Following is from personal experience 2005-2006. Fairfax County
Marinas will not allow liveaboards. Most places stated no more than 3 nights a week. Quantico will allow you to stay aboard but you must have a shore side mailing address. Problem with Quantico is it is small and waiting list is fairly long. During the
winter months a number of Quantico slips are empty due to the boats going south. If you get on the list it is sometimes possible to get a slip in quantico October until end of March but then you need to move. Quantic docks were rebuilt after Isabel but were built substandard for being on the
Potomac river. With a 17 mile or so fetch up the river it can become very uncomfortable when the
weather turns nasty. Most
marinas in the area with no
current or circulation have de-icing circulators which keep the
water moving to prevent hard freezing but the
water is cold enough that a reverse cycle A/C/Heat
pump will not have any heat to exchnage. Need a number of either
electric ceramic blocks or a
diesel heater. Plus side to Quantico is it is only a 3 minute walk through Q-Town to the VRE/Amtrak if you
work in DC. Another quiet and not too far from DC Marina is Fort
Washington Marina in
Maryland. Their docks just rebuilt a couple years ago and it is about 10 minutes from WW Bridge. I worked in Skyline and averaged 30 minutes drive going in around 0630 and 0700. Problem with
Maryland is they want 5 or 6 % excise tax from you if you want to have your
boat there more than 6 months out of the year. Actually if you have it there more than 30 days they try to collect it and then will issue you a decal. I also stayed in Woodbridge at the Belmont Bay Marina for 3 months but had to stay as a transient 30 days at a whack. I would trip up to Quantico and talk to dockmaster as early as possible for update information and getting on the waiting list. Oh and last important item is that up there they generally all want a
lease and they pay the marina bill by season, ie
winter and summer, so other than Quantico which is monthly, expect to shell out a couple thousand to move in. Good Luck