Moorage Madness

Jan 7, 2011
4,727
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
I am paying $2,292 a year (about 6 month season) for a 35’ slip. Price hasn’t changed in several years.

Marina isn’t full, and a nicer, larger one (albeit more expensive) is 3 miles away…so competition is working I guess.

Both are municipal marinas.

I also pay them about $1,190 for winter storage…includes haulout, power wash bottom, jackstands, 24 hour security.

Greg
 
Nov 21, 2007
631
Beneteau Oceanis 34 Kingston, WA
We have moved around a lot in the fairly short time that we have been sailing. Our current and previous slip (in Tacoma) were 36 feet, prices include tax, electricity, and things like fees for having and reading the electric meter.
  • We are currently moored at Port of Kingston, NW of Seattle - 36 foot slip, ~$390/mo, will be ~$410 next year. Depending on the size of your boat, there is a multi-year long wait list for permanent moorage.
  • When we were in Tacoma at Foss Harbor Marina we paid $401 in 2017 up to $430 in May of this year.
  • I don’t have info on our payments to Olympia Yacht Club, but we think it was in the $300s per month. That included a monthly billing of their annual dues, which you could reduce by volunteering to help maintain the facilities or run the club. We always tried to volunteer just enough to get the maximum possible discount.
We checked in to joining the Tacoma Yacht Club, but their total charges were almost identical to FHM, and once you factored in the obligatory club fees and extras (keeping the restaurant in business) may have cost more... we could walk from our condo to FHM, so that was a no-brainer.

OYC had the reputation of having the cheapest moorage rates in Olympia, which was true. The down side was that it was an extra 10 minutes or so to and from your slip to Budd Inlet, when compared to the large municipal marina. Another marina in Olympia might have been marginally cheaper, and even closer to “sailing”, but we were afraid of falling through the holes in the decks of the shabby docks.

When we were relocating to Kingston, nearly all of the marinas that we contacted had a long wait list. One private marina did not, but said that was unusual, and we would have needed to take the slip that they had available almost immediately or risk finding ourselves on their wait list.

One thing that we had heard a long time ago, was that in this area even though there is a cap on the proportion of slips available that can be rented to live aboards, moorage prices are still rising rapidly because it is much less expensive to rent a boat in any marina than to rent or purchase a home of any kind nearby.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,401
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
35 years ago I paid $100/month for a 40' slip 16 feet wide. Power and water included.

A few years ago they increased it to $125/month. Inflation, but I also got and end tie with outlying pilings (24' width). So, about $1500/year., no haul out needed.

(Mid-Chesapeake Bay)
 
Nov 21, 2007
631
Beneteau Oceanis 34 Kingston, WA
Why do many marinas quote moorage by the month when you moor your boat by the year ?
Probably like the differences in purchasing and owning Real Estate, most of the marinas in this area have leases that are month-to-month. They require a security deposit, just like an apartment rental, but (unlike an apartment rental) do not require an annual lease agreement. Maybe we’d have more respect for our facilities if we required a longer term commitment form the tenants?
 
Apr 8, 2010
1,942
Ericson Yachts Olson 34 28400 Portland OR
Hi all -- Not sure if I feel better or worse after reading.... We pay $1k/mo at Elliott Bay Marina (north end of Seattle's Elliott Bay) inclusive of electricity. Parking is unlimited and the facility/services are really good.

Sean & Lori
Good Golly! I knew that the Seattle area was expensive, but $12K a year is 'off the charts' expensive. :yikes:
 
Nov 21, 2007
631
Beneteau Oceanis 34 Kingston, WA
Good Golly! I knew that the Seattle area was expensive, but $12K a year is 'off the charts' expensive. :yikes:
For our 34 footer, 11 NM from Elliott Bay, the annual cost is about $4650. But, for a 45 foot slip here, @seanmadian would have to wait on the list for 5 - 10 years for a slip.

Elliott Bay Marina is (relatively speaking) downtown Seattle, next to the cruise ship docks. There is a small marina that is right downtown, but I don’t think they have any permanent moorage (do they?).
 
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Jun 8, 2004
994
C&C Frigate 36 St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia
Moorage for my boat is actually a mooring off my water front; we purchased the property 30 years ago when ocean-frontage was still affordable in my area. The mooring maintenance cost averages out to about CDN$200 per year for chain, rope, shackles, etc. I had to rebuild my dock and float three years ago, as the original that came with the property had reached its end of life. That set me back about $25K with my BIL and I doing all the work except the pile driving. A turn-key dock would have been closer to $50K.

Hauling, winter storage, and launching at the local marina is $3K per year. So, over 30 years, my costs are in the region of $4K per year - somewhere in the middle of what folks here are posting. Interesting.
 

RoyS

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Jun 3, 2012
1,739
Hunter 33 Steamboat Wharf, Hull, MA
Here, south of Boston: Winter Storage with haul-out, launch and shrink-wrap, $3,100. Thirty-six foot slip for summer season (last year), $5,400. Mooring Permit, $230. Insurance: $1,200. Total $9,930. I am fortunate to be in a marina that lets me perform my own maintenance. I know people who bought a boat at the boat show and could not find a place to keep it last summer. Expensive hobby around here and I cannot keep it up much longer on my fixed income. Fun while it lasted.

Edit: Wind is still free.
 
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DougM

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Jul 24, 2005
2,242
Beneteau 323 Manistee, MI
Mooring… Zero dollars annually for the last 24 years. I have deeded 50 foot seawall mooring with shore power that came with the place when I when I bought it. (never mind that it impacts my property tax, but I probably couldn’t break that apart.
My “ big cost” is winter storage from mid September to mid May that has increased from about $2.50/sq foot to $3.50/sq foot including haulout and re launch annually.
 
Nov 23, 2020
30
Hunter 45DS Seattle
For our 34 footer, 11 NM from Elliott Bay, the annual cost is about $4650. But, for a 45 foot slip here, @seanmadian would have to wait on the list for 5 - 10 years for a slip.

Elliott Bay Marina is (relatively speaking) downtown Seattle, next to the cruise ship docks. There is a small marina that is right downtown, but I don’t think they have any permanent moorage (do they?).
Yes, Seattle is expensive! We love the equa-distant access north to the San Juans and to the South Sound but it hurts. l

The smaller marina on the Seattle waterfront is Bell Harbor. I think they have around 20 slips but I think they are largely/entirely transient moorage slips.

Sean
 
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Oct 29, 2016
1,915
Hunter 41 DS Port Huron
A few years ago the wife and I were looking to move to Connecticut near the Connecticut river, the house belonged to her uncle who was suffering from dementia, the house needed considerable work but the house would have come to us at no cost. While investigating mooring/docking options I was very surprised at the lack of options available, if you wanted a dock for a 40+ ft boat anywhere near the sound you had to purchase it, at what I would consider the price of a home >$100K plus all the attributed fees.
I did look into a yacht club about a mile or (2) up the river from Long Island Sound, but all they offered were mooring balls (pretty much all you can get in the area). There is a list of requirements to the mooring ball solution (understandably so), you purchase the mooring ball, you must have it engineered by so and so, you must hire a certified mooring ball diver to put the mooring in (end of April) and remove it (end of October), you must pull a mooring ball permit from the local community (every year), you must have the mooring ball inspected every year by yet another official diver. All and all the mooring ball solution was if I remember correctly about $3500-$4500 (plus club fees, haul out and winter storage) every year.
Well unfortunately we didn't move, the wife just wasn't ready to relocate so far away from friends and family, I was so looking forward to sailing in one of the best locations (so I have read) on this planet, along with the ability to so easily head South during the cold months........Oh well.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,995
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Yes,
Bell Harbor
Bell Harbor Marina offers accommodations for approximately 70 boats, 30 to 150 feet. Stay close to home and rediscover downtown. Guest moorage is available year-round.

Marina Amenities

  • Year-round saltwater guest moorage
  • Reserve a slip up to 2-years in advance
  • Groups and yacht clubs welcome
  • Monthly moorage available September-May
  • Locked gates and 24-hour security
  • Restrooms and free showers
  • Free garbage and recycling
  • Sewage pumpout facility and portable pumpout available
Currently offering a discount coupon... see the website at Bell Harbor Marina Moorage Rates and Info
 
Nov 23, 2020
30
Hunter 45DS Seattle
Yes,
Bell Harbor
Bell Harbor Marina offers accommodations for approximately 70 boats, 30 to 150 feet. Stay close to home and rediscover downtown. Guest moorage is available year-round.

Marina Amenities

  • Year-round saltwater guest moorage
  • Reserve a slip up to 2-years in advance
  • Groups and yacht clubs welcome
  • Monthly moorage available September-May
  • Locked gates and 24-hour security
  • Restrooms and free showers
  • Free garbage and recycling
  • Sewage pumpout facility and portable pumpout available
Currently offering a discount coupon... see the website at Bell Harbor Marina Moorage Rates and Info
Just a follow-on to add, that it's a PERFECT spot for a visit all year long as it's a short walk to the waterfront, or up to Pike Place market and the downtown core.

We often have date weekends or meet friends there as it's so central/easy. The marina is also incredibly well maintained and an excellent spot to whole up in a blow from the west. :)

Sean
 

Tom J

.
Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
I am a member of a volunteer yacht club, and, as others have mentioned, it is an affordable way to keep a boat. We also live aboard at the yacht club each season, and being around other hard working boaters each day is an added benefit. I look forward every morning to meeting a great group of guys for coffee on the deck of our clubhouse.
I once rented a mooring for a couple of nights at an exclusive yacht club in Connecticut, when the weather kicked up in Long Island Sound. The folks there were very gracious about letting us stay on a mooring for a while, even though we were not a reciprocal club. Our visit to the clubhouse was an eye opener. The dining room had china place settings, and the waiters had gold epaulettes on their uniforms. The men's room had an attendant, just like a Four Seasons hotel. It occurred to me I could not afford the membership fees, let alone the mooring and storage fees.