Shortage of slips

[maxcontax]

Same goes in British Columbia. Marinas are tough to run profitably and they are not adding dock space. My personal beef is the number of boats, often quite derelict, that have not been off the dock for years. Get rid of those boats and all of a sudden there''s lots of moorage

[PaulBl]

There are a lot of differences around the country. Here in in southern VA rates run about $2 / ft a month and I know many marinas with empty slips.

Places like California and New England will never have enough slips and I would expect rates to rise with no end in sight. The ability to build them is small and the desire for them is high.

There is also a general problem with the ability for a marina to make a profit just from boat slips. The taxes and debt load don''t usually make an attractive deal without condos and other high margin business. Starting new is difficult. the cost of the real estate is prohibitive.

One other afctor in slips is beam. Boats carry more beam than they used to and many boats that fit by length don''t fit by beam. My slip is somewhat like that. I fit fine for length but don''t really have extra room in the beam. The newer 40 - 50 ft boats have even more of a problem. Add to that the exact same thing is going in with power boats and it''s no wonder larger sailboats have a problem.