Liveaboard in bay area

[Capt Phil]

Welcome to CF, titansfan... don't overlook the San Rafael canal area. There are many slips not in the marinas there that might accommodate a vessel of 60 feet.
I'm sure most are taken but the best way to find out is rent a small runabout and cruise the canal from the water side. Drop in if you see a slip that would fit you and just ask.
Last I heard there was a section of the canal entrance that was not dredged due to a disagreement between two government agencies as to where their dredging responsibilities began and ended. This pretty dated info but a 60 foot Bluewater Houseboat may be able to get in with its shallow draft if it is still a problem. I kept my 38 foot Ingrid at the San Rafael marina for many years before leaving the Bay Area because of the nuts and fruitcakes. Would never live there again! Phil

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

I (left) the Bay Area because of the nuts and fruitcakes. Would never live there again! Phil

I wonder if you ever post without including some version the above statement.

[Capt Phil]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I wonder if you ever post without including some version the above statement.

Never!

[KarlH]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Another option would be vallejo marina and ride the ferry in. though limited to 40-50 ish foot again for a slip.

I looked into doing this when I was considering moving out there, and one site said that the Vallejo marina had a waiting list for liveaboards. I don't know if that's up to date.

[delmarrey]

Living on the lamb has just got harder & harder every year since the hippy generation.

The word freedom has been reduced down to just being able to walk the street w/o restriction. And in some no-go neighborhoods that's finished too! Back in the 50s -70s I've lived in the woods of the Sierra Mountains, Prescott forests and Alaska backwoods. I can't even get into some of those places anymore. And the tree cops are all over the place.

All the marinas are full with tuff restrictions and anchorages are monitored heavy now. So to the OP, good luck on your quest.

Rant over!

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by KarlH

I looked into doing this when I was considering moving out there, and one site said that the Vallejo marina had a waiting list for liveaboards. I don't know if that's up to date.

The problem with the inland marinas in the Bay Area is the mud builds up every year, and if you have a deep keel it's hard to get in/out on shallow tides. There's one marina over by Sears point that shut down because the mud got so bad the docks were sitting on the mud at low tide. It cost too much to dredge it out now with the EPA all over them.
The Vallejo marina dredged theirs out a couple years ago but I still couldn't get in at low tide. Glen Cove marina is where I was for a year, but availability of big slips are rare.

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

The problem with the inland marinas in the Bay Area is the mud builds up every year, and if you have a deep keel it's hard to get in/out on shallow tides. There's one marina over by Sears point that shut down because the mud got so bad the docks were sitting on the mud at low tide. It cost too much to dredge it out now with the EPA all over them.
The Vallejo marina dredged theirs out a couple years ago but I still couldn't get in at low tide. Glen Cove marina is where I was for a year, but availability of big slips are rare.

The Vallejo municipal marina was recently dredged and apparently can take boats with keels deeper than 7 feet at low tide,which is a significant improvement over recent years...

[KarlH]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Living on the lamb has just got harder & harder

I was reading about some of the intrigues in the Galapagos Islands in the 1920s, and one of the salty old witnesses was saying the same thing

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

The problem with the inland marinas in the Bay Area is the mud builds up every year, and if you have a deep keel it's hard to get in/out on shallow tides. There's one marina over by Sears point that shut down because the mud got so bad the docks were sitting on the mud at low tide.

Even worse the Petaluma marina has some of the slips with boats in them, totally in mud at a low low tide and the entrance is less then 3 feet deep at MLW. I heard that even small power boats are getting stuck in the fairway. Petaluma has no plans to dredge. Crazy...

It is getting harder living outside society. Too many rules and restrictions. Yet I still try... Some one has to do it.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by softdown

I knew there would be problems or more people would do it. Those winds are feisty indeed. That explains why the original owner of my S2 had the shoal keel turned into a deep keel while adding 900 pounds of ballast. He said it was for the "San Francisco Bay conditions".

The guy had a challenge enticing his family to sail and usually single handed the S2. I can hardly imagine a young male who would not enjoy sailing. Yet his son called the graduation gift/bonding trip to Catalina Island the "worst time of his life." How is that for a slap in the face?

Might be appreciated by aggressive sailors, not so much for houseboats.

I have done a trip slightly further south to Santa Cruz Island, in a ferry, and I would count that as the worst boat trip of my life. Short, nasty, steep swell, at least 8 feet. Everyone on the boat vomiting. At least it only took 2 hours. I am quite willing to believe the Catalina trip was just as rough.

[Hadlock]

Originally Posted by gamayun

The Vallejo municipal marina was recently dredged and apparently can take boats with keels deeper than 7 feet at low tide,which is a significant improvement over recent years...

We were recently in Vallejo municipal in July 2017 with our 7' draft sailboat, trying to leave the marina at low tide.

The marina may have been dredged, but at low tide we hit a small shoal (enough to bring us to a stop) near the south end of the end tie of D dock (between the guest dock and the opening to the river)

On the way out of the marina we hit another shoal, this one on the southern half of the exit to the marina. Took us about 15 minutes at WOT but we managed to plow through it. Kind of scary because the Napa river is trying to push your bow in to the southern breakwater at about 4 kts.

6' draft (as of July 2017) should be no problem at low tide.

[erased]

I didn't want to create yet another liveaboard in SF thread so I'll just add to this one,...

liveaboard slips in the SF area seem very difficult to come by however most marinas will allow you to stay overnight up to 3 nights a week, so what is to prevent me from purchasing a sailboat and just anchoring out 4 nights a week in the bay?

That seems the only plausible workaround until perhaps one day you get a liveaboard slip.... that or rent a slip at 2 separate marinas and just split the week staying between the two?

[model 10]

If you have a good credit rating, slips open up. Get a month to month slip and see how it goes. North bay maybe, San Rafael, Vallejo, etc.

[erased]

Originally Posted by Guy

If you have a good credit rating, slips open up. Get a month to month slip and see how it goes. North bay maybe, San Rafael, Vallejo, etc.

Thanks for the response and that's very interesting, I've read through many of the threads on this site and that's the first time I've seen that credit rating would make an impact on the availability of a liveaboard slip.

From what I've gathered on these boards it has more to do with size of the boat, quality of the boat, and general politics (in good regard with the harbormaster). If credit rating is a large factor then that sounds promising!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Hadlock, & erased.