Hi Vadim,
Finding liveaboard slips in the Bay Area can be a problem. You can usually find something but the location may not be close to
work or where you want to live.
Liveaboards are regulated by the
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Currently,
Marinas are granted 10% of their total berthing to liveaboards. The criteria to meet liveaboard status is: Vessel must be a minimum 24ft in length, kept in good
repair and in
seaworthy condition. Vessel must not be permanently attached to the
Dock and must leave the marina waters once each 180 day period.
I've never seen them check if anyone left the marina every 180 days but they did verify holding
tanks and told us to only use biodegradable soaps. I still got a nasal infection once when I was
diving in a marina at Redwood City to scrub my boat. Next time I'll use a full face mask.
It's been a year since I was last looking and I only remember two marina's with available liveaboard slips: Marina Bay Yacht Harbor | 1340 Marina Way South, Richmond, CA 94804 |
Phone: 510-236-1013 | Fax: 510-236-1957 and Pillar Point Harbor, One Johnson Pier, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019,
harbormaster@smharbor.com, 650-726-4382.
Doesn't mean there aren't more available somewhere else or that there are any available now at those
marinas. Pillar Point, which is on the coast, doesn't have any liveaboard quotas.
The harbor master may want to see your boat and/or a
survey before they offer you a slip. The last marina I was in required $500,000 liability
insurance. First time
buying boat
insurance will probably make you a high risk which means high premium. I believe it took a year and then I switched to a more reasonable policy with BoatU.S.
Good luck and hope you enjoy the lifestyle.
Ken