Looking to Liveaboard San Francisco Bay

[SayGudday]

Gudday!

First time poster, and inexperienced sailor so you try to be gentle and I'll try not to ask too many dumb questions! I'm buying a boat that's in a Marina in San Rafael and was planning to live aboard her. Unfortunately she's a small lass at only 28 feet and that is too small for most of the marina's I've called to allow live aboards. Does anyone know of a place (preferably cheap!) close by that allows you to live aboard a wee little boat like mine?

Much thanks in advance.

[joeording]

Loch Lomond is one marina that takes liveaboards that might not have a length requirement. It's close to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. I think the liveaboard length requirement at Berkeley Marina is only 26 feet, so you could try to get in there. I think their waitlist is rather long, so you might have to sneakaboard for a while and try to ingratiate yourself with the harbormaster. Oyster Cove and Glen Cove are in the south bay, and I don't think they have a length requirement. You might also try San Leandro.

What boat are you buying?

[SayGudday]

Gudday Joeording and thanks for the advice. Loch Lomond i actually where my gal is berthed right now and their min. length for liveaboards is 32 feet. I'm pretty sure that's some kind of discrimination I'll try Berkeley and san leandro. Oyster is booked out for some time apparently.

Buying a pearson triton 28. She's old and used (aren't we all?) but she's still a fine gal.

[Fstbttms]

Berkeley allows liveaboards as small as 24' but there is a wait list.

[jhorsager]

Not that I'm advocating it -- but the liveaboard population in Seattle contains a high percentage of sneakaboards. Some do it because the slip fees are higher for liveaboards, and some do it because of liveaboard wait lists. It's a relatively easy thing to do if you can live with the guilt and don't call a lot of attention to yourself.

My guess is the length limits have nothing to do with anything but keeping the lowlifes out -- the people that are otherwise sleeping in a van down by the river. It seems biased for that very reason (not that there isn't some grain of truth in it). The Marinas don't want to become trailer parks or their high rent clients (and sailing, hell boating in general, has many high rent clients) will rebel.

Many marinas allow up to a 4 night stay weekly without being considered a liveaboard. If you're on the water or cruise to other anchorages this is doable.

Anyway, I'm not from the bay area, but I do know that if you're willing to go a little guerilla the possibilities really start to open up.

And don't worry about dumb questions. I've known more than a few liveaboards who couldn't get their boat out on the water if someone paid them. Generally they buy some
piece of crap they plan to fix up and "sail around the world" one day, but the whole thing often devolves into nothing more than a barely floating condo -- and there the project stays -- often for years. My point being that liveaboards aren't necessarily sailors, even if the boat they live on happens to be a sailboat.

Jeff

[joeording]

True, the length requirements and things are to keep the riff raff out of the marinas. If you walk around the Berkeley Marina, you can pretty easily identify the "liveaboard ghetto" - huge garden shed 'dock boxes' that are obviously crammed to the gills, all sorts of random crap on the docks, boats with astroturf on the decks and tarps covering them to prevent rainwater from sinking them.

One alternative that you might consider is, as jhorsager said, many marinas allow you to stay 3-4 nights a week on your boat without a liveaboard permit. Since you'll pay ~200 or so extra to liveaboard anyway, why not just get a second slip and sail back and forth? That's what my girlfriend and I are about to do at the end of the month, until we can get official liveaboard status at Clipper. It's a little easier for us, since we have two boats...

The Triton is a handsome boat, and Pearsons are well built. We just bought a '71 Islander 30 MkII, isn't it exciting getting a new boat?

[sailingdog]

Another, less expensive option would be to get a slip and a mooring. The moorings are generally far less expensive than slips and as long as you're good with being on a mooring a couple nights a week... you'd save some money, maybe enough to make up the difference between a live-aboard slip and the normal slip.

Originally Posted by joeording

True, the length requirements and things are to keep the riff raff out of the marinas. If you walk around the Berkeley Marina, you can pretty easily identify the "liveaboard ghetto" - huge garden shed 'dock boxes' that are obviously crammed to the gills, all sorts of random crap on the docks, boats with astroturf on the decks and tarps covering them to prevent rainwater from sinking them.

One alternative that you might consider is, as jhorsager said, many marinas allow you to stay 3-4 nights a week on your boat without a liveaboard permit. Since you'll pay ~200 or so extra to liveaboard anyway, why not just get a second slip and sail back and forth? That's what my girlfriend and I are about to do at the end of the month, until we can get official liveaboard status at Clipper. It's a little easier for us, since we have two boats...

The Triton is a handsome boat, and Pearsons are well built. We just bought a '71 Islander 30 MkII, isn't it exciting getting a new boat?

[Fstbttms]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Another, less expensive option would be to get a slip and a mooring.

Except there are no mooring fields in San Francisco Bay.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Fstbttms

Except there are no mooring fields in San Francisco Bay.

Oh...that sucks... Just curious, why not.

[Fstbttms]

Couldn't say. That's just the way it is. Some regulatory thing, I'm sure. That being said, there are areas where illegal anchor-outs seem to be tolerated. Richardson Bay, for one. There are a few that seem to come and go on the Estuary, as well.