Could some of the RV and Boat Storage facilities give details regarding their wash bay system? How much do you charge, what do you offer, what would you add or change, what do the rvers and boaters look for in a good system? Any and all responses are appreciated!

jules

We have a Dilling-Haris system installed. We provide high pressure water, soap and wax plus a spor free rinse (deionized and reverse osmosis) through 2 hand wands. We also have 2 foam soap brushes. We charge $2.00 to start the equipment and that gives you 4 minutes of usage. Every additional dollar buys 2 minutes. We provide a roll around stock picker (steel stairs with a platform at 10 feet) for the RV'ers to wash the tops of their rigs. Our building is 75 feet long, 18 feet high and 25 feet wide. You can see a picture of the wash bay on Lake Havasu RV and Boat Storage, Climate Controlled Storage, Mini Storage. Our home page has a scrolling picture show and one of the pictures is the wash bay. If you need more info you can reash us from the contacts page on our web site. Ed

Thanks Ed. I have visited your website on several occasions. You have an awesome facility. Love the decor. It looks like you spared no expense in building your storage facility. So how long does it take to wash an RV? Folks here say it takes a while and uses alot of water.

I would like to have a system with keypad access that would allow the customer to enter their access code, and it would automatically charge their account. They could check their balance online before making a payment that is added to their monthly rent.

Does the system have much maintenance trouble or downtime? How often is it used?

Anyone else with info - please jump in . . .

Thanks,
Julie

Jules,
When all the stars are aligned and the temperature is slightly below 120 degrees Fahrenheit a typical RV wash for a 40 footer costs the individual or individuals washing said RV about $20.00 or 40 minutes. Unfortunately it is not all that easy of an answer. I am in an area with extremely hard water (approx 700ppm TDS), the national safe water drinking limit is 500ppm. I instruct those washing large vehicles to use the spot free (soft water approx 25ppm TDS) rinse often to prevent hard water spots and dry soap streaking. If they follow my instructions it will take them longer because the rinse water comes out of the wand with very low pressure. By the way I discharge 1 gallon of water for every gallon that I make because the process is deionized and reverse osmosis.

The maintenance on the equipment is fairly straight forward and only takes about an hour per month but that is based on usage. Every one feeds dollars into the machine and I have never given thought to tying it into Taskmaster. During the summer the boaters use it heavily on the weekends. In my estimation I would never consider the wash bay as revenue generating it is more of a market differentiator that gives me one step up on the competition.

Ed

Ed,
I'm not sure I understand you. What do you mean that you discharge one gallon of water for every gallon that you make? That sounds like you make one and lose one, does that mean that you actually capture 100% of all the water that you use?
Thanks,
Mike

www.ownyourownpersonalstorage.com