San Diego liveaboard

[Heb187]

Hi all,

I am considering living aboard in the San Diego area, any thoughts on shelter island? I was told the wait list is 2-3 months and the monthly rent is very cheap (around $130). Also, liveaboards on the moorings are not monitored nor enforced, even though it is technically illegal to liveaboard on a mooring. It sounds too good to be true that I could live in downtown San Diego for next to nothing and not be hassled. If anyone has advice/experience here I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

[MarcHall]

Originally Posted by Heb187

Hi all,

I am considering living aboard in the San Diego area, any thoughts on shelter island? I was told the wait list is 2-3 months and the monthly rent is very cheap (around $130). Also, liveaboards on the moorings are not monitored nor enforced, even though it is technically illegal to liveaboard on a mooring. It sounds too good to be true that I could live in downtown San Diego for next to nothing and not be hassled. If anyone has advice/experience here I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

San Diego Mooring Company (Welcome to the San Diego Mooring Company!) is the party that manages and rents out the moorings. I would contact them directly with your questions.

But...

The application for a mooring makes no mention of liveaboard status. I know of people who do live aboard on a mooring and it would seem that if it were illegal the San Diego Harbor police would have tracked it down.

Moorings are available on a permanent basis and a temporary, sublet basis arranged thru the San Diego Mooring Company.

The last I checked a few months ago there were no temporary moorings available in the Shelter Island/Americas Cup Harbor mooring field and the waiting list for a permanent mooring in that area was estimated at 2+ years. The Mooring field on the south side of Shelter Island in San Diego bay had a much shorter waiting list and temporary mooring were available. These are much more exposed then then the America's Cup Harbor moorings which has a 5mph speed limit. In the Bay no such limit exists.

Marc Hall
Crazy Fish - Maintaining, Upgrading and Sailing a Crealock 37 | SV Crazy Fish

[mstrebe]

My brother ives aboard in the downtown mooring field right now. The waitlist for that field is about six months, although they have temporary moors on the quay wall that are usually open while you wait for a ball. He was able to get on immediately.

The Shelter Island moorings are in the bay and face the open ocean, so they see quite a bit more rocking and rolling than the downtown mooring fields.

Living aboard is certainly tolerated if not allowed; I would estimate that about 15% of the moored boats have live aboards. Cost is right around $200/mo.

Living aboard is a real hassle on a mooring ball however. You're a dinghy ride away from everything every time, power and sewage are a constant hassle, and the boat moves all the time. It's not something everyone can do.

The least expensive living-aboard you can do in a marina is around $800/mo. as the marinas all have live-aboard fees on top of their regular rates, and they're limited to 10% of slips generally. Marina living aboard can be quite nice comparatively.

[Heb187]

thank you both for your responses. I'll have to look into the downtown mooring field, I'm not sure I would be willing to move around so much in the open field but glad to know I can find something around $200

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Heb.