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Storage?? Bahamas or Florida?

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by Jill luce, Nov 24, 2019.

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  1. Jill luce

    Jill luce New Member

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    I’m super new to boating. We like to cruise in the winter months only. Love Florida and Bahamas. Is it better to store in Bahamas or Florida and why? Thanks so much to whomever replies! Much appreciated!
  2. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    This is a very very broad question and impossible to answer without more information. What size and type of boat do you have? How often do you plan on visiting the boat? How often do you plan on cruising on the boat and what is going to be your major cruising area? Do you live aboard? Do you do the exterior maintenance yourself? Engine/hull maintenance yourself? When you mean storage, in the water, out of the water? Year round? Just the winter or summer? etc. etc.
  3. Jill luce

    Jill luce New Member

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    Yes, great points. We can’t use it often until we retire. So now we use it for long trips to the keys. This year in March we are going to the Bahamas for the first time for 6 weeks or so, depending on Gulf Stream issues. It’s a Leopard power cat 46’.
    We pay someone to keep her ready for us. We are moving her from Tampa to a new marina closer to where we like to be. So trying to decide about where to leave her most of the year alone? For now, we just had the bottom redone, so we are leaving in the water but maybe dry dock in the further.
    Thanks again for you time!
  4. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    The biggest issue will be the hurricane season. In case of a warning it s a lot easier to get to florida and move the boat.

    if you leave it in the Bahamas the only place I’d consider is Great Harbor Cay as the marina is an excellent hurricane hole.
  5. Jill luce

    Jill luce New Member

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    Yes, great points! Thank you!!! I’ll put that Cay on my list!!!!
  6. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    What will your insurance company let you do??
    The extra premiums can help make the decision for you.

    BTW, Nice smile. :D
  7. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Logistics dictate Florida. If you're flying in, I'd suggest convenient to a major airport with good connections to where you live. From Florida, easy to go down the coast or to cross to the Bahamas. Just fly in and take off. To the Bahamas, you have to figure out connecting flights and while it's very convenient for Bahamas boating, to boat in Florida or the Keys, you're flying over and then boating back across. The Bahamas only become the preferred storage if well over 50% of your boating will be in the Bahamas.
  8. Jill luce

    Jill luce New Member

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    Good point Capt Ralph! Ins includes Bahamas, so same $$
  9. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I wouldn't, as Great Harbor Cay has NO commercial airlines that fly to it, no real grocery store, and nobody to take care of the boat that I've heard of. I'd recommend South Florida. Easy to fly into, easy to provision, easy to get parts, easy to get repairs, and Bimini, Bahamas is less than 50 NM away. Being a CAT dockage at a marina is going to be a little harder to find our more expensive in most cases. Dockage behind a house would be reasonable and the beam wouldn't be much of an issue, you just can't stay aboard there.
  10. captainwjm

    captainwjm Senior member

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    All good points, so my contribution is to ask you to honestly define what you mean by storage. If all you want is have a place for the boat to sit between uses, and for maintenance to be deferred until you arrive, then the FtL canal would be the most logical and economical answer. However, if you want professional care and feeding done while you’re away, you will probably be better off biting the bullet and finding a marina/boatyard. The extent that you are willing to part with time or money will dictate the best solution.
  11. Jill luce

    Jill luce New Member

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    Great points. I think we should leave her in Florida, because we do want someone to take care of her throughout the year.
  12. Jill luce

    Jill luce New Member

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    Thank you!!! We do like the marina route but what do you mean by FtL canal? Moorings?
  13. jsschieff

    jsschieff Senior Member

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    Is the Bradford yard on Grand Bahama defunct after the hurricane? Would that be a possible place to store the boat on the hard?
  14. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    In Fort Lauderdale and some of Miami and Palm Beach. There are a lot of houses on canals off of the Intracoastal waterway and most of these houses have docks behind them. Some private home owners rent the dock out to yacht owners on a monthly basis and it's generally the cheapest route for dockage in the Fort Lauderdale or even South Florida area and generally considerably less than most marinas.
  15. Oscarvan

    Oscarvan Senior Member

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    Don't feel like joining "Dockfinders" at this point..... what's a ballpark figure for a 55' boat on a private dock these days? Don't need to be close to open water, an hour or so to get out is fine. Thanks.

    Last time I did this (2006) I had a 60' slip on the New River for $250/Month. Don't think I'll ever find a deal like that again....
  16. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    It depends on the dock/location etc...….probably $800 including water and electric +/-. $250 a month was incredible deal even back then. Going rate back then was $10 per foot per month.
  17. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    I payed $800 a month plus electric up the New River behind a church for a 50’ boat.

    Dockage was considered a donation to the church. You can stay on the boat and do any work you want on it short of spray painting it and there are no zoning issues.

    They have 200’ of dock space. Not sure what’s available at the moment.

    Contact me if you’re interested and I can pass you along to the person in charge.
  18. Oscarvan

    Oscarvan Senior Member

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    Yes it was a heck of a deal. One of the last cement block homes built when they dug out the river. (Most of them by then had been torn down or encapsulated in Mc Mansions) Back then the husband built 3-60' slips that paid off the mortgage over the years. When I showed up he had had a stroke and was in a bedroom with round the clock nurses burning up a reverse mortgage on the 1.5M value of the home. Doris, the lady, was an absolute sweetheart and wanted no liveaboards and sail boats only as they didn't mess up her view, and she was more than happy to only have me be there October through April. She had damage to the docks with boats in there during hurricane season which resulted in lengthy insurance BS so empty in summer was fine with her. I was there for 4 winters. The house next door was owned by a dentist and the guy literally next to me in a 60' slip was paying the good doctor over a grand a month.....
  19. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    We had the owner of a 130' boat offer us $3000 a month. Then when we said no he asked what it would take and we told him we just couldn't do it at any price.
  20. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I think many of these homes are either up for sale or just unused. Every time I went looking at a bait behind a home I could tell the home wasn’t used