I'm thinking of buying a medium sized (25-28') cuddy cabin at the end of the season for some family fun next year. Anyone here have an opinion good or bad on any of the marinas between the Navesink & the Metedeconk?
Who here is a boater?
- Thread starter RUJohnny99
- Start date
My thoughts after owning a small Boston Whaler that we used a trailer to go to the boat ramp in Rumson, and now owning a larger 21' Grady White Overnighter that we keep at a marina in Rumson.
There's a saying that the happiest days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it, and I agree with that.
My advice is that if you live near the water, get a smaller boat and trailer it to the boat ramp. The reasons are several.
1. Maybe I have gotten busier, but it seems I spend less time on my boat now that it is in the water and ready to go at the marina then when I trailered by boat to the ramp.
2. Leaving boat in water-- many more maintenance issues. You will have to power wash and paint the bottom of your boat every year. This will cost several hundred dollars each year.
3. Leaving boat in water at marina- people may go on your boat and take stuff.
4. Leaving boat in water at marina. Every time there is a storm or a moon tide, you will worry if your boat will be OK and if it will sink.
5. Boat on trailer--no worries about leaving it at marina, cleaning or painting the boat bottom. Less wear on the boat itself.
6. With that said-- the size of boat you are buying is not easily trailered, so if you are committed to a marina, be prepared to spend $120 to $190 per foot to dock the boat for the season.
7. That docking rate does not including dropping the boat in or hauling it out in the winter or any of the other related tasks such as cleaning it. Be prepared to spend $4500 to dock the boat, and at least $500-1000 to clean the bottom and paint it, plus another $500 or so to winterize the engine, and another $500 or so to launch the boat in the spring and haul the boat out in the winter. Winter storage is about $50/foot. Off the top of my head, that is $7,000-10,000 per year for docking, cleaning, hauling, launching etc for a 25-28' boat.
8. Figure out if you want your marina to be bare bones--just a dock, or do you want recreational aspects too--a pool, showers, clean bathrooms. A lot of people just like to have the dock, use the boat to fish, and don't care about a pool, etc., but there are a lot of people who want a fancy, schmancy (expensive) marina.
9. There are quite a few marinas where you can leave your boat on a rack, and they will launch it for you with a large fork truck. This is a good option because the boat stays clean and you don't need to worry about power washing and painting the bottom every year. If it is high up on a rack, nobody will go in your boat and take stuff out of it. However, you need to schedule and call in advance to launch your boat.
10. If you indicate where you are driving from, can help with specific locations and marinas. If you are coming from northern NJ, getting down to the Metedeconk will involve longer drives in summer traffic.
11. I spent a lot of time on the Manasquan River many years ago. Most of your marinas are in Brick, Brielle and Point Pleasant--longer drives.
12. I prefer marinas on the Navesink. Fair Haven Yacht Works is a nice marina. Run by a really good guy. There are some marinas further up the river in Red Bank, which has the benefit of great restaurants and downtown. My boat is in Barnacle Bill's marina (same place as restaurant). It is low frills, low key, low stress, no hassle, but no pool. People there are nice, and I have never had problems with anyone messing with my boat--but my boat is an old beater, and one of the ugliest in the marina.
13. Consider some of the marinas on the Shrewsbury River in Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. Some very nice ones with docks and racks. You can also consider those across from Sandy Hook in the Highlands.
Hope this helps, and hope I did not discourage you.
There's a saying that the happiest days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it, and I agree with that.
My advice is that if you live near the water, get a smaller boat and trailer it to the boat ramp. The reasons are several.
1. Maybe I have gotten busier, but it seems I spend less time on my boat now that it is in the water and ready to go at the marina then when I trailered by boat to the ramp.
2. Leaving boat in water-- many more maintenance issues. You will have to power wash and paint the bottom of your boat every year. This will cost several hundred dollars each year.
3. Leaving boat in water at marina- people may go on your boat and take stuff.
4. Leaving boat in water at marina. Every time there is a storm or a moon tide, you will worry if your boat will be OK and if it will sink.
5. Boat on trailer--no worries about leaving it at marina, cleaning or painting the boat bottom. Less wear on the boat itself.
6. With that said-- the size of boat you are buying is not easily trailered, so if you are committed to a marina, be prepared to spend $120 to $190 per foot to dock the boat for the season.
7. That docking rate does not including dropping the boat in or hauling it out in the winter or any of the other related tasks such as cleaning it. Be prepared to spend $4500 to dock the boat, and at least $500-1000 to clean the bottom and paint it, plus another $500 or so to winterize the engine, and another $500 or so to launch the boat in the spring and haul the boat out in the winter. Winter storage is about $50/foot. Off the top of my head, that is $7,000-10,000 per year for docking, cleaning, hauling, launching etc for a 25-28' boat.
8. Figure out if you want your marina to be bare bones--just a dock, or do you want recreational aspects too--a pool, showers, clean bathrooms. A lot of people just like to have the dock, use the boat to fish, and don't care about a pool, etc., but there are a lot of people who want a fancy, schmancy (expensive) marina.
9. There are quite a few marinas where you can leave your boat on a rack, and they will launch it for you with a large fork truck. This is a good option because the boat stays clean and you don't need to worry about power washing and painting the bottom every year. If it is high up on a rack, nobody will go in your boat and take stuff out of it. However, you need to schedule and call in advance to launch your boat.
10. If you indicate where you are driving from, can help with specific locations and marinas. If you are coming from northern NJ, getting down to the Metedeconk will involve longer drives in summer traffic.
11. I spent a lot of time on the Manasquan River many years ago. Most of your marinas are in Brick, Brielle and Point Pleasant--longer drives.
12. I prefer marinas on the Navesink. Fair Haven Yacht Works is a nice marina. Run by a really good guy. There are some marinas further up the river in Red Bank, which has the benefit of great restaurants and downtown. My boat is in Barnacle Bill's marina (same place as restaurant). It is low frills, low key, low stress, no hassle, but no pool. People there are nice, and I have never had problems with anyone messing with my boat--but my boat is an old beater, and one of the ugliest in the marina.
13. Consider some of the marinas on the Shrewsbury River in Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach. Some very nice ones with docks and racks. You can also consider those across from Sandy Hook in the Highlands.
Hope this helps, and hope I did not discourage you.
I'm selling my 21 ft center console. Great boat, low maintenance. just ran out of time with 2 boys playing sports all the time. In Middletown. Let me know if interested in the details.
I have been into boating for a number of years and have had slips at 4 different marinas in NJ. The best by far is Wehrlen Brothers Marina on Princeton Ave in Brick on the Metedeconk. Very little tidal change (less than a foot) and it is well protected as it up-river from the Bay.
Family loved it as the restrooms are always very clean, there is a great pool facility and a restaurant on the site..
http://www.wbmarina.com/
Family loved it as the restrooms are always very clean, there is a great pool facility and a restaurant on the site..
http://www.wbmarina.com/
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I diagram about buying and selling as the happiest days. Had my boat for 5 years now and am loving it all.
Maybe you should go on Knight Shift or RobertG's boat to see if you really want to own one.
Owning a boat can be a wonderful experience. Have had a 27 foot Monterey cruiser since 2004. Keep it at a marina on the Connecticut River.
But it is a very expensive sport. As one of the posters said, you can expect to have to spend between $7K and $10K per year for maintenance, storage, docking,spring preparation and winterizing and fuel. If you go on ten excursions a summer, that averages to about $1000 per excursion.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a smaller boat that was suitable for a trailer and saved a lot of $$$$.
But it is a very expensive sport. As one of the posters said, you can expect to have to spend between $7K and $10K per year for maintenance, storage, docking,spring preparation and winterizing and fuel. If you go on ten excursions a summer, that averages to about $1000 per excursion.
If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a smaller boat that was suitable for a trailer and saved a lot of $$$$.
So what's the Honda Accord of 25' boats these days? Way back in my power boating days it was probably one of the smaller Sea Rays. Yeah, they're all great. Until one of those big Mercs decides to grenade itself and you discover that it's 20-30k to replace it.
Yamaha outboards are the way to go.
While I may have sounded like an unhappy owner, my old beater boat is pretty cheap. Go through 1-2 tanks of gas per year. Docking, haul out and drop in run about $3500 per year. I want to unload my boat and move to a center console 17-19' that I can launch with a trailer. Ramp is less than 0.5 miles from my house.
I'm more of a stick-boater, myself. I had lots of power boat experience when I was much younger because all of my relatives in Florida had boats. I learned to sail about 25 years ago and haven't really looked back from that.
To me, zipping back and forth in any given runabout gets boring after an hour. I wouldn't mind owning something for serious fishing but that sort of thing is outrageously expensive. A bunch of friends of mine in Sayreville have boats in the 30-35' sedan/convertible category and they're forever talking about how much money they spend on maintenance - all for boats that have fuel economy measured in gallons per mile.
I have a 20' Hurricane Sundeck that I keep at the narina a few 100 yards from my house. We go down there all them time and take it out for a spin, drop anchor on the Shrewsbury or Navesink and float around, or pull the kids around on a tube. Sometime we just go down to the dock and sit on the boat and have a drink. Sometime we have dock parties with the other people docked near us.
As for maintenance, it's no different than a Car, other than the gas, which is slightly more expensive. I paint the bottom myself once a year. And do some maintenance on the engine. I cover the boat in the winter, fog the engine. Then in the spring clean it up check out the engine, paint the bottom and in the river it goes. $1600 per year for docking $600 for winter storage, $89 for a can of bottom paint. and $3.49 a gallon.
On Saturday we took it out and saw my first incident of River Rage between two 40 foot yachts. One guy decided to pass another guy in the channel under full power, nearly swamping my boat as we were anchored outside the channel. Then when in front of the other boat the guy reversed his engines and came to a dead stop causing the other guy to reverse his engines to stop. Not a simple task in a million $ boat. Both boats then proceeded on and head north into the ratian bay probably toward NYC. Friggin bennies.
Pontoon baby - living room on the water. Only way to go unless you want to fish.
I second Wehrlen Brothers Marina. I kept my Catalina 30 ' sailboat there from 2000 to 2007. A very good marina run by nice people. The only one drawback is that you can't easily get out to the ocean. I didn't mind because I just tooled around in the bay. If you do want to take your cruiser out for ocean fishing you'd be better off in the Manasquan river.
Thanks guys. I'm aware of the costs & pros/cons of trailer vs slip. My father had a 20 ft fishing boat when I was a kid & the whole trailer process was a PITA. I'm in western Monmouth, roughly 35-45 minutes from the Red Bank, Belmar, & Brick marinas. Sandy Hook & Toms River are a bit far.
My wife's family had a boat on the Navesink & she's looking at a marina as a sort of country club with a pool & family activities & a place she can "work from home". So far Irwin & Manasquan River Club fit that bill, but Irwin is a good hour or so to open water. I'll have to check out Werhlen Brothers. They don't show up on marina websites.
Does anyone have any experience with Shark River slips? That would probably be the most convenient but the actual boating area seems pretty small compared to others.
My wife's family had a boat on the Navesink & she's looking at a marina as a sort of country club with a pool & family activities & a place she can "work from home". So far Irwin & Manasquan River Club fit that bill, but Irwin is a good hour or so to open water. I'll have to check out Werhlen Brothers. They don't show up on marina websites.
Does anyone have any experience with Shark River slips? That would probably be the most convenient but the actual boating area seems pretty small compared to others.
Look at Channel Club in Monmouth Beach. Its expensive but has a lot of amenities. Has a pool, restaurant, tiki bar and you can walk to the beach. You can also walk into town with a pizza place, chinese place, ice cream shop, small supermarket and a dive bar. There is a fuel dock and pumpout there as well. Short drive to Sea Bright and Pier Village in Long Branch with a lot of restaurants/bars to choose from. A number of dock and dine places are located on Shrewsbury/Navesink.
I would avoid Shark River. Shark River needs to be dredged. There are very few marina options, and very little open water on the Shark River. Channel Club in Monmouth Beach is a solid recommendation, but based on your comments, may be too far.
Someone made comment on Wehrlen Brothers and getting out to the Ocean. This is a good point. One advantage of the Manasquan River, is ease of getting out to the Ocean. Also, there is Treasure Island (Osborn Island) in the Manasquan River--it's a great place to anchor and hang out with other boaters. Check out Crystal Point in Pt Pleasant and Clarks Landing in Point Pleasant. Also check out Manasquan River Club Marina in Brick.
You said Irwin was a good hour to open water. I don't agree with that. There is a lot of open water in the Navesink in Rumson and Fair Haven. Fair Haven Yacht works gets you closer to open water. A lot of boaters anchor in a cove near Hartshorne Woods and hang for the day, like Treasure Island on the Manasquan River. There is also quite the gathering scene at Spermecetti Cove on Sandy Hook.
There are lots of marinas in the northern Barnegat Bay. The Metedeconk, Kettle Creek, or Silver Bay are all good locations with lots of options from more formal to less expensive working marinas. There are more easy access "family" destination south of the Pt. Pleasant Canal than on the Manasquan River. Remember, going through the canal in a small boat under 26' is a long unpleasant experience, especially with heavy boat traffic. South of the canal you have F-Cove, Silver Bay/Cattus Island Cove, Tices Shoal, Barngat Light, etc.. In addition to the marinas mentioned above on Princeton Ave. there are Kettle Creek Marina, Cody Marina on Fischer Blvd., Johnson Bros. in Bay Head/Pt. Pleasant. If you want more formal setting there are the Bay Head Yacht Club or Mantaloking Yacht Club. Some, like Johnson Bros. have a pool and shower facilities so you can clean up before heading to the boardwalk in Pt. or Seaside or out to dinner.
Knight Shift, what size/kind of Whaler did you have before your current Grady White? My brothers and I own a 25ft Wellcraft Center Console, which is great for fishing, but not ideal for mooring, trailering, or tubing/skiing, etc. I'm in the market for a smaller beat around center console, preferably a 17ft Whaler Montauk or something along those lines.
The owners of Irwin's marina, Channing & Christine are both huge Rutgers supporters & attend all home & many away games...great people.
For those of you looking for Rutgers flags for your boat, motorcycle or golf cart,here they are---http://www.collegeflagsandbanners.com/rutgers_scarlet_knights_flag_324_ctg.html
My cousin must be pretty close to the excursion record cost for boats under 35 Ft. He owned a 32 ft. Scarab. Purchased the boat had it for a year and used it 3 times. Had 3 engines and one of them needed to be replaced, so after that and all the other expenses, insurance, fuel, maintenance it cost $33,000. I felt very fortunate to be one of the people who went on one of his 3 rides for $11000 each!
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I thought you were referring to Nimbers. Who would want to rent a football forum weather man? ❄️☔️
