BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - Advice needed on storing boat in Florida

Vic Smith

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:32:55 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 17:49:33 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:

Does fouling occur when the boat is used daily?
Yes but not as much as when it sits. You can get barnicles starting in
a few days of sitting. Other fouling and corrosion is an ongoing
process.

Can an anti-fouling coat be applied to a fiberglass boat like a CS,
and is it worth the cost? How is such a hull normally kept well
maintained in Florida?
On a similar note, assuming the security is equal, is it worth paying
twice the storage cost to keep a boat inside, or will a good quality
cover protect it well enough from wind/rain/sun?

My next step is to call my State Farm insurance agent and see if they
will insure a boat used and stored in Florida. I have a home and 4
cars insured with them in Illinois, but that might not matter.
Find out if they cover windstorm and flooding. That will be the thing
they want to avoid.

Will do.

If you really plan on getting out in the Gulf bigger is better. If you
are poking around in the back bays the 16 will be fine. Skiffs are not
really that good in rough water. In a nasty blow, that can come up
very fast, they can get pretty squirrely. I know some guys who flipped
a 23' Carolina Skiff.

I plan on back bay and Charlotte harbor fishing. I don't see getting
out in the Gulf, though depending on the boat I end up with a perfect
day might draw me out there a bit.
I'm wanting a bigger boat for comfort and fishing flexibility more
than anything else. There will be occasions when I'll fish with 3
others.

Boaters here in paradise have to be a weatherman among other skills.
If you stayed home every day the TV said there was going to be a
thunderstorm you won't get out much. The trick is seeing WHO is
getting the storm and knowing if you can avoid it. If you are going
very far from the dock, plan on a few places in different directions
where you can go wait it out. Sometime all you have to do is sit down
in a dockside resturant, have a burger and the storm will be gone.
That is a lot better than a knuckle biting ride, with 50' visibility
with lightning popping all around you

Good advice. I'm a safety freak, and will be asking for advice on
that score when/if I get to that point.
Still remember the time I helped a workmate sail his 34' sloop from
Michigan to Chicago. It was Memorial day weekend and the wind
was dead against us and strong the entire trip. Cold as hell and
the chop was so bad you couldn't sleep in the berths without tying
yourself down. I had traveled the same waters many times in tankers
during a merchant marine stint, but always in comfort.
So I go up to take the helm at midnight and see no running lights. I
asked Stu "Why no lights?" and he says,
"Saving the battery." I says "You won't need a battery for the ship
to shore if we get run down by a tanker or ore boat."
He says "I don't have a ship to shore." Typical Scotsman.
Sort of spoiled the rest of the trip for me.

--Vic