Your choice of a dry or wet boat storage entirely depends on your boating habits, frequency of use, and the local weather. Boats are expensive to maintain and store but keeping them properly moored on stacked allows you to indulge in experiences that very few people have access to throughout the year.
It might seem like a good idea to haul off your boat home to keep it dry and within view. However, home storage means that every time you want to go boating, sculling, or yachting, you’ll have to spend on gas, haulage, and labor. Over time the costs of using your boat will average out to more or less the same expense as in keeping a boat harbored next to the water. Once you’ve decided to rent a marina or waterfront boat storage, you have the option of going for drystack boat storage or wet slip storage.
A drystack storage simply means that your boat is going to be stored on a boat rack several feet off the ground.
A wet slip storage means that your boat is likely to be moored on the water by an anchor and the storage may or may not be covered with a roof.
Is Wet Storage Right for my Boat?
Boats are meant to be kept on the water. The very purpose of keeping your boat on a marina is that you have quick access to the water whenever you feel like going for a spin.
This is not to say that water doesn’t harm the metal body, paint, or underside of your boat. Saltwater along the bay contains a number of microorganisms that thrive on the calmer environment within an enclosed docking area. This water could let moss, barnacles, and seaweed attach themselves onto the hull and gradually eat away at the metal. However, modern marinas provide cleaning services, detailing, and antifouling that protect your boat from harm.
When Should You Use a Drystack Boat Storage?
Drystack boat storages, as mentioned earlier, store your boat in racks that may be some feet in the air. Hauling equipment and trailers are required to keep your boat in dry storage, protected from rust and corrosion, and away from the open elements.
Dry storage is usually gated and under surveillance, which means that your boat is better protected against theft or vandalism here. This is in contrast to boats stored on swing moorings, which are usually kept in the open and constantly exposed to the elements and the risk of theft.
However, there are certain disadvantages to keeping your boat on a drystack set. First of all, your boat is suspended in the air. Assuming the vessel is 20 feet in the air and taking the mean weight of a power boat (the most commonly drystack stored boat) to be 800 pounds, the potential fall of the body could hit you with the same force as a small speeding car.
Now imagine what would happen if your boat stack is exposed to a hurricane or tidal wave.
Secondly, drystack access requires you to inform the marina beforehand by a few hours so that they can get the equipment in place to unload your boat into the water. Although it may appear cheaper to keep your boat on a drystack, most marinas charge you a hefty sum each time you undock your boat onto the water.
“Consider the rates of a drystack boat storage along with how often you plan to get into the water before you rent one. Sometimes natural barriers and buildings will protect drystack storages from storms even if you’re on the East Coast,” says the team at Trident Marine, which operates 3 leisurely marinas along Chesapeake Harbor, Nabbs Creek, and the Annapolis Maryland Capital Yacht Club with permanent or transient dockage available.
Own a boat you can’t wait to take out? Check out boat dockage near you for wet or dry storage today.