Storage in the Keys

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
B

bes1020

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2012
Messages
11
Location
usa
My wife and I have been boat shopping for the last several years now. The one thing that has prevented us from pulling the trigger is getting a handle on the logistics.


We currently live in Denver but have a vacation home in the lower Florida Keys. Since, for the next several years, we will have limited time to divide between the house and the boat we would like to store the boat close and use it while in the Keys. This has the added benefit of letting us hone our boat handling skills.


My question concerns storage and insurance. I would like to find a yard somewhere between Marathon and Key West that can pull and store the boat on the hard. So my first query is for recommendations concerning yards. We have settled on something in the 40ft, 25,000 to 30,000 pound displacement range.


My second question is about insurance. I have received several quotes with wide ranging results. I understand that I am looking to insure the boat in, from an insurance standpoint, a bad location. What I need help with and advice on is how to mitigate the cost as much as possible.

Any advice or recommendations concerning yards, insurance companies, and insurance brokers/agents would be greatly appreciated.
 
The only way to lower your cost on insurance is to not have her in the water during hurricane season. Another option is take her up to Okeechobee for storage as I believe your rates for storage and insurance would be much less. Shoot me a PM and I can help you on the insurance issue. There are a couple of decent yards in Marathon for storing her.
 
The keys are so low that in a hurricane simply hauling the boat does nothing.

Simplest would be a marina slip all winter , and a move to a hurricane hole during the summer.

Afloat during the summer the boat could be cruised all over FL , as long as you could get back to your spot before the bridges stop opening.
 
If you wish to deal with a knowledge insurance firm, try Renee at Jack Martin Insurance in Annapolis, Ma. They advertise in Passage Maker Mag. They will only deal with good companies and know the law, rules and regs. with insurance. I am now with ACE and paying 1/2 of what I was. Ask them your questions and get a trueful answer.
 
I would take the boat to Indian River off the Okechobee as another poster suggested during summer.

A couple of years ago we spent some time at the Key West Harbor Yacht Club on Stock Island, the monthly rate was very reasonable for Florida and the Keys. I think it was $800 a month for a 40' slip.

A very safe marina, good luck on your purchase we spent 20 years in the 4 corners and miss the CO summers but not the winters.
 
Thank you all for the advice. Since we only have 6 weeks or so to spend in the state every year my hope had been to find a way too cost effectively store the boat close to the house. That would allow us to use the boat while in the Keys. If we end up storing the boat so far away that we can't commute then we'll probably wait a couple of years until we can spend more time there.
 
With such a limited time frame it sounds like a far smaller 25? ft IO boat on a trailer would be usefull. $5,000 - $8,000and off you go

As long as you could O nite if desired you could cruise at low cost , 55mph to Key West at 20MPG behind the car , launch and enjoy.

Everywhere is only a couple of hours from home , and a slip space for an IO in shallow water should be cheaper than for a 5 ft draft.Even rack storage might work.

Get the big boat when you have big time to enjoy it.
 
FF said:
With such a limited time frame it sounds like a far smaller 25? ft IO boat on a trailer would be usefull. $5,000 - $8,000and off you go

As long as you could O nite if desired you could cruise at low cost , 55mph to Key West at 20MPG behind the car , launch and enjoy.

Everywhere is only a couple of hours from home , and a slip space for an IO in shallow water should be cheaper than for a 5 ft draft.Even rack storage might work.

Get the big boat when you have big time to enjoy it.
Click to expand...


Our house is on a canal so we already have a 24' Proline that is stored on a trailer beside the house when we're not there. Unfortunately the canal isn't large enough to acommodate a 40ft vessel. I had hoped to be able to use the next couple of years to gain some experience and familarity with the boat.

I'm willing to pay somewhat of a premium to suffer through the steepest part of my learning curve now as opposed to when we actually have the time to really use the boat.One of the most sage pieces of advice offered up here on a regular basis seems to be some variation of "Just do it".
 
Just get something with shallow draft and a protected prop,....for the Keys and eventually the Bahamas
 
I'm willing to pay somewhat of a premium to suffer through the steepest part of my learning curve now as opposed to when we actually have the time to really use the boat.

If you already have a boat the transition should be 3-4 days , different systems , more of them to maintain , and different docking techniques. Done
 
After what I've read here, just get the big boat with shallow draft and.protected prop as earlier stated.
 
Shallow Draft is King

....a little excerpt from another forum discussion....I wrote this to a new fellow and his wife looking for a liveaboard experience....

brian said:
......I would suggest a vessel with shallow draft and well protected props and shaft systems. The protected props and shafts will save you a lot of heartache and money when you make those few mistakes that many new boaters (and a few older ones as well) make on occasions.

I can't emphasis SHALLOW DRAFT enough. Here I am defining shallow draft as 4 feet or less. The Chesapeake Bay (America's largest inland water bay) has a few navigable deep water channels, but the vast majority of its area is 4.5 feet of water or less on average. If you truly want to explore the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributaries (one of the truly great cruising areas), you better have a shallow draft vessel. Ditto for the Outer Banks of NC (I once did them in a 37 foot sailing cat that I could kick up its CB's and rudders to draft only 24 inches). Its nice to have a shallow draft for the Florida keys, and the 10,000 island area of SW Florida, and those inside waterway passages of the west coast of Florida. Gunkholing is so much fun, and you miss some of this fun when your vessel draws too much water....you end up passing many delightful spots for fear of running aground.

If you are intending to do the east coast, then around Florida, you might well consider doing the popular 'Great Loop', up the Mississippi, to the Great Lakes, down the Erie Canal, etc.

And don't forget the Bahamas that whole chain of islands is structured on a shallow ocean shelf that is a delight to go cruising across rather than around, especially with those crystal clear waters. Shallow draft is king!
Click to expand...
New to Yachting; 13 Million to spend - - Page 3 - YachtForums.Com
 
>If you are intending to do the east coast, then around Florida, you might well consider doing the popular 'Great Loop', up the Mississippi, to the Great Lakes, down the Erie Canal, etc.<

Folks with displacement boats usually chose to do this trip DOWN the Miss as the current may slow the boat 50% at times.

At 6K the current matters at 20K + who cares?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Good place for a slip in Ga, SC, NC?
Replies
16
Views
1K
henrymei
henrymei
S
insuring a trawler cruising trawler
Replies
18
Views
2K
Capt Ray
C
mvweebles
Insurance Recommendation???
Replies
2
Views
501
IRENE
IRENE
Mac2
LifePO4 Battery storage voltage
Replies
4
Views
348
twistedtree
twistedtree
Adopo
Supreme Court Upholds Back-Door Denials of Boat Insurance Claims
Replies
6
Views
1K
SteveK
SteveK

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom