How hard to find slips/marinas for boats > 40 feet?

[joelhemington]

Originally Posted by Donny Bahama

She’ll be converted to solar/electric before we do any non-coastal cruising.

It'd make a lot more sense to get the Grand Banks for the first phase of your journey (Mexico to Alaska) and then sell the boat in Seattle and get something more capable of crossing an ocean (except you still won't have any sailing experience). Electric motors and a solar array w/the Lithium battery bank could run as much as 200 grand. Think motorsailer.

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by prajna101

46 ft sailboat here in Portland Oregon. Plenty of slips. I bet there are 20 open in our marina right now. But not cheap. Slip fees are $430 a month for a 45 foot slip. $250 for live a board for two adults but they don't charge us for our two kids (live a board is nearly impossible to get so keep that in mind if you plan on staying more than 8 nights a month but doesn't generally count for a transient slip). $150 for access to the pool and gym and community room at the marina. $20 for a mailbox. Electricity generally runs us $20 a month. Water and trash are free. So is pump out. I don't think you will have too much issue with a 40 ft boat. And if you get some solar and are confident on anchor, none of this will matter.

Ummmmm. That’s not expensive compared to Boston. You’d be at 2000+ per month.

Marinas are priced like real estate. And Boston is not inexpensive.

Ouch.

[skipmac]

[QUOTE=Ecos;3165737]

Originally Posted by skipmac

What do you have to say about PV main sails for a cruising boat?

Meaning Photo Voltaic Sails? I'm all for it and as soon as someone builds an effective one that costs less than significant percent of the value of my boat I'll buy in.

[Jim Cate]

[QUOTE=Ecos;3165737]

Originally Posted by skipmac

First, if I may, I have a degree in electrical engineering so I do have a pretty good understanding of what's involved.

What do you have to say about PV main sails for a cruising boat?

Well, I don't know, but you could ask Harry Potter...

Jim

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Donny Bahama

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. Initially, we’ll be predominantly on the Pacific side of Baja, Mexico. We’ll cruise up California and into the Pacific Northwest. Long term, we hope to travel the world, starting with the South Pacific.

My Willard 36 was in a 40-foot slip in Ensenada for a while. There are three marinas in Ensenada - Baja Naval, Marina Coral, and Cruiseport. All had availability as of about 4 months ago.

Baja Naval is not acceptable in my opinion due to rickety docks, surge, and constant wakes from heavy traffic of tourist/fishing boats. I broke several fender whips there and incurred many marks on hull. Plus side is it's convenient to town. About $450/mo

I moved to Cruiseport which is a 10-min walk from Baja Naval and thus fairly convenient. It's well protected and a decent marina. $500/mo for 40 foot slip.

Last option is Marina Coral about 3 miles north of town. It is part of a hotel complex and has a resort feel. It also has the only fuel dock in Ensenada. Very popular with gringos despite not being close to town. I guess room service to your boat is compelling. Uber is alive and well so getting around is not difficult. Around $550/mo as I recall. One final thought on Ensenada is if you're commuting, getting across US border is a hassle. Plan a 2-hour delay at border. Probably okay now with Covid restrictions, but generally, a very long wait.

20+ years ago I considered moving my boat to either San Diego or Marina del Rey near LAX, so this advice is horribly dated but I detect no recent guidance on this thread.. Slips were expensive and availability was scarce. Waiting lists were useless - if your timing was right, you could jump the line it seemed. Chula Vista near SD seemed to have the nicest marina with decent availability, albeit in a pretty suburban setting. Given your drive from AZ, might be a possibility.

PS - many would be surprised to learn of the trips a GB42 has made. 15+ years ago Passagemaker Magazine had an article about a guy who took his GB42 from somewhere on the West Coast to Hawaii, the longest leg on a circumnavigation. It took heroic measures to do the trip, but he did the trip no problem. I am not advocating it be done, not even saying the boat was designed for such a trip. Just saying folks may be surprised at how robust these boats are. A sistership to my Willard 36 went from SoCal to Hawaii and burned 330 gallons of diesel in 14-days of steaming. Few would do the trip on a GB42, but shipping it to various cruising destinations is tremendously viable, albeit expensive. For RV lovers, Airstream owners have RV'd across the world like this for decades.

PPS - I got a mild chortle out of OP's comment about going solar. I assume he has a decent sense of humor.

Good luck

Peter

[Chotu]

[QUOTE=Ecos;3165737]

Originally Posted by skipmac

First, if I may, I have a degree in electrical engineering so I do have a pretty good understanding of what's involved.

What do you have to say about PV main sails for a cruising boat?

Considering sails are stowed away most of the time and are 90 degrees out of whack for catching the sun’s rays, I don’t think this would be a very good idea.

[valhalla360]

[QUOTE=Chotu;3165972]

Originally Posted by Ecos

Considering sails are stowed away most of the time and are 90 degrees out of whack for catching the sun’s rays, I don’t think this would be a very good idea.

and of course, electrical connections love to be bent, twisted and flogged.

[dave777]

Originally Posted by skipmac

I suggest you read one of the many previous discussions on this forum where several members have done the math in great detail and posted the results. Unfortunately, the numbers don't lie.

The OP has got to be a joke account. If he said he was going to convert it to Nuclear power / electric it would plausible. There are dishwasher sized nuclear energy sources available from countries that don't have an EPA, or common sense. We've sent space craft into deep space running on mini nukes. Hopefully it's illegal, don't get a nuke! But Solar?

It's a challenge just getting enough solar power to run a fridge, refrigerator, and your autopilot even with running the engine now and then to top off the batteries.

You want to move a trawler haul? In no wind, no current with 12 hours of charging maybe a fraction of knot? Never tried it, it's too absurd. How many horsepower is your trawler's engine? Wouldn't be too hard to convert that into amps. How many hours do you want to run your engine?

[Adelie]

[QUOTE=Ecos;3165737]

Originally Posted by skipmac

First, if I may, I have a degree in electrical engineering so I do have a pretty good understanding of what's involved.



What do you have to say about PV main sails for a cruising boat?

Let us know when they become an affordable product.

[mako]

Originally Posted by dave777

If he said he was going to convert it to Nuclear power / electric it would plausible. There are dishwasher sized nuclear energy sources available from countries that don't have an EPA, or common sense. We've sent space craft into deep space running on mini nukes. Hopefully it's illegal, don't get a nuke!

Funny! I have one of those in my “other car” which is the Mars Rover. The radioisotope thermal generator is an amazing power source, and sooo freakin dangerous!

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Adelie

Let us know when they become an affordable product.

Note to all. There seems to be some confusion on this post. One of my posts was quoted next to a question but editing made it look like I was the one asking about PV sails.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear (that's a Nixon joke for those that don't know), it wasn't me and I am completely aware that PV sails are a long, long way from reality. Maybe sometime in the distant future or maybe if Harry Potter does step in but for now, just a day dream.

[Donny Bahama]

Originally Posted by Adelie

As somebody that is very pro-electric propulsion, I can tell you you can’t put enough solar an that boat to make it practical for offshore.

If you covered the entire top of the vessel in panels, used half for propulsion and used the other half to recharge batteries so you could maintain speed at night, the best you could hope for is 2kt average. Probably less.

If you want to go electric propulsion it needs to be a sailboat where the electric is used for specific things like getting in and out of marinas or harbors and out of the way of big ships trying to run you down.

I'm very surprised to hear that. Obviously I need to do some more homework on this.

[Donny Bahama]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

If you want to cruise the west coast you might want to START with the PNW then, when you've had your fill, go south to California and Mexico. It's MUCH easier to cruise DOWN this coast than up - although a trawler would be better for it than our sailboats.

That's the plan, in general.

Are you looking for a permanent berth or just short-term (overnight) while cruising?

Not necessarily permanent, but definitely long-term -- in Baja.

[Donny Bahama]

Originally Posted by joelhemington

It'd make a lot more sense to get the Grand Banks for the first phase of your journey (Mexico to Alaska) and then sell the boat in Seattle and get something more capable of crossing an ocean (except you still won't have any sailing experience). Electric motors and a solar array w/the Lithium battery bank could run as much as 200 grand. Think motorsailer.

The plan was never to go from MX to AK. Baja is the destination - and there's a good chance that we'll star (buy a boat) in Seattle or Portland or even BC. I've done a fair amount of homework on solar (although I was initially focused on RVs rather than boats)... 200K seems like a really, REALLY high estimate. $20-40K buys a lot of panels/storage.

[Donny Bahama]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

My Willard 36 was in a 40-foot slip in Ensenada for a while. There are three marinas in Ensenada - Baja Naval, Marina Coral, and Cruiseport. All had availability as of about 4 months ago.

Baja Naval is not acceptable in my opinion due to rickety docks, surge, and constant wakes from heavy traffic of tourist/fishing boats. I broke several fender whips there and incurred many marks on hull. Plus side is it's convenient to town. About $450/mo

I moved to Cruiseport which is a 10-min walk from Baja Naval and thus fairly convenient. It's well protected and a decent marina. $500/mo for 40 foot slip.

Last option is Marina Coral about 3 miles north of town. It is part of a hotel complex and has a resort feel. It also has the only fuel dock in Ensenada. Very popular with gringos despite not being close to town. I guess room service to your boat is compelling. Uber is alive and well so getting around is not difficult. Around $550/mo as I recall.

When we lived in San Diego, we used to visit Ensenada 3 or 4 times a year. We like it there. Marina y Coral was our target destination but it's really pricey (~$14.50/ft/month) but all the included amenities are very appealing - except that most of them are now unavailable due to the pandemic.

PS - many would be surprised to learn of the trips a GB42 has made. 15+ years ago Passagemaker Magazine had an article about a guy who took his GB42 from somewhere on the West Coast to Hawaii, the longest leg on a circumnavigation. It took heroic measures to do the trip, but he did the trip no problem. I am not advocating it be done, not even saying the boat was designed for such a trip. Just saying folks may be surprised at how robust these boats are.

Cool! Thanks for that!

PPS - I got a mild chortle out of OP's comment about going solar. I assume he has a decent sense of humor.

I do, but I also (apparently) have an even bigger lack of knowledge about solar with regard to boat propulsion!