Protest Exorbitant Slip Rate Increases at California Yacht Marinas!

[Jeff Asbury]

Protest Exorbitant Slip Rate Increases at California Yacht Marinas!

I came home last night to find the following letter in my mail box. My current slip fees are $243.00 plus electric. They were roughly based on a rate of $8.50 per foot from when I first secured my slip back in 2002. Can they do this? Is there no rent control in San Pedro like there is at Shore Line Marina in Long Beach. This seem outrageous. Did any one else at California Yacht Marinas get such a big rate Increase. I thought the rates were high to begin with, but this is ridiculous!:eek:

Please read the following.


"There will be an adjustment in slip fees effective April 1, 2006. Commencing on April 1, 2006 your new slip fee is $285.00.

We recognize that your slip fee increase is considerable. For several years, your berthing fee was based on 27 lineal feet even though the slip you occupy is 30 feet. Your new slip fee is now consistent with all other customers at Cabrillo Marina where the slip fee is based on length of slip or vessel, whichever is greater. However, the per foot rate applied is at the lower rate for 27 foot vessels instead of the higher 30 foot rate. Your newly adjusted slip fee is 20 % less than those customers in similar size slips since April of 2005."

Sincerely

Cabrillo Marina

Office Manager

 

[Martin King]

Chill out

$243 per month is a bargain. I'm paying about $100 more than that
at Alamitos for a similar sized slip and they jack the rent every year!
My old slip in Newport Beach now rents for $800 with no parking or
facilities. Not only can they jack the rent, they will....count on it.

Martin

 

[Meanolddad]

Makes me appreciate my slip even more.

Hey Jeff
I am just around the Coast Guard base from you and I am currently paying $200.00 per month for an E-30+. The docks and landscaping are not as nice as where you are. The people are great and everyone seems to get along. I have met a couple of refugees from the Shoreline Marina upgrade that seem happier where I am. It seems that if your boat does not meet the new standards that come along with the new docks at Shoreline you get the boot. It seems that most marinas are now looking only for newer nicer boats that are more pleasing to the eye. I have a co-worker that has a Cal 25 in Ventura that is paying 300.00+ per month with empty slips all around him that cannot get a permanent berth. The woman in the marina office told his wife unofficially that they do not want older boats in the Marina anymore and they would not be getting a slip. Seems the Marina does not want anyone working on boats in the marina, so they only want newer boats that do not need as much maintenance. Funny though, all boats need work otherwise they turn very quickly into floating wrecks.

My contract is up so I will find out next month if the price will be going up.

When do you want to go out and take pictures under sail? I will be at the marina tomorrow working on the cooling system.
Greg

 

[HGSail]

Greg,

What marina does your friend keep his boat in Ventura. I am in Ventura West Marina and there are plenty of older boats. Some that have been there for awhile and some that have just come in within the last 6mos. I have been here with this boat for about ten years and have seen it go from a trailer park on water to a nicely well kept marina. Yes our rent has gone up quite a bit in the last few years, But al least I don't have somebody next to me that lets his dog crap all over the top of his cabin and the dock and never pick it up, Or his friends flicking their beer bottle caps into my cockpit anymore

Pat
E29
#224
Holy Guacamole

 

[Meanolddad]

Pat
I will ask him the next time I see him. They bought the boat and assumed they would be able to get a slip. All they have gotten is a runaround from the marina management. He has gotten to the point that he may just sell the boat and buy a couple of Dirt bikes.
Greg

 

[HGSail]

Greg,

It almost sounds like he's at Ventura Isle Marina across the harbor. They are famous for their card keys. They keep track of how many times you go in and out of the gate. If you do to many times they will tell you that you are living aboard. After all the stoies that I've heard about them I would never berth my boat there, They are slip Nazis. When you look across the channel, You don't many people at V.I.M. But at Ventura West Marina you see people everywhere. They have big pot lock parties(tri tip and beer provided by the marina) at various times of the year. We also have a 50% live aboard rate.
The best part is that we still use hard keys, Not card keys. John and Faye Huff are the best managers I have ever dealt with. I'm going to be keeping my boat here for quite a while I think.
As far as the age of the boat, A old wood sailboat just moved in just a couple of slips down from me a few weeks ago. My nieghbor just bouhgt a Triton 29 and is restoring it as we speak Althogh both these boats are in exellent condition they are old. I think as long as the boat is in decent condition they would take them.

Pat
E29
#224
Holy Guacamole

 

[wanderer]

i thank my lucky stars that i'm priviledged enuf to keep my boat at the largest navy owned marina in the world, down here in san diego.
it makes me sick with the marine industry. you say you have a boat and everyone thinks you're thurston howell! (not that i'm biased against folks that are!)
i'm paying less than jeff is and am quite grateful. i've friends in local civilian owned marinas paying twice what i'm paying.

 

[Jeff Asbury]

Martin,

I guess you may have missed the part of my post that said they had increased it from $243 to $285 per month. That's about 20% more per month. A increase of $504 per year. I am trying to chill out but that really hurts. No more of this using the boat once a month in the winter. I was out both days last weekend. Damm, if I am not going to get what I am paying for. I really don't understand why they get so much for slips in Newport and Alamitos, I would much rather be in Pedro. Lots of wind all the time in Hurricane Gulch and a lot closer to Catalina. I am staying put until they jack it up to $400 a month, then I will sell the house and put the boat on a truck and move to British Columbia!

Grrrrrrrrrr!!

 

[wanderer]

Martin,

I guess you may have missed the part of my post that said they had increased it from $243 to $285 per month. That's about 20% more per month. A increase of $504 per year. I am trying to chill out but that really hurts. No more of this using the boat once a month in the winter. I was out both days last weekend. Damm, if I am not going to get what I am paying for. I really don't understand why they get so much for slips in Newport and Alamitos, I would much rather be in Pedro. Lots of wind all the time in Hurricane Gulch and a lot closer to Catalina. I am staying put until they jack it up to $400 a month, then I will sell the house and put the boat on a truck and move to British Columbia!

Grrrrrrrrrr!!

british columbia? forget "grrrrr" bring out the "BRRRRRRR"!

been thinking of a nice quite marina in southern MEXICO myself

 

[tramp]

As long as the marinas can jack the fees, they will do so. I am in Dana Point and my rates continually go up every other year. I have been in the marina 20 years and still think it is one of the nicest in Southern Ca. For my E34, I am up to $557 per month. It is realy starting to make most of us think, "is it worth it".

 

[Martin King]

Jeff,
I did miss the part where they are now dinging your wallet to the
tune of $285.I feel your pain, believe me. Long Beach and Alamitos
raise the slip rates every year and I'm not particularly happy about it.
Still way cheaper than Newport Beach where the slip fees are now
upwards of $25/ft. At least we have boats for now. Any way you
cut it, ownership is expensive and ya gotta pay to play.

Best,
Martin

 

[Lew Decker]

I pay $460 a month for my E39B in Mission Bay. It is a terrific slip and only a short putt-putt out the channel to the open sea so I can't complain...But...I think I might have to wind down my yachting career. The slip rent is eating me alive and I may be starting a business soon that will put my income in the "starvation" category for awhile. It will kill me to sell out, but there may be no other alternatives. Fortunately, there is no pressure. I'm only in the thinking stage .

 

[NGB]

Folks,
We may not like it, but it is simple supply and demand. The supply of desirable berths is limited and the demand is high. So, if enough of you bail out and move to BC or Mexico, my slip fees should go down.

 

[windjunkee]

Haven't heard from anyone in Redondo Beach, so I'll put in my story. We're in at Port Royal Marina and haven't had our rent jacked up since we bought the boat last february. Nevertheless, with electricity thrown in, we're right at $400 for a 32' slip and theres a waiting list for the marina. Its expensive, but then, its close to home AND ... the patio entrance to the Cheesecake Factory is five feet from the dock.

Jim McCone
Voice Of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134

 

[maggie-k]

Hey Jeff and NGB ,I got a laugh about your idea of shipping your boat to British Columbia for cheaper moorage. I pay 10.03 a foot winter rates and 12.03 in the summer for my E-29. I heard the larger marinas are up to 14.50 a foot plus anywhere from 150-185 live aboard fee each month plus electricity charges.
You have it pretty good we are getting totaly screwed in British Columbia. Our rates have gone up due to the surge of people coming here looking for lower rates.

 

[Jeff Asbury]

I thought I read some where that rates in Bellingham, WA, (close to BC) were less than $5.00 per foot. My brother in law only pays $6.50 a foot in Olympia, WA. Why so much in BC? Nice cruising grounds I guess. OK, I will change my comment to Alaska if I have to. My Father left his 25 foot Bayfield up there for a whole year and only paid $150 for the year. That was in 1994.

OK, I'm reluctantly Happy Now!

Jeff

 

[maggie-k]

HI Jeff . Our rates are high due to supply and demand. The marinas are 60-70 full of US registered boats ( almost all Powerboats ) So there is little room for the rest of us. Most moved here when the rates were low and the canadian $ was 65 cents US. That's changed And now we have some of the most expensive moorage on the north pacific seaboard. There are way better deals in Washington and Alaska. I'm all for a boycot of British Columbia marinas untill they stop gouging the boaters they claim to serve.
Eric

 

[Jeff Asbury]

Understood Eric, I feel your pain.

I really miss cruising in your area. I grew up cruising Puget Sound, Vancouver Island and the San Juan's with my family on a Islander 33 back in the 60's & 70's. For my money the Pacific Northwest has some of the best cruising in the world. I have also enjoyed sailing in south eastern Alaska. Tongas National Forest / Misty Fiords, was like sailing through Yosemite filled with water! Where exactly do you live?