Transient Dockage Poll

[O C Diver]

With an improved economy and seemingly more people cruising, available transient dockage is becoming less readily available. As with all things "Supply and Demand", prices seemed to have increased.

While there is a wide variety of marinas with varying levels of amenities and prices vary great with regard to region, I'm curious what people consider their upper limit for price per foot. This assumes the marina's highest day rate not counting electric etc.

Ted

 

[johnma]

I said $2 but on holidays i will often see $2.50
John

 

[tiltrider1]

I said $2 but i would only pay that much for something special. If it’s just an over night stop with no perks then I’m more likely to anchor out than pay more than a $1.25.

 

[bogranjac1]

If it's not free it's not for me

 

[twistedtree]

Pricing seems to vary quite a bit regionally. I've been places where $3/ft is the norm, and $5/ft is expensive. And other places where anything over $1/ft is crazy expensive.

 

[boomerang]

It depends on how bad we want to be there. If there was an event going on at the time or we were really tired after a long day and wanted a place to tie up and enjoy the amenities a marina has to offer, I suppose $5 or more a foot wouldn't be out of the question, for a night or two. We're fortunate because we have a small boat and also we greatly prefer being at anchor rather than at a dock when traveling.

 

[O C Diver]

Pricing seems to vary quite a bit regionally. I've been places where $3/ft is the norm, and $5/ft is expensive. And other places where anything over $1/ft is crazy expensive.

I saw that quite a bit when doing the Great Loop. New York city was crazy expensive (anchored out). Many of the smaller town marinas on the Great lakes were around $1 per foot. Spread on the AICW seems to be between $1 and $5.

Ted

 

[Crusty Chief]

Transient moorage varies considerable based on location. What’s even more crazy is how much the RV parking is in the same place. We have seen the RV crowd paying twice as much to park their rig as we have in moorage.
Supply and demand seems to be the norm though.

 

[Tom.B]

If it's not free it's not for me

Just in case you didn't notice... The sail has fallen off your boat.

 

[timb]

a voted 3 but that has to be some where we are really wanting to stay (usually around Beaufort NC ). but most we stay at are under 2.

 

[Mark P]

This is totally an elastic economic issue. If the admiral wants to dock, thats where we go regardless of ��

 

[Xsbank]

When it costs as much as a Hilton hotel room just to tie up, then they charge extra for (cr@ppy) power, replacing the anchor chain is cheaper. Usually you get cookies at a Hilton and a free breakfast.

 

[Shrew]

What I've seen...

What I think is reasonable...

What I'll pay...

Three different numbers, all mutually exclusive. Marinas will charge what the clientele are willing to pay, and the $6/ft marinas are still full in the high season.

I prefer to anchor, if I have to I'll take a mooring. I tend to avoid transient marinas. If I HAVE to stay, i'll stay, but typically plan my cruises where I don't have too, or only have short stays.

 

[rslifkin]

I don't know that I can put a number on it. What I'm willing to pay to stay somewhere interesting with good facilities and that's near places I want to walk to and see, etc. is more than I'm willing to pay for an uninteresting stop somewhere that's just out of convenience, such as "it's hot out with no breeze, being plugged in for A/C tonight would be nice instead of running the generator"

 

[GFC]

I usually look first for a yacht club to get reciprocal moorage...for free, and that often includes power.


I put $1 because, as the resident TF Cheapskate, that's what I'll look for. I hate paying more than $60/night just to park the boat. Rather than pay for transient moorage I'll probably anchor out and take the dinghy to the dock.

 

[smitty477]

I don't know that I can put a number on it. What I'm willing to pay to stay somewhere interesting with good facilities and that's near places I want to walk to and see, etc. is more than I'm willing to pay for an uninteresting stop somewhere that's just out of convenience, such as "it's hot out with no breeze, being plugged in for A/C tonight would be nice instead of running the generator"

Yes I agree , it varies by destination and time of year. Places like NY city, Mystic CT, Block Island, Montauk etc are more expensive but well worth it of you want to visit those destinations.

 

[koliver]

Supply v demand will determine the price.
An acquaintance with 136' reported paying €1800 per night in the Med, where demand grossly outpaces supply.

 

[Fletcher500]

The economy has been good for the last 8 years or so which definitely contributes to crowding and pricing factors.

1 to 3 per foot, average 2 in our area.

 

[firehoser75]

Personally I am of two minds when it comes to this question.
Firstly, in out of the way locations (such as the Broughtons here in mid-northern BC) I like to support the small local marinas that only have transient moorage to "get by on". I am sometimes amazed at hearing other boaters complain about the high cost of electrical hookups, etc. in these locations. Don't they realize that the marina operator has to run a large diesel generator constantly, look after it, and pay to barge in fuel? Plus, they only have about a 6 week window in which to cover all of their annual costs! Most of these marinas are "in danger" of going out of business or are up for sale, and personally, as much as I like to anchor out most of the time, I do enjoy the social aspects of the marinas in this area (happy hours, group dinners, etc.) and the ability to tie up once in a while.
On the other hand, there are a few marinas that charge crazy prices (over $5 /foot) and those I don't like to support. For $200 I could stay at a reasonably nice hotel even in the larger local locations and at a marina I am bringing my own room and bed!
Just some mixed up thoughts.

 

[fryedaze]

Supply and demand should dictate what the market will bear. I worry that there are companies buying up marinas and they will end up dictating price because they control the supply.

 

[bobsyiruncle]

I was teetering on the one dollar but have paid more. Agree with GFC I will always look for a reciprocal but in lake Erie, although there are a lot of clubs, even they sometimes are not free.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: I'll pay whatever it costs and that will vary greatly based on where we are. I've paid $0.50 and I've paid $9.00, so I put >$5 since that's what it will cost in NYC, in parts of the Caribbean, and at Atlantis in season.

Average we've paid is probably around $2.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I went down to the boat today to pull the batteries and a couple other little chores. (She is on the hard). I spoke with my Marina owner about transient prices. He is at $1 and has been for an awfully long time. No intention of raising prices. Not an awful lot of demand at Oconto on Green Bay. Most of the marinas up and down the bay are just a tad over or under $2. All have really nice services which is why I pull into a marina rather than drop the hook, which I also do a lot. Nothing like a really hot shower in a clean bathroom, a pool or spa, BBQ grills, dock hands, ice available, fuel at reasonable prices. Sometimes a loaner car or bikes sometimes a little ships store.

You generally get what you pay for around here,

pete

 

[AusCan]

I only use a marina when the weather is too bad to anchor out. Why pay good money to spend time in a marine parking lot.
When I need a marina, there is no choice- so the cost doesn't come into the equation.

 

[markpierce]

It varies from one to two dollars. One nearby marina offers free day-use (not overnight) if not connected to utilities.

 

[High Wire]

We anchor out about 50 percent of the time. But tonight is one of those nights where a cold front is coming through, we needed groceries, and the laundry is piling up so into a marina at $2/ft. We always try to patronize local restaurants for at least one meal even if on the hook. One of our favs is the city mooring fields like Stuart or Ft Myers Beach. That makes multiple day stays affordable.

 

[Capitaine R]

We found on our one and only trip so far that some marinas were all inclusive as they included electric and water for 1 or 2 bucks a foot and some had an extra charge for electric. Some just charged by the advertised length of the boat and some wanted to get out the tape measure, we avoided the latter, mostly because we just didn't need to dock and anchoring out is fine with us. We only used overnight docking when we had non boating guest on the boat and when we needed to do some laundry. We even had one City marina which usually charged $1.50/foot wave the fee for our one night stay just to be nice.
Being a pretty laid back Florida couple we really enjoyed staying in Chincoteague Virginia and Indian town on the Okeechobee Water way.
I think our limit would be $2/foot, but we enjoy anchoring out instead of docking.

 

[firehoser75]

Other than short trips early in the "boating season" (you can go year round here, but we don't), we usually leave the dock for our summer trip in early June and return around September 10. Other than for social reasons or sight seeing, we dock mostly for provisioning. Having a good grocery store nearby and a good supply of clean drinking water (we don't have a water maker and I am fussy about what water I will put in my tank). Prior to the solar panels, we also used to go to a dock to recharge the batteries to 100%, but the panels do that now daily. For us, having the availability to easily provision is important, so we do try to help keep those marinas (that provide that) operating by being customers.
To repeat what I said in an earlier post, $2 foot is the max. For our size (40 feet approx) paying $80 per night seems alot as we bring our own room, bedding, etc. Except in the larger, popular cities, you can stay in pretty decent hotels for about $100.

 

[Group9]

A lot of it depends on where we are. If it's a place that we really want to tie up at for a couple of days, I'll go past $4 a foot.

On the other hand, if I see a bargain $1/foot (or less), we may tie up when were all set to anchor out.

But, we anchor out 80-90 per cent of the time when cruising, so an occasional splurge doesn't really kill our budget.

 

[Capitaine R]

Once on our trip home we stopped at a public boat ramp that also had a floating dock. We stopped just to take the dog for a walk but after looking at Google maps we noticed there was a super Walmart only a few miles away. We typed up an uber and the wife went shopping. After checking out she typed up another uber and made her way back to the dock. It was Cheap, even with the tip.