Temptations... have you been there?

[Brian D]

With my Lancer 27PS being 50 miles to the south of me, I found a temptation at the marina I want to be in. Yesterday I stopped by both marinas in my area. Oceanside puts me at 43 on the wait list. I had moved only 19 slots from the beginning of the year. I am not sure how many slots I move from last year. Over at Camp Pendleton, where I really want to be, I have virtually not moved at all. Being retired military, active duty are put at the top of the list and I get moved back down to the bottom. Currently, I am 26th, same as last year.But here is the temptation. While at Camp Pendleton, I found a Ranger 33 for sale. The asking price is $18k. I haven't see the inside yet but the outside looks like it needed some work, not much mind you. The bottom deffinitely need a cleaning and maybe a paint job. With the outside is such a minor state of repair, I wonder what the inside looks like.Maybe I should take a look at it and see what it has to offer. But the temptation of getting into the marina I want is pulling at me.Have you been there and if so, what did you do?

 

[Fred Ficarra]

Brian, are you assuming that the berth goes with

the boat? Maybe the owner wants to put his new boat in that slip.

 

[Brian D]

LOL!...

Oh!... Never thought of that. Althoughtit is a military slip and one must be military or retired to occupy the slip.Crap... good point. 

 

[Dan]

slip issues

Brian, what I've heard that some people do to get in quickly at O'side is to buy the worst boat in your slip size need - power or sail (make sure you get it in writing that the slip transfers), then either you sell it or take it to another marina to sell or donate. Its risky and there may be cautions about accepting a crappy boat in another marina. If you're successful then your slip would be waiting for you then in an area that you want. Be advised that boat prices tend to be higher in O'side because of the transferability and demand.

 

[Drew]

Dunno...

...what goes on in Cali, but I was offered slips at marinas in my part of the world that were "impossible" to get in to by just showing up, repeatedly, and nagging, with a smile, of course. Worth a try...

 

[Liam]

West Coast slips

I just got a slip in Santa Cruz. They have a waiting list that is very long. They go strictly by the list, no favors, no jumping.I had been on the list 16.5 years before my name came up!I have been driving 200 miles round trip every weekend. My boat has been in San Francisco.I won't miss driving but I will definately miss the San Francisco Bay.

 

[Brian D]

Holy cow!!!

16.5 years on a wait list? What size boat?Dan, I have thought of that and investigated the possiblity of buying such a craft. However, if you go to the archives you'll find a post on slip costs in Oceanside and what kind of charges are applied to a transfer.I guess patience will be the test of me. I'll wait.

 

[Doug Burton]

GAD ZOOKS!

Sounds like rent controlled Manhatten apartment! I had no idea it was that hard to get a slip anywhere.

 

[abe]

Could be worse...Santa Barbara you pay about ..

175k for the permit to a 36ft slip if you are lucky to find one. You get an ugly broken down slip that you do not own....you only own the permit to it. You still have to pay the city monthly slip fees. Well, at least you can get one for the right price vs waiting 16 years.

 

[Liam]

30 foot slip

Yeah, 16.5 years for a 30 foot slip!Santa Cruz harbor has only got about 800 slips. Half of them are on the other side of a low bridge that you have to lower a mast to get under.This in an area with about 250,000 people. Great example of supply and demand.

 

[Jim on Whiskey Girl, 1973 C-27]

Del Mar Basin

Brian,  Well the O'side harbor list is about 3 years wait, so did they happen to mention that it costs $75 each year to stay on the list? That caught me by surprise this year. I moved 12 places on a 75 person list.  O'side does let you transfer a slip when you purchase a boat that already has a slip. For a fee of course, and remember thinking it was pretty steep too. But they still have about the lowest per foot cost in Southern California, except for the Navy at Fiddler's Green on the strand south of Coronado. Dana Point, where I'm at now, is again raising their fees 4%, since the cost of living in Orange county has went up 4.5% this year. Wish my boss would peg my salery at cost of living  I was told by a guy contemplating a Mexico cruise, that he was offered a good price for his boat + $5K for the slip. The deal was after 2 months he gets to buy the boat back at the sale price and make his cruise w/ an extra 5K, since the other guy just wanted the slip. For something like a C-27, having a transferable slip is worth about $2K to the purchase price around here.

 

[Liam]

Santa Barbara

I have heard stories about the harbor officials in Santa Barbara being less than honest (read crooks).I met aguy who told me he took the right person to dinner and left an envelope on the table with $50K in it and had a slip within a month.Then he sold the $10k boat that he put in the slip for $125k two months later. Said it happens all the time. A real money machine for the right people.I didn't believe it at first, but the more I hear about Santa Barbara the more I believe it.

 

[Brian D]

Dana Point

Jim, yes, I pay $75 a year to stay on the list. I did the check on the transfer of slip and posted about it here several months ago. It was steep. I am wanting to move closer to home but where I am in Chula Vista is not bad. I just get tired of sailing in South Bay. The water isn't very deep there so I'm limited on where I go.I was on the list for Dana Point. When I went there to check my status, I looked around and saw that the marina was small and docks were very tight, plus the cost was getting too high for me. I see the 29' slips are up to $450. Sorry, that is too rich for me. I took myself off the list and got my deposit back. I'll wait.

 

[NYSail]

Wow,

And people complain about costs on Long Island. And I only have to drive 7 minutes from my house and I am on my boat.Are there many moring fields around these harbors on the West Coast were you can keep your boats? I grew up in San Fransisco as a young boy and do not remember the boating situation...we had a place up in Tahoe.Greg

 

[abe]

Global Warming will solve everything...

lots and lots of new slips will be available. Ah I will be sun tanning in Alaska.

 

[Calif. Ted]

Very few harbors other than the really big ones

have any moorings on the West Coast (Calif. at least) and where they do exist they are usually some of the most expensive in the world. San Diego being the one exception with free or low cost mooring fields but they are changing that.