Your Boathouse Action Plan | Part II

If your boathouse seems to be outgrowing it’s current form and fit-out, you will benefit from having a look at the SSRS Boathouse Action Plan. A simple way to breakdown how best to spend your club’s time and money, that will also provide the greatest long term benefit to you.

In a Part 1, we discussed steps 1 and 2 – here’s a quick recap:

Your first and most important step requires thinking in advance and anticipating the future needs and desires of the club.

Once clear goals have been identified, the second step is to install equipment that will allow flexibility between small and large sizes and numbers of boats. Being able to accommodate the various, changing needs of the boathouse in the short term is essential for a club in transition.

Attention should be directed towards equipment that has been designed with easy storage in mind. Quick release detachable wing riggers are a prime example. Depending on your available budget, ideally you would replace all existing wing rigger shells with quick release riggers.

Step 3 – Tidy up those Oars, and find a use for that wasted space.

The next step is to get those oars stacked neatly out of the way. An increase in the number in boats means an exponential increase in oars. Thankfully solutions exist that save you having to construct whole new sheds to house them. SSRS Vertical Oar Brackets provide the best solution in terms of both volume of oars and required footprint to hold them all. What makes these brackets even better is, they can be installed to fit in between boat racks. Essentially filling space that was previously wasted and unusable!

Step 4 – Full Boathouse Redesign & Mechanical Stackers.

Looking deep into the future, the next action involves configuring or redesigning the entire boathouse so that the ground floor ceiling as room for say, 10 vertically stacked boats. This is a major undertaking, and should be considered as part of the initial plans of expansion, prior to any heavy reconstruction work. Even if you don’t act on it until years down the track, it’s important to be aware of what the plans are so that time and money are not wasted on short term fixes.

Following on from re-configuring your boathouse to accommodate additional ceiling space, the best way to utilize is by installing a Mechanical Boat Stacker. Mechanical stackers provide uncompromising safety and storage efficiency. Rowers do not have to be climbing up high while perching precariously on buckets, stools or god knows what to retrieve boats. They also eliminate the risk of damage to boats which may occur if they were dropped from such heights. SSRS mechanical stackers are smooth and fast to operate, which means you can spend more time on the water and less in the boathouse.

So, a final summary:

1. Plan for the future growth and identify the improvements you wish to make to the boathouse over the next 10 or so years. This will give you a fair idea of what your priorities are and where to best spend your available money.
2. Install equipment that allows flexibility between boat sizes and numbers, such as adjustable boat racks. Phase out old equipment that takes up lots of space, in favor of equipment that can be dismantled and stored quickly and efficiently.
3. Make the most of previously wasted space between boat racks, by using it to hold smaller pieces of equipment, such as oar or wing rigger brackets.
4. Undertake a full redesign of the boathouse, with emphasis focusing on ensuring there is large vertical space on the ground floor for storing boats. Supplement it with a mechanical boat stacker to complete the process and preserve the health and well being of your rowers!
5. (Optional) Make sure you include a bar large enough to celebrate and reward your hard work!

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