New Member in Seattle WA

[CharlieO.]

I suspect liveaboard available means they allow liveaboard and not that there is no wait list.

Quite possible, I guess if I were looking I'd probably call or stop in to check out.
We want to relocate to the north Puget Sound area so I try to check in on places occasionally.
When we do relocate, boats that come with assumable moorage will move towards the top of our list. Even if we have to stay there until some place more desirable opens up.

 

[Steamguy]

Yes, moorage first.

I'll be the first to say, I'm sure others will agree. Find moorage first. Moorage anywhere near Seattle is very tight. Liveaboard moorage even more of a challenge to find.

I once bought a trawler (it was 2004 IIRC) without lining up moorage first. After buying, the only place that had any room at all was Elliott Bay Marina, the MOST EXPENSIVE MARINA in all of Puget Sound from Olympia to the Canadian Border. Once I got in there, they upped the moorage, the utilities, and my insurance also went up.



All other marinas would put me on a waiting list of about SIX YEARS. I was on the wait-lists for Des Moines, Olympia, and Brownsville, and never got in before selling the boat 4 years later.

 

[Portage_Bay]

I have found the way to deal with long wait lists is to inquire frequently and pleasantly. Be nice, friendly and keep your face fresh. In person.

What can happen is that many boaters, and I've done this, are on multiple lists. The marina mgmt will have a slip open up and start working the list making calls and getting no response. Eventually they will tire of it and give you a call. It's worked 3 times for me in the last 4 years as I moved to better places and eventually got a bigger boat.

Liveaboard is a different situation. Many if not most of the marinas in the area have very limited liveaboard opportunities. Those slips to take a very long time to come up.

All other marinas would put me on a waiting list of about SIX YEARS. I was on the wait-lists for Des Moines, Olympia, and Brownsville, and never got in before selling the boat 4 years later.

 

[slowgoesit]

Donuts! Donuts work. Go in to the marina, stay as a transient for a week or to. Every morning, take a box of fresh donuts in to the office, shoot the breeze, and politely inquire as to the availability of a permanent slip . . . . .

 

[Moonfish]

Open the pod bay doors, Hal.

Sorry, couldn't resist (major Kubrick fan). Welcome aboard, and enjoy your search for both a boat to live on and a marina in which to moor her. It will all be worth it when you finally move aboard!

 

[Moonfish]

I have found the way to deal with long wait lists is to inquire frequently and pleasantly. Be nice, friendly and keep your face fresh. In person.

Excellent advice! It does work. As do the fresh donuts... In most marinas the harbormaster or manager can arbitrarily make decisions outside of any publicly stated policies. Even if they have a waiting list, they can easily skip over unknown entities (or rude, annoying types) for people they know and like. Being truly nice helps.

 

[PierreR]

Excellent advice! It does work. As do the fresh donuts... In most marinas the harbormaster or manager can arbitrarily make decisions outside of any publicly stated policies. Even if they have a waiting list, they can easily skip over unknown entities (or rude, annoying types) for people they know and like. Being truly nice helps.

That is basically how I acquired my present dock for next season.

 

[slowgoesit]

Excellent advice! It does work. As do the fresh donuts... In most marinas the harbormaster or manager can arbitrarily make decisions outside of any publicly stated policies. Even if they have a waiting list, they can easily skip over unknown entities (or rude, annoying types) for people they know and like. Being truly nice helps.

One bit of advice. If you do your due diligence, and physically go in and introduce yourself to the dock master, office staff, provide pics of your boat, or better yet, actually bring it there for a transient slip so they could SEE their boat, etc, and said office staff DOES assist you in getting moorage, perhaps bumping you in front of other place holders on the list . . . .

PLEASE DON'T announce on a public forum that "so and so", at "such and such" marina (called out by name) bumped you to the top of the list like a member did last year and got the helpful marina staff in at a marina (not to be named here) in THE PNW into a whole heap of trouble for their act of kindness. The post was meant to be kudo's to the marina staff, but it turned out . . . . poorly.

 

[PNW]

Welcome! We just bought our 41ft trawler and joined the Duwamish club, so we will be seeing you around the Salish Sea soon hopefully

 

[Mischief]

Welcome! We just bought our 41ft trawler and joined the Duwamish club, so we will be seeing you around the Salish Sea soon hopefully

Welcome. Watch the tides, they will limit your activities there. Nice soft mud to rest in, sometimes. It will be better when the dredging is done.

 

[PNW]

Welcome. Watch the tides, they will limit your activities there. Nice soft mud to rest in, sometimes. It will be better when the dredging is done.

Oh yeah we are not time-constrained at all so we felt the upsides far outweighed the silt. I think the slip values will go up significantly after the 8-foot Nov 2025 dredge so I am trying to figure out how to buy 3 or 4 of them! I love being in brackish without being behind the locks, I had no idea this even existed until this year.
Where do you have your boat?

 

[Mischief]

Oh yeah we are not time-constrained at all so we felt the upsides far outweighed the silt. I think the slip values will go up significantly after the 8-foot Nov 2025 dredge so I am trying to figure out how to buy 3 or 4 of them! I love being in brackish without being behind the locks, I had no idea this even existed until this year.
Where do you have your boat?

Tacoma, Chinook Landing, On the Hylebos.