Leaving boat on anchor long term

[smitty477]

Perhaps you are in a very active mooring field with people around all the time. But Obs and dingy were stolen all over GSB years ago. My boat was broken into over winter storage at a Freeport marina.
OTOH I anchored all summer in a remote pond off Peconic bay and never had a problem.
IMO the more abandoned a boat looks the more likely there will be something happen. At the very least the gulls will make it a home, even in Northport.

"At the very least the gulls will make it a home, even in Northport."
A gull sweep and two lengths of cheap plastic pennant flags made gulls a non problem.

"But Obs and dingy were stolen all over GSB years ago. My boat was broken into over winter storage at a Freeport marina."
We visited the south shore many times but never left the boat alone on any of those trips.

 

[bayview]

FL gulls must be smarter than NY gulls. []

 

[bayview]

Some jurisdictions have rules about long term anchoring. He needs to check that.

 

[smitty477]

FL gulls must be smarter than NY gulls. []

It works on the Space coast as well.

 

[smitty477]

Well, the O.P. certainly touched a nerve here. His idea of leaving the boat on a ball, or at anchor, or even on the hard for ten months a year makes NO sense. He shouldn't own a boat in those circumstances, especially given his budget issues.

Another point to consider is this: I tarp my boat in the fall meaning I need to untarp it in the Spring. I also winterize the plumbing, the engines and the A/C. This may not be strictly required in his location but stale water and fuel are problematic. I empty most unused food also. All spices and most staples will be garbage after ten months. (Ten month old crackers or cereal/ No thanks) My boat gets FILTHY under the tarp, both inside and out. So after ten months under a tarp, or just sitting on the hard or floating somewhere you can't just get on the boat and start vacation.

It takes me a few days in the fall putting the boat away. It takes at least a week in the Spring getting it ready again. Not to mention a few hundred dollars each time. And we have not even talked about batteries, brightwork and major or minor projects that are always on a list.

Summer (boating season) in Wisconsin is generally considered to be about four months. If it was any shorter I wouldn't consider having a boat, or a motorcycle, or a pool or any summer toys. It just doesn't work out.

pete

The OP did post this ....

"If I was to make that my temporary solution until I can figure something else out it would be in stuart manatee pocket which is a well known hurricane hole"

 

[psneeld]

We are now in cane season and it only takes one to kiss your boat goodbye. Most people's definition of hurricane holes just m.h ean they j.g ave survived some near misses.

I have never seen any bird prevent work for long term. On calm mornings the birds would be al, over the canvas of my neighbors boat...both in Jersey an Florida....

In the Stuart area...which h I am guessing cant be too different than Fort Pierce, the blackbirds are worse than gulls. I have seen them land and stay on VHF antennas.

The pelicans stay where no one puts bird sweeps like anchor pulpits and swim ppl, Tforms...and on takeoff/landing, more if the boat gets hit than just where they sit.

 

[bayview]

Yup I learned the hard way that you dont want to scare birds away if they are on your boat because they all seem to lighten their load before take off.

 

[smitty477]

We are now in cane season and it only takes one to kiss your boat goodbye. Most people's definition of hurricane holes just m.h ean they j.g ave survived some near misses.

I have never seen any bird prevent work for long term. On calm mornings the birds would be al, over the canvas of my neighbors boat...both in Jersey an Florida....

In the Stuart area...which h I am guessing cant be too different than Fort Pierce, the blackbirds are worse than gulls. I have seen them land and stay on VHF antennas.

The pelicans stay where no one puts bird sweeps like anchor pulpits and swim ppl, Tforms...and on takeoff/landing, more if the boat gets hit than just where they sit.

"I have never seen any bird prevent work for long term."
They have worked for us for over 30 years now - since we never had a slip like most others that means the boat is mostly on its mooring during the boating season.
One gull sweep on the middle of the arch and two pennant lines of 'cheap'
plastic flags one running down each side of the boat was the typical layout over the 4 boats we owned that were predominantly on moorings.

 

[psneeld]

Nope...don't believe a bird has never pooped on one of your boats.

If true, it might need to go to the Smithsonian.

 

[smitty477]

Nope...don't believe a bird has never pooped on one of your boats.

If true, it might need to go to the Smithsonian.

There was a number of random bird drops on the boat over the years no matter where we were mooring, marina or even on our car at the dock.
I did not think that random dropping were the issue at hand , no problems of any size for the most part though.
Sorry you have not had any luck with bird prevention.

 

[psneeld]

My luck with bird repellant is living aboard.


But the longer the boat just sits with no activity, the more likely the target. A boat rarely visited in 10 months will be a likely become a roost for either permanent birds or transients (or both). There are a number of reasons that flags and streamers and owls and snakes and sweeps either fail or become part of the landscape and ignored.



The longer the boat sits, the bigger accumulation of "random droppings". Soon they become piles, stains and streaks.


The boat also develops that sickly, greenish black, sooty look.


Things eventually get dislodged or broken......


Then people start wondering if the boat is abandoned and start ordinances to prevent this from happening.


Sure...come along and clean it on a regular basis, fix the bird repellers, actually leave the spot once and awhile.... and all these issues are less.



Houses, cars, benches...etc...etc....all fall to the same fate along shorelines unless regularly attended to. Even occupied ones sometimes are regular target no matter what people do short of ridding the birds though humane or inhumane treatments.

 

[bayview]

Once a bird decides it likes a place it can be very hard to keep it away.

Spinners, flags didn't work for me one year. The stuff I put on my swim platform almost made it impossible for me to walk but the birds were not deterred. I had to rig orchard netting to keep them off and train them to go else where. Next season they tried to come back.

 

[O C Diver]

I've found that lead poisoning (22 caliber variety) was a permanent solution for birds and ground based varmints.

Ted

 

[JLD]

I'll just offer that if one leaves a boat in the water, unattended for 10 months, that a coating of bird poop may be the least of their worries!

Jim

 

[RLKramer]

As my wife likes to say to me: why did you bother to ask if you know the answer already and wont listen to others. You're looking for that 1 person that will validate your opinion.

I get the sense that you will do whatever you think is in your best interest regardless of what other owners tell you. Good luck with that.

 

[BlindHog]

What kind of boat did you buy? If it’s big enough to stay out on a morning and you are fretting about this amount of money, you are in for one heck of a shock being a boat owner.

 

[lfalco]

We all love our boats and want to keep them. Not using it for 10 months of a year hardly seems worth the expense of storing, and anchoring unattended for that long would definitely make me lose sleep. All the cameras and alarms in the world won’t help if you can’t get to her quickly.

 

[fslane]

Options

Get on the wait list for Glades and Indiantown. Check up through Tarpon Springs also.
Get a quote from Progressive (kevin@insurancenavigators.com). Say Fred Slane sent you (so I get credit for a recommendation). Kevin is a good guy and will talk to you and explain your options.

Be kind to your boat. Or she will make you pay.

 

[CarlF]

1) Most insurance companies won’t insure unattended boats in the water. They have different ideas of what “attended” means but I don’t think your plan would make any of them comfortable. This would include liability. The risk is that when you made a claim they would point to a place in the application that to their way of thinking required you to tell them upfront.

2) Cruising boats are complicated machines that die quickly without use. Even with storage ashore you’ll find that the weeks (or months) to fix the accumulated issues from storage will mess up your schedule. Selling is probably the best option.

 

[rgano]

Recreational boats are toys and are usually owned by people who can afford them. I do not see where the OP can afford this boat if this small increase has him considering the extreme measures of anchoring out over 80% of the year. He will probably end up spend one of his two months aboard every year cleaning up and getting ready to boat. Imagine the insides of this boat left without dehumidification for ten months a year.

 

[Oldsarge]

For insurance you might check out Progressive as they also insure boats. You may need to produce a survey if insuring for more than 30 K

 

[thecurioustraveler]

Sorry but I'm with the crowd who says don't leave it anchored for 10 months. Anything -- anything -- could happen. A bilge pump could fail, or a switch could fail "on" and drain the batteries and then no bilge pump. Your boat doesn't leak? I guarantee you'll get water inside in a hurricane, not to mention the daily deluges that affect South Florida. SOLUTION: Try getting a liability-only policy through Atlas Risk Solutions in Curacao. You can Google them. They did one for me, reinsured through Lloyd's. Can't guarantee they'll insure you in FL, but I'd try. If the price is low enough, maybe you can stretch the budget a bit to get on the hard. There are many other places to get on the hard in Florida. Have you looked around? Or south Georgia, like Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah?

 

[Ostinato]

Check your state’s derelict definition

Leaving a boat unattended for several months may make It subject to being treated as a derelict. This could result in a fine or disposal of boat by marine authorities. These definitions vary by state and perhaps local community.

It is a hot topic for many coastal property owners that have to deal with property damage from washed up boats. Whether you agree with it or not, from their perspective, an unattended boat is an accident waiting to happen.

 

[thecurioustraveler]

Agree

Leaving a boat unattended for several months may make It subject to being treated as a derelict. This could result in a fine or disposal of boat by marine authorities. These definitions vary by state and perhaps local community.

It is a hot topic for many coastal property owners that have to deal with property damage from washed up boats. Whether you agree with it or not, from their perspective, an unattended boat is an accident waiting to happen.

Ostinato is correct. We had a boat that was derelict in the St. Johns River near my marina. The state hauled it out and trucked it away. In that circumstance, they can (and likely will) run down the registration and send you a fat bill for disposal.

 

[Drifter62]

Sent you a PM

 

[Detroito91]

May be easier to sell boat AND then charter a boat of your choice 2-3 months per year.
Just another option.

 

[Hammond Eve]

insurance, anchoring.

check with other insurance companies. i have progressive on a 1975 trawler and its not nearly what yu are paying. I have had one boat lost to Katrina;, and another Westsail 32 put on land in a hurricane .Progressive did not quibble in any way over covering the losses.

It would take an anchor array to handle all the directional forces of tides and winds from a hurricane, unless you want to use some massive thing that does not depend on shape to do the job. With Katrina, the water level where i was got some 17 feet above mean tide levels. depending on how deep your anchorage was, such a rise in water level could change the ratio on your anchor rode quite a bit.

 

[Guinness]

Well as a new owner I'm running into delimas and financial trouble I didnt plan for. (Bit off more than I could chew?) My delima is insurance the previous owner had liability which is what I budgeted in for ...they were paying only 350 per year ....geico / boat us says they were grand fathered into that policy and I would need full coverage at 2k per year...also I planned to keep my boat stored on the hard at the glades yard which is quite cheap at $160 per month well they are now full....indian town is my next cheapest option...at $350 per month....so my anticipated expenses went up by approx $400 more per month than I had anticipated right out of the gate not even including repairs
At some stage I wondered if it was a seriously crazy idea to just get the full coverage insurance and a twice the size rated anchor....my current anchor is a 55lb mantus m2....I wondered if to skip some expenses I just get the 105lb mantus with mantus bridles and use a way oversized anchor kinda as a mooring .....put wifi on the boat ....solar and run cameras and board it up and tape windows as if to prepare for a hurricane ...... my expenses would just be the way over inflated insurance and bottom cleaning ......stupid idea? I only plan to use the boat 2 months of the year for now so I hate this plan and preferred to leave it on the hard but now I sorta wonder if I bit off more than I can chew financially

High wire and the sweed is right. Do u want to sleep at night. Leaving an unattended boat on the hook is irresponsible. Insurance company will tell you that u are covered until you have a claim. Than they will show u a clause in the policy way down in a dark corner that can only be found by them
NO COVERAGE. Sell your boat. Get another one down the rd. Boats are by the thousands.

 

[rgano]

Ostinato is correct. We had a boat that was derelict in the St. Johns River near my marina. The state hauled it out and trucked it away. In that circumstance, they can (and likely will) run down the registration and send you a fat bill for disposal.

Nobody will haul and dispose of a boat here in FL before reasonable attempts have been made to contact the owner, which if your data is correct on your registration, is simple enough. Even easier if a sign with your info is posted in a window. NOT that I would ever leave a boat anchored/moored as the OP is considering.

 

[Lamuncha]

There will be larger unanticipated expenses

This sounds rough but if the $4000 or $5,000 annual unanticipated expense is that significant you may want to re-think ownership.
You will definitely be faced with lots of expenses you did not anticipate.


I have been looking at the trawler thing for a couple years. Someone did an excellent job breaking down the cost of ownership for me a while back and it was eye opening.



Be prepared.


Good luck