Please Weigh In

[WDCboater]

I've had a thread going for a few weeks in the MidAtlantic forum, but I want to get input from the broader group.

First some background:
My boat is docked in Washington, DC. What many people may not know is there are only a few hundred slips over 25' in Washington, DC. Three of the marinas are owned by the National Park Service and one is closing Dec 31, displacing 60 boats. One of the other big marinas in DC, Gangplank, will be closing soon as well as work continues on the Southwest Waterfront development. They are not accepting new boats. Columbia Island Marina has a 4 year wait list for a slip over 25'. Alexandria City Marina, across the river in Virginia has a wait list as well and is not in the best shape. National Harbor, just south of DC charges more than anyone else on the Potomac and you pay a minimum of 40'. They are also pretty full.

About three weeks ago the government contractor (Guest Services) that runs our marina announced some major policy changes.

• No more monthly billing, all annual slips must be paid in (2) payments January 1 and March 31. Seasonal slips must be paid March 31.
• Annual slips will now run January 1 - December 31.

This second change is my big complaint. Essentially they are starting and ending slip agreements in the middle of winter! Every other marina I checked in this area runs March/April to Feb/March.

I actually spoke to the regional GM for Guest Services yesterday who is actually a nice guy and experienced offshore boater, but he didn't see my point. He claims there's no reason to winterize before Dec 31 if you plan on leaving the marina. I told him he's nuts.

Not only that most recreational marine insurance policies require layup from Nov 1 - March.

So here's the big dilemma. There's no where in DC we can move our 36' boat even if we wanted to. We could leave DC and move down to the Occoquan river, where our dealer has a slip waiting for us or one of the other marinas down there. This would put the boat about 45-60 minutes from our house in traffic. We're currently about 10 minutes from the boat, which makes it convenient to hop on it even if just for lunch.

Our boat will actually be on land for the winter for maintenance, so our only way to keep our slip is to sign a new annual agreement and pay for Jan, Feb, March even though we won't be there. (Our current seasonal agreement ends Oct 31)

Your thoughts? Am I really making a bigger deal out of this than it should be?

 

[Do Over]

personally I would move to the dealer slip...45-60 minutes is a small price to pay for not being pushed around by unreasonable practices.

 

[Bay B's]

It seems odd. They are not trying to modify existing contracts, correct? The most important thing is your happiness with the location and facilities. Can you stay and get past your issues of the policy changes and be happy? If not, time to move on. There are some dockers at my marina that have been members for 10+ years that drive up to 2.5 hours to get here because they love the location.

 

[wyrman]

We have to pay for 12 months at our marina if we want to keep our spot, whether our boat is there or not.
I pull my boat in October and put it back in, in the spring and put it in our barn, but I still have to pay the slip fee.
Our fees aren't really that bad though.

 

[WDCboater]

It seems odd. They are not trying to modify existing contracts, correct? The most important thing is your happiness with the location and facilities. Can you stay and get past your issues of the policy changes and be happy? If not, time to move on. There are some dockers at my marina that have been members for 10+ years that drive up to 2.5 hours to get here because they love the location.

Seasonal contract expire Oct 31 so no mod there.
People with existing Annual Contracts are essentially null and void effective immediately. They will be billed at their current rate Oct 1 for Oct-Nov and then if they want to stay they need to sign a new agreement effective January 1.

Oh here's the other kicker.
50% of slip fees are due Jan 1 (Merry Christmas)
Second 50% are due March 31.

The marina is a great location in terms of places it's close to. It's more than it being close to my house. If I move down to the dealer it's about 1/4 tank of gas if I want to come back to DC and that's each way. So there's added cost in operation.

In the end I think we're going to accept the changes, but I feel like NPS is allowing their contractor to take advantage of the situation. The one thing the contractor can't do is RAISE fees. That is regulated by Park Service.

 

[JeffM]

We've been in two marinas over the last 10 years. Both have had annual contracts, and both have required payment in either one or two payments, but paid in full before the start of the season.

 

[WDCboater]

We've been in two marinas over the last 10 years. Both have had annual contracts, and both have required payment in either one or two payments, but paid in full before the start of the season.

We're actually totally fine with this. What we don't like is the Jan 1-Dec31 contract. We prefer the contracts to start/stop in the spring.

 

[Gofirstclass]

WDC, taking a 30,000' look at what you've said, what difference does it make with the start/stop dates? I can see a bit of a financial pinch in having to make your annual payment on two days spaced so close together. But even that can be overcome by budgeting for the total throughout the year and saving some each month.

It sounds to me like you'd prefer to be in your current marina. Please don't take offense at this because what I'm going to say is not meant to offend, but if I were in your shoes I'd make whatever adjustments I had to make in my financial life to accommodate the changes that have been forced upon you.

 

[islandhopper00]

It's their ball, either adapt or organize an uprising. haha

Really, It seems to me there are two options:

1) Suck it up and play by their rules.
2) Move to your dealers docks and enjoy yourself there.

 

[WDCboater]

WDC, taking a 30,000' look at what you've said, what difference does it make with the start/stop dates? I can see a bit of a financial pinch in having to make your annual payment on two days spaced so close together. But even that can be overcome by budgeting for the total throughout the year and saving some each month.

It sounds to me like you'd prefer to be in your current marina. Please don't take offense at this because what I'm going to say is not meant to offend, but if I were in your shoes I'd make whatever adjustments I had to make in my financial life to accommodate the changes that have been forced upon you.

The difference has to do with whether you renew at the end of your agreement or stay.

Basically if your contract starts and ends Jan 1 then you either have to commit to another year at the marina or move before you winterize in the fall. By Thanksgiving boats here are winterized and you don't tend to de-winterize until mid March.

If the slip agreement goes April 1 - March 31 (Just like the other marinas around here) you have the option to move if you're not happy each spring. They essentially are putting themselves off cycle with everyone else.

This is why I was seeking feedback to see if I'm more crazy about this than I should be. In terms of paying the slip fees, that part is irrelevant to me. We'll pay them when they want them.

 

[Venmous28]

It seems as if you've already explained that there are no other marinas to move to besides the dealer in the next few years. How does the date shift make a difference if there is no where else to go anyway? Seems like stressing out for no reason.

Things change, which is happening currently. What's to say all other marinas won't change their policies to the same by the time there is another marina available?

 

[skolbe]

We have marinas in my area that renew 1/1 and others are 4/1. When I switched marinas, the new marina let me move my boat there at the end of season with a $500 deposit for the next season. My original marina was a 1/1 renewal and the new one was a 4/1 renewal. So it worked in my favor.

 

[WDCboater]

It seems as if you've already explained that there are no other marinas to move to besides the dealer in the next few years. How does the date shift make a difference if there is no where else to go anyway? Seems like stressing out for no reason.

Things change, which is happening currently. What's to say all other marinas won't change their policies to the same by the time there is another marina available?

There are other marinas about 30 miles down river, near where our dealer is located. However, slips are hard to come by in DC, as in the city. Policies can change elsewhere, but it's pretty common in our area, and on the Chesapeake that slip agreements correspond with spring to spring.

Late today I got to talk to NPS and they are reviewing the decision to change the dates. We haven't been the only boaters at our marina to complain. I was just wondering from the group if we're being unreasonable.

 

[JVM225]

Many people around here go to mid November before pulling their boats and winterizing.
D.C., being a few hundred miles south of here, shouldn't present a problem with waiting until at least mid November to winterize and/or haul the boat.
If the contracts expire on 12/31, and you decided to go elsewhere the following year, you really would only be giving up like a month.
Your reluctance to make a move now kind of indicates that you'll probably stay put for a few years.
So, in the entire scheme of things, I don't see a big deal with the change.
In fact, since it sounds like you really love the spot, and you've indicated how difficult it is to get slips in DC, I think I would just go with the flow if I were you.
We have a couple of municapal marinas around here. They are nearly impossible to get in to. You need to be a resident (which I am), and either get in via a lottery in one place, or sit on a waiting list for about a decade or more at the other.
The draw of both places is price. They are significantly cheaper than commercial marinas, or even working boat yards, in the area.
The down side is that they are run by the municipalities, and not necessarily by people wth boating experience.
I tried getting in to both of them for several years before buying waterfront property to keep my boat on. In fact, I'm still on the waiting list for one of them since 2007.
I remember talking to a few lucky people that were in these places while I was trying to get in, and hearing their complaints.
At the time, I would have gladly traded places with them.
Sounds like if you were to leave tomorrow, they'd have no problem getting someone to take your place, and that person would probably be more than willing to deal with the terms of their contract considering the scarcity of availability in a desirable spot.
Probably best to not blow a good thing.

 

[WDCboater]

Many people around here go to mid November before pulling their boats and winterizing.
D.C., being a few hundred miles south of here, shouldn't present a problem with waiting until at least mid November to winterize and/or haul the boat.
If the contracts expire on 12/31, and you decided to go elsewhere the following year, you really would only be giving up like a month.
Your reluctance to make a move now kind of indicates that you'll probably stay put for a few years.
So, in the entire scheme of things, I don't see a big deal with the change.
In fact, since it sounds like you really love the spot, and you've indicated how difficult it is to get slips in DC, I think I would just go with the flow if I were you.
We have a couple of municapal marinas around here. They are nearly impossible to get in to. You need to be a resident (which I am), and either get in via a lottery in one place, or sit on a waiting list for about a decade or more at the other.
The draw of both places is price. They are significantly cheaper than commercial marinas, or even working boat yards, in the area.
The down side is that they are run by the municipalities, and not necessarily by people wth boating experience.
I tried getting in to both of them for several years before buying waterfront property to keep my boat on. In fact, I'm still on the waiting list for one of them since 2007.
I remember talking to a few lucky people that were in these places while I was trying to get in, and hearing their complaints.
At the time, I would have gladly traded places with them.
Sounds like if you were to leave tomorrow, they'd have no problem getting someone to take your place, and that person would probably be more than willing to deal with the terms of their contract considering the scarcity of availability in a desirable spot.
Probably best to not blow a good thing.

This is pretty much the dilemma we've been debating. Our dealer's marina is actually one of the nicest facilities around our area, but it would cost a bit more. However, that amount would be saved in travel fees we pay when their techs come to work on our boat.

Our current Marina is a good location, but nothing fantastic in terms of amenities. We have no store, no restaurant, untrained staff. Just docks, parking and a fuel dock. When I spoke to the GM, who manages 9 marinas for the govt contractor, he said he was just hired and he has extensive boating experience. He was basically brought in to fix up the place. Also because NPS lost nearly $50k this year in people not paying their slip fees. He also told me condos are going in next door where the now abandoned USCG HQ building is located and his company will be putting in a new 120 slip Marina with floating docks. I feel like that would be a good potential move in 4-5 years when it's done.

The general consensus I get from feedback here is we may be complaining a bit. What it does mean if we stay is we'll adjust our winter maintenance schedule. We were scheduled to pull the boat this winter and pay for land storage. Now we'll probably stay in water and pull for a week in the spring for work.