Getting better space usage in your existing rowing boat house is a great way to “grow” a rowing club.  Increasing club membership is certainly a good thing, however a lack of resources can put pressure on your club to accommodate additional people and equipment within a modest budget.

Space Saver Rowing Systems are the Experts in Boathouse Planning and Redevelopment.

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SSRS have created this strategic process so clubs like yours can increase your space and usability, without redesigning the boathouse from the ground up.

The SSRS Boathouse Action Plan

Before you commence renovating your boathouse, or purchasing new equipment, take a look at these guidelines. They will likely save you time and money in the long term.

Step 1 – Anticipate Your Club’s Future Needs

UTS Haberfield, Sydney Australia racked by SSRS

Deciding what your club needs both now, and 5-10 years into the future helps to focus your efforts and resources, so you get the best possible result from your efforts

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What programmes do you currently have at your club? Which have a growing headcount? What programmes do you need right now and what will you have in the future?

If you are building a brand new boathouse, who will it primarily serve? Youth and teenage groups have different needs compared to adult, disabled or masters rowers. The design and fit-out of your new boathouse will vary based on who’s using it.

With these goals and observations clearly identified, it is easy to plan what equipment you will need to accommodate them.

Step 2 – Identify your resources and capabilities

The next step is to assess your available resources. Are you a small club running off the back of membership contributions and fundraising? Or are you part of a larger institution with deeper resources? If you don’t have the funding available to build a new boathouse with a pre-planned fit-out, your best bet is to work incrementally through smaller scale improvements. Small changes can make a big difference to the available space in your boathouse now.

Once you know how much money you have available for your boathouse redevelopment, you can then assess the technical capabilities of your club. Are you able to install racks yourselves? Or do you have special considerations, such as structural limitations of the building, which mean an expert is better suited to the task?

All these factors influence the overall costs and amount of work required by your club.

Short-Term Storage Solutions

Oar Hanging Racks are a great place to begin. They are easy to install and can be relocated if you decide your boathouse needs re-configuring. Sliding Boat Racks are another great medium-term solution to save yourself space and effort.  Not only do they reduce the amount of space required to shells, but also the likelihood of sustaining damage when retrieving and putting away and the time taken to do so.

For larger clubs pressed for time, and faced with large numbers of rowers heading out on the water simultaneously, a Mechanical Boat Stacker saves time and effort. It is safer and much faster than manually retrieving boats from high racks and takes up no more room than a traditional static boat rack.

Long-Term Storage Solutions

In a longer time frame, the next stage of your club’s boathouse improvement involves updating and replacing old shells in your fleet. New shells with quick release wing riggers take up less space and therefore allow for more boats to be stored in the same rack space. Space Saver Rowing Systems offer Removable Wing Rigger Brackets, which provide simple, safe and secure storage solutions for wing riggers.

Get in touch with us if you want to discuss a boathouse refurbishment