Beaming at 14.5' How Hard To Find Slips

[Wavewacker]

Hi all, I'm really interested in a pilothouse tug style boat, but I'm really concerned about finding inexpensive slips along the eastern ICW, and rivers for the Great Loop. The draft is great @ 2.5 feet! It's 35 feet in length but has really more room than we really need (lol). Bridge clearance is only 10 feet. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

[Waterway Guide]

16'+ slips are pretty common on the entire route...and almost all marinas charge per length. We have a 14' beam on our gemini catamaran and have not had any issues where we've sailed (except one marina in Nassau who wanted to charge us double because we're a catamaran, even though with our 2' draft we could fit in the slips that no one else could!). You might have to rig the lines up carefully if there's a large tidal range and no floating piers. Make sure you have a good supply of fenders/boards.

[djmarchand]

Our 2006 Mainship 34T has a beam of 14' and our 35' PacketCat has a beam of 15'. Neither have been difficult to find slips for. Most 35' slips are at least 16' wide and 40' slips are 18'. With floating docks 16' is plenty. If they are fixed you probably want the 18' slip width.

So you may have to pay for the longer slip if they are fixed piers. Most marinas nowadays are charging for the slip size or boat size, whichever is greater.

David

[River Cruiser]

The marina where I keep mine just put in 6 new 50'x18' slips, mine is a older 54'x16'. A lot of marinas on the river have wider slips for the houseboats. Good Luck