Good east coast us port for outfitting "At sea"?

[witzgall]

Hi all,

We may be buying a bigger boat. If so, we will need to do work on her this wonter, and we are full time live aboards. We are looling for suggestions on a place we can anchor, dock or moor. We will need access to marien supplies, food etc without a car, we could buy bikes. It does not have to be balmy, but not cold either. Suggestions? The boat is in MA right now, so are we, and mechanicals should get us there, the engine stuff looks really good. Sails etc are old and un trustworthy.

Chris

[estarzinger]

Beaufort NC and Annapolis MD come to mind.

[Vasco]

A good place to work on your boat in the water is Vero Beach, FL. Good marine suppliers in the area. Free bus service. And a very secure basin with moorings that run about $300 a month. If you need to be hauled there are facilities in Ft. Pierce, a short run south.

[witzgall]

All three of those ports are already being considered. We have both lived in Annapolis, have family there, and it is closer. We have been to Beaufort many times, have some good friends there as well. We spent a week in Vero 2 winters ago, nice, but are there marine suppliers other than the small west marine store?

Small towns are ok, anything in VA, GA?

Chris

[MARC D]

Deltaville,VA is popular. And CHEAP!

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by witzgall

We spent a week in Vero 2 winters ago, nice, but are there marine suppliers other than the small west marine store?

Small towns are ok, anything in VA, GA?

Chris

Just check the business cards in the dock office. Also buy online and ship it to V.B. City Marina.

[s/vPainkiller]

Beaufort, SC has 3 decent marinas within walking/biking distance of stores. There is a West Marine, a well-stocked hardware store, plus as has been said there is always the internet. There is also a good boat yard, if you need work done. This is actually where we keep Painkiller. They have a few permanent slips. Good security, and you can DIY there as well. It’s warmer down here than Annapolis, but not as nice as Velcro Beach.

Scott

[Housed]

I will second Deltaville , spent a xmass tied to a dock after dry docking in sames yard ( wish I could remember the ame of the yard)
Great place with one of the highest ratios of straight up salt of the earth bloody champions per capita that I have ever come across.
Anyone who cooks seafood with a shovel is top shelf in my books
And it was cheap

[Doodles]

Another vote for Deltaville, VA.

We've had lots of friends use Deltaville Boatyard and been happy.

[skipmac]

How far south you will need to go depends on your personal definition of not cold. Compared to MA I think anything from the Chesapeake south is less cold but still January you could see snow and will definitely see a good be of freezing weather. Even all the way to north FL around Jacksonville or St Augustine a typical winter will give you a cumulative 2-3 weeks minimum of sub freezing temps when a front blows through. Between fronts however it will be quite nice.

Just in general north to central east coast FL is a good area. Warm enough and much cheaper than further south.

[Captain Bill]

It somewhat depends on your definition of bigger. If the mast is above about 64 feet It is going to close you off to some good places on the ICW. Of course Deltaville is not going to be a problem, but it's pretty cold in the winter. Titusville has some pretty good facilities, but you are limited by 65 ft bridges there. They have a mooring field so it can prove pretty cheap. Ft Lauderdale has everything you could ever want except cheap.

[witzgall]

The boat in question is a 44 ft ketch, so 65ft bridges are ok. Mooring might be ok, as it has a genset for running power tools. Is there anywhere like Vero, in terms of facilities and accessibility, price, but further north?

Basically we need a grocery, a few reasonabily priced resturants, clean showers, and not too expensive.

Any places on the Chesapeake like that? Deltaville is very spread out, it is a long way to West Marine and the grocery. We may be doing some deck work, so that has to be ok.

Chris

[chris07732]

What are you doing for heat? Not many places will allow electric heating while at dock. A mooring would be worse.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by chris07732

What are you doing for heat? Not many places will allow electric heating while at dock. A mooring would be worse.

Just curious but how can they tell? Just the power usage?

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by witzgall

The boat in question is a 44 ft ketch, so 65ft bridges are ok. Mooring might be ok, as it has a genset for running power tools. Is there anywhere like Vero, in terms of facilities and accessibility, price, but further north?

Basically we need a grocery, a few reasonabily priced resturants, clean showers, and not too expensive.

Any places on the Chesapeake like that? Deltaville is very spread out, it is a long way to West Marine and the grocery. We may be doing some deck work, so that has to be ok.

Chris

Chris, you might look at our marina just up the Potomac River off the Bay. It's cheap, they have good showers, a club house where live aboards can cook, they let you use electric heaters on your boat, there are marina cars to use (just provide the gas), you could work on the boat at the dock, and grocery stories and reasonable restaurants within 3 miles. The local hardware stores (2) carry some marine supplies and some nearby marinas have small stores, plus the Deltaville West Marine is 45 min - an hour away. Oh, and the marina folks are great, very low-key, family run operation.

Olverson's Lodge Creek Marina

We're in Thailand now, but will be back on board from Nov 15 - mid January if that's any help (my Pretorien is loaded with tools).

PM me if you have any other questions.