Living aboard in FL in winter and storing on land in summer. Practical?

[CatStephen]

Greetings:


Long time lurker here and very infrequent poster. Most of the questions I've had have already been answered through search. However, I have a larger question now....


I'm 63 and a lifelong water rat. Sailing, racing, fishing, you name it. My wife and I are both 63 and had the good fortune to retire at 55. We bought a small cruising cat, a Tomcat 9.7 upon retirement. For those of you unfamiliar, it's a 32 x 16 cat that is simple, light and fast. Very shallow draft. Decent bridge deck clearance so it's pretty comfortable even in snotty conditions. We've set it up as a couples' boat with simple systems, a little more water tankage and lots of solar – 700 watts – so we can spend time away from marinas wandering around and exploring.


We live on the Chesapeake and have explored lots of it. Boat has been great for our intended purpose. However, we're realized we don't make the most of it. For most of the sailing and fishing seasons, we split our time between sailing, fishing (on our power boats), road trips (a favorite pastime), grown children and young grandchildren. As the grandchildren came – along with soccer, basketball and baseball games, we spend less and less time on the cat.


At the same time, the pandemic has driven home how much we don't like cold winters and find ourselves “stuck in the house.” I've used the past 8 winters to finish up all my outstanding projects, restored a couple of cars, a couple more boats and build a hot rod. For the ,most part, the projects are now done.


This prompted a thought. Would it make sense to move the cat to Florida and use it as a winter home? My thinking would be to sail it down this or next spring and leave it there. Have it hauled, give it a good clean and wax and have it shrink wrapped. Go back north and have our usual summer on the Chesapeake. In November, drive our big diesel pickup filled with clothes, supplies and totes with my tools. Prep and splash the boat and live on it until the following April. Spend our time wandering around and exploring like we do on the Chesapeake.


For fishing opportunities, I would trailer a center console down and leave it on its trailer to use as and where needed. Might even leave a boat there on a trailer over the summer with the cat.


The thinking is that living on the cat down South would:

• avoid having to buy another house
• give us 5 full time months on the boat (versus a sporadic 8 months use now)
• move if we don't like the neighbors
• maybe change marinas every year or so to experience new areas
• get us out of the cold
• offer a different experience
• should be a net neutral (give or take) cost wise since we already own the boat and and have marina costs already.

So, what do you all think? Is anyone already doing something like this? Potential problems I can see are:

• finding a marina that allows liveaboards
• security of a boat that is unattended and un-visited for 7 months of the year
• local, county or state ordinances prohibiting what we'd like to do.

Would really appreciate any experiences, wisdom or advice you all can offer.


Thanks...CatStephen

[Davy J]

Thousands of people are doing just that, every year here.

Boats get dropped in Oct or Nov, cruise around, anchor or stay at marinas, but stay as a transient, do not even mention liveaboard.

Boat gets hauled in spring, usually before June, blocked, secured and strapped down. Shrink wrapping is a northern thing, not usually done in Florida. But of course, you can have it done if you wish.

Return in the fall, repeat.

[John_Trusty]

"Is anyone already doing something like this?" - only about a quarter of the Florida marina population. You seem to have thought a lot of this through already, so when are you moving? You didn't mention much about money, so make sure to do your homework on the relative costs of storage, dockage, insurance (south of the hurricane line at the VA/NC line), and other differences. If you leave it on the hard, no prob, but if in the water you'll want (and the marina may require, a weekly boat tender to make sure it's not sunken. I've never seen shrink-wrap in Florida - probably a terrible idea as it would stick to the gelcoat and make the interior an oven. Security may be a thing, but storage yards have fences and guards, and they're aware of the local risks. Marinas in allowing live-aboard, and there's always an up-charge of $100-200 monthly. Electricity is usually metered, and sometimes water. Make up a budget, but it's not out-of-reach if you already used to paying for things.

You'll want to make a hurricane plan, and get over the emotions if it doesn't work and your pride-and-joy ends up tumbling down the parking lot. Southern boaters all have come to the Zen realization that it's just fiberglass, not a loved one.

[Cheechako]

Definitely a good plan. Not sure you really need a marina, wont you mostly just move around?
Dry store is a good idea and usually pretty secure. I think it's a 90 day limit to stay in the state untaxed, but if you dry store and don't stay over 90 days "or so" while cruising , last I heard they don't go after you as the yard work and dry storage gives Fl business. Maybe someone knows if that has changed.
If cruising longer you can always leave the state and come back. Bahamas!
If temporary, never call yourselves "liveaboards" you are "passing through".

[RickG]

We love spending the Winter in Marathon, FL at Boot Key Harbor. Very liveaboard focused and a good community. Moorings are reasonably priced and include pumpout. Water and fuel are convenient. Bus service up and down the Keys worked and there are reasonably priced rental cars. Taxi service is fixed price and cheap. West Marine is walkable as are Publix and Home Depot.

Cheers, RickG

[Azul]

This is a logistical problem I am pondering myself. I have a hobby farm in Ohio- no livestock, six hours from Annapolis. I'm thinking about buying a 40 footer as a long summer weekend escape and a winter home in Florida or the Bahamas. I thought about doing the same thing as the OP, using the boat in the winter somewhere warm and putting it on the hard for hurricane season- but my boat of choice is a B-40 and I can't see neglecting it for that long. It would seem to be a better plan for most people living near the Chesapeake to keep the boat locally for the summer and take it up and down the ditch seasonally. When I lived in Beaufort I witnessed the seasonal migration of many, many boats on the Intracoastal. The summer season for boating in Lake Erie is about two windy weeks on either side of July 4 long followed by an arctic winter that seems never-ending. Or maybe I will just move to the Philippines and be warm all year...

[gonesail]

it's a good plan but we don't shrink wrap boats in Florida. the price of hauling and storing is almost the same as leaving it in the water. either way you will pay for insurance. sometimes it will be tough to deal with doctors and medical stuff. if your stay in Florida is permanent you will need to deal with the boat registration thing. be aware that about a million other boaters will be doing the same thing so the costs keep going up

[Azul]

Yeah, shrink wrapping is a northern thing. The heat and humidity under the wrap even with vents would be bad for the boat down south. Leaving a boat in the yard also means a lot of dust, dirt, leaves etc. They can even fill up the scuppers and collect rain water to the point of flooding the cabin. A dodger and full canvas would be a good idea. Many insurance companies include coverage for removing the boat from the water or taking it to a safer place by a captain when named storms threaten, a big risk for six months of the year. Don't even think about leaving a boat on a mooring, you won't sleep well at night and may lose your boat.

Some marinas offer a tent over the boat in dry storage, another plan.

Maybe someone can offer experience for relatively safe storage or slip locations near Annapolis or in Florida/Georgia.

[Shanachie]

Hmmm. I've lived in South and West Florida since 1977, and I know of very few places where you can store a boat on land for a long time at a reasonable price.



Certainly none in the Tampa Bay area. There is the DIY yard down on the Okeechobee Waterway east of Fort Myers. Maybe a couple of places on the Treasure Coast and in North Florida.



Another challenge is that many good marinas have decent-sized waiting lists, which means you won't be able to rent and leave at will unless you're willing to pay big, big bucks at the privately operated luxury marinas that have been springing up.


The reasonable ones that have slips available often are not well-protected from hurricanes and winter storms or are far from inlets to get to the Gulf or the Atlantic.



One strategy is to find a slip in a well-protected marina and keep your boat there year-round, paying people to watch over it while you're away and scrape the bottom every month.


Another is to go down to Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, get one of the first-come, first-served mooring balls and stay there all winter.



Also keep in mind that Florida is a long state. There could be snow flurries in far North Florida while people are sunbathing in the Keys. Location matters.

[Davy J]

Originally Posted by Shanachie

Hmmm. I've lived in South and West Florida since 1977, and I know of very few places where you can store a boat on land for a long time at a reasonable price.



Certainly none in the Tampa Bay area.

There are a few in the Tampa Bay area where you can get hauled and stored, however, reasonable price might be difficult though.

Apollo Beach Marina

Shell Point Marina

Cut's Edge Harbor Marina

Snead Island Boat Works

Those are in my general location, however, I think there may be a few more down the west coast.