seasonal transient

[play dough]

Here's the situation:

We've always had a seasonal slip at a marina and with the exception of a vacation cruise, we drive to the marina, use the boat/facility, and drive home. Retirement is near and the thought is for at least one year, being a season long transient with no home port, jumping from marina to marina as the mood strikes us. We're talking Great Lakes only and primarily Lakes Huron and Michigan. The issue I'm having a little problem with is the logistics of moving a car with the movement of the boat. We don't plan this to be a full time boating thing so trips back to the house would occur periodically. There's the obvious solution of I drive the boat and my wife drives the car, but that prevents my wife from being a part of much of the boating aspect of the adventure. Not to mention that it's much nicer to have her assistance on board.

So the question is, does anyone have a good solution that they have maybe used to move both forms of transportation without cheating their mate out of the "fun"?

 

[boltman]

Play dough Hey there how are you, we were just in ludington ourselves and this is a great question to pose.... It's almost a business Opp for someone. Moving the auto to where the boat is going to be, I can't wait to see suggestions

 

[Ididntdoit]

The crappy economy has provided a great opportunity - marinas that used to have a waiting list for seasonal slips now have empty slips and are willing to "cut deals" this year my "marina time" is split between Newport, RI, Mystic, CT, and Cape Cod, MA - with a few trips in between - I typically use public transportation (Train, Bus) to get back to the car - I then pick up my family. Another option is zip car

 

[moparlvr4406]

ever think of a rental car to drive back to YOUR car ...then rent to go back to your boat and turn it in there :huh:
Enterprise will pick you up and drop you off wherever and an economy car is about 30 bucks a day.

 

[hack4alivin]

I guess that would depend on the distance you would be going to each marina. We recently joined the Baltimore Yacht Club even though we keep our boat at another marina. I keep it at this marina because it is directly behind my house and the Yacht Club is about 25 minute drive. The club has much more to do, and is a lot more fun. So sometimes I tell the Admiral to meet me at BYC, leave a car there, come home and get on the boat and go to the club. That way she gets the boat ride, and we have a car there. It gives us the options we need. This is easy to do because the boat ride and the drive are not far. If you are going to other marinas that are further away for extended stays and still want the convenience of a car then maybe having a rental car delivered to the marina would be a good option.

 

[hack4alivin]

ever think of a rental car to drive back to YOUR car ...then rent to go back to your boat and turn it in there :huh:
Enterprise will pick you up and drop you off wherever and an economy car is about 30 bucks a day.

Beat me to it!

 

[moparlvr4406]

Beat me to it!

like a marsupial......I'm Faaaaaaassstttt :lol:

 

[RollerCoastr]

I have the same challenge - winter and summer marinas are 100 miles apart. Enterprise is great, but the locations I use have limited hours on Saturday, and none on Sunday. It becomes a logistical nightmare in a heartbeat.

 

[play dough]

For the most part, I'm probably talking about rural Northern Michigan so public transportation is minimal (we make cars in this state and don't promote mass transit as a practice). A rental car is something I didn't think of for some reason and will have to investigate cost/availability. My first thought was to maybe offer a marina hand a wage to shuttle us to a left behind car maybe an hour drive time away. Just wanted to throw this out for ideas to develop over the next couple years.

 

[boltman]

I'm going to do a little online time tonight play dough, for northern mi and mich west coast. Muskegon has a great rental car company and I'm thinking traverse city, I'll look for more locations tonight, oh talk with mike and Donna this weekend too, but didnt see you. We stayed on the wall across from you last weekend and went to the city for the 3rd and 4th

ok here you go..Enterprise rentals...
Locations via City...
Holland Mi
Grand Haven Mi
Muskegon Mi
Big Rapids Mi
Traverse city Mi
Petoskey Mi
Charleviox Mi

Can't find a damn thing in the U.P. but somehow that doesn't surprise me...hahahahah
We may use them occasionally as well, Jacobsons in Frankfort was even going to go grocery shopping for Us, I did the laundry...hahaha. They will even Cook Dinner for you and bring it to your boat, isn't that Cool...:smt038