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"Steve" wrote:

The recent post about cost of moorings or slips got me to thinking back a
few years.

The first yacht club I belonged to in the early '60 was $30 mo. membership
and $.25/ft/mo. for slip rent, in San Diego.

Then I get to think about the most practical and least expensive marina and
that would have to be in Middletown RI, the old Stone Bridge Marina..
Nothing fancy, in fact, just the bare essentials.. A long fixed dock
extending out several hundred yards into deep water.. Adjacent to the dock
were pilings about 30-40ft off and spaced every 16 or so feet. No floating
docks. You just backed into your slip, dropping the bow lines over either
piling. Continue backing until you could pass your stern lines to the dock
(always someone there to help out). BTW, if the adjacent boat already had
his line on the piling, you slipped your line through his eye and then over
the piling.

To get on and off you pulled your boats stern into the dock and climbed a
wooden ladder.. Much the same as you would if your were Med-Moored.

Did you have no one who came in bow in? If we go stern in, we either
have to duck under or climb over the dinghy on the davits.

Our boat was docked by the PO stern to but he had the dinghy on deck.
He got off by walking across the swim ladder which was on the stern.

I fell in once by backing off the end of the dock, and I could not get
up the dock ladder because it had only one rung, and the rung was over
my head by about a foot from the water at low tide. The lower rungs
had been rotted away from water immersion.

For that reason, we always have our swim ladder partly down so it can
be pulled all the way down if someone is in the water.

Yes, we had water and electric but now shore side head or shower and you had
to search out a place to park on the public street..

Except for a mooring field and dingy dock, I think this is the most
efficient form of marina.. Cost of building and maintaining it is minimal.
Plus this type of mooring is the easiest on the boat.. No dock along side
saves potential damage since the boat is held off everything by the
centenary of the lines. Each boater leaves a couple fenders over in case
someone has trouble getting into his slip.

Cost, in 1972 dollars, was $35/mo for a 35ft slip.

The obvious draw is the boat access. That vertical ladder that was sometimes
wet and slimy at low tide and at extreme low tide, might have barnacles on
it.. Well that's the price you payed for a very secure and practical
mooring.

I would like to suggest that this arrangement is only for the fit and
dedicated boater.. Ladies in skirts and high heals and those who can't climb
a slippery ladder should probably stay at home.

Ladies who are wearing high heels probably shouldn't be on the boat at
all. Skirts are not prohibited as long as they aren't too tight and
the person behind/below you is someone that is a SO or other person
that you don't mind seeing stuff that's normally hidden from view.

Didn't the slime on the ladder get the deck dirty?

Ahh! for the good ole days. The simple life and simple boats.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions


grandma Rosalie