Does your marina...

When a boat is brought to a marina how do they determine the actual length of the vessel?

Since I imagine all marinas are different, as far as their policies are concerned, I'm throwing out the question here on TF attempting to get a consensus of what is typical and what I could expect in the future.

On the same topic... Are transient boats scrutinized more or less than if you were searching for a longer term slip?

Here's the hypothetical example that brought up these questions:

Say you've got a boat that measures 50' LOA according to the builders certificate but at some point after purchasing the boat a small swim step was added which now makes the boat 52' LOA.


1. Does your marina accept what is shown on the vessel's builders certificate?

2. Do they take your word for it?

3. Do they measure it?

What's the norm, if any, here?

What

What I have seen they wil go by the longest measurement that's swim deck include in the measurement. You maybe able to give them the measurement but they are all different

They are all different. I tell them I have a 36' trawler with a dinghy on davits. They will either charge me for 36 or 41. Depends who is working that day. I'm not going to argue about $10.

In the last 3 years and probably 50 different marinas along the ICW, I have never been questioned beyond what I have said. Occasionally I have even said 39 when it says 40 Albin on the side (documentation says 39.4) and the marinas never said boo.

Now for long term or yearly...and more often dry storage...I gave seen the tape measure come out.

Like others have said. . .depends.
Most overnight guest moorage at the marinas we visit will accept whatever length you give them. My home marina measures your boat from tip of the bow pulpit to the outboard edge of the dingy of all permanent resident boats.

Agree it varies by marina. Some of the places up north in PNW that do only transient on side ties get very particular and will jam boats anchor to stern with little room between and if they get a few boats a little longer than stated they can lose a spot that has been reserved. So every inch of length is accounted for.

Ours is via the size of berth you take, so if you have a 36' footer on a 40' berth you pay the 40' rate.

Another twist usually for long term dockage is that you pay for the slip. My charter boat is in a 38' slip even though it's only 35' boat. That's what the slip holds; that's what they're going to charge me for it.

My 45' trawler will be in a very nice 50' floating dock slip (different marina) this summer. It's the only floating dock the marina has and they save many of these slips for large transients who will pay a premium for a floating dock slip. To get the slip, I had to pay for it in December, seasonal rate for a 50' boat. That's the deal, take it or leave it. Now if you stretch a tape measure from my bow pulpit to the swim platform, it would measure about 52'. So I'm not complaining.

Ted

Some marina's just take your word for it. If you say you have a Gofast 35 they charge you for 35'.

Others will quiz you when you say that. They will typically ask what is the overall length including bowsprit and swim platform and charge you accordingly, but they do not measure.

But the absolute worst was a Long Beach California marina which has very few transients. They send a crew out with a tape measure and get the exact length. If you are 1" over the maximum allowed length for a given slip they won't let you dock there.

David

eyschulman said:

Agree it varies by marina. Some of the places up north in PNW that do only transient on side ties get very particular and will jam boats anchor to stern with little room between and if they get a few boats a little longer than stated they can lose a spot that has been reserved. So every inch of length is accounted for.

Click to expand...

That is my experience too. Trust, but verify. Out comes the surveyor's wheel...

At my home marina, we pay OA length or slip length, whichever is longer.

Our marina charges by the length of the slip and the footprint of the boat. They used to charge by slip length only but the trend now in this area is to include the boat's footprint in the formula. I was told this is partly due to a lot of newer, fatter sailboats (and power boats sometimes) making it impossible to put two boats into a slip.

As far as visting marinas during a cruise, we always say the make, model, and model length when we make the reservation or call prior to arrival. To date, every place we've gone in the last 16 years has accepted that and charged us accordingly even though the model length does not include the swimstep, pulpit, or any aft-mounted dinghies. Nobody has ever come out with a tape measure or measuring wheel.

The situation may have been different if we did not have a very common production boat model to this area.

As a transient I've been taken at my word all but one time (in Bamfield, B.C.). The harbormaster walked the length of my boat and said I owed for an additional 2' (this in a 22' C-Dory).

My boat says Nordic Tugs 37 on the side, but it's really a few inches shy of 40', plus the dinghy on the swim step. Probably 43' or 44' overall, though I've never actually measured. Nobody complains about my boat in a 38' slip with 6' of allowable overhang.

I agree with a previous post that the answer will be: there is no consensus or common practice. At our home marina we pay for a slip by size of the slip, not the size of the boat, however, then we have a 10% rule -- a boat can exceed the length of a slip by 10%. In other words in our 36' slip we can have a max boat of 39' 6" -- but when it comes to measuring, they usually use the builder's model number/length, they don't actually measure anything. (Our 32 Carver is really 36 with the swim step and bow pulpit. Our new Mainship 37 will really stretch the +10% limit of that 36' slip, but the marina manager says it's close enough.) In all the transient slips we've ever used though, we've never been measured -- but then we've never stayed in a super high-end marina like in California or Newport.

Andy G said:

Ours is via the size of berth you take, so if you have a 36' footer on a 40' berth you pay the 40' rate.

Click to expand...

Same here except I'm in a covered and enclosed berth. If the door cannot close you get the next size up and pay for it. Transient side ties locally takes your stated length in my experience.

I got a longer/wider berth at no extra cost because a "proper" sized berth couldn't handle my boat's 4-minus-foot draft. ... A marina with double-digit vacancy has certain advantages.

Andy G said:

Ours is via the size of berth you take, so if you have a 36' footer on a 40' berth you pay the 40' rate.

Click to expand...

Ditto here for slip charge - End docks are by measured foot though.

Art said:

Ditto here for slip charge - End docks are by measured foot though.

Click to expand...

Art, which marina are you located? And can you forgive me for asking? Send PM if needed.

Most marinas ask and we tell them 43'. Wesport, WA went off the vessel documentation. We have been measured only twice to confirm the length and both times were in in Southern California.

If they charge by the foot, I give them the number on the side of the boat. If they charge by the season, I simply make sure the boat can fit into the slip. I've been in marina' where you can't extend beyond the pilings, or 'n' feet beyond the pilings in others. In those cases either you fit or you don't. I have been measured for winter storage. I saw a guy try to get into a transient slip where there were several boats side tied to the dock. The capt. gave the number on the side of the boat. When they tried to parallel park him, the dock attendants called him on the actual size of the vessel when they couldn't fit him in his spot.

Marin said:

As far as visting marinas during a cruise, we always say the make, model, and model length when we make the reservation or call prior to arrival. To date, every place we've gone in the last 16 years has accepted that and charged us accordingly even though the model length does not include the swimstep, pulpit, or any aft-mounted dinghies. Nobody has ever come out with a tape measure or measuring wheel.

The situation may have been different if we did not have a very common production boat model to this area.

Click to expand...

Building on this, though... and as Shrew just reported...

There's at least one local destination marina in this area where telling them actual length is necessary. This is a museum dock, nominally four 50' side tie-ups. In this case, it's not particularly a cost issue, but rather a viability issue.

Our boat is nominally 42' but actually 46'1" counting pulpit and swim platform -- and then another couple feet longer in reality because our dinghy hangs off the stern on a cantilever mount.

At this particular marina, I've been in one of those 50' face dock "slips" with about a (one, single) foot to spare, that spare foot being between our swim platform and boat aft's swim platform... and with our pulpit over the boat ahead's swim platform. Were I to tell them a lower number, they may well allow another boat to take up more than 50' along there and I'd be out of luck.

BTW, we pulled off a very elegant docking maneuver when we entered that particular time, warping in on a spring line. The Hinckley skipper behind and the Viking skipper ahead were both watching closely, standing by to "help" (meaning protect their boats) -- but I love it when a plan comes together!



-Chris

The marina I am in charges by the slip width.
If you have a 80 footer that's 12 ft wide you get a real bargain.

In my neck of the woods, slips are going for $300/month, regardless of size. Metered Electricity and free water.

In our yacht club marina, we pay by the length of the slip. You are allowed 5' of overhang but you have to pay for every foot you overhang. When visiting a marina or getting a mooring on Catalina, we use our documentation which states we are 36', but we are really 40' O.A.

Every long term slip I've paid for has been the length of the slip, or LOA if the boat is longer.

Every transient marina has been length of the boat, and to my knowledge no one has double checked the length I've stated.

We are paying for LOA. I never experienced that someone has measured our LOA, they relied on


best regards / med venlig hilsen
wadden

We are paying for LOA. I never experienced that someone has measured our LOA, they relied on my information.

In Denmark you have to pay sometimes for width (e.g. in Copenhagen / Langelinie).


best regards / med venlig hilsen
wadden

My "home" marina charges by the slip size, measured from the pier to the outer piling. They're fairly conscientious about overhang extending beyond that outer piling, but not rediculous - a foot or two, fine. More overhang can get into real issues for larger boats conducting docking maneuvers due to the marina layout.

I've never been questioned on my "43" in a transient slip, although it's actually more like a 48-49 when bow pulpit and swim platform/dinghy are included.

We hang on a mooring and anchor out most of the time away from home port, but when we occasionally spend time in a slip, I state the labelled model of our boat as "Nordic Tug 32". As with all NT's with integrated swim platforms, they run longer. Our NT32 runs 34'11" LOA, from anchor roller to the end of the integrated swim platform, and about 12" longer with a Trinka dinghy pulled up on Weaver swimboard hook davits. Our LWL is 34'. Occasionally, a marina has questioned the "32" designation and we get charged for 34'. Most marinas will ask our LOA, regardless of the stickers on the hull. I go with 34' and that's usually not been an issue. Up here in the Northeast, a lot of transient moorings have moved over to LOA measurements on overnight moorings. A couple of years ago, Nordic Tug up'd the designated lengths of all their models. Our boat is now the NT34.

In out Yacht Club it's LOA or slip length. Which ever is greatest. Then last year the HM went around and measured every boat in the harbor (+beam). Everyone who was paying on LOA got revised billing in their next statement. He was really popular for a day or so.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Trawler

Usually by what I tell them. My marina is so packed during the summer though, if you under estimate them a few feet they may be questioning why your 36 foot trawler can't get out of a 34 foot slip.