Renting a slip

Been on my mind lately of renting a slip for the boat one of these years, and would love to hear some info and experiences people have had with them.

Assuming the mobility, stuck to one body of water, etc isn’tt a big deal.

What’s security like for most places? Graphs on/off everytime, tackle removed etc?

How big of a pain is it to cover the boat everytime before leaving? Anyway to streamline that process? Not interested in a covered slip, those things are spendy enough.

Any other issues? Bird crap, zebras on motor if infested waters, etc?

I would never do it because I need to be mobile, but I have considered doing a “land & launch” package at watergate marina on p2. For $770 you get to store the boat on its trailer right next to the ramp. 24/7 access so you can come in and launch at midnight or whenever, or just swing by with the truck, hookup and go. For another $300 or so you get winter storage as well.

Honestly though, it’d be more for the benefit of having my second garage stall at home.

I’m with P2F – I’ve looked at Watergate because it’s close and I tend to fish the river anyways. However, the storage on the trailer didn’t work because I need to plug the boat in and charge it.

I think it was about $1400 for the year to keep it in a slip. Didn’t seem worth it to me when I added up all the time I would use it.

I will say, I had boat issues last February on the river and limped it into Watergate close to dark on a Sunday. There was someone there that helped me get the boat on the trailer (he had to drive me to Hidden Falls to get the trailer) and opened the gates for me. The community there seems to watch out for each other so I don’t think security would be an issue. Quite a few people live on their boats or spend a lot of time on them.

I had one at lake city on pepin, the good thing was you got home from work and you were fishing in 10 minutes if it was white capping you went home, the bad was gulls and ducks crapping on the docks and your boat and the zebs on your boat.

For a pleasure boat I can see the perks of a slip. For a fishing boat, it’d be the worst investment I could ever make. I live 3 miles from the landing and my rig rests in an insulated, attached garage. $1500+ per year on a slip is a lot of fuel, bait, beer etc.

My favorite home lake rents slips by the day or by the season. When we go camping for the week I always rent a slip and I’ve been doing it for over 15 years. There has never been a problem leaving my tackle on the boat and in plain sight. As a little extra precaution, I give some of the folks that live on their boat during the summer a few fish and they help keep an eye on my boat. If anyone was going to leave their boat in an open slip for any extended period of time, I’d highly recommend an auto bilge pump.

P.S. The marinas that rent slips will a lot of the times have cheap dry storage available as well. One doesn’t have to haul the boat back and forth but just hook up at the lake and launch.

RRR will be renting a slip from the Harbor Bar this year. I was asking him about security and leaving his gear in the boat. Apparently there’s enough activity around to keep people honest.

As long as I have a place to store a mooring cover near my boat, I’ll be getting a slip either at Island Campgrounds or the Harbor. Not sure which yet. It’s a no wake zone and that helps. Need power for charging batteries.

But then my boat hasn’t been on any other water but the Miss…except once in the last 10 years.

If I recall when inquiring about slips this last fall, they were starting at $600. for the year.

Would love to get a toon and a slip for the upper croix. Would have to be a nice toon as it wouldn’t be long before I was just staying on it.

nhamm wrote:

What’s security like for most places? Graphs on/off everytime, tackle removed etc?

How big of a pain is it to cover the boat everytime before leaving? Anyway to streamline that process? Not interested in a covered slip, those things are spendy enough.

Any other issues? Bird crap, zebras on motor if infested waters, etc?

We rented dry storage for our 21 foot pleasure boat for a number of summers. Here’s my list of pros/cons.

Pros:

– No issues with long lines at ramps, lack of parking, etc. Drive right up to the boat, load, and you’re on the water. Lack of accessible parking spaces is THE major issue on the weekends and using a boat is just easier and more FUN when you take out all the hassles of parking and launching.

– No boat sitting in the driveway or on the parking pad. Frees up lots of space around the house.

– No waiting at launch ramps. At our marina, as soon as a dry storage owner came up with his boat, the line of tourist boaters was stopped and we were immediately launched. Also, the marina staff would jump in and help anyone having issues, so there was no waiting for someone to take 30 minutes to get it right.

Cons:

– High water events. We have had a constant series of high water events in the cities over the past 10 years. That changes everything, you need to worry about your boat’s physical security, and the body of water may go off limits or be unboatable for weeks or a month. A few years back, I had to go and get our boat and pull it OUT of the storage area and back home about June 3rd because I was worried about the dry storage flooding. Then the water was not boatable again until after July 4th due to flooding, no-wake restrictions, and debris in the water.

– Yes, you have to worry about security. Never an issue at our marina, but I would not leave anything on the boat that I wasn’t prepared to have stolen. With pleasure boats this is less of an issue, but with fishing boats I can see pulling all the gear out and loading it again would be a lot more of an issue.

– Your boat is a freaking mess and it’s harder to clean it. Where you got water, you got seagulls. Nuff said.

And if you store in a slip, you have even more of a mess with algae buildup on the hull, etc.

It’s also harder on your boat, any tiny pinhole leak that would let in a few drops of water in a day becomes an issue when that boat is in the water 24/7. I laugh when guys say thier boat is leak free. Oh yeah? Leave ‘er in a slip for month and we’ll see about that.

– Additional equipment requirements. For the safety of the boat you have to have a good cover that will shed 100% of the rain with NO pooling on the cover. This is expensive and hard to do. You also need to install a bilge pump with an “always on” hot lead and a float switch in case of water ingress. This drains your battery so you need a good solar setup or shore power and a maintainer. You also should have a water alarm that goes off if the boat begins to take on more than casual rainwater.

– Bottom line is I worried more about the boat when it wasn’t where I could see it. A lot more can go wrong with a boat when you’re only seeing it once a week or so.

Grouse

I live about 17 miles from my slip. Having the boat in the water already and being able to drive over in my little car that gets 40 mpg all summer instead of hauling the truck/boat back and forth is wonderful. If I want to just fish for a couple hours at day break or after the kids go to bed it’s not such a commitment and I end up with a lot more productive on the water time even if it’s in more short segments that making myself go for 6-10 hours to justify hauling my boat somewhere. If you can afford it it’s certainly a luxury. As much as I hate spiders the big hairy ones seems to stay at the water line and don’t get inside the boat as much as I thought they would. hahahaha

I have toyed around with this idea as well. I know I’d use the boat much more during our short summers if I could just drive over and hop on. Get out of work early one day but by the time you drive home to get the boat and get to the lake the trip won’t be worth it? If it was in a slip you could just drive over straight from work.

But like others have said, I think this works better for larger pleasure boats with larger bilge systems and/or pontoons where you just don’t have to worry about the boat sinking. I really think pontoons are the best kind of boat for this setup because even with the worst storm, they risk of damage is minimal as long as your fenders are down.

It really makes you wonder if the old guys had it right. Kept a 12 foot rowboat or canoe on the top of their car all summer. Ready to hit the water any time and anywhere.

Good stuff here fellas. Appreciate the input.

Hell, it’s only one floor job, go for it!!