How far away is your boat?

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Back yard. Sometimes still forget to go home.

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Great tips from those who are not within easy travel distance! I intend on keeping the boat within 15 min of my parents place so I will have someone to check on the boat from time to time. Maintenance will be an issue but I like the thought of dedicating time prior to a trip just for maintenance.
 
2 miles now, easy bicycle ride after I bought the slip. It was 45 minutes before that which was just way too far away.
 
Only 45 minutes now. The last two years we had the sailboat it was in San Carlos, Mexico and we had to take a week out of every six to drive 1200 miles, check on the boat and drive home.
 
This year I'm aboard full time. Now the house chores have to wait till the snow melts.
 
We keep our boat in Ketchikan, Alaska and live in Phoenix Arizona. We have the boat on the hard when we are not there. Generally we leave for Alaska in May and live on the boat while touring southeast Ak until Sept. The boat gets hauled for the remaining months of non use. We know individuals who leave their boats in all year. There are boat services that look after the boat. By having the vessel on the hard for 8 months gives us peace of mind.
 
n36511 said:
In the coming two years I plan on relocating my Carver 355 away from Atlanta and down to FL. I wanted to get some feedback from those of you that live a good distance from your boat (my travel time will be 8 hrs driving or half a day flying). What are some things I need to keep in mind when doing this? Hurricanes are a huge concern...however I think I can plan around that. I am more concerned about the weekend to weekend checks that I do on my boat now. Do you have someone at the marina, or someone you know occasionally check on her?

Any feedback is appreciated.
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Thing one to keep in mind. The use of a boat declines proportionally to it's distance from you. You think you'll be the exception, but you won't. Now partly this does depend on your use. Do you have weeks or months at a time or is most of it weekends? If the former, perhaps. If the latter, no way.

I have to correct a couple of pieces of information. Insurance doesn't require a captain, but they do look at experience. If you're already insured, that's not likely an issue. However, you may well have to change insurance carriers to get the right insurance for the coast and then your experience comes into play. As to hurricanes, there are more boats in Florida than any other state and they don't all leave for hurricanes, so know that you can get insured and you can find some reasonable protection or care.

Currently I'm guessing your drive is about 45 minutes to an hour. I'm going to toss another idea your way, in the opposite direction. The Tennessee River. Chattanooga is a two hour drive for you. Wonderful area. Good marinas, great cruising and the distances you're looking for. You have the perfect boat for the Tennessee River. I'd really consider it strongly.

As to checks on the boat, alarms are a good start, but I'd also engage someone locally to check regularly, unless I found a place to keep my boat in dry storage. It can be a management company, a marina that provides the service, or even a liveaboard you befriend. The other thing I'd do is cameras. That way you can visually check and be alerted to problems.

Someone asked why not Georgia. I love Savannah, but it doesn't make your drive that much better. Still it cuts off some time, so I'd consider the Georgia coast. Don't get mislead though as the Marinas are quite a bit beyond Savannah. Thunderbolt is a nice area for keeping a boat. Then there's St. Simons, Jekyll, and all the other islands. You might even look at Charleston. Even if you're able to save one or two hours of your drive, you've improved the situation. Obviously climate changes slightly too though so there is an offset.

Still, my personal choice from Atlanta would be the Tennessee River. Second would be something in the Savannah area.
 
15 min. Do lunch on it during work days. Evenings & weekends quality time.
 
It would be nice to have the boat close, so the pleasure time can increase. With our boat in Alaska we budget one week for maintance and this seems to work so far. Our boat is kept in a barn so we can work on it even if it's raining. Varnishing is done during the summer, usually in a beautiful bay.
 
In the backyard, 82 steps from the back door to the door on the trawler. Wonderful , it's like having an addition to the house!
 
We are 44.3 miles from our slip, mostly freeway (no tolls.) Just long enough so we week-end all the time(southern California, 12 month boating.)
 
Adding a bit to my previous post, if you kept it closer such as on the TN River, then there would also be considerable savings and with that savings if a Coastal Lust hit you a couple of times a year, you could charter.

There are other issues you will have to address if you move it from fresh water to salt. These start with your anodes, include your bottom paint, include how protected your engine is from salt water.
 
I'm almost exactly 2 hours away , unless traffic dictates otherwise.
It's not bad. I could move the boat closer and may in teh future. Originally, I was going to keep it in WA (600 miles +). I am sure glad I didn't do that as we love being on the boat as much as we can.
 
Hilton Head is about 4 1/2 hours from Atlanta. Since I am in Chattanooga, it is a good place for us. Shelter Cove Harbour is kind of a second home to us, and we keep going back for several months stays. We plan on spending some more time there before going up to the Chesapeake again.
 
Moonstruck said:
Hilton Head is about 4 1/2 hours from Atlanta. Since I am in Chattanooga, it is a good place for us. Shelter Cove Harbour is kind of a second home to us, and we keep going back for several months stays. We plan on spending some more time there before going up to the Chesapeake again.
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I would say Hilton Head is great for "several months stays" but if he's dealing with weekends and a week perhaps twice a year, then it's a bit far. It's really a matter of frequency and length of trips.
 
We live just outside Atlanta and right now our boat is in Punta Gorda. We generally make it down every other week from Wednesday to Sunday. As bad as I hate the drive, I love the area so much we keep going back.

We moved her to Jacksonville for a while, and then to Jekyll Island last summer and the drive was easier, but the boating was a lot harder. Had to time everything around the tides and it just seemed like too much work. And it was so much hotter than South Florida ... we didn't expect that. Loved Jekyll itself though, the island grows on you.

We've talked a lot about taking her to Chattanooga, but I just don't think it would be the same. We've been lake boaters our entire life and we're having so much fun on the gulf coast we'll just put up with the inconvenience. Might go to Sarasota or St. Pete for a month or two this summer.

I'm working towards a week at the boat, and then a week at the house.
 
BlueSky said:
We live just outside Atlanta and right now our boat is in Punta Gorda. We generally make it down every other week from Wednesday to Sunday. As bad as I hate the drive, I love the area so much we keep going back.

We moved her to Jacksonville for a while, and then to Jekyll Island last summer and the drive was easier, but the boating was a lot harder. Had to time everything around the tides and it just seemed like too much work. And it was so much hotter than South Florida ... we didn't expect that. Loved Jekyll itself though, the island grows on you.

We've talked a lot about taking her to Chattanooga, but I just don't think it would be the same. We've been lake boaters our entire life and we're having so much fun on the gulf coast we'll just put up with the inconvenience. Might go to Sarasota or St. Pete for a month or two this summer.

I'm working towards a week at the boat, and then a week at the house.
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What we haven't heard from the OP is how frequently he can go or how long he can stay. Wednesday to Sunday is much better than a regular weekend.
 
3.4 miles....I go down the the boat, most every day.
 
BlueSky said:
We live just outside Atlanta and right now our boat is in Punta Gorda. We generally make it down every other week from Wednesday to Sunday. As bad as I hate the drive, I love the area so much we keep going back.

We moved her to Jacksonville for a while, and then to Jekyll Island last summer and the drive was easier, but the boating was a lot harder. Had to time everything around the tides and it just seemed like too much work. And it was so much hotter than South Florida ... we didn't expect that. Loved Jekyll itself though, the island grows on you.

We've talked a lot about taking her to Chattanooga, but I just don't think it would be the same. We've been lake boaters our entire life and we're having so much fun on the gulf coast we'll just put up with the inconvenience. Might go to Sarasota or St. Pete for a month or two this summer.

I'm working towards a week at the boat, and then a week at the house.
Click to expand...

I understand completely where you are coming from. We have kept boats at St. Pete, Bradenton, Venice, and near Boca Grande at the west end of Charlotte Harbor. Easy cruising, and great weather. It is a butt buster of a drive for us. We have already discussed going back there when we return to south Florida.

We like Hilton Head because of the short drive and the island surroundings. There is also some nice cruising and fishing to be had. Savannah is about 20 miles. Beaufort about 30 miles, and Charleston about 90 miles.

Living is Chattanooga, I have boated all of the river many times. It is a great cruise, but Chattanooga is the best stop on the River. I live in the middle of the waterfront area. I love the place, but also enjoy the change of cruising on the coast.

Without going to the islands, the two places we enjoy cruising the most are the Chesapeake Bay and Southwest Florida. Both are easy cruising.
 
250 miles from my driveway to the marina little less than 4 hours, all highway either 2 lane or 4 lane. I'am in Kansas and the boat is in Illinois on the Mississippi River, I don't do much driving back and forth, drive over in March and winterize the boat in December. I'll drive back and forth 2 or 3 times in between.
 
3.6 Klm away
Takes about 7 minutes providing there is no line up at the US/CDN border:banghead:
Love my Nexus card !
 
1:45 unless traffic is really bad. Makes weekending easy.
 
Some 400 miles away in winter, and 150 feet away during the summers.

img_322173_0_e2b17d27172d3b9073a71b923a4ef0f5.jpg
 
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