Marinas Bite the Big One

[mike d.]

Here in N.E. Mass. mooring fees are around 1600 a season, slip fees are dependent footage but no less than 2500 for small slips ie 30 ft boats, and there are waiting lists! Only yacht clubs or going north make it affordable !

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

You have read the news this last two years...right?

More like from Nov. 2016.


Just coincidentally we moved to Canada in July 2016. I don't argue with anyone who suggests I made a smart move. Reality was it was just coincidence, but who am i to argue? Only only argue on Cruisers Forum!!!

[psk125]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Leave. They won't understand anything else. That is how a free market works.
.

They WANT you to leave. Once they get rid of the problematic service departments they'll apply to build waterfront condominiums, and the condos will each be offered with its own slip.

[MicHughV]

I gotta go with this...my local marina was recently bought out...
first thing...prices went up
second thing....staff were let go....
third thing.....a lot of boats left...

The idea seems to be to attract the "super rich" crowd....but these folks have also said enuff is enuff...

A boat slip for your average 40' is now at the $1,000/month mark...everything else is extra...want a dockbox...sure....but that will be extra...water...electricity...liability insurance....environmental fees....you name it.....all extra $$$....

Transient dockage for a night can run you $200....

Liveaboards are frowned upon or simply not allowed.

Just looking around, the marina is 2/3's empty. I can remember the days when every slip had a boat.

I have no idea how the place plans on remaining in business.....

From my perspective, the bottom has dropped out of the boat market. Marine gas (non-ethanol) is approaching $5/gal...

Some years ago area marina's were bought out by condo developments, with the idea, you could admire your boat outside your 9th floor window, ha ha.....slips are mostly empty these days or sub-let to someone else.......

I used to see sailboats chugging up the ICW at all times of the year...these days....it's rare to see one.....

It's not looking good....certainly not for the boater....as a business....I don't see the rational behind it....

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

More like from Nov. 2016.

That's when I dug the bunker on the upper acreage and hid. Did something negative happen?

[Montanan]

Face the reality.

The so-called family owned and run marinas are selling their properties and businesses to the highest bidders which happen to be the professional marina owner and operator firms. These large corporate owners have the capital to buy and to upgrade the facilities.

Also, condo and town home developers also purchase family-owned marinas so as to be able to develop the prime waterfront property for use in multi-family housing complexes.

To obtain a reasonable return on the top dollar investment in acquiring and upgrading the marinas higher slip fees are required.

Straightforward market economics at work.

[redsky49]

They also have added this past year a $60/ month electricity charge. I just find it difficult to swallow such an increase.

Sure, some places have worse price structures, but it seems that if there is an opportunity to gouge, big business will jump at the chance. And less competition, the more the temptation.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Fifteen hundred bucks a year with electricity and water for 40 foot slip…..amazing. Sounds like a “friends and family” deal. If you share the name of the marina I’ll be your neighbor tomorrow.

It's slightly shallow. The cat and tri are mine. Been there for about 30 years by now... because it's a deal.

The trick, if there is one, is that the Chesapeake Bay has a LOT of shoreline. No marina shortage.

Sail Delmarva: Afordable Slips in Deale, MD

[gonesail]

one of the marinas in my area found a clever income solution: install electricity meters on the slips and make it double the cost of regular city electric

[MicHughV]

Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg...marina's need boaters.....

Some years back when marina condo's were " the thing"...the prices for a condo unit were astronomical....nowadays, most all marina condo owners are hopelessly under water, trying to sell these hugely overpriced units is near impossible...

I know several marina/condo areas...at best, I'd say the average marina's are 25% occupied.

The pendulum will eventually swing the other way, might take a year or two though.....

I think the whole boating market is in the crapper...a year ago, powerboats were flying off the shelf....today....not so much...I see one boat for sale, whereas before, I'd see 20.

The drystack business is much the same that I can see.....many empty racks....it's easily a $6000/year cost for your basic 24 footer, add in several $1,000 for fuel, maintenance, trailer storage, insurance, etc....and it's probably $10K a year....for a boat that most might only use 10 times a year....and if you're making boat payments, it can lead to serious pain at the wallet.

That's just my perspective off course....but it seems emblematic of other areas as well....

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by maine50

to Garyfdl- yes Abbotts is still open.

Still a 'tin shed' with seagulls dropping clams on the roof?

[smj]

And the local municipalities are trying to restrict anchoring? Maybe these actions are correlated?

[marcjsmith]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Leave. They won't understand anything else. That is how a free market works.



You could always get the slip holders together and go condo/yacht club. That seems like the only other way.



My Chesapeake marina is $125/mo. for a 40-foot slip with electric and water. Someday he will sell and it will go ^^. The maintenance is marginal, but I don't want to complain.

Omg. Where in deale. I’m paying 3k a year for my 37fter nice bathhouse electricity is separate., nice property... would love the amenities of hhn, ibut not for 5k

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by garyfdl

Still a 'tin shed' with seagulls dropping clams on the roof?

Yes, it part of the “atmosphere” and one of the reasons for the sky high price of “lobsters in the rough”. I still go there several times each season. Always order the big lobsters, cost a little more but you get much more meat. Anyone who says the meat is tough in the larger lobsters has never had one or it was not prepared correctly.

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Yes, it part of the “atmosphere” and one of the reasons for the sky high price of “lobsters in the rough”. I still go there several times each season. Always order the big lobsters, cost a little more but you get much more meat. Anyone who says the meat is tough in the larger lobsters has never had one or it was not prepared correctly.