sandydlc
Active Member
I can understand your issue. Having boated in FL for a while, keeping the boat on the south east coast (Miami up to Palm Beach) was accustom to 60' slips being plentiful. No problem at all. Moving out of that area, specifically the west coast, slips for a 60' boat are few and far between. Much more difficult.
Definitely something to consider for the geographic region a person is in.
When we moved our boat from Florida to the Chesapeake a couple of months ago we probably stopped in 10 or so marinas. I don't think a single one was a slip, we spent most nights tied to the fuel dock, or a T head. Limited space available. You learn to love side ties.
Mark
It's just crazy for me to think that there could be a *4 year* wait list for a slip! That being said, I'm guessing that if my name was Bill Gates and I needed a place to moor my 150' yacht, they would find a spot for me! Ha ha!
We have a friend who was dead-set on getting covered moorage in fresh water so for him, he decided to stick with a 40' boat and no larger. We previously had a 30' so moving to a 45' was a good move for us. I know that my husband would not consider anything smaller than a 50' for our next boat and he would love a 60' if all the stars were aligned. But another consideration is the marinas that we like to visit - getting moorage for a 60' boat is very difficult and you're either on a side-tie or you're anchoring everywhere. I was standing next to a very beamy 60' flybridge boat last winter and I felt totally dwarfed and it made me really stop and think about whether we needed that much space. Considering that we're mostly cruising alone these days (our 18 year old son is too busy with work and school to come with us very often) we don't really need to go much larger than 54' at most. The main reason we're considering a change is the features I listed in my original post.
We would not be likely to bring friends aboard for any overnight stays since most of our friends who like boating have their own boats.