What's the deal with Marina's in Monterey Bay, CA?

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by PJS

Accept it or buy an RV.

From what a few friends have been telling me, the seasonal RV campsites are all full with waiting lists as well. Reservations for transient sites are getting booked as well.

At least with a boat you can shoehorn into an anchorage.

[moseriw]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

Get on the list, tell the marina nothing they don’t ask

and bring them a big spple pie and thousands of exuses?


Skip the marina and go elsewere. Don't aergue with id iots. They drag you down to their level...

[madworld]

We got a slip in Moss Landing immediately after we called in October. Well, we had to get a friend to go by the office because they didn't return our phone calls. We were sailing down from Washington, so we couldn't get to the office ourselves.

It's a great working marina. You can pretty much do anything you want. It's also a good place for whale watching. But, the place is a bit run down, and it's dirty. There are a lot of loud sea lions who will want to be on your swim platform.

There are a few great restaurants. But no grocery store without driving.

[Giro]

I was on the waiting list at on of the better marinas in Monterey Bay for 6 years when I finally got the call that “my slip was ready.” Our slip is a 25 footer and when I mentioned that we were in the process of buying a 36 foot boat and that we wanted to get a larger slip, we would have to go back on the waiting list for anywhere from 7 to 10 years. We have been enjoying our 25 foot sailboat in the 25 foot slip for the last two and a half years now. By the way, you wouldn’t believe what all we had to do to get it. I must admit, with all the boat owners who want to setup residency in a marina and the number of derelict boats there are along the coasts in marinas, it’s easy to see why it’s hard to secure a slip now. Good luck!

[tjmoquin]

We paid our slip fees for 3 months before closing on our boat. We basically paid for an empty slip because we didn't want any one to get it. I do not regret this decision as now all sailboat slips are full.

[madworld]

Originally Posted by Giro

I was on the waiting list at on of the better marinas in Monterey Bay...

Yes, our friend has been on the list of Santa Cruz for 5 years, and it might be another 3-5 years. He's also upgraded from a 26ft to a 39ft... which means he'd have to go to the back of the line. If he gets the slip, I believe he's going to buy a boat that will fit in it, and leave his larger boat in Moss Landing.

I certainly understand your pain. We are in the process of moving our boat, which we are living on, to SF bay. Thankfully we aren't looking for anything permanent, since we plan on sailing south in the next year.

[gears]

I agree with Paul l, they are trying to accommodate as many as possible, we are birthed there and were told "when you show up we will get you a slip". The people there are good, keep an eye on our WS 43 and got us a spot with good people near who also lookout for us. There is a waiting list for liveaboard of about 1 year we were told. It is very busy right now because of salmon season, the boat yard is slammed also.

[gears]

Paul L is correct, they provide slips when you arrive with a boat. They also try to weed out the tow in liveaboards. They were very good and got us a slip when we arrived and then moved us to a slip with a few liveaboards near to keep an eye on ours as we live elsewhere. Moss Landing is maybe not as pretty as Santa Cruz or Monterey but it is much cheaper, the yard there is also cheaper and there are more trades near to get work done and the wait list in SC is 25 years!

[Happ]

Originally Posted by chovy

I call the Moss Landing marina and they tell me they have no slips and no waiting list either. I drove by today and walked in, they tell me they have no slips. but there's a waiting list. I said I have a 41 foot boat and he said, oh we have slips that big just not today. So say ok great, I informed him I hadn't bought the boat yet but was planning on doing it in the next month, he wanted nothing to do with me after that. So he says you need to have a boat before you rent a slip, so if I buy this boat and I sail to that marina and they tell me they don't have any slips then wtf do i do?


are all marinas like this? I can probably find a slip in SF Bay but I'd like to rent the slip BEFORE i sail the boat up there so I'm not wandering around aimlessly for weeks on my boat.

They told you they had nothing available. They also told you they won’t rent to anyone who didn’t own a boat. You solved only one of the two criteria. Now that you have a boat go find a slip available to rent. Then sail the boat there.

A month or so I was in the same situation. I’m in NC on the ocean. All the local slips are rented or owned. I’m talking 100’s. The nearest place I could find was 45 miles away. Even then they were going to put me on an end tie until a slip opened up.

[Rockinar]

No marina is going to give a lease to someone who does not currently own a boat.

1) They will require you to have insurance.
2) They will want to be named on the insurance.
3) They want to see the boat first to make sure its not a floating garbage pile that you call a boat before they're legally locked in an agreement with you.

None of which you have.

[sail sfbay]

And to add:

4) Completed application.
5) Proof of ownership - copy of state DMV registration or Certificate of Documentation from USCG.
6) Photo.

[Jammer]

Lots of good replies. There are some things they miss however:


1) The situation varies enormously from one marina to the next
2) If you buy a boat through a broker they should be able to help you get a slip
3) In many areas there are seasons. Here annual slip rentals are due in February so non-renewed slips open up in March and availability declines over the summer.


It is my experience that if you are buying your first big boat and it's a used sailboat then marinas don't especially want your business because your business has little profit potential. They would prefer to rent a slip to someone who just bought a new cabin cruiser who is going to buy 1000 gallons of diesel a year and pay $125 an hour for oil changes, winterizing, shrink wrap, and prop repairs when his entitled 17 year old kid hits a rock.

[sail sfbay]

Kind of different in California:

1. Brokers do not have any interest or are they expected to find you a slip since there are so many marina options.
2. There is only one season along the coast.
3. Slips rent month to month all year around.
4. Few, if any marinas (at least in the San Francisco Bay and Delta) have boat yard services and few have fuel (we do not know if OP plans to buy a sailboat with minimal fuel consumption or motorboat with high fuel consumption IF he takes it out) or pump-out facilities.

[Speedy99]

Originally Posted by madworld

Yes, our friend has been on the list of Santa Cruz for 5 years, and it might be another 3-5 years. He's also upgraded from a 26ft to a 39ft... which means he'd have to go to the back of the line. If he gets the slip, I believe he's going to buy a boat that will fit in it, and leave his larger boat in Moss Landing.

Just to be super clear, Santa Cruz doesn't put you to the back of the line when you move to a waiting list for a different size slip. The waiting lists are all based on the date you first added yourself to the waitlist program (any waitlist). If you get a bigger boat/want a bigger slip, you are probably lower on the waitlist because the larger slips have longer lists (with older dates), but you don't go to the bottom of the list, you keep the date you first joined the waitlist program.

Having said that, most sailboat friendly slips of decent size in SC and Monterey have multi-DECADE waits.

Most marinas I've encountered that have (long) waitlists are usually happy to take your money to be on the waitlist, no questions asked. When it comes time to assign you a slip, however, you need a boat.

[Ddunmire]

An alternative to a wait list may be to buy the boat with the slip

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...ource=txtshare