"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
by a shady boat storage marina in Florida.

A year and a half ago I trailered a new Scout Sportsfish 202 from Ma to
Florida and decided to store it a rack storage facility near Jupiter
Inlet.
It turns out I never used it in Florida, however I did check on it from
time
to time and paid the marina to clean and detail it a couple of times.

The boat had 5 hours on the engine meter (Yamaha 200 four stroke) when I
took it to the storage place. I never took the boat out.

Last week, I had my nephew pick up the boat and clean it up to sell. He
just called me and told me:

a) The boat has a waterline mark on the hull from sitting in a slip on
the
ICW.
b) The engine meter now has 23 hours on it.
c) There is some minor damage (2-inch deep scrape) on one of the sides -
something that
would result from a failed docking attempt.

I called the storage place an hour ago and happened to get the owner. I
asked him if he could explain why the engine now has 23 hours and has
minor
damage.
He denies that the boat ever left the rack and hung up on me.

Fortunately, other than the minor scrape, the boat is fine otherwise and
the
engine runs fine. But man, does this crap **** me off!

Eisboch (venting)

Welcome to the miserable world of rack storage in Florida. I've stored
boats at 2 different locations, and each one was a terrible experience that
just added one more angst to boat ownership that I really didn't need.

There are private boat rack storage/condos popping up all over down here.
They cost a fortune to purchase, but they appreciate in value, and they seem
to do a much better job at taking care of your boat and providing better
piece of mind than the rental places offer.

The boat business is where car dealers were 30 years ago. I got so fed up,
that I sold my rack-stored boat and went to a trailerable boat. When I got
the itch to get a bigger boat again, I bought a house on the water.