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Hey All,
I recently bought a '98 Air Nautique with 300 hours with some close family friends. It has been garaged its entire life and we wanted to keep it nice. I've had several Nautiques in the past, but not in the last decade. Love these boats. I think the only way to keep them nice is to store them covered.
Here's what I did to construct a long lasting barn for our boat. We live in San Diego county, so keeping it dry in the occasional rain storm, protected from sun and able to dry out after cleaning is the priority vs. hermetically sealing it. Other goals were low maintenance, great longevity and without hassles, but also reasonable cost and the ability to move the structure to an alternative location.
The covered area here is 30’ x 13’ x 12’6” high.
First, I cut 9 10' sections of rebar in half ~ 5'. At 16" mark, I welded a large square washer. The washer is the type you use to bolt down the bottom plate of a wood frame home to cement anchors in the foundation. 3' 6" of the rebar is driven in to the ground at 42" intervals on the perimeter. The washer is used to bolt each rebar to a 32' long run of 2x4". The 2x4" is 1" off of the ground.
The barn is made of 9 hoops. Each is built of 31’ x 1” PVC conduit wrapped in bundles of 3. Zip tied together about every 2'. The top spine is built with 1” PVC conduit using Tees and crosses glued together. The side reinforcements are 30' long double zip tied at each hoop and then lashed with duct tape. We duct taped every coupler seam so the tarp would be less likely to wear.
The tarp itself is PVC impregnated Billboard Tarp about 20 oz, weighing 110 lbs, and 18 to 20 mils thick (a blue Home Depot cheapie is 4 to 5 mils). This is very similar to what semi trucks use to wrap lumber or steel loads. We bought the 30' x 30' custom tarp from billboard tarps.com. It was $312 shipped. The tarp is MUCH heavier duty than anything you can buy from home depot or Harbor Freight. I was told it should last 8 to 10 years in the sun. The impregnated PVC is UV resistant, supposedly. Similar tarps can be found and sold locally after being hung as billboard advertisements. I couldn't find the right size, so I custom ordered.
Threaded steel eyelets were used to retain the tarp between the rebar stakes - they are threaded in to the top of the 2x4, also spaced 42" apart. I bought bulk bungee material and made a loop with a light pre-load at each eye-let threaded to the 2x4. The loop was closed with zip ties and then tying off the ends (to make sure the zip ties down slip).
We spent about $1000 total. $500 was PVC. Rebar was $80. Glue, bungee, eyelets, zip ties, etc. were miscellaneous costs. I bought supplies from Home Depot, McMaster.com and Amazon.
Glad to answer any questions here if anyone is interested.
Cheers, Doug
I recently bought a '98 Air Nautique with 300 hours with some close family friends. It has been garaged its entire life and we wanted to keep it nice. I've had several Nautiques in the past, but not in the last decade. Love these boats. I think the only way to keep them nice is to store them covered.
Here's what I did to construct a long lasting barn for our boat. We live in San Diego county, so keeping it dry in the occasional rain storm, protected from sun and able to dry out after cleaning is the priority vs. hermetically sealing it. Other goals were low maintenance, great longevity and without hassles, but also reasonable cost and the ability to move the structure to an alternative location.
The covered area here is 30’ x 13’ x 12’6” high.
First, I cut 9 10' sections of rebar in half ~ 5'. At 16" mark, I welded a large square washer. The washer is the type you use to bolt down the bottom plate of a wood frame home to cement anchors in the foundation. 3' 6" of the rebar is driven in to the ground at 42" intervals on the perimeter. The washer is used to bolt each rebar to a 32' long run of 2x4". The 2x4" is 1" off of the ground.
The barn is made of 9 hoops. Each is built of 31’ x 1” PVC conduit wrapped in bundles of 3. Zip tied together about every 2'. The top spine is built with 1” PVC conduit using Tees and crosses glued together. The side reinforcements are 30' long double zip tied at each hoop and then lashed with duct tape. We duct taped every coupler seam so the tarp would be less likely to wear.
The tarp itself is PVC impregnated Billboard Tarp about 20 oz, weighing 110 lbs, and 18 to 20 mils thick (a blue Home Depot cheapie is 4 to 5 mils). This is very similar to what semi trucks use to wrap lumber or steel loads. We bought the 30' x 30' custom tarp from billboard tarps.com. It was $312 shipped. The tarp is MUCH heavier duty than anything you can buy from home depot or Harbor Freight. I was told it should last 8 to 10 years in the sun. The impregnated PVC is UV resistant, supposedly. Similar tarps can be found and sold locally after being hung as billboard advertisements. I couldn't find the right size, so I custom ordered.
Threaded steel eyelets were used to retain the tarp between the rebar stakes - they are threaded in to the top of the 2x4, also spaced 42" apart. I bought bulk bungee material and made a loop with a light pre-load at each eye-let threaded to the 2x4. The loop was closed with zip ties and then tying off the ends (to make sure the zip ties down slip).
We spent about $1000 total. $500 was PVC. Rebar was $80. Glue, bungee, eyelets, zip ties, etc. were miscellaneous costs. I bought supplies from Home Depot, McMaster.com and Amazon.
Glad to answer any questions here if anyone is interested.
Cheers, Doug
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