PNW Year Round Cruising

[smillasense]

With our desired home to be a Nauticat 44, is it possible to be year-round transients in Puget Sound/PNW? We would plan to get monthly transient Marina moorage in the winter as needed, but try to anchor as much as possible. Had anyone had experience with this?

[Cheechako]

I used to do it. Sure it's do able. Winter slips are often available in marinas too. Anacortes is good for that. People from Seattle often move up to Anacortes for the summer to be close to cruising grounds. By winter there are empty slips.
In the summer, you can often sub let a slip near Seattle like Shilshole Marina for up to 5 months. (those are the slips available when people move their boats north but dont want to lose their slips in Shilshole) (long waiting list) They can sublet for up to 5 months, maybe 6.
Or possibly some of the small marinas on the Olympic Peninsula side.
Anchoring out in winter, have yourself in a very enclosed anchorage, it can blow 70 mph at times. Many of the docks in parks are removed for the winter due to wind.

[smillasense]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I used to do it. Sure it's do able. Winter slips are often available in marinas too. Anacortes is good for that. People from Seattle often move up to Anacortes for the summer to be close to cruising grounds. By winter there are empty slips.
In the summer, you can often sub let a slip near Seattle like Shilshole Marina for up to 5 months. (those are the slips available when people move their boats north but dont want to lose their slips in Shilshole) (long waiting list) They can sublet for up to 5 months, maybe 6.
Or possibly some of the small marinas on the Olympic Peninsula side.
Anchoring out in winter, have yourself in a very enclosed anchorage, it can blow 70 mph at times. Many of the docks in parks are removed for the winter due to wind.

Thank you. I didn't think about the various sublet options. We are making a list of the best "hunker down" spots for foul weather.

[Cheechako]

There are usually pretty good predictions of winter storms, so you can always move.

[gardeningal]

If you are not a resident of Washington, you also have to consider the time constraints of staying in Washington waters as a nonresident. It's complicated and enforced. We have a Nauticat 44 in Anacortes that we are considering selling at the end of the summer. Feel free to PM with any questions.

[smillasense]

Originally Posted by gardeningal

If you are not a resident of Washington, you also have to consider the time constraints of staying in Washington waters as a nonresident. It's complicated and enforced. We have a Nauticat 44 in Anacortes that we are considering selling at the end of the summer. Feel free to PM with any questions.

Thank you. We plan to live in the state on land and establish residency first, knowing it might take some time to find a boat.

[Captain Puget]

The area is full of protected Anchorages. As long as you watch the forecast, no problem finding protection from any storm. The state park buoy permits are cheap for a year. 3 days at a time.

I enjoy the solitude and clear winter days. Good, drying heat is a must.

[redhead]

Hello from the northern sound. Bellingham and Blaine (both administered by Port of Bellingham) both allow 10% of slips as liveaboards. We've spent 5 winters here in Blaine. In the summer we usually leave (not this year) and you can either continue to pay for your slip and be sure it's there when you return, or not pay and take your chances.

We have always opted to take our chances because we're pretty big and so we're on the commercial dock, and it's always worked out just fine. This year, because the virus has changed all the rules we're going to keep paying just to be sure it's there when we come back. Obviously, we're staying in the San Juans and Puget area in general this year.

I think availability is dependant on the size of your boat. Most are in the 35'-45' range and this year in particular you may well have a problem leaving and then expecting/hoping for a slip when the fall gales start in October especially this year when there are so many unknowns. I also see a lot of people who can work remotely deciding to isolate on their boats for weeks at a time. Whether they'll be considered as liveaboards or not I can't say.

[Cpt Mark]

Originally Posted by smillasense

With our desired home to be a Nauticat 44, is it possible to be year-round transients in Puget Sound/PNW? We would plan to get monthly transient Marina moorage in the winter as needed, but try to anchor as much as possible. Had anyone had experience with this?

I may too be doing the same this winter. I'm tired of the Columbia. My boat is registered in Oregon which has no sales tax. An issue to deal with is avoiding Washington's Use tax aka sales tax which they will want 90 days after you arrive. You can get some kind of cruising permit to avoid this but I haven't looked into all the details and restrictions. If you anchor out you'd probably never be found but if your'e in a marina on the day the tax collector collects all the tenant info you could find yourself owing just short of 10% the value they place on your boat.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by smillasense

With our desired home to be a Nauticat 44, is it possible to be year-round transients in Puget Sound/PNW? We would plan to get monthly transient Marina moorage in the winter as needed, but try to anchor as much as possible. Had anyone had experience with this?

We are full time cruisers from CA and just completed our first full year in Puget Sound in our Nauticat 43.

We prefer to live on the hook as much as possible, but being our first year we explored many different anchorages and marinas.

Some marinas convert their guest docks to winter moorage for transients, and we stayed for 6 weeks in one location to establish WA residency (you can use a marina moorage contract, even a transient one, to establish residency).

Our initial plan was to duck into a marina when a storm is forecast (winds over 35 knots) and we did that, but we have a great storm anchor and was also comfortable finding a protected spot with room for lots of scope. In the future we'll probably not duck into harbors much, but that's us.

Winter can get cold, with lots of rain and snow, and as well built as a Nauticat is, our first winter revealed that we needed to upgrade our heating system a bit and add insulation in spots, especially in the ceiling where we sleep between the headliner and the deck, which was prone to lots of condensation unless you run the heat all the time and/or a dehumidifer, which we don't do when we anchor as we enjoy bundling up in the cold and living frugally. Having shore power at a dock would be different and much easier in this regard, but we prefer living on the hook.

Please do drop us a line if you have questions about cruising year round in PNW and consider joining our Nauticat Owners Forum, a great source of info and support, and there are many of us in PNW.

[purplesunrise]

I spent 30 years in the PNW and 10 of those years on a Hans Christian in Lake Union. Fierce northwest storms were never a problem but when making the trek to the Sound, it can be time consuming to get through the bridges and locks (visitors loved it). On the other hand the lake is freshwater so in the many years I had the boat, I only need to paint the bottom once. So take a look at Lake Union or Lake Washington as a possible liveaboard area.

[smillasense]

Originally Posted by Cpt Mark

I may too be doing the same this winter. I'm tired of the Columbia. My boat is registered in Oregon which has no sales tax. An issue to deal with is avoiding Washington's Use tax aka sales tax which they will want 90 days after you arrive. You can get some kind of cruising permit to avoid this but I haven't looked into all the details and restrictions. If you anchor out you'd probably never be found but if your'e in a marina on the day the tax collector collects all the tenant info you could find yourself owing just short of 10% the value they place on your boat.

Thank you. We will add tax implications to our list of things to further research.

[smillasense]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

We are full time cruisers from CA and just completed our first full year in Puget Sound in our Nauticat 43.



We prefer to live on the hook as much as possible, but being our first year we explored many different anchorages and marinas.



Some marinas convert their guest docks to winter moorage for transients, and we stayed for 6 weeks in one location to establish WA residency (you can use a marina moorage contract, even a transient one, to establish residency).



Our initial plan was to duck into a marina when a storm is forecast (winds over 35 knots) and we did that, but we have a great storm anchor and was also comfortable finding a protected spot with room for lots of scope. In the future we'll probably not duck into harbors much, but that's us.



Winter can get cold, with lots of rain and snow, and as well built as a Nauticat is, our first winter revealed that we needed to upgrade our heating system a bit and add insulation in spots, especially in the ceiling where we sleep between the headliner and the deck, which was prone to lots of condensation unless you run the heat all the time and/or a dehumidifer, which we don't do when we anchor as we enjoy bundling up in the cold and living frugally. Having shore power at a dock would be different and much easier in this regard, but we prefer living on the hook.



Please do drop us a line if you have questions about cruising year round in PNW and consider joining our Nauticat Owners Forum, a great source of info and support, and there are many of us in PNW.

Thank you. I am on the Nauticat forum as well and have enjoyed your Instagram travels!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by smillasense

Thank you. We will add tax implications to our list of things to further research.

I just googled washingtonstateboating:


https://boat.wa.gov/

[alctel]

I liked short-term cruising and did lots of sailing in the winters, but for longer-term stuff you really want to be in a marina, purely for the power.

Solar is basically non-existant and you want an 120V power hookup so you can run dehumidifiers or space heaters to stay warm and dry which is essential.

I had a diesel heater which was fantastic when I was traveling around but relying on it all winter long would cost a ton in diesel (and I try to burn as little fuel as possible generally)