Liveaboard in the DC area?

Well come on over to Fort Pierce Fl as u work your way north. Not as congested as 45 on a Sunday or NASA RD 1 anytime. $8.50 ft w/ 1yr, $100 live aboard. Weather almost always good. We been thinking of going up north too, but I doubt this winter. I lived in Friendswood, left a coke bottle out in the yard overnight, it RUSTED. Between Texas City, Deer Park, Bay Town the refineries gotcha surrounded. Had a place on Bolivar, saw mosquitoes that needed air traffic controllers for landing instructions, by the thousands. You will like the East Coast of Fl. BTW, the treasure divers at the end of my dock have pulled in 1/2 million since the year we have been here, 6 foot of gold chain this week. Feeling lucky? You saw em on the news 6-8 months ago.

Avoid at all costs

In case anyone else is looking for Marina's near DC - I have just one piece of advice:
Avoid National Harbor at all costs. I have lived there for over three years - and finally I just have to move.

The marina management is incompetent and subject to very bad decisions made by property management who are even worse. Security is a real problem, and the increasing crowds have made life intolerable for most slipholders. (it can easily take 20 minutes to just get in to, or out of the property on weekends.
The only people who still live there simply cannot move because of the difficulty commuting daily to DC from other marinas.

It is bad enough that I will accept the major inconvenience of the commute and I have moved to the Chesapeake - about 45 mins drive. To me this is worth it after putting up with degrading conditions.

Gull said:

In case anyone else is looking for Marina's near DC - I have just one piece of advice:
Avoid National Harbor at all costs. I have lived there for over three years - and finally I just have to move.

The marina management is incompetent and subject to very bad decisions made by property management who are even worse. Security is a real problem, and the increasing crowds have made life intolerable for most slipholders. (it can easily take 20 minutes to just get in to, or out of the property on weekends.
The only people who still live there simply cannot move because of the difficulty commuting daily to DC from other marinas.

It is bad enough that I will accept the major inconvenience of the commute and I have moved to the Chesapeake - about 45 mins drive. To me this is worth it after putting up with degrading conditions.

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Your reasons are the reasons we moved to the Chesapeake, but our move was from Tantallon. That is the worst marina in the world in my opinion!

boating2go said:

.... but our move was from Tantallon. That is the worst marina in the world in my opinion!

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Could you add some more details,....just wondering why?

Badly managed, horribles facilities, polluted water, channel in the creek not very deep, bad traffic, etc... The biggest problem are the owners and their procrastination when things need to be done.

Gull said:

In case anyone else is looking for Marina's near DC - I have just one piece of advice:
Avoid National Harbor at all costs. I have lived there for over three years - and finally I just have to move.

Click to expand...

I don't know what it costs for an annual lease but we passed that marina by recently because apparently the minimum transient cost was $125 per day and I don't think that included electricity.

We stayed at the Capital Yacht Club and it was great but the city is renovating that entire area so there could be changes in slip availability in the near future.

rwidman said:

I don't know what it costs for an annual lease but we passed that marina by recently because apparently the minimum transient cost was $125 per day and I don't think that included electricity.



We stayed at the Capital Yacht Club and it was great but the city is renovating that entire area so there could be changes in slip availability in the near future.

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I still have a lot of friends in DC marinas and they tell me there is going to be a lot of problems finding slips while the renovation is going on. Anyone looking for a transient slip may want to look in Alexandria, Va. With the Metro the commute to DC is easy.

Annapolis Harbor this past winter:

Thickest ice in decades collecting on Maryland waterways, posing challenges for boaters - tribunedigital-baltimoresun

Winters up here can be pretty brutal for year round boaters....

Haha. I had a couple friends living on their houseboat at Tantallon for a few years. They loved it there, although -- being the snob that I am -- I found it pretty crummy. Kind of like an old broke down trailer park. And yes, the winters can be kind of brutal but their boat was snug and warm.

I know the OP isn't interested anymore, but for someone working in DC (not IAD), I'd recommend somewhere on the middle western shore of MD, anywhere between Deale and the Magothy River. I kept my boat in Deale for a few years but didn't live aboard. The drive to downtown DC from there wasn't too bad by DC standards. About 45-60 minutes during rush hour.