Moving to Tampa

[PurpleReign]

I am new to boating, except as a passenger on day cruises. I will be locating to Tampa in late June for a job and am considering a houseboat. It is 40 feet.

Any information on What Marinas in Tampa will allow me to live on a houseboat?

[denverd0n]

There are a bunch, so it really depends on where you want to be. The biggest issue will probably be that most of the marinas have waiting lists, though snowbirds will be cleared out by June, so you might get lucky.

[Woodland Hills]

There are only 3 marinas in the area that are grandfathered in to allow legal live aboards AFAIK, one is Blind Pass and I don’t know the others. BTW I was told this by the owner of Blind Pass FWIW.......!

When we first were planning a trip up there we were told that we could only stay aboard for 4 consecutive nights, but once we arrived, no one cared. However we only stayed a week or so, your experience might be different.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

There are only 3 marinas in the area that are grandfathered in to allow legal live aboards...

I don't know about the legalities, but there are a lot more than three around the area that allow liveaboards.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, PurpleReign.

[Davy J]

When I went looking a couple of years ago, these were the options:

St Petersburg Municipal Marina
The Harborage Marina
Blind Pass Marina
Pasadena Marina
Regatta Pointe Marina
Twin Dolphin Marina

Recently Added to the list is Gulfport Municipal Marina

At the time, the only one that didn't have a waiting list was Regatta Pointe.

Notice none of those on the list are actually in Tampa. The other thing, expect it to be fairly expensive. It seems every one is adding a $200-$300 liveaboard fee.

[WSMFP]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

I don't know about the legalities, but there are a lot more than three around the area that allow liveaboards.

Harborage in St. Pete and St. Pete Municipal are both liveaboard but with long waiting lists. Little Harbor is technically not taking new liveabords but if your boat is in good shape they will probably take your money. Gulf Port Municipal has a small number of live aboard slips.....like 5 I think.

[tdoster]

Originally Posted by Davy J

When I went looking a couple of years ago, these were the options:

St Petersburg Municipal Marina
The Harborage Marina
Blind Pass Marina
Pasadena Marina
Regatta Pointe Marina
Twin Dolphin Marina

Recently Added to the list is Gulfport Municipal Marina

At the time, the only one that didn't have a waiting list was Regatta Pointe.

Notice none of those on the list are actually in Tampa. The other thing, expect it to be fairly expensive. It seems every one is adding a $200-$300 liveaboard fee.

Update 4/2019

We live in the area on a canal and thought of moving to a larger boat and aboard, but have had a heck of a time finding a decent marina without a crazy drive - looking for over a year. The question gets asked a lot and the short answer is it is one of the harder places in Florida to not only find a good marina, but a good one who accepts liveaboards - for professionals still working. If you work in Tampa, it will be a long drive. Pasadena and Blind Pass are close to St Pete beach and at that point, it may be more attractive to find something on the Sarasota side of the Sunshine causeway bridge with Regatta Point or Twin Dolphin Marina. Pasadena has very slim fairways. Harborage is the best marina in the area with floating docks, but LONG wait list. St Petersburg Municipal is a close second. You have to like crowds for either marina as both are in the heart of downtown St. Pete. Downtown St Pete is getting crowded as will downtown Tampa after all of the construction to attract the younger crowds to the city. Just no marinas going in around Tampa, and many cities do not allow liveaboards at all. If you are talking low draft or pontoon traditional houseboat, you may have a harder time finding a home for it as well as the marinas get picky. There are a few dockominiums from ~50K - 200K+. Wait lists seem to last through the hurricane season with snow birds leaving their boats in the good marinas.

[mabowers]

Pier construction next to Saint Petersburg municipal (allegedly) reducing supply to the point I couldn't reserve even a transient slip a couple weeks ago.

[WSMFP]

The pier construction has caused the closure of the mooring field and dinghy dock in the north basin. The amount of transient slips is the same although the auto parking included is now really far away since the normal parking lot closed.

[SV Bacchus]

Location of work along with location of marina could also be a make or break. As others have said those mentioned are not really in Tampa. You could be looking at hour or two commute in very heavy traffic, not pleasant at all.

Tell us where in Tampa the new job is located and myself or others on this thread should be able to give you specific ideas of closest marinas and approx travel times..

[Davy J]

The OP hasn't returned, but, since he mentioned a houseboat, he might have a couple options unavailable to those of us with sailboats. Two places come to mind:

Inter-bay moorings on the Alafia River.

Rick's on the River, Hillsborough River.

You'd have to call. Neither one of those is even listed as a marina on WWG. They don't mention liveaboards on their sites. Might be a few other spots in Old Tampa Bay, or elsewhere, that may accommodate a power or houseboat.