wet slip vs high and dry

[seminolewind]

Hi, I'm a new boat owner, keeping my boat at a marina, which an hour notice they put my boat in the water ready to go. They also have a few slips.
Any deciding factors I should think of? I go out about 2x a week or so.

[Rick McC.]

Mine stays in the water at my dock year-round.

If I was paying a marina for storage; I'd take the dry storage, hands down.

My son keeps his tri-toon in dry storage at a local marina year round, and it's always ready when they get there. If things are backed up when they get back, he just parks it at the dock, and leaves the keys in the ignition. When they get to it; they take it out, wash it down, and put it away in his inside berth, ready for next time.

[MH Hawker]

mine is wet that's all that's offered and i am fine with it

[mpilot]

We have a slip in our neighborhood marina and the price is right. If we were to move and need to slip the boat and price was comparable I'd probably dry slip it most of the year. When the enclosure is on it I would probably leave it in if I had to take that off every time to fit in the rack. We use our boat 3+ days a week in the summer. I know a couple of the marinas here will let you leave it in the water if you are going to use it a couple of days in a row.

[Bamaman]

Be aware that if you dry store the boat, at one point the marina's huge forklift is going to damage your boat--perhaps seriously. Aluminum bends and dents very easily vs. fiberglass.

Pontoons need a rack under them that the forklift picks up that puts under your boat before it's lifted out of the water. It looks like a trailer without a tongue, wheels and fenders. And the chances are it's got to be fabricated at a cost of $1500-$2000 I would think.

Wouldn't trust a marina do dry dock my boat without them. Don't think they'd want to be liable for any damages in your boat either.

[zoom650]

My old center console was rack 'n stacked in a hurricane barn for over 10 years. Great for theft, storm and sun protection. But, here's a rub. The large fork lifts, likely diesel, emit black exhaust that settles on your boat. The lifts ran all the time, so that's lots of exhaust.

So, our boat required two washes per use. The first to get the black soot (that settled everywhere) off, then the second to wash the salt and fish.

So, check and see if that's a problem with your inside storage.

[TDJ2591]

I keep mine in dry dock all year. It's so nice to call ahead as I'm driving to the lake and have the boat gassed up and waiting for me in the water when I arrive. It's not much more costly than wet storage.

The other commentators are correct. I have had damage from the forklifts, which pick up directly from the bottom of the boat. Once, they significantly bent a large wave shield under the boat and next to the transom, which they repaired after months of promises. They said "It won't affect your performance" to which I replied "let me put a big dent in your car and see how you like it. After all, it won't affect your performance." There have been scratches on the toons and the black diesel soot and dirt on my beige seats is a problem toward the end of the season.

Another big advantage of dry docking is that my interior is protected from the sun, the elements and the critters. It still looks like new. At the end of the season we give it a good cleaning and put the cover on it.

[Soonertoon]

Our slip has a lift. Its an old J model Hydra Hoist that cost me whopping 1800.00 AND it was already mounted in the slip. Best investment I have made . Everything stays a helluva lot cleaner and in good order. Trust me when I say I am a bit of a stickler on keeping my stuff up and nice. Spring cleanup is cut in half or more as a result
If you have the ability to do a lift Id recommend it highly. No need for a new one. You can buy em used for less than 2500 all day along . New hoses , maybe new bunk boards and a 65.00 pump is about it in terms of things to replace.

Just food for thought

[Bryden24shp]

I saw a lot of damaged pontoons at the dry slip last summer when I was picking up the demo to test. I was asked by the dealer to look at the SHP transoms to see if it could be designed differently to eliminate lifting damage. The wave shields are getting creamed by the forklifts. The manager told me he gets complaints every season, with all brands, but mostly the SHP's, there are only a few inches they can actually get there forks into. And he was right. They are very tight. But, then again, he told me there are a lot of just plain stupid mistakes that happen. Most the forks are adjustable, some of the real heavy duty are fixed and just can't be used effectively. But from the number of punctured end caps I saw, way too much is just simply stupidity. Enough to say that its not the manufacturers design, its the marina's operators neglect to watch what they are doing. And when I talked to the factory about it, they called some other dealers that operate dry stacks and were told the SHP design causes no problems.
I guess I would say, that if you have access to a wet slip, will they let you install your own lift? If you are going to own the boat for a long time, it may be cheaper in the long run to have a lift installed, over dry docking. The dry stack concept is very appealing, but judging from the number of messed up boats in the racks, not just pontoons, but runabouts and cruiser's. I wouldn't let them hoist my boat, up and down, taking a chance at damaging it, every time I wanted to use it.

[moregooder]

I am in 9 months out of the year. we have a full top so putting the boat away at the end of the week end is no big thing. even if I was trailing the boat something would happen. no expensive dock lift and certainly no fork lift damage and I don't need to clean them dam logs any more because I paint below the water line
I will add that for me a perfected situation would be a covered wet slip but with the wind in Nebraska that's not likely to happen.

[seminolewind]

They sell mostly pontoons.
I understand what you're saying about damage. My boat still gets dirty on that high storage.

I guess I may ask for a wet slip. The only thing consistently in the water would be a painted bottom.