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Choosing your Marina

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Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Initially Posted - 01/29/2008 : 13:12:48

Our club marina has a 3 year wait list. We just foundout that we aren't going to get a slip this year, and likely not next year either. A slip with the club on our lake would cost us about $700 and the only amenities are showers/bathrooms and a beach. The advantage is that the marina is about 10 minutes from the house.

Since we are so far down the wait list we entered the town lottery. Same marina, boats are picked out of a hat. Same slips as the club uses, but these are reserved for citizens of the town. Our boat didn't get picked. Town slips cost $1000

Further along the road we found another marina - this one with winter storage ($100 per boat), a travel lift ($200 per use), inground pool, bathrooms/showers, but a little harder to reach from the house (10 minute drive). It is next to a golf course/driving range, with a drive-in Theatre just down the road. Trouble is that this marina charges $1200 for a slip -but includes electric and water (non-potable) and the resources of the marina. If we took a slip here we would be a 2 hour sail to our club (races/events/etc.) and its predominantly a powerboat marina.

I guess the question is, is it worth the extra cash for a swimming pool and lift?

Ultimately its a personal decision, but I wondered what concensus would be on here.

"Iris"
1984 FK/SR #4040
http://frosthaus.blogspot.com/

Take a minute to register your boat with the association!!
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/owner_questionnaire.htm

Edited by - Prospector on 01/29/2008 13:13:57

cat1951
Admiral

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USA
636 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 13:28:31

I wish we had a lift at our marina, but we do leave the boat in the water year round. Funny you asked though, we moved our boat just 2 weeks ago. Our last marina raised our rates from $140 per month to $155 last year and then to $170 this year. What extra did we get for the increase? ....absolutely nothing.
So I decided to check other marinas. One is a sailing club, but is 1 1/2 hours away. Still not too bad. The other, 15 minutes less than our current trip and it has: Clubhouse with a full kitchen and TV room with widescreen, fresh water at each dock, showers and bathrooms in excellent condition. The docks themselves have almost brand new decking, and they sell ice at the clubhouse. All of this is more than our last place, but it usually carries a wating list. I happened along at a time when a slip of my size just opened up.

I was prepared to pay above the $170 because of all the extras. But, luck was on my side and my rate now is just $100 per month. And it is closer to the house... and an all sailboat marina. There are a few more rules than the other one, but not one that I can't live with.

Edited by - on

Sloop Smitten
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1181 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 13:46:05

Prospector,
I guess you don't have any other option then to get the $1,200 slip if you want to keep your boat wet through the summer. Besides, next year you will only be two years from getting the local slip.

Edited by - Sloop Smitten on 01/29/2008 16:19:51

Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 14:16:08

It is about the boat. Where is the best place for the boat?

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 14:39:53

Sounds like you don't really have much of a choice. I'd go the $1200 route and keep your name on the club list and try the town lottery each year. Our club is 30 minutes away. Consider yourself lucky!

Edited by - on

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 15:06:07

Take the best or closest marina you can get and keep your name on the preferred lists.

We pay $1165 for a mooring ball and spot in an outdoor non-secure 'storage' parking lot.

Edited by - on

Prospector
Master Marine Consultant

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Canada
3159 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 15:30:40

We do have other choices - there are cheaper marinas further away, or we can store in our back yard, avoid the expense and keep sailing as crew on other people's boats. Its just a pain to be surrounded by stinkpots, to have to drive the extra distance, and to have to go so far to get to the club races.

According to googlemaps, our club is 20 Minutes from the house, this other marina is 28 minutes... I guess at this point it sounds like I'm whining over 200 dollars and 8 minutes...

Actually we are too far north for 12 months of sailing in a year. Unless we strap skis on the boat, and tow it behind an arctic cat. Ours would also be stored in a nonsecure lot, which I find scary since one of our friends had his mast stolen a couple years ago. We could take the mast home though.

I never asked about a clubhouse. I guess I should. Even if they don't have one, the golf course has a decent (not ritzy or anything) restaurant with pool tables and games rooms. Its very comfortable. I'm kind of talking myself into this as I go here. Hmmm. Maybe I'll swing by tonight and check things out.

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 15:36:30

I'm more confused. Do what it takes to sail your boat. I drive and hour and 15 minutes to get to the boat. Many drive more. Many, including me, pay MUCH more. You didn't buy that boat to crew for somebody else.

Edited by - on

piseas
Former Treasurer

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USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 16:57:29

You guys don't know how good you have it. I am in SoCal-Newport Beach, CA, and my slip is $450 PER MONTH! And most places up and down the coast have a 5-10 yr wait list. I lucked out cuz my friend works for the city and this is a city owned marina. It has electrical, bathrooms, showers and a restaurant. Its also less than 10 minutes from my house and about 20 min. to the ocean from the harbor. OH ya and the Christmas Boat Parade comes right by my marina. I feel like a got a great deal! Especially that's is so close to my house. I know others who have their boat on their trailer and have to use their car to launch it and its 45 minutes from home.
Steve A

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 01/29/2008 : 17:28:14

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by John Russell
 I'm more confused. Do what it takes to sail your boat. I drive and hour and 15 minutes to get to the boat. Many drive more. Many, including me, pay MUCH more. You didn't buy that boat to crew for somebody else.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">MUCH MORE is right. I was worried about the long waiting lists and "full-facility marinas" around the Chesapeake Bay when I bought the boat, but lucked out when a prospective customer before me reserved a slip and then did not buy the boat. I took it --- No pool, no tennis, no playground, just nice bathrooms, a travel lift and yachtyard with a great crab shack & bar next door. Just about right. Lots of sailors.

A marina down the road might give you some different sailing adventures out on Lake Ontario, while you're staying there, anyway. Go with the flow.

Edited by - JohnP on 01/29/2008 17:29:19

Bubba
Admiral

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USA
542 Posts

Response Posted - 01/30/2008 : 18:58:46

John P,
What's the name of your marina? I'm at [url="http://marinas.com/view/marina/38"]Casa Rio Marina[/url] in Mayo. It's not much to look at but it's half the price of Annapolis.

Edited by - on

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1520 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2008 : 13:39:09

Bubba,
I have a slip at the Ferry Point Marina in Arnold.

By the way, apologies to the other John P in the Association. My login is JohnP and his is John P.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5377 Posts

Response Posted - 01/31/2008 : 21:54:51

I just re-signed up with my marina in Connecticut (and before you think "Rollo", think Bridgeport) that costs $100 a foot for the summer.

So I'm looking through the local sailing magazine and the town next to mine with moorings advertises at $25 a foot for the year. Last year it was "townees only" but this year they changed the rules. Anyone can rent.

I checked my bank account and wouldn't you know it, the marina just cashed my check. There's always next year - unless they change the rules back!

For the money I get a lift, a pool, clean bathrooms, and 8 free nights through the season at affiliated marinas in Essex, Old Saybrook, Westerly, Block Island, Newport and Cape Cod.

And its 20 minutes from my house.

I seem to remember somebody saying something about a hole in the water you throw money into?????

Edited by - on

Even Chance
Captain

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USA
393 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 00:58:28

Having watched this issue on this site over the years, it seems to me that $ 1200/year is pretty good. That's a little more than I pay, but you have more amenities. Obviously, you should comparison shop in your area, but I don't think that's a bad price at all.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 05:24:48

First - Welcome back Brooke - where have you been?

We used to keep our boat at a small but very inexpensive marina with plush amenities for the price. The problem was that it was out where Russell keeps his boat - over an hour away. An afternoon or evening sail was now an ordeal, not just a quick trip to the lake. When we were a bit younger without any numbers in the dependency box on the 1040 staying overnight, driving into work the next morning wasn't a big deal. But a few years later we sailed her 10 times total.

You need to weigh all those things - if you are not using the boat what is the real cost for the slip?

Comparatively around the country the 1200 is a pretty decent price. If you have any kids - pool is well worth it...If the amenities get you to the boat or keep you at the boat - it is worth it.

Edited by - Champipple on 02/01/2008 05:26:03

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 10:26:04

The biggest amenity our marina has other than (relatively) low cost is an ice machine. No bathrooms, no showers, no clubhouse, no pool, no nothing except nice slips and nice people. That said, we're right at the mouth of the Duwamish River which empties into Elliott Bay which is where downtown Seattle is. We can be sailing in the bay in about half an hour or so presuming the bascule bridge is up (it usually is, they only lower it for rail traffic). Our (current) favorite island is about 90 minutes sail away, and the whole of Puget Sound is in reach if there's enough time. For this convenience, we pay $145/month sort of, it's more complex than that, but close enough for comparisons.

At our old marina on Lake Washington, there is a ten year wait list to get in. At our current one, it's about three years to get in or so. We simply lucked out & happened to call them when they were looking to fill a 30' slip with a smaller boat to give the large boat next to us more room to maneuver in and out of his slip. If that hadn't happened, we'd still be looking, none of the other marinas where we put our name in has called us back yet, and that was approaching a year ago. If we wanted to get to Puget Sound from the old marina, it was a roughly three hour motor/sail to get to the Ballard Locks where we could exit onto the sound about six miles north of where we are now. That same island would be another 1-1/2-2 hours sail depending on the wind, possibly more if it were a southerly (on our nose). For that marina with crappy docks, difficult parking, but a killer racing fleet, we paid about $165/mo. There were bathrooms way at the north end, probably a 10-15 minute walk from our slip, we never used them, we'd just go into one of the restaurants that were along the road.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 12:02:10

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Champipple
 If you have any kids - pool is well worth it...If the amenities get you to the boat or keep you at the boat - it is worth it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yeah, amenities like a pool will get you to the boat, but it will also keep your boat in the slip while the kids are swimming in the pool.

Amenities that divert attention away from the very act of sailing, such as pools, clubhouses, restaurants, playgrounds, gamerooms,...etc, hold no interest for me. Although I'm sure the powerboaters who never seem to leave the docks would greatly appreciate them.

Aside from a slip, if I only had the choice of one amenity, I think I'd opt for a pump out station.

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 12:08:22

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dlucier
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Champipple
 If you have any kids - pool is well worth it...If the amenities get you to the boat or keep you at the boat - it is worth it.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yeah, amenities like a pool will get you to the boat, but it will also keep your boat in the slip while the kids are swimming in the pool.

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yes and No Don. Someplace for your spouse and children to hang out while you are working on the boat, someplace to go after a long hot sail. Someplace for them to do if you are taking part in a 5 hour race. The restaurant gives you someplace to grab a quick bite while you are there. I find these things get me out on the water more.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 12:30:26

Our club is very nice with spacious grounds, lots of events, etc. For me the most important things are:

1=Quality docks, wide and stable
2=Shore power at the slip
3=Water at the slip
4=Bathrooms and shower facilties
5=Hot young babe in the slip next door

We have 1,2,3,and 4.

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 12:40:33

My marina is part of a 1,600 acre recreational park that also contains among other thing, a wave pool, golf course, biking/hiking trails,...etc.

Edited by - dlucier on 02/01/2008 13:50:28

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 13:00:44

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Voyager
 ...For the money I get a lift, a pool, clean bathrooms, and 8 free nights through the season at affiliated marinas in Essex, Old Saybrook, Westerly, Block Island, Newport and Cape Cod... And its 20 minutes from my house... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Brewer's, right? How about Mystic? They're just down the river from me...

BTW, my ammenities are water & power on the dock, and a full kitchen 50 yards away (mine). But a C-25 can't get under the 25' I-95 bridge (without the system Duane is working on).

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 13:32:53

This is our marina. City park facility sailboats only, bathrooms with showers open year-round, about 160 wet slips and 40 dry storage spaces, waiting list 3-4 years long for wet slip, park ranger residence on site, 2-boat launch ramp, city water hose hook-ups and electrical on docks.

http://www.nashville.gov/parks/marina.htm

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 13:36:36

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dmpilc
 This is our marina. City park facility sailboats only, <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

You win!

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 14:41:38

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by dmpilc
 This is our marina. City park facility sailboats only, bathrooms with showers open year-round, about 160 wet slips and 40 dry storage spaces, waiting list 3-4 years long for wet slip, park ranger residence on site, 2-boat launch ramp, city water hose hook-ups and electrical on docks.

http://www.nashville.gov/parks/marina.htm
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
And country music to boot! What else could you ask for?

Edited by - on

Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 14:51:31

this thread has some additional info
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16706

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 02/01/2008 : 14:57:02

Nice looking place, David... Google Earth makes the lake appear to be about 12 miles long, depending on what's navigable, with a scenic shoreline. (Of course my lake goes to Africa and beyond, but what am I gonna do with that?)

Edited by - on

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