Those of you that travel great distance to boat

kiloil

kiloil

Member
Sep 15, 2013
191
Tallahassee, Florida
Boat Info
2015 25' SLX 8.2L-SOLD
Engines
BOATLESS
My wife and I travel 2 hrs each way to boat for 6 hours or so and then drive back. Do most of you have trailers with your boat? Also do you continue to do this or do you buy a second home close by?
 
You will get many different responses here. We have ours on a trailer and currently keep it at home. We have Lake Lanier-1.5 hr west and 3-other large lakes 1.5 hr east. Right now we pulled it 3 time/month to one of them. I have kept it at home for convenience of working on it. We have contemplated keeping it in covered dry storage closer to the water. However, we like the different options we have and not being locked down to one lake.

Bennett
 
3 hours from the boat to home for us. We leave it in a wet slip for the season and stay on the boat as our summer lodging while there, hence part of the reason for the name Summer Quarters, that's exactly what she is.

She is too wide in beam to easily trailer without permits so she spends the winters on the hard near our marina.
I would consider a trailer to bring her home for major repairs or in the event of a hurricane, but currently don't have one.
 
I have been on both sides of this. Our first boat we had, 20 years ago, was a 1994 SR200BR Select on trailer. At the time we lived 20 minutes from a very nice lake in central Ohio. But we also used to take it out of state and to many other lakes, it was fun and we enjoyed it very much. But it didn’t always allow us to spend a weekend, unless there was a camping area to pull the boat close to and camp out.

Fast forward 20 years and now we have our 330DA. It is 1 1/2 hours away from the house. Of course we are able to spend time at the lake and on the boat. Its nice having the boat in a wet slip, just walk out to it and hop in and take off right away, if we want. Many of our friends on the dock travel as much as 4 hours to get there.

We have talked about getting a home close to the lake, maybe even just a weekend get-away. But at this stage of our life, we aren’t going to do that, but will likely do so as we get closer to retirement.

I miss not being able to see other lakes. But we enjoy the convienence of having a slipped boat, on a lake we really like, with dock friends that we have and that it is only 1 1/2 hours away. I feel like the weight of the week leaves my shoulders as we get out of the DFW area and as we cross a larger bridge that goes over our lake, i ALWAYS say to my wife with a smile “I’m home!”, and I mean it.

Matt
 
I live 1.5 to 2 hours away and drive to the boat every weekend. I don't mind the drive because it's far enough away from home and work I don't think about it and close enough of I have to get back I can.
 
We used to have our boat in a lake next to our house. The marina was 7-9 minutes away. Was there 20 years. Got burnt out and moved it to a lake 1.5 hours away. It's now our 'lake house', only better. Great view that can be changed if necessary and no yard work. I'd buy a bigger boat with a cabin before I bought a land-based home. Not sure about your area but our dock life is very enjoyable and we've made some great friends with like interests.
 
We drive 25-30 mins from home and currently thinking of perhaps moving to enable us to have it docked at the bottom of the yard.
 
Me neither. 3.5 miles for us. Its nice to pop down and have lunch on the boat in the middle of the day. Often, heading back to the office becomes optional at that point
 
we are about 12-15 miles from home. we haven't even put the boat in the water yet but have paid for our membership and been down there several times. the weather has been horrible so hopefully drop the boat in this week. there are several small marinas within a mile of us. its the end of a smaller river dumping into the ohio river. we are right at the end and the smaller river is all no wake area. hoping we have good luck and enjoy this new hobby. we are pretty excited about it but trying to do it right. i started the safety course last week online. will finish it up this week. the wife will be completing it as well. our dock neighbors have been great and a wealth of information for us, as well as members here. Thanks!!!
 
We drive 6 hours every single weekend between Memorial and Labor Day to use our boat. We have a place on the lake and do not stay on the boat. I wish we had a good lake in Iowa. I bought a plane and flew to the boat for 3 of those years….I soon realized I was a boat enthusiast and not an aviation enthusiast.
 
Two hour plane flight - with the accompanying pre and post air travel time.

Was a decision based on the desire for coastal cruising without moving.

We live on the boat while we are there. Trips are typically 9-14 days at a time. I work from the boat a portion of the time, so its all not vacation. It becomes more a second home - which has a different view all the time.

Works for us, might not for everyone.
 
We have also been at both ends of this - having a 2 hr journey each way to slipping at our home at the bottom of the garden.

In recent years we choose our home based upon access to the boat - just this spring moved to a downtown Vancouver townhouse from a West Vancouver home with a dock (though we still had to have a marina slip it was 4 mins drive away). Now we slip a 5 mins walk away from our home in false creek Vancouver.

The day may come when we change our views on this - but we love dock cruising on the summer nights when we are not going somewhere on the boat - so we choose our home based on meeting that objective - and if the sun is shining, unless we have other commitments we have dinner and or cocktails at the boat every night during the week after work.

I have a lot of admiration for some of you above with the dedication to travel this far.
 
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we trailer 2 hrs each way to the lake/s, I've often thought about trying to afford a slip, or maybe a piece of land with a slip or a house with a slip
 
Mine stays in dry storage for about 8 months out of the year and contemplating full year, but that down time allows me to do the necessary maintenance to the boat, cleaning, etc. I do like the idea of leaving on a Friday after work, stay in our beach house (they we don't have yet) then coming home on Sunday. I feel as though I am missing the small times (when weather cooperates) by waiting on an entire Saturday or Sunday to boat. It doesn't appear that I getting those evening cruises, those mid day lunch cruises etc.
 
Currently if I were in the water I would be 20 minutes. I'm moving and that's will put me 45 minutes out. We will probably put us an hour out. Long story.
 
4 hours to the coast for us (boat in wet slip). also have house there. we go 1 to 2 weeks per month in summer, less in spring and fall. 45 minute plane ride altho we rarely fly there anymore.
 
jthatcher said:
I will never complain again about my 30 min drive to the slip.
Click to expand...
Nor I about my 15.
Craigalan said:
Me neither. 3.5 miles for us. Its nice to pop down and have lunch on the boat in the middle of the day. Often, heading back to the office becomes optional at that point
Click to expand...
Neighbor's wi-fi = work from "home" option for me! (He was pleased as punch when I gifted him a handle of bourbon earlier this summer--I guess nobody else has thanked him for the freebie before!)

To the OP: I might think about a larger/differently appointed boat and a wet slip before I thought about a second home. If you travel 2 hrs to a house and spend any time offloading and organizing there, then trailer to a ramp to launch, you've lost more boating time. If you have a cabin cruiser in a slip, you offload while the Admiral warms up the engines and then you're gone. If it's iffy weather, you go anyway; if the forecast comes true, you stay at the dock and enjoy time with your neighbors. If the predicted weather doesn't arrive, you've salvaged a weekend that you might not otherwise have had.

Run your numbers--if you're currently trailering every weekend, figure what your gas spend is for towing vs. not. Estimate the extra wear/tear on your tow vehicle. Think about whether you'd go more often if you didn't have to tow. And then there's the upkeep on the second house that you'd have to do yourself or pay someone to cover, like lawn mowing, etc....and there goes even MORE boating time, not to mention boat gas money!

Friends who live 1+ hour away from the lake did exactly that, and found it was less expensive to slip, even though they have to pay year round whether their boat is in it or not. They didn't upgrade to a cabin cruiser, but it made sense for the boating lifestyle they want right now. They kept their trailer, too, so they still have flexibility to bring the boat home for winter/maintenance or to go visit another lake if they feel so inclined.
 
We're 125mi from the boat, 2.5hr drive. We always take 3 day weekends and go every week. Don't mind the drive at all, it gets us to where we want to boat.
 
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