Good Location Near Richmond?

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by saltwaters wife

Deltaville is the best kept secret to marina's for sailboats. We have up here, yes I am sitting in the heart of Deltaville. We have up here Deltaville Marina, Norview Marina, StingRay Point Marina. These are just to name a few of the big marina's here. It is lovely, quaint, and peaceful not too mention "safe" to live here. Depending on your lifestyle will depend on how you like the area. I would check out these marina's on the web call them and see what they can and cannot do for you. I know they all lowered their boat slip prices and have both covered and uncovered slips. Oh another thing I just called Norview the other day. They do not allow ANY liveaboards! You will need a car to get around. There are no major shopping centers here. Deltaville Market for groceries, a gas station, and of course fire dept, medical care. You may also want to check out Gloucester, VA area. They have quite a view marinas but I do not know what they allow and don't allow. It is a bit bigger town with hospital, shopping centers. Only big chain store there though is Walmart. Richmond has it all the big city around here.
Hope this helps

Great! Lots to check out & I guess I need to remember to ask about live-aboards. Do you currently live in Deltaville in a house? We will have a car with us, so it's ok if it is a bit remote, but we will want to work from our boat & so I do need to make sure I have good voice & data for AT&T. How's your cell coverage & who is your carrier?

[saltwaters wife]

Oh Boy.....We have At&t too it is hit and miss around here. I actually live about 20min from here in Gloucester County. Deltaville is Middlesex County. The cell service is getting better but sloooowly.

If you find it isn't working for you, you may want to switch over to Verizon. It is the main carrier here but I love my AT&T and refuse to give it up. Your business will depend on a good carrier. Out at the marina you may not have any problems. A lot of ours around here is trees. Winter you get better signal because the leaves have fallen and signal gets through better.

So, your probably wondering what is this lady doing in Deltaville. I am a full time pet sitter and home sitting with a little almost 16 year old Bichon. I am here quite a bit!

[Badsanta]

Reedville viriginia just north of Deltaville has several wooden boat yards. Not much there but very inexpensive.

[capt-couillon]

Check Powells in Deltaville. I have been living aboard here for about 6 months while I refit to head south. Quiet, well protected, very small at the head of Jackson creek. Lg West Marine close by, lots of riggers, mechs, and a good sail loft as well. Great owner, docks and shower house rebuilt last year. 8-10' water at low tide, close access to the Bay, no bridge or power line issues.

Re: Cellphone coverage. In Deltaville, Verizon is the only 24/7 reliable coverage. Don't know why, but all the rest are flakey most of the time. Richmond (downtown) 1hr 20 min (71 miles).

David

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by saltwaters wife

Oh Boy.....We have At&t too it is hit and miss around here. I actually live about 20min from here in Gloucester County. Deltaville is Middlesex County. The cell service is getting better but sloooowly.

If you find it isn't working for you, you may want to switch over to Verizon. It is the main carrier here but I love my AT&T and refuse to give it up. Your business will depend on a good carrier. Out at the marina you may not have any problems. A lot of ours around here is trees. Winter you get better signal because the leaves have fallen and signal gets through better.

So, your probably wondering what is this lady doing in Deltaville. I am a full time pet sitter and home sitting with a little almost 16 year old Bichon. I am here quite a bit!

So good AT&T coverage will be one of our deciding factors. I love living aboard but also love my business & keeping in touch w/family, and do just about everything from my phone. I guess I'll need to ask marinas who they use & how the coverage is. If you ever find yourself near the Dozier's marina, if you feel like taking a walk to the water & seeing how many bars you have on your phone, I'd love to know!

I grew up doing dog shows - my mom bred English Setters & dachshunds. Then I moved on to horses but married a sailor who is also a wooden boat guy, so we've just spent the past 2 years restoring our 76 year old boat and moved aboard early August. Still a bunch of things to get done, but we're mostly there

How long have you been pet sitting? We'll be looking for people who want to work with us in VA, so if, in your travels, you run across someone who's looking, keep me in mind

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by Viturina

We have just launched our 76 year old wooden boat, and are endeavoring t live aboard. The boat needs to swell, so we don't plan on heading too far south (Virginia). We're in Mass right now. Looking for a relatively small, peaceful marina where we can get to with a 65 foot mast height. Planning on being there about 6 months, so hoping to get a seasonal rate. Any thoughts? I know Richmond can get cold but since we were thinking of living aboard in Maine, cold is a relative thing. We are more concerned about worms in warm water getting into the seams (which are still swelling, since the boat's been out of the water for 6 years). So colder water is a plus, and we have no problem covering the deck with some type of plastic/greenhouse type arrangement. Cruising will come later. Right now we just want to give the boat time to swell, and also be able to live aboard. We have our own business, and can work that anywhere we have cell phone coverage. We will also drive a car down from New England, so this is really not the cruising lifestyle, but we also don't want/need to be in a marina that's high end, price wise. Nice showers, friendly people, 6' of water and the ability to get to the marina with 65' mast. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Jen

Ok so I'm relatively new to CF & doing it all from aboard on my phone, courtesy of AT&T (I am supposed to get wifi at this mooring, but do not) and from my phone I can't figure out how to post a new comment w/o quoting someone else's comment. I have an iPhone 5, so that's the phone I'm on. How do I do this?

Also, here's another requirement - need great cell coverage at whatever spot we are in, so does anyone know whether or not Doziers in Deltaville or Urbanna have good cell coverage with AT&T ? Thanks for the help - looking forward to the move

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by CaptFrankM

As I mentioned above, we currently live in Urbanna, which is about twenty minutes closer to Richmond. There are three marinas in town. Urbanna town dock is nice, but no live aboards. Dozier's Port Urbanna is nice and has brand new floating docks. That's where we are now. Urbanna Yachting Center is older and a bit rough. We were there before moving here. UYC has the closer thing to live aboards. Officially, they don't allow it, but times are tight. They make allowances.

The best part about Urbanna is that it has all of the services that Deltaville has, just more compact. Everything in Urbanna is within an easy walk.

Hi again - just posted a question about cell coverage (we will need & want it). We are looking closely at Doziers urbanna so I'd love to know who you use for your cell (we have AT&T) and how to coverage is at that marina? Thanks!

[CaptFrankM]

We use Verizon for cell phones and "normal" data and I use AT&T on my iPad. Dozier's has Wi-Fi on the dock. I have not used the AT&T connectivity in the marina, but I will stop by there this evening and see what kind of signal strength I get.

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by CaptFrankM

We use Verizon for cell phones and "normal" data and I use AT&T on my iPad. Dozier's has Wi-Fi on the dock. I have not used the AT&T connectivity in the marina, but I will stop by there this evening and see what kind of signal strength I get.

Thanks so much! I know Verizon is the main carrier in the area, but if there's good coverage at the marina itself for AT&T, that will be fine (I think!). Are you living aboard? Can we live aboard there?

[CaptFrankM]

We are not living aboard right now. We have lived aboard from 05 until last fall, but we decided to do one last major refit before cutting the cord next fall. We rented a house until next July. Then we will be "long term cruisers" until we actually depart. The marina manager's policy is, as long as you leave periodically for a couple of days per month...

At Urbanna Yachting Center (literally, right next door, if you walk the waterfront) , we were living aboard. We decided to stay at Dozier's because we got a floating dock and we were closer to the yard guys who are still helping with the refit.

[saltwaters wife]

Originally Posted by Viturina

So good AT&T coverage will be one of our deciding factors. I love living aboard but also love my business & keeping in touch w/family, and do just about everything from my phone. I guess I'll need to ask marinas who they use & how the coverage is. If you ever find yourself near the Dozier's marina, if you feel like taking a walk to the water & seeing how many bars you have on your phone, I'd love to know!

I grew up doing dog shows - my mom bred English Setters & dachshunds. Then I moved on to horses but married a sailor who is also a wooden boat guy, so we've just spent the past 2 years restoring our 76 year old boat and moved aboard early August. Still a bunch of things to get done, but we're mostly there

How long have you been pet sitting? We'll be looking for people who want to work with us in VA, so if, in your travels, you run across someone who's looking, keep me in mind

Hi Jen:
We can check out Doziers to see how well AT&T works. No problem. Possibly this weekend if that's okay? I have been pet sitting for seven years now. Had to cut back on some of my clients. Can't seem to find good help and would have loved to been able to hire one full time person. But, no in the cards I guess. Not right now anyway. What is it that you and your husband do for a home business? It is possible you already said but sorry I have forgotten.

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by CaptFrankM

We are not living aboard right now. We have lived aboard from 05 until last fall, but we decided to do one last major refit before cutting the cord next fall. We rented a house until next July. Then we will be "long term cruisers" until we actually depart. The marina manager's policy is, as long as you leave periodically for a couple of days per month...

At Urbanna Yachting Center (literally, right next door, if you walk the waterfront) , we were living aboard. We decided to stay at Dozier's because we got a floating dock and we were closer to the yard guys who are still helping with the refit.

Ok - I must be getting confused. Can one live aboard at Dozier's in Urbanna? I'll call them too, but we will be living aboard & don't want to feel unwelcome or that we're somehow breaking the rules by being on our boat all the time. That said, we do travel for our business, and will also be taking some trips to see family, so as a practical matter, we would be leaving the boat once a month or so. Thoughts?

[CaptFrankM]

To the best of my knowledge, there are very few marinas in this area that actively advertise that they accept liveaboards. I cannot think of any.

However, with a very few exceptions, most of them allow "long-term cruisers." You end up paying a little more because, as a cruiser who is just planning to stay in the local area for "a few months until you decide to move on," you aren't going to want a long term commitment. So you don't tend to get the annual contract. You end up paying month-to-month, or quarterly - often for years. A lot of it revolves around whether you are a "good tenant" and how many empty slips the marina has.

It isn't so much that you are" unwelcome" as a liveaboard. It is more that the marina generally wants to "pre-screen" their liveaboards. Some people do not handle the lifestyle well.

What I have found is that, if you go into a marina as a long-term cruiser, and you like it, it sort of morphs into a liveaboard situation. On the other hand, if you get into a marina and, after a month or two, you decide you don't like it, you can leave - no harm, no foul.

[Suijin]

I'm going to suggest that if you're refitting a 76' wooden boat that you'd be better off in Deltaville. A bit bigger, more chandleries, more techs and service companies, etc.

I think Shroeder's Yacht Systems has a yard in both Urbanna and Deltaville, but not sure if the location in Urbanna is just an office. They have a full yard, showers, laundry, wifi, you can live aboard even while your boat is hauled, if necessary, and they are ok with DIY work and will even just supervise or give advice. Other place I would check out is Chesapeake Boat Works in Deltaville. Gets high marks from some folks here.

I don't know a person who has stopped in Deltaville or stayed longer to get work done who was not happy with the experience.

[CaptFrankM]

Originally Posted by Suijin

I'm going to suggest that if you're refitting a 76' wooden boat that you'd be better off in Deltaville. A bit bigger, more chandleries, more techs and service companies, etc.

I think Shroeder's Yacht Systems has a yard in both Urbanna and Deltaville, but not sure if the location in Urbanna is just an office. They have a full yard, showers, laundry, wifi, you can live aboard even while your boat is hauled, if necessary, and they are ok with DIY work and will even just supervise or give advice. Other place I would check out is Chesapeake Boat Works in Deltaville. Gets high marks from some folks here.

I don't know a person who has stopped in Deltaville or stayed longer to get work done who was not happy with the experience.

I agree that Shroeder's is an awesome yard. They just did a massive paint job on my boat and it literally looks better than new (www.svrockhopper.com). However, this was the Shroeder's group in Urbanna, not Deltaville. Jeff does have an office there, but Conway is on-site everyday, as are Frank, Frankie, Nelson and the rest of the guys. These guys do amazing work.

As above, full yard, showers - no laundry - wifi. Not sure about living aboard while in the yard. I know people who stay aboard many nights, but I knew I wanted to be off the boat while we worked on it, so I never asked about it.