New Member - First Question

[Perdido Bay]

Hello Friends,

My wife and I are complete novices with no experience in sailing. We're reading everything we can find and now are getting to a place where we have questions and need help.

So, our first question has to do with our location. We live in a townhome on a very shallow section of a bay (which has navigable waters out to the ocean.) The Home Owners Association is building a dock and selling slips but the slip length will be 25' and width will be 12' and depth could be as little as 18" due to the shallow area we live on and that reaches so far out into the bay. Can something sea worthy for cruising along the shoreline of the gulf be stored in such a restricted space or are we going to have to consider other options?

We want to buy a sailboat we can grow into and work up to longer trips over time (no interest in blue water - just shoreline and intercostal waterway travel.) We're budgeting $30k but could go a bit more if needed.

This seemed to be a logical first question since we have an opportunity to buy a slip at a good price if we can make it work for us.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[JSSailem]

Welcome Perdido
Not often I get to speak to a "Bay".

We all, at one time, made our first post. Hope you enjoy the forum of ideas and will gain confidence to share more than the name of the bay you live near.

18" of depth is shallow. I have a 15 foot Montgomery sail boat on a trailer in my side yard that draws 16"s, but I doubt you are looking for a boat that size.

So sharing a bit of what you think you want to do will help you get responses that address your interest.

Shooting in the dark, look at day sail boats (assuming sailing is your interest) Center boards with flat bottoms. You can find them in the range of 15 to 20 foot. They can have small cabins and you can scoot across the shallows under sail when the wind is right or by outboard if not. It can be like backpack camping on the water should you overnight onboard. You could also get a skiff with a decent outboard. Buy a larger boat that you can locate near by in deeper water and ferry your goodies from the dock to the more substantial boat.

Just thoughts. In our Pacific NW sailing there are a few shallows but more water that at 20 yards off shore is 300 fathoms. Welcome again. Hope you enjoy your water adventures.

[jdazey]

One of the smaller folding tris would probably do the job. Some of the Farriers were home built and might come in under your budget. The problem will be folding while in the water. Dragonflies do this, but I don't know about the others, and a DF will be expensive.

[jeepbluetj]

That's awfully skinny water. Folding tri or a trailer-sailor is along the lines of what could work.

Lotsa folks berate them, but a Mac 26 has about 12" of draft with the board up. Also lets you go 60mph to windward while sitting on a trailer. I think a trailer boat would be a great idea to get a wider cruising area if you're a weekender.

[smj]

Only catamaran I could think of would be a Hirondelle. http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=5021


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[Cheechako]

You should be able to find a 24-25 ft centerboarder that will work in that situation. Even if it sits on the mud with an extreme low tide. No big deal. I would be careful about purchasing moorage in that situation though, if things are that shallow value would be minimal and who knows, the moorage could be a total loss with a change in the bay.
Better option: rent moorage and and you might get a trailer with a CB boat for winter storage.

[Perdido Bay]

Thanks for the feedback my friends. I think you're confirming what I feared - that these slips will probably not suit our purpose. While the slips are quite affordable, the objective is really to build our skills and take longer trips. And, with us being 5 to 10 years from retirement and wanting to take longer trips when we retire, I suspect stability, comfort, and storage is going to be an important factor!

Thanks again...

[snort]

Somebody's building a dock in 18 inches of water? Are they insane?
Are they running a crane lift service too?

[mcarling]

I agree with snort. 1.5 meters is shallow. 1.5 feet is insane.

The only thing I would consider would be if you can anchor somewhere in the bay and use a dinghy between the pier and your boat.

PS: The HOA is building a pier, not a dock. A dock is a body of water adjacent to a pier.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by mcarling

I agree with snort. 1.5 meters is shallow. 1.5 feet is insane.

The only thing I would consider would be if you can anchor somewhere in the bay and use a dinghy between the pier and your boat.

PS: The HOA is building a pier, not a dock. A dock is a body of water adjacent to a pier.

Depends where you come from:

Oxford Dictionary
Dock: North American a structure extending alongshore or out from the shore into a body of water, to which boats may be moored.

Cambridge Dictionary
Dock: US a ​long ​structure ​built over ​water where ​passengers can get on or off a ​boat or where ​goods can be put on and taken off

Merriam Webster3 a : a place (as a wharf or platform) for the loading or unloading of materials b : a usually wooden pier used as a landing place or moorage for boats

And then of course, there was Otis Redding's "Sitting on the dock of the bay"

[four winds]

Welcome to the forum, PB. Having sailed the bay literally hundreds of times, you're in a great place to get your feet wet. Best of luck and fair winds to you.

Study the charts and notice all the many shallow areas that extend well off shore. Sailing near the shallows is a must to make progress upwind, with an eye on the depth sounder. North or south winds make for easy sailing days on long tacks. East or west winds will provide a great workout going or returning.

I have been gone more than a year, but likely some of my keel marks are still in the bottom there. A slight delay but never got stuck, so don't let it bother you.

You'll know you got it figured out when you can sail from Perdido, through Arnica, into Wolf Bay while mixing it up with the barges and sportfishers.

Check out Pirates Cove if you haven't already. Several avid sailors hang out there. I'll be back in a year or two, maybe see you out there.

[Tayana42]

Take a look at Nimble boats. They are flat bottom centerboard boats based on traditional sharpies. Ted Brewer is the designer. The Nimble 24 draws under 1.5' with the board up.


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[Red Herring]

Can you moor something further out and use the dock for the tender?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Perdido Bay.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Perdido Bay

Hello Friends,

My wife and I are complete novices with no experience in sailing. We're reading everything we can find and now are getting to a place where we have questions and need help.

So, our first question has to do with our location. We live in a townhome on a very shallow section of a bay (which has navigable waters out to the ocean.) The Home Owners Association is building a dock and selling slips but the slip length will be 25' and width will be 12' and depth could be as little as 18" due to the shallow area we live on and that reaches so far out into the bay. Can something sea worthy for cruising along the shoreline of the gulf be stored in such a restricted space or are we going to have to consider other options?

We want to buy a sailboat we can grow into and work up to longer trips over time (no interest in blue water - just shoreline and intercostal waterway travel.) We're budgeting $30k but could go a bit more if needed.

This seemed to be a logical first question since we have an opportunity to buy a slip at a good price if we can make it work for us.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Floats in 14inches.. a Tiki 26.. sleep upto 6 if you include an airbed up top.