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Old 08-17-2015, 01:16 AM   #21
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It's only a 5-6 month season where I am. I'm generally out of state working for all but 2 months of it. So to most people, my boat probably seems to sit around a lot. I still manage to put a touch over 100 hours a season on the engines. When I am home, I spend as much time aboard as possible. I'll take her out 5-6 days a week. Last time I was home, I basically lived aboard for the two weeks I had off. I'm planning to do the same thing next time I'm home.

I'd say well over half of the boats in my Marina get regular exercise.
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Old 08-17-2015, 01:37 AM   #22
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I think that what the OP has noticed seems to be the same for just about every marina I have ever been around. I know in our current marina, Shilshole is SEattle, we have about 1,000 slips. And it is amazing how many boats never seem to go anywhere. And these are not wrecks, old junkers. I see many boats in the $1M plus range that just sit there. Even on holiday weekends, the times you would think everyone would want to be on their boats, I look around and at most maybe 20% of the slips are empty. We use the boat as much as we can. We average 300-350 engine hours a year. We are on it around 50 nights a year, we do day and evening cruises just for fun. I paid a lot of money for it, put a lot of hours into keeping it up, and I damned sure am going to use it as much as I can.
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Old 08-17-2015, 04:45 AM   #23
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I would say our Marina is similar the boat next to mine has been here 8 years and never been out

in the winter (our season) I use mine 2 times a week at least if not daily the rest of the year 1-2 times a month
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Old 08-17-2015, 08:15 AM   #24
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We live and work about a mile from the boat. Being on dauphin island, AL we have a long season. We usually head for the boat nightly for a couple of beers and go out at least every other weekend for an overnight stay. In the winter we head south and made it to Key West last year and were liveaboards for four months or so. Still need that diver though to keep the stuff off the bottom.
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Old 08-17-2015, 08:19 AM   #25
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With the boat 1/2 hour away, I'm down there a few times a week just doing "Stuff". The wife and I try to get out, at least for an overnight about every ten days or so with an occasional 3-5 day trip..100 hours so far this season, with the best cruising weather still to come.
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Old 08-17-2015, 09:48 AM   #26
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Usually once a year:

Launch in May or June, cruise SE Alaska and/or BC for 2-3 months, and pull her out in late August or early September.
The one thing I miss is having a trailer Cruiser. There are so many places to cruise with a boat that can travel over land at 55 mph to get that distant cruising ground. Then having the advantage of planing at 24 knts and sufficient range to cover 3 or 4 hundred miles between fuel gives you the opportunity to cover so much water in your three month window. Mexico, Alaska, Powell, The Inland Water Way, Mississippi River, 90% of the places most of us want to explore is possible and practical on a boat like yours. I really miss the variety of cruising a trailered cruiser offers. On the road I would pull into a KOA and climb into the boat for the night. Weekend trips pack the boat in the back yard hook up and leave. A lot of good times and a lot of adventure.
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Old 08-17-2015, 11:32 AM   #27
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This really all boils down to all the posters that come on here and ask....."What kind of boat should I get?"!!! And it is the sort of psychoanalytical advice I think about and the kind of advice that a broker "should" consider when consluting with a client. The reason why these boats sit around is that people have a dream when they buy them. And they want that dream to become reality. Sadly the gap between that dream and reality is just too wide and unrealistic. So the boat sits. It is a dream unrealized. An expectation that was just too out of whack with reality. People don't realize that owning a boat is not all palm trees and umbrella drinks. There is a lot of expense and hard work that goes on between those great times. Also people are unrealistic about how their lives are structured. You actually have to have TIME to enjoy your boat(and maintain it) and make a committment to enjoy it. That sounds simple enough but the truth. The previous poster that bought the pool and cut his boat time in half is a perfect example. The structure of his life changed and so did the usage of his boat.

Anyway, I am always charged with the "person that uses his boat the most" in whatever marina I have resided in. I use it a solid 200+ hours a year in a day/weekend application. Doesn't sound like a lot but averages out to about 2 times a week.
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Old 08-17-2015, 11:45 AM   #28
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I blame this all on my daughter. She left for college and between the horrific college bills and the trips up to see her once a month we didn't have the time or money to put "Angelina" in the water. Summers were filled with jobs and internships in strange cities. Tuition kept going up then there was the "super senior" semester.

Once we recovered from that my job went away and I had to pickup jobs as I could. This meant no substantial vacation time during the boating season.

This year we've had so many deaths in the family that there was no time between hospitals, wakes and funerals to splash her and little desire to use her.

She sits patiently under her shrinkwrap awaiting next year.

So to answer your question, I haven't been using the boat much lately.
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Old 08-17-2015, 11:48 AM   #29
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It's a tough question to answer. We took the boat out of the slip about once a month when it was in Carrabelle, about 45 mins from our home. A little less than a year and a half ago we moved it to Stuart, about a 6 hour drive away.

SE Florida is much more conducive to Bahamas trips than the panhandle, but is not (IMHO) nearly as nice a weekend destination. There aren't a lot of anchorages there in my experience, though there are a lot of marinas.

Since the move we have only gone on one weekend trip, but have made 3 trips to the Bahamas, two for three weeks each and one for a week. We also brought our little boat down to Stuart over Spring Break and fished in that area while staying aboard for about 5 days.

In addition, I travel down to South Florida about once a month for 3 to 5 day stretches for my work. When I'm down there I stay aboard and do a lot of maintenance. Not having to stay in a hotel those nights covers my slip fees. All told we put about 120 hours a year on the motors.

I would like to use it more, but I'm not unhappy with my time aboard.
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Old 08-17-2015, 12:03 PM   #30
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I spend about 5 nights on solid ground every year.

The last time I was at my marina it was about 10% charter, 5% live aboard, 10% that are out a few times a year, and the rest are just floaters. I have been in the great lakes so who knows what has changed.

The marina is not very friendly when it comes to power and water, but dose not bother me. The cheap dock (smaller boats) only has a set of outlets and hoses every 60'. The 2 docks for the small and medium boats has a 15 amp outlet and water for each slip. The dock for the large boats gets a 30 amp outlet with a 20 amp breaker for each slip with water. If you run a good charger 24/7 and us an inverter it's not that bad.
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Old 08-17-2015, 01:27 PM   #31
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Our marina is like most others - lots of boats that never move, never get touched (and some are relatively new). Then a few people who are on the boats a lot, but seldom leave the slip. Then there is us and a few friends who are on our boats every week, anchored just about every weekend/holiday, and take several longer trips each year. We run our boat from March 1 to Dec 31, but even when winterized from Jan to Feb we spend at least a few nights on board (just can't leave the slip). Average 100-150 engine hours per year. Would put on more but some of our favorite weekend anchorages are less than an hour away from the marina.
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Old 08-17-2015, 03:49 PM   #32
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Twelve predicted log contests a year, four raft-ups a year and an annual 200 mile round trip to Catalina, plus overnighters at marinas in the harbor (San Diego.)
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Old 08-22-2015, 06:14 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kelbylinn View Post
We live and work about a mile from the boat. Being on dauphin island, AL we have a long season. We usually head for the boat nightly for a couple of beers and go out at least every other weekend for an overnight stay. In the winter we head south and made it to Key West last year and were liveaboards for four months or so. Still need that diver though to keep the stuff off the bottom.
Kelbylinn....this is what we hope to do ..would ;;ove to bend your ear sometime to get some advice...
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Old 08-22-2015, 09:48 AM   #34
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Twelve predicted log contests a year, four raft-ups a year and an annual 200 mile round trip to Catalina, plus overnighters at marinas in the harbor (San Diego.)
Not to mention that you slip your boat on the best harbor in the country!
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Old 08-22-2015, 10:57 AM   #35
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How often do you use your boat

We measure our boat use two ways. First, I go at least weekly all year. Often we stay the night as it is located 60 km from home. March-May I'm on her 3-4 days a week doing projects. Then we go away for an extended trip. This year we targeted 3 months at sea, but for several reasons our trip lasted 10 weeks. We expect to be out another 2-3 weeks on her before the winter and hope to do some winter cruising as well.

We told ourselves, our purpose was to see British Columbia. Because of the financial commitment in the original purchase, we agreed we would spend at least 2 months away every year and have pretty much followed through with that goal.


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Old 08-22-2015, 12:24 PM   #36
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We use ours on average 280 days a year. Of those, about half we don't move as we're at a marina for the entire day, so days of movement about 140-150. Some years more and some less. Total hours per year range from 800 to 1200 with just under 1000 being our norm.

There are far more users who use theirs under 100 hours than over.

Dry storage facilities generally have detailed records of usage as it describes how many launches and retrievals they must do. They depend on lack of use to make a profit. In talking to the owner of one dry storage facility on a lake, he averaged 12 days of use per year per boat. That included some that never were used and the highest I believe was around 80 days. Now, those numbers are a bit distorted as many of the higher usage people preferred wet storage.
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Old 08-22-2015, 12:57 PM   #37
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Not to mention that you slip your boat on the best harbor in the country!
Agreed. Ok... one of the best... and definitely the best, consistent weather!

We see the same thing in San Diego. Lots of boats don't move. We were club sailors for years before buying our boat. But we fully knew the realities of our life. Demanding jobs , 2 young kids , 2.25 hour drive , etc. Plus, unlike the east coast, there aren't a lot of places "to go" on the west coast. But, we do have a huge bay with great weather 300 and something days a year.

However, for us the boat was both a recreational tool... ie getting out on the water, and equally (or even more so) a water front condo for us to escape the heat and enjoy all that San Diego offers us and the kids. We only get down there every 2 to 3 weeks, but those are usually 3 nights and sometimes more. The boat is out running for a couple hours - usually at least one day during those trips It's expensive. But so far, money well spent.
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Old 08-24-2015, 12:04 PM   #38
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We spend 40-50 days per year cruising on our boat, all of it between May and September, hauling it out for the cold months. I have also spent lots of time working on her in the boat yard, which I generally enjoy.
I justify the operating and maintenance expense by comparing that cost with the cost of a foregone tropical vacation.
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Old 08-24-2015, 01:50 PM   #39
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I justify the operating and maintenance expense by comparing that cost with the cost of a foregone tropical vacation.
I don't ever in any way attempt to justify the operating and maintenance nor the purchase cost as I know that's a losing battle. I boat because I enjoy it more than the alternatives. Only one part of the world we really want badly to visit that we can't get to by water. Actually can get there by water but distance may prevent us from going that route. That's Australia and New Zealand and the other Pacific Islands.

Oh one thing I've done that you can always do if it makes you feel better. Compare your costs to those if you owned some boat many times the size. For instance, "we don't spend nearly as much boating as if we owned a 256' Lurssen, yacht name "TV", which charters for $982,000 per week. Oh and it requires a crew of 25.
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Old 08-24-2015, 02:56 PM   #40
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Oh one thing I've done that you can always do if it makes you feel better. Compare your costs to those if you owned some boat many times the size. For instance, "we don't spend nearly as much boating as if we owned a 256' Lurssen, yacht name "TV", which charters for $982,000 per week. Oh and it requires a crew of 25.

I feel positively responsible, now!
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