Parking:The last apartment I rented in Fremont had a tandem garage, meaning you could stick a small boat in the back, and park two cars side by side in front of that. When my wife and I went to look at it before we rented it I brought my little boat and parked it to make sure it would fit. As soon as I saw that it fit I said, "We'll take it". Then my wife asked if maybe I would like to look inside the apartment.My current place has a side yard, which is a story unto itself. The short version is that I had to push back a retaining wall, move the front yard, and install pavers to form a 60+ foot long driveway. The gate is 9' wide, and the trailer is 8'6" which makes for a tight squeeze. The widest spot on your rig will be from wheel to wheel up to about 3' above the ground. I did learn some interesting information about side yard canopies during this process that is worth passing along. Shelter Logic is the big sideyard canopy manufacturer. Your boat-sized canopies are going to be 10'x20' or 12'x24'. My space is irregular, going from 10' at the mouth to 11.5' at the rear. The space is 24'11" long which fits a 20' boat with a swing-away tongue. I wanted a 10'x24' canopy badly, but could not find one anywhere. Two people at Shelter Logic told me on the phone that I could order a 10'x24' canopy as a custom order. When I called to actually order one the person I talked to said I could not get one. This incongruity lead me to go to Lowe's and see if I could have Lowe's order a custom one for me. This time the Shelter Logic sales person said that you could get the material for a 10'x24' canopy, but not the frame. This was probably the source of confusion all along. Feeling stuck, I ordered the cheapest 10'x20' canopy I could find which ran $250. Lowe's covered the shipping, and the package arrived at my house about a week later. The canopy has full sides and a door. Wanting a little more height to keep the cowling from rubbing the door frame on the way in, I mounted the feet on 4x4's, then mounted the 4x4's to a retaining wall on one side and the house on the other. It seems solid but for $250 the frame is not very confidence inspiring. The upside of the cheap frame is that it has enough wiggle to push out to 11.5' wide. This fits my space perfectly. We'll see how it lasts over time. If it's good I may buy the 10x24' roof tarp and enough spare parts to build out the last four feet. It would be an easy mod with a hacksaw. The last thing I did with the canopy was pick up an outdoor lighting kit for $15 at Home Depot with three sockets on a string. It's designed to be mounted on the ground but if you zip tie the string to the center bar it works well to light the canopy. I put a floodlight in the middle and a couple cheap energy saver bulbs on either end.
