Good Secure Marina, Seattle area?

Interested in staying a few months or up to a year, approx. 42-ft slip. thinking of as far north as anacortes but would consider closer to seattle if not crazy expensive.
Would like it to be secure and fairly protected from weather, but does not have to be a covered slip.
Active Captain shows them all, but its tedious to go through and figure out which ones have waiting lists. is there another way to find open slips and can anyone recommend certain marinas with availability?

define "crazy expensive"?

The only way that I know of to check availability is to call each individually. If you go to the West side of the Sound, moorage costs can be a lot less. The further you go from Seattle, the less moorage will be.

Thanks but yeah its just kind of tedious to call every marina... and really more concerned about security than we are about cost. There's dozens of marinas in that area, some have websites but many do not necessarily show whether there is a waiting list...

Check out Everett. Part of the marina was completed less than 10 years ago.

We went through the same thing 10 years ago. We found that the best way was to go there and do a face to face with the dock master. The municipal run marinas were ok by phone but because they are cheaper, they were mostly full. The privately run marinas required a visit. Lots of word of mouth. With the economy stronger, good slips are harder to find.

When we were in Vancouver, BC, we found a private slip on the north branch of the Frazer River via Craig's list. Great security and price. Maybe try that.

You probably know this but if it's and out of state boat, you're restricted in WA on how long you can keep it there with out paying major dollars.

Good luck on your search.

Thanks for ideas, yes as for being registered out of state we've been told you can pay a nominal fee to Washington and you can stay 364 days.
We wouldn't mind being in the San Juans but places like Anacortes seem to have waiting lists.
If a US boat stays in BC Canada, i don't know how long they let you stay without significant tax implications...?

Security should be a major consideration as the risk levels vary widely, particularly in that area of the country.

I use Elliott Bay in Seattle and Blaine Harbor up North of Bellingham for the two ships. Elliott is hugely convenient to the city being right on the waterfront with no locks to navigate and wait, very secure, and around $15/foot all in. Blaine Harbor is in the sticks, much more casual in terms of security, and around $9/foot all in.
I really like them both. Interesting to observe the difference in demographic and culture between the two. Blaine is my kind of people but since I have to be in Seattle for business and leisure a bunch, Elliott Bay is very handy.
I am betting you could get a slip same day in either but for different reasons. Elliott is the high rent district and Blaine is in the sticks.

Check Edmonds, best part is that Amtrack into Seattle and ferry dock are right next door.
Everett has very modern facilities but when we left there was no space. That might have changed in the last year.
Bellingham is nice but has a LONG waiting list.
Blain has space and is right in the middle of where you will be boating. Downside is lack of resources (West Marine etc.) and distance from Seattle (2 hours or more) or Bellingham (20 min) airports.

All those marinas are secure and well maintained.

If you want to compare prices, Port of Bellingham did a survey in February 2017, available with other information about their marinas (Bellingham Squalicum and Blaine Harbor) here: http://portofbellingham.com/DocumentCenter/Home/View/2913

LaConner is or was filling up much faster this year. Over a week ago some lengths were already in waiting list mode.

Hamroy your timing is poor or unlucky or both. Good luck.

We liveaboard in Port Ludlow on the west side of the sound. Off the beaten path, so to speak, but nice, quiet, and secure (keypad gated entry). For shopping purposes by car, 25 minutes north to Port Townsend, 25 minutes south to Poulsbo but there's a nice QFC 10 minutes away in Port Hadlock. From here, using the tides, we can be in Friday Harbor in 6 hours doing 7 knots. Unsure of waiting for a 40' slip, but there might be by now. Here's our 90-second cruising guide to Port Ludlow:

https://youtu.be/okq2oXsLaXg

Wait.. what are you trying to be safe from? The rain? I would peg Seattle region two std deviations safer than average.

That's why Bellingham is full, never rains here. Or so we were told. Also told us it never snows here either, boy were they surprised this winter.

Check out your tax implications.

Thanks everyone, lots of great ideas and info. The comparison spreadsheet is very interesting. I found out port Ludlow has something like a 6-month wait... As for security; just in case we have to leave it somewhere for a week or so I like the idea of docks with controlled access gates or locks.
Yeah it's a challenging search, we're checking out a boat and if all goes well, might need a slip by early to mid-June. Elliott bay does have openings so we can always keep that as an option: it looks very nice though seems pretty exposed to wind and weather and cruise and ferry traffic. it's certainly a possibility but was hoping to find something further north. I'll keep calling around.
As for taxes, we were told for boats registered elsewhere there is a fee of $300-something that allows about one year before you have to depart.

Hamrow said:

As for taxes, we were told for boats registered elsewhere there is a fee of $300-something that allows about one year before you have to depart.

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I believe the one-time vessel use permit is $500, and after the 12 months you then can't return to Washington for 24 months.

There are other options, see http://dor.wa.gov/docs/Pubs/WatercraftVesselTax/BoatBroc.pdf

wwestman said:

That's why Bellingham is full, never rains here. Or so we were told. Also told us it never snows here either, boy were they surprised this winter.

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And Bellingham never has any wind as well. ;-)

Hamrow, you can also check out further South. Gig Harbor, Tacoma, Port Orchard, Bremerton, Des Moines, etc...

Where I am at in Gig Harbor, a 50' slip is $500/mo plus electric.

The cheapest is Blaine but anybody can see why.
Everett is more money than LaConner. We've done years of both. If you like to do less than an hour cruises Everett is better. But some think the Swinomish Channel is fun. And some worry about grounding in that channel too. I never have touched bottom w 3.5' draft. Anacortes is more money than LaConner but people love it because it's very close to the San Juans.

Seattle is insane expensive as someone said earlier. Even before the realestate went ballistic.

QB said:

I believe the one-time vessel use permit is $500, and after the 12 months you then can't return to Washington for 24 months.

There are other options, see http://dor.wa.gov/docs/Pubs/WatercraftVesselTax/BoatBroc.pdf

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That's right. Pay careful attention do the do-not-return clause, especially if you plan to travel south again after your year is up.

And all the other rules and regs may seem straight forward, but if you are coming and going in and out of the state over a year or more, the rules suddenly become a lot less clear, the state's permitting procedures appear contradictory to the actual laws, and you will get completely conflicting info from state officials if you ask.

I finally gave up after finding it impossible to determine how long I would remain exempt, and left for Canada. On our return south, we won't/can't stop in Washington. It's a lose-lose for everyone. I don't get to enjoy Washington, Washington bushiness lose my business, and the state loses the tax revenue on that business. And of course the sate doesn't get the use tax either. The only winner is Canada.

A friend of mine visiting from Australia went through the same run around, along with countless other people I know.

Nobody likes taxes, but I accept they are part of our society, and I'm happy to respect any jurisdiction's tax structure. But it needs to be clear what the rules are so I can comply and/or decide whether to visit and how long. Washington's rules are such a murky mess, and the use tax is so high, it's just too big a risk to do anything other than visit for the allowed 60 days a year, then leave.

Yeah, it is really too bad that the rules end up being so confusing. As you point out, that doesn't serve anyone.

WA state has a relatively high sales/use tax. To balance that we don't have an income tax. Great for high income income folks, but really sucks for the low income individuals. I would be very happy if/when Trump comes up with an actual tax plan that he is able to follow through with making state sales tax deductible for our federal income tax.

dhays said:

I would be very happy if/when Trump comes up with an actual tax plan that he is able to follow through with making state sales tax deductible for our federal income tax.

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I believe state sales tax IS already deductable. The only problem is that you have to choose between deducting income tax and sales tax -- you can take either, but not both. That offers significant tax planning opportunities for tax basis tax payers (as most individuals are).

MYTraveler said:

I believe state sales tax IS already deductable. The only problem is that you have to choose between deducting income tax and sales tax -- you can take either, but not both. That offers significant tax planning opportunities for tax basis tax payers (as most individuals are).

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You are correct. I am way behind the times.

twistedtree said:

I finally gave up after finding it impossible to determine how long I would remain exempt, and left for Canada. On our return south, we won't/can't stop in Washington. ...

A friend of mine visiting from Australia went through the same run around, along with countless other people I know.

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On the other hand, many boats do manage to deal with it one way or another...

I'd suggest the OP talk to Pacific Maritime Title in Seattle about the options. They've seen it all. You can do all the paperwork through their office, which will cost a little more but may be worth it.

(No affiliation with Pacific Maritime Title except a happy customer once.)

The trend has been to eliminate deductions but decrease marginal tax rates. What grates me is that employer-paid health benefits aren't taxed but individuals can't deduct medical costs unless they are a high percentage of income (and their deductibility is uncertain in the future.)

markpierce said:

The trend has been to eliminate deductions but decrease marginal tax rates. What grates me is that employer-paid health benefits aren't taxed but individuals can't deduct medical costs unless they are a high percentage of income (and their deductibility is uncertain in the future.)

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You are right Mark. The reason for it was that unions liked the health insurance benefit. Employers liked making the unions happy for relatively little cost. Of course this created some problems. Employees never had to pay for any health care. Health care costs for employers wasn't terribly high. This resulted in higher utilization because Joe Lunchbox could go to the doctor for no out of pocket expense.

Insurance companies paid providers based on the "usual and customary charge". This meant that a doctor would tell the insurance company what his charge was for an office visit or procedure. The insurance woudn't pay that, but would pay say 80% of that. No problem, the next year the doctor would just increase their fees and the insurance company would increase what they paid accordingly.

At the same time, health care got better. Better medications, better diagnostic tests and procedures, advanced surgical techniques. These were great and folks lived instead of died. All this great medical care was a lot more expensive however.

The rising costs resulted in rising insurance premiums. The problem is that the rate of increase of medical care was rising much faster than the inflation rate and the premium costs got high enough for employers to feel the pinch. They started passing the increased cost on to the employees which pissed off the unions since they had gotten used to a few decades of never paying for anything.

Now the worth of employer paid health benefits is a large percentage of total compensation. It should be taxed as such, but unions would be terribly unhappy with that, and if it is considered compensation that means that the premiums would be subject to the employer taxes as well. So taxing health care benefits would make both employees and employers unhappy, so it isn't going to happen.

Start a tax thread! This is not the place for your discussion.

Bob Cofer said:

Start a tax thread! This is not the place for your discussion.

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You are right. I'm sorry.

dhays said:

You are right. I'm sorry.

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Don't apologize. It's a sign of weakness.

I've been at Elliott bay for almost a year and it's been a great experience. Exposure has been a non-issue. Even when the wind howls through the rigging the seawall is completely effective. Only movement I've ever noticed is one little bump when the Victoria Clipper steams by at 27 knots. The view is fabulous, when there is one, transportation to Seattle, at least from the east coast, is cheap and easy, security is great and there are great people ashore who will keep an eye on things for you if needed without charging an arm and a leg. Can't beat the location. It's at the high end of the price range but you do get what you pay for here. My slip will be available only because my purchased year in WA state is up! Another tax fugitive.