Good Location Near Richmond?

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by CaptFrankM

Sorry, hit the wrong button and then CF went into maintenance mode and I couldn't finish the thought. I work in Richmond and commute every day. In Richmond, I generally get four bars out of five. In Urbanna, I tend to get three bars out of five.

Don't you just love that send button! How far a commute to Richmond? Nice to know you can do that from Urbanna. I'm trying to find a location close enough to a metro area that if I have personal appointments, I can easily drive and meet with people. We were thinking closer to Norfolk but Urbanna seems nice as well. How is winter? We will be living aboard and another "plus" for being nearer to Norfolk was potentially easier access to the ICW if we wanted to head farther south. At this point I don't really think we will be doing that - we just need to boat in the water, without a lot of stress on the hull so that she can spend the year swelling up. Do you live aboard through the winter? We have a nice Dickinson and we're planning on re-doing the dodger to include a bit of an enclosure around the cockpit so that we can be out there but protected when either sailing or at shore. Never havin done this, I'm running a bit blind but so appreciate everyone's input on this forum!

[CaptFrankM]

My daily commute is about an hour in the morning, about one and a quarter in the afternoon. While this sounds bad, I used to take 45 minutes to commute across Richmond (from just south of town to just north). Most of this is highway driving, so I stick a Book on CD in the machine and travel. It is about the same distance to the Newport News/Hampton area or the Williamsburg area. All three of these have a significant amount of "metro" amenities.

We've moved off the boat in the beginning of December last year in order to get everything off while we did our last big refit. However, we lived aboard in the Richmond area for the past 8 years before that. We have been through a few different heating systems.

We started out using electric space heaters, which worked OK but were expensive.

We then got a Wallas diesel stove which had a forced air system that could put warm air into the boat. That worked very well, but the system needed to be cleaned within a year, the only people in the US who could clean it were in the Pacific Northwest and we had to pull the entire stove out and ship it to them. We were without our stove and our heater for about a month. We replaced the stove with a propane stove/oven and went back to space heaters.

We replaced our after HVAC unit with one that had an electric heater option. That worked very well, until the breaker tripped (it used almost 18 amps by itself, so we couldn't run it when the water heater was needed). We then added a forward HVAC unit with reverse cycle heat. That was OK until the water temperature got below about 35F. Then it just couldn't add too much heat.

We have a couple of small propane heaters - the sort that have oxygen sensors that turn them off if the oxygen level gets too low. We generally use them in the evening to really warm the boat up before going to bed, and then let the temperature drift during the night.

We also use cheap rugs throughout during the winter, and a heating mattress pad on the bed. Frankly, that made the biggest difference, since we could be all warm and toasty in bed, without a huge cost.

As part of this refit, I bought a Webasto diesel hydronic heater and four heater coils. I have got part of it in place, but am nowhere near finished with that particular installation, so I can't say anything about that.

Generally, my problem with winter here is not the cold - I've never had it get cold enough to have ice on the river, although I have been told that it has happened in the past. My issue has always been the dark. No matter how much I try, I can never get enough light on the boat to really feel comfortable in the winter and I get to the point where I feel that I am living in a cave. Periodically, I have to go out to a shopping mall or something like that with glaring lights.

We do have a full enclosure for our center cockpit with a hard dodger. On nice weekends, we can put a propane heater in the cockpit, tuck a few towels into the cracks where lines pass through the enclosure and spend the day up there. I suppose that we could do it when the weather is grumpy, but to be honest, it hasn't happened often enough since we got the enclosure to really say. Usually, if it snows, I am at work - just seems to work out that way

[Viturina]

Originally Posted by CaptFrankM

My daily commute is about an hour in the morning, about one and a quarter in the afternoon. While this sounds bad, I used to take 45 minutes to commute across Richmond (from just south of town to just north). Most of this is highway driving, so I stick a Book on CD in the machine and travel. It is about the same distance to the Newport News/Hampton area or the Williamsburg area. All three of these have a significant amount of "metro" amenities.

We've moved off the boat in the beginning of December last year in order to get everything off while we did our last big refit. However, we lived aboard in the Richmond area for the past 8 years before that. We have been through a few different heating systems.

We started out using electric space heaters, which worked OK but were expensive.

We then got a Wallas diesel stove which had a forced air system that could put warm air into the boat. That worked very well, but the system needed to be cleaned within a year, the only people in the US who could clean it were in the Pacific Northwest and we had to pull the entire stove out and ship it to them. We were without our stove and our heater for about a month. We replaced the stove with a propane stove/oven and went back to space heaters.

We replaced our after HVAC unit with one that had an electric heater option. That worked very well, until the breaker tripped (it used almost 18 amps by itself, so we couldn't run it when the water heater was needed). We then added a forward HVAC unit with reverse cycle heat. That was OK until the water temperature got below about 35F. Then it just couldn't add too much heat.

We have a couple of small propane heaters - the sort that have oxygen sensors that turn them off if the oxygen level gets too low. We generally use them in the evening to really warm the boat up before going to bed, and then let the temperature drift during the night.

We also use cheap rugs throughout during the winter, and a heating mattress pad on the bed. Frankly, that made the biggest difference, since we could be all warm and toasty in bed, without a huge cost.

As part of this refit, I bought a Webasto diesel hydronic heater and four heater coils. I have got part of it in place, but am nowhere near finished with that particular installation, so I can't say anything about that.

Generally, my problem with winter here is not the cold - I've never had it get cold enough to have ice on the river, although I have been told that it has happened in the past. My issue has always been the dark. No matter how much I try, I can never get enough light on the boat to really feel comfortable in the winter and I get to the point where I feel that I am living in a cave. Periodically, I have to go out to a shopping mall or something like that with glaring lights.

We do have a full enclosure for our center cockpit with a hard dodger. On nice weekends, we can put a propane heater in the cockpit, tuck a few towels into the cracks where lines pass through the enclosure and spend the day up there. I suppose that we could do it when the weather is grumpy, but to be honest, it hasn't happened often enough since we got the enclosure to really say. Usually, if it snows, I am at work - just seems to work out that way

Thanks for the great info. We looked at the webcasts but since we already owned the new Dickinson (just had never installed it) we decided to start there. Good to know re the heated mattress cover I agree that a warm bed takes care of most issues. We're not sure how we'll do with colder weather, and I could see how the lack of light could get to you after a while. My mother lives in Florida and so we will probably leave the boat for the coldest spells and drive down to see her. Our youngest daughter will be in the Richmond/Petersburg area from January to July, so we would like to be within striking distance of her (but not too close either - don't want to encroach upon her territory, so to speak). Nice to hear that Urbanna is equi-distant from both areas. Basically I run my business from my phone, but its nice to actually go an meet people, too, so we don't want that to be a huge trek.

So, just to confirm, you are at Dozier's and they have a 3 or 4 bar coverage w/AT&T? I will call them re rates, living aboard, etc. I am assuming using isn't a problem, in terms of no need for bubblers around the hull? Va seems so much warmer than Maine that I don't imagine that would be an issue.

What do you do for work?

[WebWench]

We are at Doziers in Deltaville. It is probably Geoff that you need to talk to about slips in Urbanna.

[CMiles]

I'd suggest Port Kinsale. It's a little more than an hour out of Richmond out in the country. I spent a few nights a week there on a friend's boat for a few months while working in Richmond. Nice place w/ really cheap rates. Nice Pool, Restaurant and Bar as well. Port Kinsale—Kinsale Virginia, marina & resort on the Yeocomico River