How many of you mix boating and camping?

[everthing's irie]

when I was a kid we spent a week every year tent camping on the lake. This was when you could camp anywhere. We'd load up the boat with gear and the family. It must have been a sight. Boat loaded down, & a familyof 4 head across the lake in search of a camp site. You can't do that on corp lakes anymore. You have to camp in designated campgrounds. We loved it.My girls aren't much for tent camping. They have to have ac and a soft bed to sleep on. I have to admit I partial to ac as well.

 

[dpvandy01]

I've towed my boat to the camp ground and parked it next to the campers for the weekend next to my boys from the firehouse just to be "that guy"... I've also "camped" on the boat on the trailer in the wash down bay at the marina at the beginning of the season before the docks were open:thumbsup:

 

[Fetch ND]

It's not the Ritz but I love it

 

[Rock Hall]

We have had a travel trailer in a campground on the Chesapeake Bay for about 7 years. Just upgraded the trailer this yr. We sit about 70 ft from the beach and have a perfect view of the bay. Soon after we started there, I bought a 14 ft aluminum boat for crabbing. That was ok for about 2 more years. Then I bought the Sea Ray. We keep that in a resort marina about 2 miles from the campground. The first couple of years with the Searay, we slept on the boat more than in the campground. Now we are back to spending more tie in the campground, mainly due to fuel costs for the boat.
The area is about 100 miles from home and is in quaint little fishing town on the MD Eastern Shore. 80% of the weekend population is boaters. We go every weekend and have a choice where we want to sleep and hangout. This set up takes most of our money and keeps getting more expensive every year, but we think it is well worth it and are very fortunate to be there

 

[unlvrebel]

Spent last weekend camping on Anclote Key about 3 miles offshore of Tarpon Springs. Boated out with tent and equipment, set up a nice little campground on the beach, got the fire ready, fired up the grill and enjoyed the sunset over the Gulf. The only thing that unnerved me a little was having the boat anchored just offshore over night. But I got past that!

 

[VTSeaRay]

Some pics of our outing last yr. Apparently, I was subconsciously worried during the first night about my boat not being still at the dock in the morning, this was the first time in 8 yrs of owning it, that I'd left it tied to a dock overnight. And, it was a qtr mile away, so first light, I went down and checked on it, it was perfectly fine, but I'd had a nasty nightmare during the night about it. It's interesting what games your mind can play.

One of the Lean-to's in our campsite

sunset shot of a larger island in the west (N. Hero - Shore Acres - for those familiar with Lake Champlain)

Our lean-to, getting ready for dinner.

a later shot west

 

[Marine1]

We go to the lake and camp under the stars in a nice big tent we tie up the sea ray right were we camp. Wife and kids love it and the view of the lake is beatuiful. It is a great place to relax.:smt015:smt015

 

[Capt Skup]

I wish that I could legally tow both the boat and the camper with the truck. One trip to the lake or ocean. We have a 30 foot fifth wheel so when both the boat and camper are behind the truck the length exceeds the max allowable. Combined weight of the camper and boat are about 18,000lbs, well within the GCWR for the 450,but well over 65 feet long. Sometimes I really wish we lived out west.

 

[jamesgang]

We had just put a small travel trailer at a campground on Guntersville Lake w/boat launch & pool. Then we got grandkids. My step-daughter was allergic to something in the camper so we got "allergic-to-the-camper-itis" and bought a brand new 37' camper and used it for 7-8 years. We would drag our fish-n-ski and our grandkids to the lake every weekend for our water play and kept a big 3-seater tube at our campsite. There was also a nice sandbar near the GSV State Park we went to alot. Family would come up often and hang out and we had great friends there too. Those were the best times of our lives. Then we got "boat-itis" and got our first cruiser (25') and had to slip it at a nearby marina. We decided it was too much of a hassle. Grandkids liked the camper thing while we liked the cruiser thing. So we sold the camper. Wasn't long before we got "boat-itis" again and got our 29' SR. Grandkids (teenagers now) love to go out and overnight on the bigger boat but to this day tell us they wish we still had the camper. And my oldest granddaughter (the daughter of my "allergic" step-daughter) is allergic to something in the 290 cabin. Long story short . . . I can't afford another "itis". :smt119

 

[Red Horse]

We have camped and boated many times. When we were at Las Vegas we used to go to Lake Mead, load the boat with everything and find a secluded beach. Talk about gettting away from it all. Dont know if I could go camping without taking the boat unless I was hunting or something like that. There are also some nice campgrounds here in Texas that this works well for. Possum Kingdom, Lake Whitney, Canyon Lake, Lake Travis all have nice campgrounds right on the water. For rocky beaches, we would bring an old tire to beach the boat on and then of course take the tire with us when we leave. Once our little girl gets a little older, we will start doing that again.

 

[NCCamper]

We camped and boated just last weekend. Near Lake Wylie is a park called McDowell Nature Preserve, and it has a small (56 sites) campground. Frequently, I will bring the camper (23' Jayco 23B) to work on Friday, and bring it to the campsite during lunch - it's about 10 minutes from work. After work, I'll go home, hook up the boat, load everything up, and we will head to the campground for a weekend of camping and boating: the best of both worlds! This weekend was a little chilly and windy, but we had the lake to ourselves, almost. Good times!

John

 

[JerryS]

No way, I never done it and demand proof that I have:

 

[Kermit]

No way, I never done it and demand proof that I have:

So, if the boat is not in the water, is it still considered boating? LOL

We did boat camp it as a kid on Lake Powell. Load up the boat for the week and headed out. I would love to do it again but I think I was tougher then. Nowadays, Jordan Lake is 15 minutes from the house. We didn't do it this year but we discussed dragging the popup and boat down for a weekend sometime next season. With a bow rider, it's hard to use the boat as the RV.

 

[JerryS]

So, if the boat is not in the water, is it still considered boating? LOL

Well, yeah, I'm kind of fudging things a little bit. However, when we lived in Rocky Mount, NC., we did leave a travel trailer at a lakeside campsite on Lake Gaston for the summer. We then trailered the ski boat back and forth on the weekends. That worked out very well.