Getting a boat in Florida for winter, is that crazy?

[Papasail]

Come to Maine!
It’s dark, drizzly, short days, AND cold

But seriously,
I consider Maine the last cheap place to own a boat. All those folks that have rushed down to retire in Florida!!! Oh My!!! That place is seriously like World War III right now. I’ve spoken to a fair number that have recently moved up here from Florida…

“I can’t keep anything nice: I get robbed every 3 weeks”.

“Just wall-to-wall people”.

“It’s not like it used to be”.

“Insurance for hurricanes is exploding, if your (roof) is greater
than 12 years old, you might not even get insurance…. those companies are leaving in droves”.

“the drug problem is now epidemic”.

“Prices have gone sky high, and you have to wait in line for everything”.

~~~~~~~~~~

I (LOVED!!) Florida as a kid, and wanted to retire there. I called Realtors who literally told me “don’t do it, don’t come down here”. I saw too many problems, and just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Regarding your hurricane fears, don’t forget about Greneda, and ABC Islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao…. Turks & Caicos, Trinidad is sketchy, but you can sail below the hurricane line, too!

Good luck

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by Papasail

“I can’t keep anything nice: I get robbed every 3 weeks”.

“Just wall-to-wall people”.

“It’s not like it used to be”.

“the drug problem is now epidemic”.

“Prices have gone sky high, and you have to wait in line for everything”.

~~~~~~~~~~

Good luck

Thanks Parasail! Remember, I lived in San Francisco and now live in Seattle A lot more can be said about both when it comes to above topics!

But I understand it and appreciate how frustrating it can be. I have observed it first hand enough times.

[Tenedos]

Thank you all! Looks like it is not that crazy after all and looks like this plan is a tentative go!

When we finish the season here in PNW, we will probably head to Florida in fall for a couple of months and start looking at boats and get a vibe of the places.

Hopefully, "Covid boat market" will have eased a bit by then too.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by j.g.evans

I approached what you are suggesting by having a boat in the summer in NJ and a boat in FL for the winter. I used FL for a base to store the boat over the summer and jump off to the Bahamas for the winter. Boating in FL is so-so while the Bahamas is terrific. I spent 12 years jumping off to the
Bahamas for 6 months at a time. The cost of living in the Bahamas was very low for I anchored rather than using marinas. Unlike FL there are no anchoring restrictions.

The fellow who bought my boat kept it in Fl and spent a fortune in marinas. This was not his plan.
You may want to check with catamaran owners about the cost of your plan. I stored my monohull sailboat inexpensively in grubby DIY yards. Many marinas and yards can't haul catamarans. Catamarans are very popular and thus will cost you more than a monohull.

There are now almost zero DIY yards of FL gulf coast --- Salt Creek Marina just stopped all DIY . Wide catamaran slips are also nearly non existent on FL gulf coast.

[mlinden]

Met a couple who did just that. But they had 3 boats. Hawaii boat, California boat, and a Florida east coast boat. Not a crazy idea if you can afford it.

[lcourtright]

It works for me. I have a boat on the Chesapeake Bay and another in southwest Florida. I also know a few other FL boaters with a second boat in the north. Yes, it is expensive, frustrating because second boat is twice the problems, but it is my winter home and I prefer warm winters. One additional caution I will add is that many marinas have restrictions about living aboard, thus slips are limited.

[RumRunnerII]

Our friends are doing this now, and said the insurance and slips are CRAZY expensive!

[Tenedos]

Originally Posted by RumRunnerII

Our friends are doing this now, and said the insurance and slips are CRAZY expensive!

Can you quantify this a bit?

[merrydolphin]

I second the guy that recommended Grenada. Relatively inexpensive and you cant find a nicer area of the world to sail in the winter! The whole SE Caribbean is wonderful. Another option is to store the boat in Trinidad. Just an over night sail from Grenada. They get NO hurricanes and an interesting country. International airport, great yards and chandleries. Either place or both. Trinidad for summer, Grenada for winter sailing base. Either way, sooooo much better than
Florida. Fl is hotter much more crowded, so so cruising, more expensive. S. Fl is crazy expensive and crowded. SE Caribbean much nicer all the way around. FL get more Hurricanes than Grenada too and Trinidad gets none. And I certainly feel safer in Grenada than FL. Also, Fl is not very cruiser friendly. Grenada’s economy and people are very welcoming to boats and cruisers. And in the E Caribbean there are wonderful hassle free anchorages all over the place. And you can’t beat the cooling constant trade wind breezes that blow 24 7. We never had nor needed AC in this area. In FL it is a absolute must in the summer. Grenada also has an excellent international airport.

[Don Lobo]

Originally Posted by Kijit

We've actually had the reciprocal thought, since I have aging parents in the PNW and we live on Chesapeake Bay. We have thought about getting another boat in the PNW so that we could spend some extended time out there with my parents and also do some cruising in a new area. The two things that have kept us from seriously looking into it are the maintenance issues and the seasons are the essentially the same. I don't want to get to each boat just to work on it every time I get to it! For seasons, we could head out in the middle of summer when it is hot and humid on the Chesapeake, but in winter it would kind of be like pick your poison! Anyway, the seasons work for you, so I think what you are thinking of is a great idea if you can deal with the maintenance issues.

Gerhard

but.... there will be quite a bit more sun sightings on the Chesapeake in winter
in the PNW? not many, if any

[flyingcr]

I would just go cruising to Mexico! There are so many places to see and weather is beautiful. It is a lot less expensive than your current plan.

[redhead]

After spending 8 winters aboard in the PNW I can feel your pain. Just last year we had to go to Arizona for family stuff so we bought a little truck camper and headed south. After the family business was taken care of, we looked at the weather in northern Washington and decided "Heck yeah, we're going to go exploring". Four months later we bought a bigger rig and decided we're snowbirds.

I've spent a lot of time in Florida, mostly the Keys and Fort Meyers area. I love the flip flop life. But I strongly recommend you check out Sea of Cortez or Arizona desert also. Mild winters - 75F - no rain, many many areas that are not crowded with desperate northerners determined to have fun at any expense.

If you'd consider being land based obviously the connectivity would be easy. Also easy to disconnect and go exploring. (I guess you figured out I fell in love with the desert, history, etc) and like boating in the PNW it's easy to go be the only people in the middle of nowhere without a lot of effort.

Good luck in whatever you do.

[RumRunnerII]

Slip: $5000 per month + $30,000.00 for insurance... Ft Lauderdale.

[DShant]

Originally Posted by RumRunnerII

Slip: $5000 per month + $30,000.00 for insurance... Ft Lauderdale.

Well that's for a big boat. I pay $3500 for a slip and $20k for insurance in Miami but I have a 105'. OP is talking about a 40'.
You have to hunt for a slip. You can't just go to one of the fancy new marinas or you will pay

[boatingisbetter]

I have found my 17 foot wide beam to be an issue. But not impossible... just more phone calls in Florida. My 14 foot wide boat(s) were much simpler to find slips for. (same with haul outs). I second the River Forest Storage at LaBelle, FL. But note the mast height restrictions getting there from East and West. Winter slips North of West Palm Beach are easier to find than further South. I am not familiar with the Gulf Side.

The reference to late afternoon rain does not apply to Winter months (nor summer months in The Keys)