Marinas in the Upper Midwest?

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by KarlH

@LakeSuperior, I was just looking at your photos... That's a gorgeous boat

Thanks Karl, my father spent 20 years building it. He is a perfectionist and put that into the build.

[ctl411]

I asked at Yacht Basin yesterday when I launched. They said no to year round. Said insurance company won't allow it. You may be able to find a private dock easier. Try Craigslist maybe???

[KarlH]

Originally Posted by ctl411

I asked at Yacht Basin yesterday when I launched. They said no to year round. Said insurance company won't allow it. You may be able to find a private dock easier. Try Craigslist maybe???

Thanks!

I'd forgotten about private docks, but that's a good idea. Now that you bring it up, some shoreline property owners around here will sell or rent a sliver of their land just wide enough for a dock. That might be a fall-back if there aren't any suitable docks for rent.

[KarlH]

I'd probably need an onboard shower if I weren't staying at a marina. I'm not sure if humidity would be as much of a problem in the winter as it is in the summer, but I could make an air dryer with a fan and a mesh cannister full of desiccant pellets. Maybe there's something available off-the-shelf, too.

[30West]

Originally Posted by KarlH

I'd probably need an onboard shower if I weren't staying at a marina. I'm not sure if humidity would be as much of a problem in the winter as it is in the summer, but I could make an air dryer with a fan and a mesh cannister full of desiccant pellets. Maybe there's something available off-the-shelf, too.

When I was a bachelor I had a gym membership and used their shower every day, just so I didn't have to clean my shower. Good way to keep in shape as well in the winter. Moisture would tend to condense and freeze on your cold hull and windows anywhere it wasn't well insulated and sealed from air, similar to airplane hulls at altitude. I think a boat in the winter would be pretty dry.

Probably a lot of private docks available in the winter around here! A good friend keeps his boat at his mom's dock in the narrows, probably not a great location for winter due to ice flows. If you managed the agitators and kept an eye on the house, you would be valuable to someone with a summer lake cottage. How to find people with such need I wonder?

[Tayana42]

Have you considered tying together ice blocks for a dock and an igloo for a dock box? Might get sponsored by the St Paul Winter Festival. King Boreas would be pleased.

[AKA-None]

Not many places in the upper Midwest are going to let you leave the boat in the water /ice over winter

[svseachange]

When we were in Minnesota there were some year round liveaboards on the Mississippi in St Paul.

The best marina we encountered in the Upper Midwest was Barker's Island Marina in Superior, WI, but overwintering there is probably not an option.

[KarlH]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Have you considered tying together ice blocks for a dock and an igloo for a dock box? Might get sponsored by the St Paul Winter Festival. King Boreas would be pleased.

No need to tie them; just weld them with water

[KarlH]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

Not many places in the upper Midwest are going to let you leave the boat in the water /ice over winter

That makes sense. Somebody would probably fall through the ice if you ran bubblers.

Another option might be to use a trailer, haul out somewhere else and park it on land.