After 6 seasons, we decided to move to a new marina for the 2014 boating season. We'll miss many of our friends, but we just couldn't resist the allure of floating docks. Our old marina had fixed docks and we have a 3.5 ft tide change. This meant we needed a minimum of 8 lines to secure the boat. We are also near the mouth of the river and the marina is not really well protected. This meant that we would frequently get banged around in the slip. Storms were particularly tough. I had to double-up the lines (16 total) during storms, and could never really use my dock lines for more than one season. I'd have to rotate my 8 spares into service as dock lines for the following season and buy 8 new spares for the following season as well. Anything after labor day and our hearts were in our throats because even an offshore storm brough huge surging into the marina.
Getting into the boat at low tide required climbing down a ladder and the only spot we could get on was the swim platform. The Admiral sprained her ankle on the Friday evening before our vacation this year. We still went on vacation, but spent most of the week on the boat in the anchorage due to her limited mobility.
The new marina is well up river and very protected. The new marina cuts the distance to our favorite anchorage by 90%. The fuel savings and cost of lines alone practically eats up the increase slip fees for us. After a season on floating docks, I doubt we'll be able to go back to fixed docks again.
Shrew sounds like a wise decision for many reasons, easy of boarding (not getting any younger are we ;-)), better protection, fuel savings, and time saving to favorite spot (translates into more use). While I am in a boatel the launch area has floating finger piers and I agree boarding is so much easier.
Floating Dock
Linear Mode
