"What I know and can easily find out by calling a marina:
Monthly dockage fee: varies by length and marina
Live aboard fee: varies by marina
Electric: varies with usage
What I don't know:
Insurance costs
Coast guard fees (needed for fresh water living?)
Registration fees
Yearly hull cleaning estimates
Am I missing any other required things?"
We have been
living aboard in
San Diego for over 4-years but are thinking about moving to SW Florida (Cape
Coral or Charlotte Harbor) and just did a careful cost analysis:
$750 for our 40' slip in
San Diego (SD) (no live aboard fee)
$730 for slip in
Charlotte Harbor (CH) ($580 for slip and $150 for liveaboard fee)
$50/month SD electric (metered)
$30/month CH electric (fixed cost) + $5 if AC is used
$50/month for bottom cleaner in SD
?? bottom cleaning in CH
$1420 Insurance in San Diego $0 deductible for any damage
$3200 for identical coverage with same company in SW Florida. The Florida policy also has a 5% deductible for named storms.
$825/year property tax on boat in SD
$500/year property tax in Charlotte county, Florida
USCG documented boat (no annual fee) so there is no registration fee in either state
$4/week
propane in San Diego
$?? In CH
Another “liveaboard” consideration is the availability of Cable TV and Internet access. We have neither at our high-end “Resort Marina” in San Diego. There is no cable to carry the signal to the marina – it ends on the causeway leading to Harbor Island.
$70/month for an ATT Hotspot device that allows unlimited data (Internet/WEB) access on their 4GLTE
network. I usually see 15- 20 Mbs download speeds.
We use only cell phones for telephone access since the marina has no hardwired lines to the docks.
Another “liveaboard” consideration is minor issue with auto insurance. We have a 25-year old
classic car that I have restored. I have put 8x the retail value of the car into the
restoration (dumb but fun). We can not get a “declared value” or “classic car” insurance policy because it has to be stored in a closed, locked garage which is not available at the marina.
Many liveaboard boats have one or more shore side
storage units. We have a 10’ x 10’ x 10’ unit, about 2-miles from the marina, where we keep long term stuff we only need occasionally. We have a 4’ x 8’ x 8’ marina
storage locker for bicycles, tools, boat
parts, and other stuff we use frequently.
$139/month for big storage
$60/month for marina locker
We also pay $20/month for a post office mail box because the marina does not want 1st class mail being delivered to their office for all their live aboard tenants.
On Sunday Jan 4 I sent an e-mail to seven
marinas in
Cape Coral and
Charlotte Harbor. I provided information about us (retired long term cruisers and live aboard), our boat (including beautiful picture), our financial situation (very strong), and our desire to live aboard.
Two responded NO liveaboards
One responded we would love to have you but the marina entrance is only 3' 6" deep
Two did not respond at all
Two said "Yes we'd be glad to have you liveaboard - let us know what we can do to help"