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Read More →Boat Storage Facility & Marina Business Plan Template – Instant Download
If you’re serious about opening or expanding a boat storage facility or marina, you can’t walk into the bank with “back-of-the-napkin” numbers. Lenders, partners, and permitting boards expect a clear, professional boat storage & marina business plan that shows how your slips, racks, and services turn into predictable cash flow.
This SBA-aligned template is written specifically for U.S. operators running dry stack storage, wet slips, indoor climate-controlled storage, and winterization packages. You get a complete, lender-ready narrative plus a 3-year financial forecast you can customize to your own acreage, slip mix, lift equipment, and market rates—without paying $700+ for a consultant.
Instead of staring at a blank page, you’ll open a finished marina business plan in Word and PDF, plug in your numbers, tweak the local details, and walk into SBA 7(a)/504 conversations already speaking your banker’s language. One download, no subscriptions, and you can reuse the framework for expansions, new locations, or refinancing later.
Quick Answer
A well-located boat storage facility or marina can be attractive in 2025 if you prove three things: demand (berth shortages and strong boating participation), safety & compliance (storm plans, insurance, OSHA), and realistic financials. This template helps you show all three in a structured, SBA-friendly format so decision-makers can quickly see that your project is thought-out, fundable, and ready to operate.
Key Facts – Boat Storage & Marina (U.S.)
• Industry code: NAICS 713930 – Marinas (docking & storage for pleasure craft).
• Typical offerings: dry stack storage, wet slips, indoor storage, winterization, detailing, fuel, and small repair services.
• Common funding paths: SBA 7(a)/504 loans, bank term loans, and private investor groups focused on outdoor recreation.
• This plan: fully editable Word + PDF, 3-year forecast, lender-ready structure, written for U.S. coastal, lake, and river markets.
One-time purchase. Instant digital download. No subscriptions or recurring fees.
What’s Inside the Boat Storage & Marina Business Plan
Open the file and you’re looking at a complete, finished marina business plan—already formatted and structured. The Executive Summary frames your concept, location advantages, slip or rack mix, and funding request in clear lender language, so reviewers quickly understand what you’re building and how much you’re asking for.
The core chapters walk through services (dry stack, wet slips, indoor storage, winterization, detailing), target customers (trailer-boat owners, yacht owners, seasonal residents), competition, and your operating model. You’ll see real-world style text you can tweak—no lorem ipsum, no awkward AI filler—so editing feels like “find and replace,” not starting over.
On the numbers side, you get a 3-year forecast already wired for occupancy levels, average daily or monthly rates, winter storage packages, labor, utilities, insurance, and debt service. You plug in your capacity and pricing, adjust utilization assumptions, and the model updates revenue and profit so you can speak confidently about break-even and payback periods.
Finally, the plan includes marketing and operations sections tailored to a modern marina: Google Maps and reviews, marina listing sites, partnerships with dealers and brokers, yard maps, safety rules, and staffing plans. By the time you finish customizing it, you’ll have a document that feels like it was written just for your facility—and that lenders can actually say “yes” to.
Industry Snapshot – Marinas & Boat Storage in 2025
Boat storage and marina businesses fall under NAICS 713930 – Marinas, which covers docking and storage facilities for pleasure craft with related services like fuel, supplies, and repairs. That means lenders and investors already recognize this as an established U.S. industry with clear benchmarks for capacity, revenue per slip, and staffing.
National boating data shows that recreational boating remains a major part of the outdoor recreation economy, with ongoing demand for secure, managed storage as more owners move toward seasonal and trailerable boats rather than full-time liveaboards. For many markets, the limiting factor isn’t demand—it’s shoreline, zoning, and the availability of professionally run storage yards and marinas.
Your plan needs to connect that demand story to your specific site: how many boats you can store, what mix of dry vs. wet storage you’ll offer, and how you’ll protect assets from storms and theft. This template includes language and placeholders to tie local boat registrations, marinas in your radius, and waiting-list indicators into a narrative that shows you’re not guessing—you’ve done your homework.
Want the formal definition? See NAICS 713930 – Marinas on the official U.S. NAICS reference site.
Plan & Financials – Built for SBA Lenders
At the heart of this template is a 3-year financial forecast designed to answer the first questions lenders ask: How many slips or racks will you actually fill? At what rates? And what does that mean for cash flow after debt service? The model lets you set conservative, realistic assumptions for occupancy, ramp-up period, and seasonal swings so you aren’t forced into risky, over-optimistic projections.
You can tailor revenue lines for dry stack tiers, wet slips, indoor storage, trailer storage, winterization packages, shrink-wrap, detailing, and add-on services. On the expense side, it already anticipates lift leases or loans, forklifts, utilities, security systems, insurance, staffing by shift, and maintenance reserves. Instead of juggling your own formulas, you simply plug your numbers into a structure that’s already speaking SBA’s language.
Is a Boat Storage Facility & Marina Profitable?
A boat storage facility or marina can be profitable when you keep occupancy strong, price slips and racks correctly, and manage labor and debt loads. The plan helps you show lenders how you’ll balance higher-margin dry storage and winter packages with recurring slip fees, and how you’ll protect margins with deposits, late fees, and rate escalation. That way, you’re not just saying “it should work”—you’re documenting exactly how.
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Boat Storage Facility?
Start-up costs depend on land, construction, lifts, and infrastructure—often ranging from a modest yard with gravel, fencing, and lighting up to multi-million-dollar waterfront builds with docks, utilities, and buildings. Your template includes a structured start-up budget section where you can break out land acquisition or leasehold improvements, utilities, lift and forklift purchases, office build-out, security, and working capital so lenders see a line-by-line breakdown instead of a single lump sum.
The 7 Elements of Your Boat Storage & Marina Business Plan
1) Executive Summary – Sets the tone for lenders with a clear snapshot of your facility, location, target customers, and funding request. It explains what you’re building (dry stack, wet slips, indoor storage, services), why your site works, how much you need, and what those funds will pay for. In a few tight paragraphs, decision-makers can see the opportunity, the scale, and the safeguards you’ve built into the project.
2) Company Description – Describes your ownership structure, experience, and long-term vision for the marina or storage yard. You’ll detail the legal entity, location attributes (highway access, ramp proximity, depth, shoreline), and any partners or advisors. This section builds trust by showing that real people with relevant skills and skin in the game are behind the project.
3) Market Analysis – Frames demand with local data: boat registrations, existing marinas, storage shortages, and waiting lists. You’ll compare typical slip and storage rates, identify underserved segments (trailered boats, larger cruisers, winter dry storage), and highlight trends in outdoor recreation. The goal is to show that you understand your market better than a generic consultant and that you’re building to meet real, measurable demand.
4) Organization & Management – Covers your staffing plan, roles, and responsibilities, from dockhands and yard crew to office administration and management. It also explains your training, safety culture, and use of checklists and SOPs for haul-out, launch, fueling, and storm prep. Lenders see that you’ve thought through who runs the yard day-to-day, not just how it looks on a map.
5) Services & Pricing – Details every way you plan to earn revenue: monthly or seasonal storage fees, per-foot rates for slips, winterization packages, shrink-wrap, detailing, and add-on services. You’ll show how your pricing compares to nearby marinas, where you deliberately undercut or match premium competitors, and how you’ll protect margins with deposits, late fees, and minimum terms. This section makes your revenue model feel tangible and defensible.
6) Marketing & Sales Strategy – Explains how you’ll keep racks and slips full: Google Maps and reviews, marina listing directories, partnerships with boat dealers and brokers, boat-show campaigns, referral programs, and wait-list management. Instead of vague “social media” promises, you’ll outline specific tactics that fit how boaters actually research storage and mooring options in your region.
7) Financial Projections & Funding Request – Brings everything together in numbers: 3-year income statement, cash-flow overview, and break-even point. You’ll document how loan proceeds will be used (construction, lifts, docks, equipment, start-up operating cash), and how debt will be repaid from conservative occupancy and rate assumptions. Lenders can stress-test your plan and still see a credible path to repayment.
Compliance, Safety & Risk Management
Marinas and storage yards live or die on safety and compliance. Your template prompts you to document storm and hurricane procedures, dock and yard rules, fuel handling policies, OSHA awareness, and insurance coverage for both your operation and customers’ boats. This reassures lenders and landlords that you understand the risks and have plans—not just hope—to manage them.
You’ll also address waivers, contracts, and communication: what customers sign, what you’re responsible for, and what they’re required to do (like maintaining insurance and using proper lines). That level of detail signals you’re building a professional operation, not just renting space on a lot.
Why Marina Owners Trust BPlanMaker
BPlanMaker focuses on one thing: ready-to-edit business plan templates for real U.S. businesses. Our catalog covers hundreds of niches—from local services to specialized facilities like boat storage, RV parks, and marinas—so each plan is written with industry-specific language, not generic boilerplate. You keep the files forever, can duplicate and adapt them for new locations, and never pay a membership or subscription fee.
Instead of guessing what an SBA reviewer or banker wants to see, you start from a structure that’s already aligned with their expectations. That saves you weeks of trial and error, cuts out expensive consulting fees, and lets you focus on locking in land, permits, and your first season of bookings.
Related Business Plan Templates
Building a cluster of marine and local-service offerings? These related plans pair well with a boat storage or marina operation:
Helpful Reads from the BPlanMaker Blog
Deepen your planning and sharpen your pitch with these guides:
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly do I receive with this boat storage & marina business plan?
You receive an instantly downloadable business plan template in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats. It’s structured for U.S. lenders and includes all core sections—Executive Summary, company overview, services, market analysis, marketing plan, operations, and a 3-year financial forecast. You simply customize the text and numbers to match your location, capacity, pricing, and project scope.
Will this work for my type of facility (dry stack, wet slips, indoor storage)?
Yes. The template is flexible enough to cover dry stack storage yards, mixed marinas with both wet slips and dry racks, indoor climate-controlled storage, and seasonal winterization operations. You can highlight or downplay certain services, adjust the slip/rack mix, and tailor the operations and staffing sections so the plan reflects how your facility will actually run.
Is the plan really SBA and lender-ready, or will I still need a consultant?
The structure mirrors what SBA reviewers and commercial lenders expect to see: clear use-of-funds, realistic assumptions, and a narrative that matches the numbers. Many customers use BPlanMaker templates as their primary document and only ask their CPA or banker to review the finished draft. If you can gather basic local data and plug in your projections, this template gets you most of the way there without consultant fees.
How quickly can I customize this and be ready to pitch?
Many owners can customize the narrative sections in a weekend once they’ve gathered their numbers, photos, and basic market research. Because the layout, headings, and lender-friendly language are already done, you’re mostly editing instead of writing from scratch. That means you can move faster on land negotiations, permits, and pre-season marketing while still delivering a professional plan.
Do I need special software to use the financial forecast?
The main document opens in standard word-processing software, and the 3-year forecast is built to be easily followed and updated. You’ll be able to adjust occupancy, pricing, and cost assumptions so they line up with your lender’s expectations. If you prefer, you can share the figures with your accountant to fine-tune them, but you won’t need expensive planning tools to get started.
What makes BPlanMaker better than a free template or AI-generated plan?
Free templates and raw AI drafts usually miss the nuance of real-world marina operations—things like occupancy math, seasonal cash flow, safety protocols, and lender-friendly wording. BPlanMaker’s templates are purpose-built for specific industries and refined for clarity, structure, and lender expectations. You get the speed of a template, the depth of a professional writer, and the flexibility to edit everything yourself, all for a one-time price.
Fill Your Racks & Slips with a Plan Lenders Trust
Download a complete, editable boat storage & marina business plan that shows exactly how your facility will attract boaters, protect their assets, and generate steady revenue.
Secure funding, lock in your site, and be ready before the next boating season hits.
Digital product only. No physical item ships. Last updated: November 2025.
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$50.00 USD
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$99.95 USD
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$50.00 USD
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✔ Trusted by Entrepreneurs Nationwide — Used by business owners in all 50 states
✔ Instant Digital Download — Access your plan immediately after payment
✔ SBA & Lender Approved Format — Built to meet funding requirements
✔ Trusted by Entrepreneurs Nationwide — Used by business owners in all 50 states
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