Day 7: The 6 Types of Boat & RV Storage Facilities Know Your Asset Class

And welcome to day 7 of the Boat and RV 100 Series. I'm Joe Downs with Storage Moguls, and today I'm showing you the 6 types of boat and RV storage facility types. I think I said types twice. Oh well. What each one looks like, what it costs to buy or build, what tenants it serves, and how to tell them apart when you're evaluating a market. This isn't theory. We own and operate across multiple facility types, folks, and the differences matter enormously for how you underwrite, operate, and position each one. And if you want the full asset class framework with AI-powered tools, head to storagemuggles.ai. You can register to join for free. There's just a waiting list right now. We launch in a couple weeks, I think 3 weeks now. Uh, we've got free GPT tools, multimodal learning. Some people ask what that means. It means we're going to give you the same content in multiple different ways because we all learn differently. Some of us are visual, some of us are audio. Or we prefer audio. Some of us like combination of the two. It's all there and it's all AI powered. Plus we'll have clones, all kinds of knowledge, a community where you can get answers. It's going to be phenomenal. So, and that's actually, oh, for every storage niche too. So not just self-storage, boat and RV storage, iOS, pro storage, small bay flex, and parking. And that's exactly why we built Storage Moguls. We—I wanted to build an AI-powered community, and and it's not just that; it's a community made of real people with actual operators. We're not—we don't hide behind microphones like this one. We're actually out there doing it. We're we're sourcing deals every day, and the people that that are coming through our community are you know the classic husband and wife team, two neighbors who decided they've been kicking around ideas around the fire pit for years now. Same with the brother-in-laws that we always see the brother-in-laws come through or the 2 buddies, right? The 2 guys that work together. And we get a lot of solopreneurs, people who have a W-2 and they just, they're looking for something else. Maybe they're in sales and they got some free time and they just, they want to get into real estate and they want to find a better way. They want to create generational wealth. That's what we're seeing. So if that's you, this is a community for you. We're a network of actively evaluates real deals. We're talking about acquisitions. Not $10 million acquisitions, folks. We're talking about $500,000 to $2 million acquisitions or $3 million acquisitions. Stuff that you can actually buy, like it's in your wheelhouse. Trust me, you may not think it right now, but it is. Stuff that's financeable, digestible, the kind of deal that somebody with a W-2 and some time, a little free time, a little dedication, someone who wants to put in a little sweat equity, 15 to 20 hours a week, You can actually close on these deals, and we're about real results too. Members in our community are becoming storage moguls now, not someday, now. And the beauty of that is you can you can start now, and it doesn't cost anything to start now. So even if you're not ready today, you you will be ready when you're ready. If you know, you know. All right, don't forget you can start for free. So just register, register at storage moguls dot ai. Cost you nothing. We don't even ask for a credit card. Storage moguls dot ai. Alright, back to today. It's not all boat and RV facilities are the same. Most people don't know that. And buying the wrong type for the wrong— for a market or misidentifying what you're looking at is one of the most common mistakes new investors in this vertical make. Alright, before we go through the 6 types, let me explain why these distinctions matter so much. Every downstream decision you make about a boat and RV facility, how you underwrite it, how you finance it, how you operate it, What you charge, it all flows from the facility type. You get this wrong at the start, it'll cost you at every turn. Capital requirements vary enormously. An open-air gravel lot can be developed for a fraction of what a fully enclosed climate-controlled facility costs. Buying without understanding this means you either overpay for a simple asset or undercapitalize a complex one. Rent per space follows the capital. Covered spaces command a 40 to 60% premium over open-air spaces. Enclosed pushes higher still. If you're underwriting a covered facility at open-air rents, your performer's wrong. Tenant mix and site design are, are interrelated as well. Class A motorhomes require 50 to 60-foot drive aisles and 14-foot-plus clearance. On, on a, on a roof or a canopy. A facility designed for small boat trailers can't serve that tenant, and you can't retrofit it very inexpensively. You need to know that type first. Everything else flows from there. The first 2 types are the most common in the market, and together they probably represent 70 to 75% of existing boat and RV storage inventory. Type 1, open-air gravel lot. I own one myself. This is the entry-level facility. Unpaved or gravel surface, spaces marked out, perimeter fencing, gate access, low capital to build or acquire, but low rents per space. The tenant is price sensitive. They want access and basic security, but they're not paying for weather protection. The challenge with open air is differentiation. If your only advantage over the lot down the road is price, you're in a race you don't really want to be in. The way to win in open air Is to add amenities— air station, rinse station, lighting, paved entrance— that justify a rate premium without the capital investment of covered structures. Type 2, you got covered carport structures. This is the most popular upgrade path in that vertical. Single slope metal carports over individual spaces. No walls, no climate control, just roof protection. Tenants get weather protection for their vehicles. Operators get a 40 to 60% rent premium. The ROI math on covered structures is very compelling. A $12,000 carport structure generating an additional $120 a month in rent pays back in 8 to 9 years on the premium alone, and the full space rent is significantly higher. Most operators add covered in phase 2, funded by their existing cash flow. Types 3 and 4 represent the premium end of the facility type spectrum. So Type 3, fully enclosed, individual enclosed spaces with walls and a door, especially a large self-storage unit designed for a boat or an RV. Highest rent per space in the vertical. The tenant storing a $200,000 boat or a $350,000 Class A motorhome wants full protection from weather, theft, and vandalism. They'll pay $200 to $400 or more per month for an enclosed space. The capital is more intensive, it's higher, the construction's more complex. And if you add climate control, you're also adding ongoing HVAC maintenance, but the revenue per space is unmatched. And then type 4, marina adjacent. This is the proximity play. Storage located on or immediately adjacent to a marina where the tenant can store their boat and get in the water, in and outta the water same day without hauling across town. Dry stack facilities with forklift access are the premium version of this. The land near marinas is expensive and the zoning is complex. Environmental review near waterways also is always almost essentially mandatory, but the proximity premium is real and defensible. It's important to note on marina adjacent, this is also a partnership opportunity. Marina operators who are at capacity for dry storage will send overflow to you. That's a referral relationship worth cultivating before you even close the deal. Type 5 and 6 are kind of the hybrid place facilities that combine boat and RV with existing self-storage in some form. So Type 5, mixed use with self-storage, a purpose-built or assembled facility that has both traditional storage units and boat and RV spaces on the same parcel. 2 revenue streams, shared infrastructure. The operational challenge is intentional here. Self-storage tenants and boat and RV tenants have fundamentally different service expectations, and you can't manage them the same way. If you build a mixed-use facility and apply self-storage service standards to the boat and RV side, you're going to lose boat and RV tenants. Type 6 is a self-storage conversion. This is the one I want our existing self-storage operators in our community to pay attention to. If you own a self-storage facility with unused land, and a lot of facilities do, Converting that acreage to boat and RV spaces is often the highest return use of that land. The site work and infrastructure costs is incremental because you already own the land and have the gate office and management infrastructure already in place. And your existing tenants are built-in market. 10% of them own a boat or an RV, right? And they're going to soar with you if you start to offer that. If you're in a community and you own a self-storage facility, stop and think about whether you have unused land that could support boat and RV. This is an opportunity that we see missed constantly. Here's the full matrix, all 6 types on one reference slide. Screenshot this one, folks. Open air at the bottom of the capital and rent stack, enclosed at the top. Marina adjacent is the premium proximity play. Mixed use and conversion is the hybrid opportunities that most investors in the space haven't fully explored yet. The column that matters most when you're evaluating a deal is the last one, best for. Every facility type has a market and use case where it makes the most sense. The mistake is applying the wrong type to the wrong market. Building enclosed in a low-income area where the rents can't support the capital, or leaving open air on the table in a coastal HOA-dense market where covered would command a significant premium— not a smart move. Keeping this matrix in mind every time you pull a tar— pull a Yeah. Pull up to a target market. What you want to ask yourself, what does this market support? What type are the existing facilities? Is there a gap between what the market can support and what's currently available? That gap, that's your opportunity. Here's a practical tool you can use right now without leaving your desk. Pull up Google Maps satellite view on any market you're evaluating. Look for boat and RV facilities. You'll, you'll You'll find them near waterways or on the outskirts of suburban areas adjacent to marinas as well. Then identify the type based on what you can see from above. Gravel or dirt surface with no roof structures, that's open air. You can estimate space count from satellite and eyeball drive aisle widths. You can actually measure it on, on Google Maps. If the aisles look narrow, under 40 feet, note that as a constraint on the tenant mix. Metal roof structures over rows of vehicles, that's covered. Count how many rows are covered versus open air. This tells you the operator's Phase 2 status. Building footprints with individual door openings— that's enclosed. The depth-to-width ratio of the units tells you what, what vehicles they're sized for. Water body nearby with, with what looks like a boat launch or dock— well, that's potential marina adjacent. Check the distance to the shoreline and the access road configuration. Self-storage building plus an adjacent lot with vehicles. Well, that's mixed use. 2 distinct areas in the same parcel. Self-storage facility with open land that isn't being used. That's a conversion candidate. This is one of the highest value signals in the market. An existing operator sitting on land that could generate boat and RV income. 15 minutes on satellite view before you make a single phone call. That's your playbook. That's the habit. The facility type decision should be driven by the market, not by personal preference or what you've seen elsewhere. In a rural or agricultural market with low HOA density and price-sensitive tenants, open air is probably the right answer. Spending capital on covered structures that won't get the rent premium is probably a mistake there. Keep costs low there. Compete on access and location. In a suburban HOA-dense market near lakes or rivers with mid-income demographics, covered is usually the right answer. That market will pay for weather protection. If you build open air there, you're leaving 40 to 60% of available rent on the table every month. In high-income coastal markets with significant luxury boat and RV concentrations, enclosed or high-end covered is right. Tenants with $200,000 boats and $400,000 Class A motorhomes, they don't want open-air storage. They'll pay for protection. The mismatch risk runs both ways though. A Class— sorry, a Class C facility in a Class A market means revenue permanently left on the table. A Class A facility in a Class C market means capital you spent that the rents can never justify. Both can be expensive mistakes. One final concept before we close out today's episode, the upgrade path. Most experienced boat and RV operators don't acquire premium facilities at premium prices. They acquire open-air or lightly covered facilities at pricing that reflects their current state, then add value methodically over time. Phase 1, acquire open-air. Focus on occupancy, tenant relationships, and getting the operational systems right. Don't spend capital on upgrades until you understand the facility and the market. Then phase 2, add covered structures to your highest demand rows using operating cash flow. Raise rents on covered spaces immediately. The payback on covered structures at the rent premium is often under 7 years, and that's before counting the full space rent. Phase 3, Then you upgrade amenities, pave the drive aisles, maybe add air and rinse stations, improve lighting and security. These upgrades justify rate increases across the facility, not just on the covered spaces. And then if you go to phase 4, you can add enclosed spaces if the market will support the rents. Now you're operating a multi-type facility with diversified revenue and a significantly higher NOI than you started with. Exit or hold, a stabilized multi-type facility with documented occupancy history and institutional-grade operation commands a very different price than the open-air lot you bought in phase 1. That's value creation through the upgrade path. Okay, up next, day 8, we'll dive into Class A, B, and C facilities, what tenants expect at each level. Please like and subscribe to this video if you've ever looked at a boat and RV facility. And weren't sure what type you were actually looking at. And finally, share this with somebody who owns a self-storage facility with unused land sitting next to it. They'll definitely thank you later. And remember, the facility type determines everything downstream— your capital, your rents, your tenant mix, your operations, and your exit. Get the type right before you run a single number. For the full asset class framework and deal analyzer, join the Storage Moguls community for free at storage moguls.ai. That's storage moguls.ai. You can start for free, level up at your own pace. And as I said before, if you register soon, you'll get that free GPT. We pretty sure we have a few left. We build it ourselves and we use it. Remember folks, if boat and RV storage is what brought you here, wait until you see and understand and evaluate all of the other niches that make storage, self-storage, and storage in general all that much more exciting. Should definitely join us at Storage Moguls. And we will transform you from someone interested in boat and RV storage to a storage mogul that your friends will start to talk about. Tomorrow we layer in Class A, B, and C framework on top of the facility types, because within each type there's a quality spectrum that determines what tenants you attract and what rents you can charge. That will be day 8, and we will see you tomorrow.