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Old 09-02-2013, 17:17   #1
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Where to live aboard south Boston

I'm from the UK & going to be working near Canton, MA & would like to buy & live aboard within 40 minutes drive from there. Can anyone with experience of the area recommend a marina location that is secure & reasonable cost for a 36 foot keel boat? Shore power & usual marina refinements would be nice, but not essential.
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Old 09-02-2013, 17:30   #2
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

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I'm from the UK & going to be working near Canton, MA & would like to buy & live aboard within 40 minutes drive from there. Can anyone with experience of the area recommend a marina location that is secure & reasonable cost for a 36 foot keel boat? Shore power & usual marina refinements would be nice, but not essential.
Spent a summer in New England and, at least by my standards, there are no reasonable cost marinas. Anywhere close to Boston for 36' I would guess USD$1000/month for dock rent.

I'm sure you will hear from some members from Boston but if you want to shop a lot of the options check out www.activecaptain.com. There is a page on their web site that has a map or chart page that will show all the marinas in the Boston area.
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Old 09-02-2013, 17:31   #3
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

By the way, welcome to Cruiser's Forum. Hope you enjoy your stay in Boston.
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Old 09-02-2013, 18:37   #4
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

Try Newport Beach, CA where slips start at $45ft per month and that is slip length! That means if you have a 37' it goes into a 40' slip!
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Old 09-02-2013, 19:03   #5
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

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Try Newport Beach, CA where slips start at $45ft per month and that is slip length! That means if you have a 37' it goes into a 40' slip!
Guess Newport Beach is another place I won't be spending a lot of time.
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Old 10-02-2013, 09:24   #6
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Spent a summer in New England and, at least by my standards, there are no reasonable cost marinas. Anywhere close to Boston for 36' I would guess USD$1000/month for dock rent.

I'm sure you will hear from some members from Boston but if you want to shop a lot of the options check out www.activecaptain.com. There is a page on their web site that has a map or chart page that will show all the marinas in the Boston area.
Thank you to all respondents so far.
That's about South Coast of 'Old England' pricing, so not too scary for us Brits, but still quite a bit for dock rent? Isn't that still about half or even a third the cost of an apartment in the back Bay Area?
What's the pricing of a mooring by comparison?
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Old 10-02-2013, 11:18   #7
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I'm from the UK & going to be working near Canton, MA & would like to buy & live aboard within 40 minutes drive from there. Can anyone with experience of the area recommend a marina location that is secure & reasonable cost for a 36 foot keel boat? Shore power & usual marina refinements would be nice, but not essential.
For the summer there are a lot of options. Just don't come out and tell any marina you are living aboard. Most towns where the marinas are located crackdown on the marinas to not allow liveaboards because of taxes and additional draw on public resources. It's a bull$&!t argument but enough to scare the marinas. I would recommend you check out Hingham Shipyard Marina (where I am), Sunset Marina in Hull, and Marina Bay in Quincy. All have parking, bathhouses with showers and at least a restaurant on site. These will cost between $110-150 a foot for May though October.

For the winter you are far more limited. Captains Cove in Quincy and Constitution Marina in Boston are the only marinas that openly allow liveaboards in the winter. At Marina Bay and Bay Point Marina in Quincy there are liveaboards but if you ask to go there as a liveaboard they will tell you know and that the current liveaboards are grandfathered.

If you have questions PM me. I would also be willing to show you Hingham if you wanted to check it out.
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Old 10-02-2013, 11:29   #8
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

Depending on exactly where you'll be in Canton, you might also want to check out harbors to the south and east. 95 can quickly put you in Providence or other Rhode Island harbors, and 24 takes you down to Fall River and the other side of Narragansett Bay. Plymouth and Scituate aren't too far to the east. IMHO the best cruising ground in the area is Buzzards Bay and south of Cape Cod.
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Old 10-02-2013, 11:49   #9
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

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Depending on exactly where you'll be in Canton, you might also want to check out harbors to the south and east. 95 can quickly put you in Providence or other Rhode Island harbors, and 24 takes you down to Fall River and the other side of Narragansett Bay. Plymouth and Scituate aren't too far to the east. IMHO the best cruising ground in the area is Buzzards Bay and south of Cape Cod.
We keep our boat in RI, but live South of Boston near the Hingham Shipyard Marina. We kept our prior boat in Hull on a mooring just off Sunset Marina. Hingham Shipyard is viable though pricey. I wouldn't recommend Sunset. Limited facilities and a very long drive through Hull before your commute starts.

I agree with the recommendation to look at Narragansett Bay. Not only are there a number of options, the water is warmer and the season, therefore, a good bit longer. Coming down I-95, it may be easier to stay on the west side of the Bay. We know several people who keep their boats in East Greenwich and really like it.
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Old 10-02-2013, 12:00   #10
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

Cheapest anywhere near boston is usually about 100$ per ft for the summer season. Closest and cheapest to you would probably be Captains Cove in Quincy, MA. I'm staying there now. Its a nice quiet spot with gated access, showers/bathroom, Ice machine, wifi, all the usual stuff. If you're willing to drive up rt 24 for an hour or two the absolute cheapest summer dockage I've found is in New Bedford where you can usually find dockage for around 70$ per foot for the summer. Other than being about as expeicive a place to live as you can find Boston is a pretty good city to live aboard. I've got about 3ft of snow on my boat right now. Nothing beats Igloo insulation.

Good luck with your search

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Old 10-02-2013, 12:23   #11
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

I just noticed you asked about moorings as well. Wollaston Yacht club is the best and cheapest I've found in the area. Dues for new membership is 100$, plus you provide your own mooring gear. The club used to be a a total mess but its under new management and made huge strides in the past few years. Other requirements for putting your own mooring into the bay, the club has to okay your mooring gear and you have to pay the city of Quincy excise tax yearly for your boat.

The laws reguarding private moorings is really touch and go depending upon the town around here. Some follow state law and you'll have to go on a 6 or 7 year waiting list plus pay a 'deposit' yearly while you wait or they throw you off the list (like Plymouth, Kingston, Scituate, etc), other towns like Salem will let private mooring holders transfer ownership for whatever $$$ the mooring holder wants, plus yearly boat excise paid to the town. The Harbor masters or even worse the "marine police divisions" mostly make up the rules as they go. Its a very messy system.

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Old 10-02-2013, 19:25   #12
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Ryan,

Did you say you are at Captain's Cove now? Cool, which boat are you on? My friends Tom and Nancy are spending the winter there on a Freedom 30. I was there yesterday for a while, delivering a propane heater and checking out the boat that was going down. They saved the boat. Hopefully it doesn't have much damage.

Here are a couple of photos I took.

Fair winds,

Jesse
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Old 10-02-2013, 23:56   #13
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Re: Where to live aboard south Boston

Hi Jesse,

I'm the tiny dark blue sloop with the oversize rowing dingy strapped to my bow. You worried me for a minute when you mentioned a boat sinking in the marina, I've spent the past few days snowed in at my new project boat in Plymouth and hadn't chanced the roads to check on my little blue boat. Back aboard now and alls well. Which boat was going under?
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Old 11-02-2013, 02:35   #14
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Ryan,


If you look at the picture I took from the parking lot, it's the middle power boat. They the the boats on the end, past the office.

I'll have to look for next time I stop by the marina.

Jesse
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Old 12-02-2013, 16:19   #15
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Is it just me, or does that look seriously cold? Reminds me of living on the outskirts of Minneapolis, now that is cold!
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