Slip vs Trailer Storage

[Jim Cate]

I'm considering moving my 2004 M from a "mast up" lot with launch ramp to a slip in a local marina and would like information and recommendations about positive and negative factors I should consider. (One reason I'm considering moving is that our particuolar storage lot is for sale, and I would prefer to move at my own initiative rather than being told the lot is being closed.) From an initial investigation, there are slips available for around $50 more than I'm paying to park my boat and trailer.

Negative factors I'm aware of include the fact that the boat would be subject to environmental problems and related expenses that I don't have now. For example, I would have to have a bottom treatment, repeated every few years. Also, the boat could be banged around in the event of storms, high winds, etc., and the motor could be subject to more deteriation (although I think I could keep it covered and up out of the water). I understand that it's preferred to keep the ballast tank full. - Is it recommended to keep a little clorox, or swiming pool tablets, in the ballast tank to minimize build up of marine life?

On the positive side, it would be substantially easier to take the boat out and bring it back and dock it, so I think I would be doing more sailing. One marina I was considering has nice facilities, including swiming pool, restaurants, water, electricity (metered), and various other services, and is about 12 minutes from our house. (This is a fixed rather than floating dock, so there would be some issues relative to "play" on the dock lines during tide changes, etc.) Also, I could sleep on the boat with access to shore power, water, etc., which we don't have at the dock now.

I would be interested in any opinions, comments, recommendations, etc., particularly from anyone who has tried both wet and dry storage.

Thanks,
Jim Cate

[Captain Steve]

Dont forget you would still have to pay to store your empty trailer, for future use!

[Night Sailor]

I pay $2900 per year for a slip. It's a huge convenience. And after 6 years of traileringI'll stay with it as long as I can afford it. This morning is a good example of why it's worth it sometimes in unexpected ways. For three years I've been trying to get a good family friend to go sailing with me. He has a hellacious work schedule and responsibilites so couldn't get free for a sail until I got a call at 10:53 this morning. "I"ve got three hours before I have to be in a wedding. Can we go sailing?" I said meet me at the boat. We both had about five miles to drive. By 11:15 we were motoring out of the marina. Only 5 kts wind, and it was flaky but it was a beam reach, so with no ballast, and the full gen unfurled we moved along well at about 3knts. I gave him the helm and puttered around the boat for awhile then looked back and saw he had tears in his eyes. When I asked if he was okay, he said yes, that it was the first time he had truly relaxed in months. That made my day. So he sailed until we had only 20 minutes before he had to leave. In goes the gen, down goes the Merc. and we do 15 knots all the way back, where he can leave for the wedding with minutes to spare, and a big smile on his face.

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

To point out the flip side.

I'm very happy that our boat is in neither a mast up lot or a slip. It lives at home next to the house on the trailer. Yes we do pay a 45 minute penalty coming and going, but to me saving $250 a month more than makes up for that. I'm not so pressed for time that I can't spare the setup time. Over the last few years we have also been making more trips sans-mast. This reduced the in and out time to less than 10 minutes.

The advantages besides the cost savings are many. No worries about bottom paint or growth. No worries about corrosion. The boat stays clean and dry in it's boat house garage (one of those tarp and frame garages.) Doing maintenance is simple and easy with the boat in the back yard. Nothing goes splash. Stored this way I expect the boat to last far longer than stored in the water. I think there is significantly less depretiation. You can also choose Puget Sound today, the nearby lake tomorrow, the far-a-way inland lake another day. Maximum flexibility with minimum effort and cost.

Even with all this, the number one reason I don't want my boat in a slip is I don't want to always have to start a trip from the same place. Keeping the boat on a trailer takes advantage of all the strengths of a Mac. You get to where you want to cruise at 60 mph on the freeway. After a simple setup, you launch and with an empty ballast tank can cruise at 12-15 knots into the cruising area. Then you flood the tank and maximize your time enjoying boating in the pretty places verses spending hours in transit.

[Bobx]

I have kept my boat at a slip for the past 2 seasons and couldn't imagine not having a slip now. I only pay around $1500 per season with no electricity and no shower facilities but it is in, what I consider, the most beautiful spot at the mouth of a river in Long Island Sound. I can catch stripers and bluefish right from the dock. Where else can you get beachfront property for $1500/year? It is really relaxing after a hard days work to just have dinner in the cockpit and set up our small 12 volt tv/dvd player and watch movies at night (sorta like the old drive-in theaters). We spend many weekends on the boat and use a sunshower. If I want to take the boat out all I have to do is lower the motor or raise the sails.
It's really not that expensive to apply a barrier coat while it's sitting on the trailer, just a matter of a little bit of sanding and a gallon of paint (coulple hundred dollars at most).
Bob

[Catigale]

Slip or trailer you both get

Where else can you get beachfront property for $1500/year?

[Jim Cate]

Dont forget you would still have to pay to store your empty trailer, for future use!

We have a small side yard behind a fence in which I could store the trailer for free. - Wish I had room to store the boat, but I don't.

I'm finding that slips are available for around $100 to $200 per month. If it means more sailing, I'm thinking the costs may be fairly reasonable.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether keeping the ballast tank full, perhaps with some added clorox, would have any harmful effects on the fiberglas over time?

Jim

[Duane Dunn, Allegro]

Since I store the X on the trailer at home, my beachfront property only costs $140 a year for the tabs on the boat and trailer. Heck, we often have our own private island for that price.

And that's the main point of my post, if the boat was in a slip there would be no way could get to, enjoy, and return from that private island in a weekends time, let alone a different private island on the next trip. The ability to cover a large area at 60 mph is a big key to our enjoyment of the boat. Limiting my family to a the same30-60 mile range everytime would get very old fast. The Northwest has thousands of miles of coastline to explore. Between Washington and BC there are over 200 marine parks. The Mac is the perfect boat for maximizing our time in these amazing places.

[pokerrick1]

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether keeping the ballast tank full, perhaps with some added clorox, would have any harmful effects on the fiberglas over time?

Jim

Jim,

Don't use much Chlorox - - - use real small travel size -- - that's plenty - - - says the guys at the factory (Roger doesn't seem to talk about such stuff) and my dealer.

Rick

[Terry]

As they say in Real Estate, it's location, location, location.
I have slipped the past three seasons at Point Roberts Marina right at the 49th parallell, for 4-6 months, next year will be 4 months. I can drive to my boat in 15 minutes and be out on the Georgia Strait in less than an hour from my home, (it still takes a bit to get under way). The location is second to none and I can be in the San Juan or Gulf Islands in short order. (Parking the trailer on the marina property is free). The convenience tempts me to go sailing much more often than I would if I had the perception of the hour of set up and take down at the launch ramp and the potential for hassle with other boaters. It does cost a bit more but it sure is nice to return to "our slip". Being so close makes it possible to have a dinner sail on a work night during the longer days season. Any other launch location makes getting out to sailing waters time extensive and discourages spontaneous sailing urges. Living up in the Pacific Nortwest means being governed more by seasons and sailing season is not that long here so having a slip means getting more sailing time in per season. I spent my first year trailering but once I got the taste of a slip there was no going back. It does cost a bit more but then it also costs a bit more to tow the boat, pay launch fees & parking then motor out to sailing areas, the difference in cost is not that much but the difference in time spent towing rigging launching etc is huge. (time & effort spent maintaining the hull bottom for slip storage is huge too). It is really a matter of personal preference, but I would recommend trying both to discover which suits your neds best.

[Carl Noble]

Jim Cate wrote

I think I would be doing more sailing. One marina I was considering has nice facilities, including swiming pool, restaurants, water, electricity (metered), and various other services, and is about 12 minutes from our house.

Adding bottom paint........................................$500

Getting off from work and being
on the water in ten minutes
with little effort...............................................PRICELESS

Going on a moonlight sail on a weekday
and coming back to the dock and on
your way home in 10 minutes...........................PRICELESS

Being on the water during the week when
there is much less boat traffic...........................PRICELESS

Knowing you can put the boat on a trailer
and travel to where ever you disire...................PRICELESS


As the NIKE commercial says..........JUST DO IT!

[Jim Cate]

[quote="Duane Dunn, Allegro"]

And that's the main point of my post, if the boat was in a slip there would be no way could get to, enjoy, and return from that private island in a weekends time, let alone a different private island on the next trip.


As far as I know, the marina wouldn't force me to keep the boat in the slip year round, and would let me put it on a trailer and drive to a different location, if I wanted to. In other words, I'm not "stuck" in the marina if I don't want to be. (Although realistically, I don't do much trailering anyway.)

In our particular location, most of the good sailing is within a few miles of the marina. Or, we can motor down the Houston ship channel to Galveston and the Gulf for blue water sailing.

Incidentally, what is a "marine park", and what facilities or activities do they offer?

Jim

[theroche]

I have my 99X located in my two slip dock on lake Travis. Having it located in my backyard makes it very accessable and can be sailing at a moments notice. However this accessablity does have a negative effect. It makes me think twice about trailering somewhere. Having a MAC gathering in the Houston area might just be the trick.
Good luck
mike

[Terry]

Incidentally, what is a "marine park", and what facilities or activities do they offer?

Basically a "Marine Park" is a tax payer owned facility much like Yosemite nat'l Park and other land parks that are federal or state owned. The facilities offered range from nothing more than an outhouse to ones with mooring buoys, picnic tables, campsites, shelters, dinghy docks, hikiing trails and more. Marine parks are family oriented and offer great adventure for children and adults alike to discover, not to mention the privacy of anchoring or tying up to a buoy.
I have yet to discover a marine park with showers, shore power hook-up, water hook-up, gas stations, stores, restaurants and all the other luxuries of a mairna but then they are not geared that way, they are "Parks" in the marine environment. Some folks enjoy the marine parks while others enjoy marinas, I like both but will only stay one night at the park, then I will head to a marina for a shower and perhaps a park after that, I like to alternate.

[LOUIS B HOLUB]

Jim...I and 3 other MacGregors have moved next door to Legend Point. We had new bottom jobs done by Sailventure, Inc., which is the most reasonable pricing in this area. He does does good work.
I hope you take a look at Legend Point, it has real nice surroundings and facilities--public meeting facility for parties, etc., 3 well kept bath houses with laundry, and the slips are 'wind protected' Boat slips have water and electricity. The facility very well maintained. Management is on site 7 days a week, and there is a Harbor Master available 24/7.

Louis