Mooring Ball Long Term

[tgotch]

I'm looking at upgrading boats. Not having much luck locating a slip on west coast of Florida in the area we want. One location has a mooring ball available (while we get put on some waiting lists). We live out of state, and will be using the boat mostly on weekends. Anyone experience leaving their boat on a mooring ball long term? I'm a little leery of this, but wanted to see if anyone could share pros/cons.

 

[Turtle Blues]

Did it for a while. Some liveaboards manage.
1.Good stable rib or dingy for back and fourth. Most marinas charge extra for keeping it on a rack.
2. Good solar battery charger.
3. Couple of good watertight bags for moving stuff.
4. Hope they have courtesy dock for pump out and taking on fresh water?

 

[kchace]

Our boat lives on a mooring ball and we have done so for 10 years. In most ways, we prefer the mooring.

Pros
A mooring is quiet. One can’t pick their dock neighbors and if they choose to have a bunch of folks over until late at night, or a few guys on the dock at 5am for a fishing trip, one has to deal with that. A mooring is private and quiet.
Another pro is - in my opinion it’s much easier to get on and off a mooring, even single handed.
And of course, a mooring is much cheaper than dock space.

Cons
One needs a dinghy (or some other reliable kind of ride) to get to and from the mooring. Everything has to be brought back and forth that way. So that’s definitely not as easy as walking up to the boat on the dock.
Then there is owning and maintaining the dinghy which may be extra if you don’t already have one.

Not really a pro or a con - depending
Being on a mooring gets you out on the water instead of in between a bunch of boats. The views can be better, there can be more wakes to deal with - or not.

One biggie, you need to rely on the mooring. So you want to know that it’s regularly maintained and that it’s appropriately sized for your boat.

Ken

 

[twistedtree]

Don’t forget power. When plugged into a dock you can leave a fridge running, and even heat or Air con. On a mooring you will be limited to whatever can be reliably powered with just solar, and accounting for weather when solar will be limited or non existent.

 

[jgwinks]

Kept sailboats on moorings for 25 years. All the pros listed above. Yes, you need a good dinghy, but at least around here the dollar savings will pay for that the first year. $600 for the summer vs $3000.

 

[chriscritchett]

And don’t forget that if you’re not there very much, some form of bird repellant will be desirable. If the local pelican crew likes your boat, you will be hating life. With no dock water.

 

[Comodave]

And your insurance company may require you to have someone check on the boat regularly sine you will be an absentee owner. It may cost more if the boat is on a mooring.

 

[socalrider]

We've had our boat on a mooring here in San Diego for four years. Over that time period, we have saved about $70,000 in slip fees, which is in the neighborhood of the value of our boat. Insurance and diving is marginally more expensive.

I think the pros and cons are pretty well covered above; I really enjoy the peace and quiet versus being in a marina. However, I did a bunch of work on the boat while it was in a slip before moving - if you're due for a refit it might be worth keeping it in a slip for a while.

 

[huruta]

We bought a house with a mooring ball last summer. We sublet our slip for the summer and have it in front of our house in Bellingham. We did have to put solar on to ensure the batteries stayed charged - added 600 watts and it works great. We leave the refrigerator on without a problem as well as the bilge pumps. It is a bit of a pain to get stuff on/off boat for longer trips. We paddleboard out and got waterproof bags. The mooring ball is rated for our size boat and was well installed. We do have more bird poop on the bimini. Going to get some whirly thingies. It's super easy to leave and arrive - a lot more peaceful than a busy marina. We are replacing the 18 y/o outboard on our dinghy so can use that too. We are saving about $3500 by subletting our slip for 5 months so that covered the cost of our solar install. I wouldn't leave it on the buoy over the winter, but it's been great to have it so close for the summer (our slip is in Seattle, 2 hour drive away). Sometimes we swim out to it and jump of the boat just for fun!

 

[BruceK]

We did it for 8 years. First up, ensure the mooring apparatus is adequate, esp. the block, get it serviced annually, and maintain the mooring lines. For bigger boats, a bridle is better than a single line. As indicated above, you need solar to keep things humming along. We had a cold plate refrigeration system on one boat, it took several genset hours to pull down, that`s a hassle. Access is an issue, as is fresh water. A water system might work, consider electric power and ambient water quality. Loading the boat for a longer cruise is a hassle unless you can come alongside somewhere.
I have swum to/from the boat, sometimes towing a dinghy, but the bull sharks are off putting these days.

 

[dlippert]

I'm looking at upgrading boats. Not having much luck locating a slip on west coast of Florida in the area we want. One location has a mooring ball available (while we get put on some waiting lists). We live out of state, and will be using the boat mostly on weekends. Anyone experience leaving their boat on a mooring ball long term? I'm a little leery of this, but wanted to see if anyone could share pros/cons.

Where on west coast of Florida are you looking? What size boat?

 

[Comodave]

We bought a house with a mooring ball last summer. We sublet our slip for the summer and have it in front of our house in Bellingham. We did have to put solar on to ensure the batteries stayed charged - added 600 watts and it works great. We leave the refrigerator on without a problem as well as the bilge pumps. It is a bit of a pain to get stuff on/off boat for longer trips. We paddleboard out and got waterproof bags. The mooring ball is rated for our size boat and was well installed. We do have more bird poop on the bimini. Going to get some whirly thingies. It's super easy to leave and arrive - a lot more peaceful than a busy marina. We are replacing the 18 y/o outboard on our dinghy so can use that too. We are saving about $3500 by subletting our slip for 5 months so that covered the cost of our solar install. I wouldn't leave it on the buoy over the winter, but it's been great to have it so close for the summer (our slip is in Seattle, 2 hour drive away). Sometimes we swim out to it and jump of the boat just for fun!

We had much better success with the spyder bird deterrent than with the gull sweep type. And the gull sweep laid over a bit in a wind storm and kept rotating and cut a perfect 180 degree arc in the new bimini, another $2K for another Bimini top…