garage (the architect hadnt counted on the slope of the yard and the foundation guy lowered the floor to meet the driveway elevation.)

The space between the top of the plywood- (the top of the garage door) and the floor above it is 3 feet!

Sweet!

I think that's what I'll have to do, Les.


Gotta admit, Matt, that is the pic that got me thinking that I could stow the boat in my garage. I have a two-car garage and only one car. Course, most of my neighbors don't even use their garage for their cars, but I do everyday. Anyway, I won't stick out with mine outside.

I think that's the best one I've found yet! I know, I know, get a hobby.

Doh !

can you really believe the Banjam fella can;t work this out himself

reckon he's takin the piss out of you lot , hook line and sinker <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

OK Matt, so where does all that stuff go in the summer???

Mike

I can BARELY fit me 4.3 in a 25' storage unit. Mast is a tough fit, but it goes in.

Doug

Wow, Karl, that's much better than my Hobie 20, 16, and Laser all in a low-ceiling two car 19x20 garage! Our cars have to sit outside, too :-( No way a 30'+ mast fits in 19x20 though; do the simple A sq + B sq =C sq triangle math. I've also found that a lot of 19x20 standard garages are only 19 deep; that would be a challenge.

The trailer is the key; my sailbox and rear cradles hit the back wall and the tip of the tongue clears the garage door lip by less than 2". I put a pair of rollers on a 2x4 and hang it off the trailer winch; as I pull the 20 forward on the trailer this supports some of the weight (the 20 has LONG bows). That 2x4 also comes in very handy for installing the hull covers single-handed (lift up the bows and slide the covers over the cradles). The 16 has plenty of support when slid forward and doesn't need the 2x4.

I also knew of someone who lifted the tongue of the trailer up in the air; this also reduces the overall length of the rig. Make sure you chock the wheels; this guy had the boat in nose first, tilted up, and all ready to take off down a STEEP driveway :-) Pretty scary looking.

The Laser rides on a custom wood cradle on the 16, and travels to winter frostbite races that way. To get the 16 all the way in the garage, AND to have a central walkway, I have to put a floor jack under the axle and scoot it sideways over to the wall. That IS a PITA, but every time I have to do it, I keep saying "$800 a year storage, $800 a year..."

16 and 17 will live in the garage this summer. 14 goes out to Whitmore Lake where we manage some apartments (that also just happen to have a boat storage lot). I can be on the water 40 minutes from leaving my desk.

The Tiger is going to live down at Crescent Sail YC for the summer. A few of us are doing a week-night F-18 series on Lk. St. Clair.

What you don't see in the photo is my daughter's Laser. We haven't really figured out where to put that just yet.