Need to vent - $3000 for dockage?

[noonmark]

Still working on readying our new to us Com Pac 19 for the season... but I have yet to find a place to keep the boat. I have sailed small (easily) trailerable boats and large sailboats (that aren't mine) for many years, so I guess I was out of touch with dockage prices. This is eastern Long Island, NY where the price of most everything is overinflated, but that didn't prepare me for the quotes I have been getting for local dockage. From $2400 to $3400 (!) for the season (May-Sept.) That is close to what I just paid for the boat itself. Yes, I am willing to moor - that runs the bargain basement price of $1800... not even a well protected spot. I have ads on craigslist and the local paper looking for homeowner dockage and my one response was looking to charge close to the marina. The only reasonable rates are at the few remaining grandfathered in town moorings that requires your name to be drawn from a (political) lottery system, of which I have been on the list for 3 years.

I hope its not this hard in other places of the country. Or maybe I'm just cheap?

[Bob23]

No it's not just your cheapness- that is just highway robbery! Down here in souther nj, it's almost that bad but marina prices are a bit lower. I guess I'm living the dream having a free, protected mooring in Surf City, NJ. That's me- furthest out.

Can you just trailer to boat to a ramp and launch? I know it's more work but the 19 is pretty easy to set up. Beat being ripped off by the man.
bob23

[NateD]

Small slips at commercially run marinas run between $1,300 to $4,000 here in Minnesota. The $1,300 is for a slip on the rocky shore of Lake Superior (no place to really anchor overnight, limits you to day sails or longer adventures to the other side of the lake), and those marinas are located about 3 hours from the major population center. In contrast, a slip on a large lake or wide spot on the St. Croix or Mississippi rivers located within 20 minutes of St. Paul/Minneapolis run about $4,000. Lots of congestion on the water during the weekends, but you can anchor overnight and don't have to drive 3 hours to get to your boat.

There is a municipally owned mooring field near St. Paul that costs about $600/year (you provide the ground tackle), but you get no other services and the waiting list is very very long. There is a municipal marina about 1.25 hours south of that where slips run about $1,300 (compared to $2,200 for the commercial one next to it), but again the waiting list is long (I've been on it for two years and there are still 90-some people ahead of me).

The worst part is the MN sailing season is only 6 months long. If you could divide the cost over 12 months of sailing it wouldn't be so bad....

[Billy]

I'm with Bob on this one. Just trailer it. The 19 isn't too bad to set up. My wife and I can get it in the water in less than 20 minutes. There are many different places to go when your boat is on a trailer! When your boat is in the water you can only go as far as your boat can sail in a day of so.

Now that I installed a trailer on my boat, it can go 60 mph straight into the wind!

[Salty19]

Wow, that's a lot of cash for a slip.  I pay $550 for may 1--oct 30.  Slip with no electric or water but good security/lighting and 20 mins from home.  No other srvices at all.  Granted it's a small lake and Ohio is in general much less expensive than the east coast.

[Glenn Basore]

The high cost of boat slips and dry storage is one of the main reasons I bought a trailer boat, no cost to have it sitting on my drive way!

I must admit, if I could have her in the water all set up and ready to go, I would do it.

Glenn B

[SpeakEasy]

Thanks, guys; you've made me appreciate what I've got. I am a member of an inland, lake-based yacht club. I can moor my boat (my own ground tackle), I can tent-camp for the season on the shore on a wooden platform - with electric hookups, and be part of a socially-active membership with a pool, clubhouse, bar, launching ramp... all for less than $2000 per year. The lake is 40-some miles long and 2-3 miles wide. It's accessible to the Erie Canal system, so I can get to anywhere from here by water. Last coupla years the price has been going up pretty rapidly due to taxes and insurance increases. I've been complaining, but now that I see what some of y'all are up against, I feel a lot better about my situation.

-Speak

[noonmark]

I'm glad to see most of you have it better than I do...haha. Seriously though, if you have a place for your boat at a reasonable cost don't take it for granted. I am fortunate to live less than a mile from the water and some of the best sailing in the northeast, but it's frustrating not being able to afford to simply keep my boat floating somewhere in it. I know this is part of what Com-Pacs  are all about- their ability to trailer sail easily, which I am now considering. I am moving up from lasers and sunfish, so a Com-Pac 19 hasn't always fit in that same catagory for me. So, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed on finding something but at least trailering is a route I can take.

[Bob23]

   As I  understand it, Noon: The rising marina costs were a factor in Compac moving away from fixed keel boats to the current offering of centerboard boats. It also was a reason for the MastTender system. I think they're trying to make thier boats truly trailerable which I do not consider my 23 to be. Well, yes, I can trailer it but I would think of it as a trailer sailer.
   I guess maybe I take my free mooring for granted. It's ironic, that in a state know for over-regulation (NJ) that there exists a place where I can sink my own mooring for which I'm totally responsible and moor my boat for free. I hope none of the talking head politicians are reading this!
bob23

[skip1930]

Yea my dock fee started out at $1300, then creeped up to $2500 over the next 4 years...ENOUGH!!
I found an excelant spot in a 'man made' 400' x 90' x 12 foot deep cut leading to the channel between
The Bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin for free. Well almost free,
I had to build the floating U- shaped docks for the landowner's boat, the mayor's boat and finally my boat. The fee is
free, and has been that way for five years. Here is the CP-19, Wave Runner and a Sovereign 28, Whistling Swan from 2500 foot.

skip

[brackish]

Wow, that's pretty expensive.  I pay about $1300 per year if paid in advance.  I have floating docks so no worry about line adjustements for  pool level changes.  Also have unmetered power to run my charger, fans, freeze protection heater, power tools, etc. (live aboards and those with AC are metered)  Don't have water at my slip, but can go over at any time to one of the transient slips to wash down, fill tanks etc.  I can also have a dock box on my finger pier for supplies and stuff that I don't want on the boat.  Marina has shower and restroom facility, reasonably priced ethanol free gas, and ice.  There is a trailer storage yard for my trailer, no additional charge.

Since I can sail year round it is worth it for the boat to stay in the water.  If at home, I would have to tow 35 miles each way and go through the mast raising every time I wanted to sail.  I'm sure I would sail a lot less.

[jthatcher]

i think that i am going to move down next to brack!    or maybe get to know bob a whole lot better, since Adagio is only a few miles from his mooring  
  we do not have a trailer for the boat - i have considered it, however, and probably will continue to do so.  The fact is, at this point in time, i don't really have a place to keep the boat on a trailer.. our lot is very small. 

so, for the time being, we will stick with the marina..  1850 for the slip, including electric.   but, by the time the haulout, winter storage, bottom paint ( which only they can do)  are done, I figure that we are close to 3000 for the year.

my rational is that, if we went to the ocean for a week and stayed there, it would cost at least 1500.. so, as long as i am down there more than 2 weeks in the summer, i am ahead ..    and i plan on being down there a whole lot more than 2 weeks..    of course, it is a lot like camping, but the boat is a lot bigger than our backpacking tent.. and the facilities are very nice, including a pool to jump into after a day on the water.. 
  so far, i am pretty content..  if the economy tanks again..  we may have to consider an alternative plan!   maybe that is when i will move down next to brack...       jt

[Bob23]

   Of course there is a downside to my free mooring. While being somewhat protected, I'm still vulnarable to the strong WNW winds we get around here. And if combined with a blowout tide, I can touch bottom unless I shorten my lines, which I have to do a few times a year. Usually every October we get this condition so I'm ready for it. It hasn't been a problem yet.
  A few years ago we got a quite sudden Nor'easter  that brought 60 mph winds with her. I don't think I slept at all that night, expecting to not see my Koinonia the next morning. But, alas, there she was, taking it all in stride. Indeeed, she seemed to be almost showing off riding the waves, one after another. Having an anchoring sail helps a great deal in conditions like that.
  So while some of you guys may have to shell out $,  there is a security to being in a marina, I suppose. I'm just too dang cheap! Plus I like the look of her out there on her mooring! She's been called the Queen of the Cove.  Here she is, to the far left with my sons boat just to the right:

[mrtoad]

beautiful photo -

mr toad

[Bob23]

Thank you, Mr. Toad. btw, Mr. Toad and I had a brief but very pleasant phone conversation the other day. One of the greatest perks of being on this site is having the chance to meet some of you in person. And the Compac RonDayVoos are an added bonus, too!
bob23