Slip VS Trailer Vs Mooring

[Paulieb]

I am currently keeping my Mac on a mooring in the Hudson River, about the only thing good I can say about this situation is that it is fairly inexpensive once you have all the mooring equipment. I am not crazy about rowing out to the boat against wind and current and then having to board the boat from a dinghy (with it's high freeboard) and have to undo the mooring pendants, safty chain, etc. before I can even begin to think about picking up my passengers.

I am curious what everyone else is doing, and maybe you could respond to the following survey:

1) I am cheap and I keep my boat on the trailer and launch at a boat ramp.

2) I am rich and always keep my boat in a slip, ready to go.

3) I am neither cheap nor rich and keep my boat on a mooring and love it.

4) I am neither cheap nor rich and keep my boat on a mooring and hate it.

Personally I am at number 4 at the moment, looking for a way to number 2 on the cheap.

Feel free to add your own comments, likes, dis-likes and experiences.
Trying to figure out if the expense is worth it to slip the boat next year so tha I can start to save for it now.

Paulieb

[The Mutt]

I am currently keeping my Mac on a mooring in the Hudson River, about the only thing good I can say about this situation is that it is fairly inexpensive once you have all the mooring equipment. I am not crazy about rowing out to the boat against wind and current and then having to board the boat from a dinghy (with it's high freeboard) and have to undo the mooring pendants, safty chain, etc. before I can even begin to think about picking up my passengers.

I am curious what everyone else is doing, and maybe you could respond to the following survey:

1) I am cheap and I keep my boat on the trailer and launch at a boat ramp.

2) I am rich and always keep my boat in a slip, ready to go.

3) I am neither cheap nor rich and keep my boat on a mooring and love it.

4) I am neither cheap nor rich and keep my boat on a mooring and hate it.

5) I keep my boat on a trailer and launch at a boat ramp as I live away from the water and enjoy sailing in different places

Personally I am at number 4 at the moment, looking for a way to number 2 on the cheap.

Feel free to add your own comments, likes, dis-likes and experiences.
Trying to figure out if the expense is worth it to slip the boat next year so tha I can start to save for it now.

Paulieb

Paulieb, if you don't mind could we add number 5

if that's alright I'm number 5

Glenn

[Terry]

There is no cheap for #2, it costs!
If you live in a northern clime where they have winters you might find seasonal/transient moorage in a slip and purchase 3-6 months worth, that might qualify for #2 on the cheap, I used to do it. Now in order to keep my slip for the next season I have to pay year around but I only slip during season and keep it in the driveway for winter. Ouch, that hurts, I really don't like it.
Mooring is not an option here, at least not for me.
I trailered the first year but after a few yelling matches at the ramps and near fist fights the Admiral insisted on a slip. Yes, it is rather expensive but the convenience makes it worth while. I have a place to visit and just put my feet up and we also do a lot more sailing than we would if we trailered. It really is quite a luxury and we are not rich or we would not own a Mac. Once you try a slip there is no turning back.
A viable alternative that I may consider in future is mast up dry storage. There are a few such facilities here and they are half the cost of a wet slip. You simply drive down to the marina, hook up the hitch and drop it in, the same as wet slip, you are ready to go except for the one extra step of launch. The down side is that you really have to watch the tides to make sure they are in your favour, so you are a bit of a prisoner to tides. If I was only doing trips and no day sails I would seriously consider this as an alternative. For now I will enjoy the wet slip. The other downside to dry storage is location, the location makes it a bit of a run to get out where one can hoist the sails in my area whereas the wetslip is 5 minutes from sail hoist. Nuff said.

[Retcoastie]

# 5 here.

[Wind Chime]

Lets add:

#6 - I keep my boat rigged on the trailer ready to launch, at the marina, in dry storage.

Terry is right, we are slaves to the tide as we need a least 6 feet to launch or pull out. And the last thing we feel like doing after coming home from 2 weeks out on a trip, is to drive in circles for a half hour waiting in line to pull out.

[nedmiller]

We are a #5 and keep the boat in the driveway. We may get an inspiration and want to head out to a lake we have never been to before and if it were in the water somewhere, it would be too much trouble to follow that inspiration. We also keep it in the drive because I'm cheap, but the main reason is that I love going out and working on the boat! Somebody on this site will post a mod or give me an idea and I'll go out to SILK and measure and work and enjoy an evening 'on the boat'. When the house is full of guests and we need an extra bedroom, Kathy and I volunteer to go out to the boat...where we have a glass of wine and look at the stars before we go into the quiet cabin to sleep.
We had a different boat on a mooring and I think it took almost as much time to actually get under way as it does to just put up the mast and drop the boat into the water. Add that to the fact that on that boat we didn't keep the stays tight enough and one windy evening the pounding on the mooring demasted the boat! Although we were lucky on the amount of damage actually done, the bottom was all green and slimy when we pulled the boat and if you add the amount of cleaning time I know we are better off with having it on the trailer.

[Rick Westlake]

Lets add:

#6 - I keep my boat rigged on the trailer ready to launch, at the marina, in dry storage.

'
I'm part of the #6 crowd ... but I had a slip at Fort Belvoir Marina, VA for 2007 and 2008, till I retired from DoD. The price was little more than my current "dry slip" arrangement - and my boat was five minutes from my office. But it was on the Potomac, and about an hour's drive from home.

After I left there, I kept Bossa Nova in a storage yard close to home for two months. Then I moved her to her present home, on her trailer at Casa Rio Marina (home of A-1 Sailboats, the Macgregor dealer of the Chesapeake Bay for quite a few years - and still very Mac-friendly.)

The tides on this part of "The Bay" are maybe one or two feet, at most. I haven't been held hostage to them; plenty of water for me at low tide, here. I've rarely had to wait more than a few minutes to launch or to retrieve. The mast stays up, the bottom stays dry between sails, and the biggest drawback is that I still have an hour's drive each way to the boat.

When the Marina closes its ramp - usually in early November - I'll probably keep the boat with them in winter storage. But I'll need to arrange with them to put it where I can get at it, because I hope to haul her down Florida way at least once or twice between then and spring 2010.

Maybe add a #7 - "I use her as a live-aboard during my vacations, and as a funny-shaped travel trailer on my way there and back." Like Mike and Sandy, on Chinook....

[Russ]

I'd go with dry storage mast up if price were prohibitive.

We slip ours at $650/year compared to a friend in NJ who pays $12k a summer. It's nice to just load and go. But if I had to pay much more, I'd go with dry.

--Russ

[Highlander]

# 7 I'm poor, cheap & keep my boat in a slip
because I'm 1hr away from the water I will not drive that far for a days sail & set up wait an hr or more at the ramp and sometimes longer when you return 30-70 boats in the line up you could be waiting up to 3hrs
So as I usualy stay for the wk-end which is always a three day event for me if the forecast is good as I work a 4 day wk , but if the weather forecast is bad for the wk-end I'll stay at home & if it should change for a good days sailing I'll jump in the car & head up to the lake because I'll be out of the marina in about 2 mins & same when I get back to my slip
As I stay on the boat for three days in a row & go evey wk-end when poss I found the cost of fuel trling the boat back & forth ramp fees & very few safe anchorages in my area so the cost of a wk-end slip if avail on top of that , can be more than the cost of a seasonal slip
That said I waited 4yrs on a waiting list to get into the marina I'm in now so I'm not to eager to give it up !
but due to travel schedules last yr I did not get my boat in the water until Sep, & this yr due to a shoulder injury I just got in my first sail of the yr with Q1
So like Ned Miller I said to myself as I cant do any sailing right now I might as well keep the boat home & get some of my Mods finished & as the weather has been really bad this yr I have not missed much !! in fact we are just now starting to get some summer weather
As Terry said I still had to pay for my slip to keep it in my name !
But it is nice to be able on a whim to just say I'm going sailing no hook up, no ramp line up , no alotting 3hrs a day for ramp launch & retreive due to long line ups at the ramps even longer on long wk-ends drive up to the boat park 50ft from it right at my slip turn key bye bye in two mins I'm sailing , that said cant wait until next yr

J

[John McDonough]

I found a nice Marina in Erie Pa, which prefers to make you rent a spot for the whole season, but if they have extra spots, I can dock for $270.00 a month minium and $9.00 a day after that. Clean Showers, flush toilets, picnic and grill area. (250 boats and I never see 10% ever leave the dock)

I spent 30years of trailering every 2nd or 3rd weekend to different lakes. A real pain in the butt, and a lot of work. Once you leave your boat in a Marina, it kinda spoils you.

[ROAD Soldier]

Shop around and look around I pay $125 on southern chesapeake and that includes limited electricity enough to power air dryers and a trickle charger. However I think the best would be a place that doesnt have any power lines or trees between you and the water ramp. That way you could have everthing rigged up and just drop it in and pull it out. The benifit would meen no bottom paint needed for saltwater and would take as much time as it would to untie from docking posts.

[Gazmn]

#3 Is somewhat me:

3) I am neither cheap nor rich and keep my boat on a mooring and love it.

I just don't love it

NYC Parks Marina - If you can believe it. With a 24 hr. launch service

Cost: $1800 a season, + I tip the launch guys, Great kids, they keep an eye on things; 3 years no problems.

Also, No electric So I use a generator and solar panel that can't keep up

But it is 15 mins from my house

[dxg68]

I pay $1000 a year for membership at Fairport Harbor Yacht Club + 40 hours of work party a year. It includes everything – slip, winter storage, ramp, very nice facilities, two club houses, your own place by the dock, water, electricity, nice people… Great price for Lake Erie in Cleveland area. This year I built my own dock and keep my boat in a slip since early April. I can’t count how many times I was sailing this year. I can go sailing for three hours after work on any day. It is nice to keep your boat in a slip always ready to go. Personally I wouldn’t have a boat if I had to launch it at a boat ramp all the time.

[Divecoz]

we are far from rich........ but I slip my boat for $2K a season. Lots of friendly folks to socialize with even if we dont sail that weekend.
Its cheaper than the maintenance alone on what was our vacation lake home and no yard work. Its cheaper than the house we had on Cozumel and No hurricanes or expensive flights 4 to 6 times a year.
I agree with those who say trailering is a nice option when I need or want to, but if that was our only option we never would have bought this boat.

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

Paulieb...real interesting survey questions. We, and a couple of other Macs rent a full time slip at a bargain: $90/month each locally.

All three of us Mac owners previously trailered to a mast-up facility locally, which had tie up piers, private showers, rest room facilities, and gated entry. We were charged $25/month. We liked this for a year or so, but got tired of trailering, rigging, and so much wasted time...

I put a bottom job on my "X", and have rented a full time local slip for 2 years -- renewed for 2 more years. My other 2 Mac friends have done the same...

Having a wind-protected slip, in an upscale marina, water, club house, showers, elect., entertainment programs, etc. -- is best for us, comparing to trailering, rigging, and wasted time. Its been great fun, especially since this entire area is an excellent boating and sailing community, etc. Security is great, fine neighbors, and cleanliness make our slip a bargain.