Warren,
One of the chief complaints about slips I've seen in responses to your posting was the financial expense of a slip. Of course high on the list is ease of use of a mooring, better breezes, etc. To address the espense issue, one could find and join a "working club." I know they are pravalent on LI Sound, Hudson and Chesapeake and I imagine they exist all over.
My club has a $2G initiation fee, but thereafter a slip is $5 a foot and winter storage is $5 a foot. So I pay $270 a year for my slip and winter storage. The major catch is 35 hours in the spring and 35 hours in the fall of worktime. That includes building and refurbishing docks, launching boats in the spring and hauling and blocking them in the fall. We all work to help each other.
There are major pros and cons of this type of club:
Pros:
--Incredible cost savings
--Much more comraderie than at a commercial marina. I have only lived in my community for six years and have come to know many more people with similar interests than if I used a commercial marina or a mooring. Many people with young kids like me move to a new community and make friends only through the kids' activities. Although I've met many friends by having kids the same age, the club has afforded me to meet people who share boating and sailing as interests as well.
--You learn a great deal. There is no longer any dark mystical magic to properly blocking both powerboats and sailboats. I have learned a bit about welding, carpentry, plumbing, electric, and marina management as well. Finally, I have found people very willing to share boat repair and upgrade knowledge and experience, and have learned immeasurably from that. Not bad for a lawyer!
Cons:
--The worktime. Clubs vary. Some people could NEVER see that commitment as possible, especially those who work weekends or don't have the skills or inclination. Furthermore, if you value your time at more than about $25 an hour it's still cheaper to pay full price for a slip than to do the work. (However, I value the time spent working on projects around the club, not as an obligation but as an opportunity to interact, learn, and increasingly, to teach newer members.) (see pros, above, regarding new skills, etc.).
--I live 6/10 of a mile from the club. This might not work for someone who had to travel a ways to get there.
--Lack of flexibility: Once you join you really don't have the option to try different places each year. That was not an issue for me, it is so close to where I live. But if you want to try a different location each year it won't work. It takes a couple of years to amortize the initiation fee to beat the cost of a commercial marina. After 10 years, the initiation fee amortizes to $200 a year, very minimal for a slip. However, it's not for someone who doesn't plan to stick around a while.
Obviously this response does not address the slip v. mooring issue, but only addresses the aversion-to-cost factor.
On the slip v. mooring issue I am in the minority. I come out IN FAVOR OF THE SLIP. But for personal reasons. (1) Second Chance came to me a little neglected and having a slip has made cosmetic and structural repairs and upgrades much easier. (2) With three kids, it is much easier to just get on and go, rather than schlep them out on a tender, or take the boat back in to the guest dock to load and unload. I never plug in to shore power so that doesn't even figure in.
Bill Goldsmith
Second Chance
CD 27 #173
Warren Kaplan wrote: I'm taking a little survey here. Which do you prefer..a slip or a mooring? Years ago back in the early 1970s, when I first started sailing, I had a Seasprite 23 (Alberg design) that I kept on a mooring at the town marina. I liked the idea of being able to raise the sails right at the mooring and making any adjustments while solidly moored in place. I liked always facing directly into the wind when raising and lowering sails. I liked being able to leave the mooring under sail, and often, never having to turn the outboard on at all for the entire day. I thought it was easier leaving the mooring and picking up the mooring on return than getting in and out of a slip in a tight marina. Of course if the mooring field was crowded, you had to be pretty careful also. What I didn't like about moorings basically came down to accessibility. I was slave to the launch boat timetable. If I wanted to go out very early or come back late, I couldn't, unless I had my own dingy. Some marinas have better launch service then the one I used I suspect. The other thing I didn't like was if you forgot something in your car, for instance, you just couldn't jump off like in a slip, but instead you had to wait for the launch. Lots of time lost. There's no access to shore power on a mooring but frankly, the way I sail, I don't need it. Its also hard to wash down the boat out on a mooring even though I used to bring it to the dock periodically to do it. Of course chafe on the mooring line is always a concern as opposed to being in a slip with many lines. Watching the boat bob up and down on a mooring in heavy winds and storms was sometimes unsettling to me as I watched from shore. Then again a mooring is sometimes half the price of a slip and that saving could go for some needed repairs or extra gear. I'm in a slip now and I like it most of the time but sometimes I wonder if I'd be happier back on a mooring. Am I nuts? Any of you out there feel the same way or do you all, universally, think I'm crazy.
Warren Kaplan
S/V Sine Qua Non
CD27
goldy@bestweb.net