Do I Need Dry Moorage?

With B-Day approaching, I was really starting to sweat where I would keep my boat if I can’t, by hook or by crook, fit it in my garage. I took a sigh of relief today when Dagmar’s Marina called me. I’ve risen to the top of the wait list for dry moorage just in time. It’s one of those places where they pick your boat up off the ground with a fork lift and put it in the water whenever you need it. Of course I hope I don’t need to pay for that long term, but I have to have someplace to put it other than on the street. I decided to sign up, and I can always cancel if I don’t need it. It would only cost me the $100 deposit if I do. Meanwhile, I have purchased a tire pump. That’s so that if I am able to fit the boat in the garage by letting air out of the trailer tires, I can pump them back up again. Now I’ve got all the bases covered. I’ve also started taking an eight-week boat handling course via Zoom.

After learning all about dry moorage today, my takeaway is that it’s pretty convenient for people with big boats who cruise locally, but that it’s very inconvenient for people with trailerable small boats. They have a very long list of rules. One of them is that they won’t let me store my boat on its trailer; it has be in the spot where it’s up on blocks. That means that if I want to take it somewhere on my trailer, they have to pick it up with a forklift and put it in the water, and then I have to bring my trailer and load it on myself at their ramp (and then do this in reverse when I come back). I have to keep my trailer at home, or pay extra to store it in their trailer lot. They do provide shore power and water. There’s a new state law that you aren’t allowed to use soap when washing your boat at their facility, or else they could get fined. Of course, anybody who puts their boat in salt water will need to wash it with soap, or else the boat will slowly corrode. I’ve always taken the canoe to Brown Bear while on top of my car. I hate the idea of leaving a brand new boat out in the weather all winter, so I sure hope I don’t have to. I can certainly see the value of this system for bigger, non trailerable boats, though (except for the soap thing).

This is the area where the fork lift loads and unloads the boats, so the boats don’t stay here long. If you look in the background you’ll see a bunch at the dock off in the distance. There are thousands of boats on blocks out of view.