Deciding where to store my new cat - pls advise

Hi everyone, I just bought a Prindle 16. I know it's not a Hobie, but this looks to be the most active forum of catamaran sailors. Hope this is okay.

I'm trying to decide where to store my boat.

Choice 1: It will fit in my garage on the trailer, but I'd have to rig something to hang the mast overhead. Is that okay to do to a mast? Downside: I also have a teardrop trailer in there, and so I'd be parking my car outside in this scenario.

Choice 2: Park the trailer outside at a sail club 40 mins away. Best way to cover it if stored outdoors? Impact of storing outdoors vs garage? Upside to storing at the sail club is that I could then trailer my teardrop to the club and spend a few days out there. If I store the boat in my garage, I'd have to have another driver to pull the teardrop. I wanna do some of this solo this summer.

I'm not new to boats, but I'm brand new to owning a catamaran. Thanks for any advice you are willing to share.

If you store it at the club, can you store it mast up? That saves so much time in rigging and getting ready. For a while I was able to keep my Hobie on the trailer in a marina, mast up, rudders on, wings down. Took me 10 minutes to go sailing.

If you tarp the tramp to protect it from UV light, if the tarp holds water, cut drainage slits (in the TARP, NOT the TRAMP! ). Otherwise, rain collects in it and will stretch your tramp out.

If that's your main sailing place, I'd store it at the club. Saves time and more convenient.

I stored my first Hobie on a sling in my garage because it wouldn't fit on the trailer in the garage. I had to take off the mast, put it on a rack attached to the side of my house (and yes, it's ok to store it like that, just make sure it's supported ok), then go to the garage, hand roll the trailer into the garage, take off the straps, hook up the slings and hoist the boat up. Then I could roll the trailer all the way back. PITA!
I store my current Hobie in a 30' long rental storage unit.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

Yes! I can leave at the club mast up. I think you’re right. I’d prolly sail more with that arrangement. Other than tarping the tramp, anything else I can do to combat the elements?

Thanks so much for the reply.

Protect from elements? A few things.

UV degradation of the soft goods and fading the hulls can be a problem. Use 303 Protectant on the hulls and comp tip.

Take off or cover the mainsail if you leave it flaked on the boom. If you have a roller furling jib, get a jib snorkel to cover it. Cover or remove the mainsheet and blocks (which you might want to remove anyway to prevent theft. Depends on club security).

As I said before, cut drainage slits in a tarp so rain weight doesn't sag the tramp.

I had a 5 gallon bucket filled with concrete that I chained to the tongue of my trailer. Partially as a theft deterrent, mostly to keep the front end of the trailer down in high winds. My Getaway has a forward tramp that I also tarped and the winds from Lake Michigan were at times very strong.

If your mast rotates or sways in the wind, it wears the shrouds. Many folks tie a rope or bungee to help steady it.

Have fun! I wish I could find a place on my favorite lake to store my boat, ready to go. I have a 90 minute drive there, then I have an hour to setup. When I kept it on the trailer at Lake Michigan, I lived 5 minutes away and it only took 10 minutes to uncover and launch it.

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Yet another Bob!
"Firefly" - 2012 Hobie Getaway with wings and spinnaker
"Sparky" - 1978 Sunfish (OK, it's not a Hobie, but it's a fun little craft)
Too many canoes and kayaks

In my experience, unless you have a very large garage or no other toys, you will pretty quickly realize that storing the boat inside takes up a lot of space that could be used for other things. So storing inside is the best option from the standpoint of protecting the boat, but from a practical standpoint, may not be the best option. A good compromise is to disassemble the boat in the off-season and then store the pieces in the garage. They will take up much less space but still be fully protected at least part of the year.

For storing outdoors, a good option is to use a custom cover that fully covers the entire deck (entire topsides of both hulls and the trampoline. This will help prevent UV damage. Otherwise, the hull, mast, crossbars, and major components are generally pretty impervious to the elements. Just try to keep the inside of the hulls as dry as possible and do your best to prevent wear from things moving around constantly.

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Hopefully your sail club has tie-downs for mast up storage. We use mobile home anchors. This is a must....just securing boat to trailer is not sufficient.

Lots of good info above....tramp/hull covers are the best option, but pricey. If you improvise with tarps or whatever, they need to fit snugly or the wind will wreak havoc on them. Also, don't use the cheap blue ones...they barely last a season of sun/wind and make a shredded mess. I've heard of people making decent yard covers out of inexpensive, used vinyl billboard material.

If you have beach wheels and your parking spot is near the launch, you may want to park the rig tongue first so you can just wheel the boat away without having to deal with the trailer every time. This works best if the trailer is tied down separately so it doesn't move while loading/unloading the boat.

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Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16