Pros and Cons of RV/Boat Storage Lot

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In May of 2022, I had a knock on the door. It was the city’s code inspectors that came to tell me that I couldn’t park my RV in my driveway!

I had been parking my RV in my driveway for years, so it was annoying that they were coming at me now. They said that I had to park it behind the home, not in the driveway next to the house. I had only two weeks to figure out where I could store it…

Fortunately, I was able to find a RV and Boat storage lot. I actually really liked the lot overall and they were good people running the place. I parked there for two years and then I was able to bring the RV back home after some backyard renovations.

But let’s look at the pros and cons and how to make it work for you…

Table of Contents

Pros to an RV Storage Lot

The good news is that my parking area was covered. So while not completely protected from the weather, it was an improvement over being left in the open at my home. I didn’t have to worry so much about water leaks from storms which was a big deal.

Another thing about my parking spot, which isn’t always the case with all RV lots, is that my space came with power! It was 30-amp power, and we couldn’t run ACs or heaters. But by having power, I could keep the fridge cold and the batteries charged without issue. That meant that I didn’t have to unload the fridge between tailgates. Saved a lot of time during football season, when I was using the RV weekly.

I’ll say another pro to parking my motorhome in an off-site storage lot was that my neighbors and others driving by my house didn’t know if I was in town or out of town. When you park your RV at your home, it’s obvious when it’s gone. And that likely means you are gone and no one is at home. Makes it easy pickings for people up to no good.

Now, I have a great setup at my house, making it easy to dump my black and gray tanks after a trip. There’s a sewer cutout in the middle of my front yard. But many RVers don’t have that access. Instead, they have to go to a dump station. My RV storage lot had both a dump station as well as a fresh water fill station.

This made it easy to handle the water system on the RV. Except for sanitizing the system (more on that later).

Motorhome parked in a RV storage lot with a trailer on one side and boat/jet skis on the other. — The motorhome parked in the RV storage lot

Cons to an RV Storage Lot

The biggest problem for me was that the lot was about 45 minutes to an hour away (depending on Atlanta traffic). That’s one way. So at least two hours out of my day roundtrip to the lot. And no, there weren’t any closer to where I live.

This made it difficult for me to pop in for things like maintenance or if I left something in the RV between trips. I had to get way more organized in everything dealing with the RV since it wasn’t convenient for me.

I will admit that I didn’t winterize my RV as well as I should have after the end of the 2022 football season. While I drained all the tanks, I forgot about the water filter. When a freeze hit, the filter casing cracked and that was a fun way to start 2023. I’m just happy that I went to get the RV a week before my first trip that year. I had time to fix it.

And one of the reasons that I got the RV out of storage early in 2023 was because I knew I needed to sanitize the fresh water system. That’s hard to do when the RV is in storage and it takes a 2 hour round-trip to get there. Who is realistically going to drive 2 hours on Saturday to fill it up with bleach and water and then 2 hours on Sunday to dump it? And since the fresh water fill was not at the dump station, it would mean several trips between the two to completely flush out all the bleach from the system. Not ideal.

Can’t Ignore the Cost

No one is letting you store your RV for free. The closer to the city you are, the more it is going to cost you. Most of the lots around me were going for $150-500 a month. The $150 were basic gravel lots with no power. The $500 and up were for full-service indoor, climate controlled spaces.

And if you have a large motorhome, you’ll likely be unable to find parking close to the city anyways. The long-term storage unit places often have a parking lot for RVs and boats, but also have limited space for large units. The ones near me were limited to 30 feet and under. It’ll be cheaper the further out you go, but that increases your travel time to get the RV.

Uncertain RV Security

I gotta admit that one of the issues I was worried about was RV security. Sure, the lot had an access controlled gate with individualized codes to get in. And was completely fenced in. But I still worried.

That’s when I got the Ring system for the RV. So not only was I paying the monthly fee to park, I was also paying a monthly subscription for the Ring system and also I had to buy the equipment.

There are limitations on the Ring system though. I added a motion detector so if anyone came in, I knew it. There were also cameras – one that I ran inside the RV so again, if someone came in, I’d have a good shot of them. I could also check in to make sure nothing happened inside (water leaks, animals, etc). And I had a camera that looked out the front windshield.

But this also left the storage bays unmonitored if someone came up from the back of the RV. I was working on getting additional cameras, which I could setup on the door or windows to cover the sides.

I was always afraid that someone would put something in the gas too since it isn’t a locking gas cap. I still should upgrade to the locking gas cap, because it’s more likely that it’ll happen on the road (like if I had to overnight in a gas station travel spot with truckers who just don’t like RVers) than a facility with RVers and boaters.

What if the Lot isn’t Covered or Have Power?

For many RVers that have to store their RV in a storage lot, you won’t have a covered spot or power. I will say that I was fortunate to be able to find a lot that had both and could also fit my RV (it’s about 37 feet long so it was actually a double spot at my lot).

If you don’t have power, you’ll probably have to turn the power system off. This means turning the fridge off which means emptying everything out of it. It also means that it is going to be hard to run something like the Ring security system. And you’ll have to be careful with the batteries, possibly even removing them if you have a long storage period. That’s a lot of work (and those batteries are heavy if you have to remove them!)

Some RVers have put solar systems in place, to at least be able to trickle charge the batteries.

Why I Brought My RV Back Home

Even though I had a great RV lot with a covered parking spot with 30 amp power, I still wanted to bring the RV back home for storage between trips.

I had to do a giant backyard project (long story, but don’t buy a house with a pool in it – it’s totally not worth it when you’d rather be in the RV traveling that at home maintaining the pool). But when I took the pool out, I made a parking area for the RV that made the city code people happy.

By bringing the RV home, I was able to not only save on the monthly parking fees, I saved 4 hours each weekend that we had a home football game (2 hours to pick it up and 2 hours to drop it off after the RV tailgate).

By having it at home, I was able to get the RV ready on Thursday nights. I could do the grocery shopping and load it up right there. I could fill the water, check the tires, and do many of the other pre-trip checklist steps the night before. That meant I was getting to the tailgate much earlier (day job work permitting).

And there’s also nothing like having the onboard generator available when the power goes off at the house. I can run extension cords to the fridge and not lose the food in there when there is an extended power outage. And if needed, sleep in the RV with the air conditioner (because I need it cold to get a good night sleep).

RV Storage Lots are Great When You Can’t Park at Home

Not gonna lie, the RV storage lot was a great resource to have when the city told me I couldn’t park in my driveway. And while I eventually was able to move it back home after a really expensive and massive backyard project, I was glad to have the temporary parking lot to park the RV.

It was even better that this lot had power and a covered spot. That gave me more options to protect the RV and made things more convenient. Highly recommend this setup for a frequent road tripper.