Association Forum - Bigger boat & Northern Ohio Marinas

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Bigger boat & Northern Ohio Marinas

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/07/2012 : 11:50:53

Hi All,

I’m considering moving up in size within the next couple years. This means, however, that I’ll need to find a new marina. According to Google Maps, I’m pretty much 2.5 hours drive time away from everything on Lake Erie from Cleveland to Port Clinton. Does anyone have any recommendations on marinas? I’ve been to Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland for the Nationals many years ago and loved it, but I’d like to look at other marinas as well.

This also means I’m investigating bigger boats, anything from a Catalina 30 to Catalina 36, trying to stay under $70k. I’m not restricting myself to Catalinas, but I certainly am partial to them, so recommendations on boats are welcome too. The primary use of the boat would be cruising.

Thanks all!

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Edited by - on

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

Members Avatar

USA
3758 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2012 : 12:12:43

I'm at Brand's in Port Clinton. A nice, full service marina just upstream from the drawbridge. It isn't fancy - no swimming pool or cable hookup at dockside and basic head/showers, but I like it. It is protected by being on the river instead of the lake and has floating docks to accommodate changes in river level. 30A and 50A shorepower and wifi, a quiet reading room with a view of the islands and a competitively price ship's store. It has fuel, ice and pumpout and is a video linked check-in station for returning from Canada. It's !0 miles to the islands and about to 15 to Kelley Island; There are several marinas on the east side of Catawba and in Sandusky that are closer to Kelley, several are more upscale, but they're farther from the Bass Islands. Easy drive - 23 to 53 to Port Clinton.

edit: A great waterfront restaurant/bar across the street. I looked at a variety of 30's, and am very partial to the C-30 II, C-30 III and C-309, especially the C-30 III. For me, the Catalinas seemed to use their interior volume more effectively and were open and airy. The 310 and 315 layouts felt crowded.

Edited by - Dave5041 on 11/07/2012 12:29:47

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2012 : 13:28:02

Dave, thanks for the recommendation on Brand's; I visited their website and that is pretty much what I'm looking for. One place that can do it all. The prices seem pretty reasonable too.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

Members Avatar

USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2012 : 16:12:28

The first two boats that come to mind for me are Pearsons and First Series Beneteaus. The Pearsons are nice boats all-around, and the First Series Beneteaus are very nice performing boats. I'd stay away from Hunters. A friend has a Hunter 43, and it looks nice and sails ok (not great) but it has leaks everywhere. Tartan 34s are nice boats. S2s are generally nice and good performers. Sabres have a good relputation, but the older ones I have seen in the 30-34' range seemed to me to be dated in their interior appointments. You might find some C&Cs in your price and size range, and I like mine alot. Mine has a very, nice, spacious interior. The racing version of the C&C 35 is a very popular racer on the Chesapeake Bay.

Edited by - on

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2012 : 20:54:10

I'm at Sandusky Harbor Marina in Sandusky. It's at the west end of Sandusky so you can easily avoid the Cedar Point trafffic. The marina is on the Sandusky Bay west of the Sandusky coal dock and about 6 miles from the channel to Lake Erie. I enjoy sailing the bay and rarely go out to the lake. The marina has a pool and a very nice bathhouse. There's an active yacht club there but, it's independent from the marina and I don't participate in the yacht club.

I've thought about the Sandusky Sailing Club. The up side is that it's on the bay and much closer to the entrance to the lake. It's directly across the water from Cedar Point. Only sailboats in the marina there. I'm re-considering making the move there next year just to be that much closer to the lake channel. The down side for me is street access to the marina. You have to drive into downtown Sandusky so, less likely to avoid all the Cedar Point traffic.

I've also looked at another marina in Sandusky and the name is just not coming to my mind at the moment. It's right next to the Sailing club mentioned above. Same complications with traffic. Nice place though.

I looked at Harbor North in Huron. Again, not easy access for you from Columbus. I thought Harbor North was pretty crowded right on the Huron river with minimal amenities. They seemed to me to be more interested in their brokerage business over their marina.

Moving east from there, I looked at a place on the Vermilion river. Right next to Freeman-Eckley brokerage. No amenities and, while there were sailboats there, it's more of a powerboat neighborhood.

Further east: I've also looked at Spitzers Lakeside Marina in Lorain. Not exactly easy access from Columbus but, it's a large marina right on the lake at the mouth of the Black river. This one's closest to my house but, I just didn't like it a couple of years ago. It has undergone significant improvements in the the last 2 years or so and might be worth another look.

At the mouth of the Rocky River is the Cleveland Yacht Club. The last I heard the initiation fee was around $15,000 by invitation. Not exactly my price range.

There's nothing from Lorain going east until you get to Edgewater. You know about the Yacht Club. Duane Wolfe (Champipple) might see this and add something since his boat is there. If you're interested, snd him an e-mail through the forum.

Next door to the yacht club is the Edgwater marina. I haven't looked into it but I think the facilities are limited and they've had some bad press in the last year with some management changes/issues. They also suffered a lot of hurricane damage last week.

That takes us to Whiskey Island Marina near the mouth of the Cuyahoga river. Full service marina that, since I live in the Cleveland area, I looked at a few years ago before I decided on Sandusky Harbor. If I were going to move my boat back to Cleveland, that would probably be my choice. The cost difference for my 250 between Sandusky Harbor and Whisky Island was nearly $1000 more expensive at the latter.

I think that covers all the opportunities between Sandusky and Cleveland.

And, I still can't recall the name of the marina in Sandusky mentioned above.

Edited by - John Russell on 11/07/2012 20:57:09

awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2012 : 22:10:54

We spent the earlier part of fall looking at 28-32 boats before buying our 1986 Pearson 28-2. We're a late 30s couple, no kids, wanted a boat that would be comfortable for us to cruise on for a month or two. I enjoy racing (but don't necessarily expect to do a lot of it on this boat) and wanted a boat that would also perform well. Our price range was lower than yours, we wanted to keep it close to $20k and were willing to go up to $30k for something perfect.

The boats that we spent the most time considering were a C&C 30, Islander 30, and the Pearson 28-2. We also looked at S2 9.2C, Freedom 28 (cat/sloop), Pearson 32-1, Olson 911S, and more that I'm forgetting now. Boats that I didn't see, but was curious about, include the Cal 29 and 31.

We were originally looking at boats up to 32' or so, then I checked moorage prices and decided to keep things under 30' if possible. The price difference in moorage is $80/mo to jump from 30' to 34' at the two major Seattle salt water marinas.

The Pearson 28-2 had the most useful interior space of everything that we looked at except for maybe the S2 9.2. It has an unusual layout with the head starboard and stern, a private double quarterberth port and stern, and the main cabin is pushed forward compared to most sailboats and is combined with the V-berth. There aren't forward bulkheads, instead the chainplates go through the deck (fairly inboard which helps the boat point well), down behind the settees, and are tied into the lower hull. I don't think it would be a great layout for a family with kids, but for a couple it works very nicely.

The C&C and Pearson boats generally had the best access to the bottom of the deck hardware. I found this important for being able to do a survey for leaks. The Islander (and I think the S2) had soft headliners that were zipped in place and gave limited access to most deck hardware. The zippers were frozen after many years.

The C&C 30 and Pearson 32-1 had no quarterberths. We looked at the C&C at least 3 times before giving up on it largely for this reason. We use the QB for storage and it's nice to have as an extra bed. The center cockpit of the S2 9.2C took the quarterberth to it's logical extreme by getting rid of all exterior storage (no lockers) and having high freeboard to maximize interior room. I found it interesting, but the one that we looked at needed a lot of work and I wasn't completely sold on the design.

Now that we've had the Pearson out a bunch of times in varying conditions I'm overall very happy with it's performance. It points a little higher than my Catalina 25 did. My boat could use a larger genoa for light airs, but otherwise it seems to handle a variety of conditions well. It is tender in that it heels quickly, but it is a lot more comfortable in chop and waves (not surprising for being 60 or 70% heavier than the C-25).

We did look at a Catalina 30, but I was worried about the sailing performance of them. I've sailed a Catalina 36 and it seemed to be pretty decent (but I had little to compare it to, it was the first big boat that I sailed), but the 30 has a very low SA/D (even in the tall mast version) and a much higher displacement than most boats in this size range. In comparison the Catalina 25 (at least the tall/fin that I had) sails pretty well. I did like the interior layout of the Catalina 36, it had a lot of smart built storage.

Finally, a friend has a Yankee 30 that is just an amazing sailing boat. I'd be tempted to look for a Yankee if I were shopping again. His boat is a lot older than the boats that I was looking at, but his Yankee is amazingly well balanced (he has no autopilot and will comfortably walk up to the bow for minutes to do a sail change), fast, and comfortable. The 30 might be a bit small for your needs (it is smaller than my Pearson 28-2) though, and they jump up to a 38 as the next size boat.

This is my second post in a week suggesting looking at boats outside of Catalinas and I hope I don't come off as disliking them. I like the C-25 a lot and the general support and availability of parts combined with sailing performance for them makes them pretty great. However in our market and for my desires I think there are better boats available for comparable prices in the lower 30' range.

Edited by - awetmore on 11/08/2012 07:30:11

panhead1948
Captain

Members Avatar

345 Posts

Response Posted - 11/07/2012 : 22:38:50

The marina John is talking about is Battery Park Marina. I was there for almost 20 years. My boat was vandalized anf their responce was sorry about your luck. I moved to Sandusky Harbor Marina. I really like it there.

Edited by - on

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 11/08/2012 : 14:46:05

Thanks guys, that gives me a great list of boats to research and a bunch of marinas to research. Now is the hard part, deciding on whether or not to commit to putting the boat 2+ hours away, rather than the 20 minutes away that my C25 is now. Making this move would pretty much mean I'm heading up to Lake Erie every weekend to justify the expense of the boat and the greater expense of the marina. I think I'd love it, particulary since I'm going from a teeny weeny reservoir to one of the Great Lakes, but it is a big step.

Edited by - on

Alan Clark
Captain

Members Avatar

406 Posts

Response Posted - 11/09/2012 : 08:49:42

Ben, Sailing on Lake Erie or the Ocean is exciting, But it is important to pay attention to your ability and the weather, Weather comes QUICK on Lake Erie.We sailed on Grand Lake St. Marys than moved up to Lake Erie. Both my wife and I were pleased with our choice. We currently are on Catawba Island-West Harbor-Herls Harbor with other Catalina 25's. We are close to the islands, have No bridge to wait on. There are facilities that work on boats and engines etc all around us. There are good points and bad about all choices but Don't be afraid to make the Jump. Its brings a new dimension to your sailing.

Edited by - on

panhead1948
Captain

Members Avatar

345 Posts

Response Posted - 11/09/2012 : 10:20:07

Depending on what boat you decide on and the draft, there is usually plenty of water in the bay to sail in. If the lake is to rough you can sail in the bay. once out of the bay it is a short sail to Kellys Island. The yatch club at Sandusky Harbor Marina usually has at least one group sail to Canada every year. Dockage for my 25 1500. There are ways to get to the marina without dealing with the Cedar Point traffic. I would guess that the marina is at least 75% sailboats. Good Luck

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 11/09/2012 : 19:18:39

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Ben
 I think I'd love it, particularly since I'm going from a teeny weeny reservoir to one of the Great Lakes, but it is a big step.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I tell ya, it's quite exhilarating heading 10, 15, 20 miles out into the open waters of the lake as the land disappears below the horizon behind you, and there's not another boat in sight. To me, there's nothing better!

Edited by - on

awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 11/09/2012 : 20:09:50

It's a little different move, but when we sold the C-25 and moved up to the Pearson 28-2 we also moved from being on a smallish in-city lake to being on Puget Sound. I loved sailing on Lake Union and was glad to have a boat there at first, but being on the sound with tons of different sailing destinations is another thing entirely and really fantastic.

The drive isn't as much of a factor for us, it is 20-25 minutes instead of 10. Moorage costs were a big factor, we are paying almost double on the sound what our moorage cost on Lake Union (but we also have a much fancier marina). I think it's a worthwhile tradeoff.

On the other hand the small lake was very urban and had more fun stuff to look at close to our slip, what might be the most fun weekly race in the country (Duck Dodge) and we could still go out on the sound for overnighters by going through the locks.

Good luck with your boat hunting and decision. Let us know what you end up with.

Edited by - on

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 11/11/2012 : 18:12:31

Thanks Alan, and yes, I completely believe it would bring a whole new dimension to sailing, which is part of the apeal, that and being able to sail out on a single tack for 10, 15, or 20 miles as Don said. I've never done that and would love to have that ability.

I'm still kicking around the pros and cons, but will definitely post here what the decision is. :)

Thanks all!

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.