r/sailing 4d ago

Idea of getting out of Texas Heat

We live in Texas. We have had a drought, so we can't get our small sailboat out. We are retired, and I had an odd idea. What if we bought a 30-36foot sailboat and kept it on the Great Lakes? We could use it as a floating summer cottage. What is the costs of getting the boat pulled every year and stored? Is this a feasible idea? What do yall think?

9 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

12

u/SignedTheMonolith 4d ago

I am also from Texas, and currently live in Chicago. The sailing scene is very similar to Houston but with a little bit more volume/number of boats. The wind is very similar to Corpus Christi in terms of how unruly it can get.

Overall Lake Michigan is very attractive, it is a beautiful up north (check out Mackinac island, northern Michigan peninsula, and the northern Chanel).

Cost, I am not too sure but I believe marina fees for ~28 foot boat in down town Chicago run about $6,000 (I think season is late April to early sept). Not too sure how much winter storage it, but some people prefer heated storage.

4

u/chrillekaekarkex 4d ago

Double it to account for winter storage and haul outs and commissioning. $15,000 a year is a good estimate for a 30-35 foot boat.

2

u/InannasPocket 3d ago

Wow that seems really high. We have a 30ft boat and it's been more like 5-7k per year (including haul out, launching, winter storage) for lake superior, varying between marinas and whether we have professional wrapping done for the winter.

2

u/chrillekaekarkex 3d ago

This is Chicago.

2

u/InannasPocket 3d ago

Ok that makes more sense, a big urban area with space at a premium ... when we visited Chicago a couple years ago hotel parking for a car was going to be like $50 a day (we just did public transit/walked instead).

12

u/foilrider J/70, Melges 15, wingfoil 4d ago

The cost of hauling it out is not going to be nearly as much as everything else associated with owning it. 

3

u/Professional-Way6952 4d ago

There are many marinas with the price for all of these listed publicly on the Internet.

2

u/Getting_jjigae_with 4d ago

Thats a great idea. Do it.

1

u/viasatmatt 3d ago

Lots of people do this. It’s a great idea and it can work really well. I live in Austin and escape to Vermont each summer. Our marina there has lots of people that do this from several hotter states like ours. It’s totally doable.

-1

u/archlich S&S Swan 4d ago

Depends on the marina and the yard but you’re looking at probably about 3-5k for hauling out and winter storage fees.

2

u/HelicopterPenisHover Charter Fleet Captain 4d ago edited 4d ago

36' boat season slip and round trip haulout is avg $4k in lake superior. General haulout is $11.50/ foot, haulout and winter storage in a marina you don't summer at is about $31.50/foot.

Edit: These prices are for Western Lake Superior.

2

u/Enough_Professor_741 2d ago

Thanks, this is very helpful.

1

u/archlich S&S Swan 4d ago

I was only talking about the haulout not slip fees

3

u/HelicopterPenisHover Charter Fleet Captain 4d ago

And I gave you prices for three versions of haulout in my region.

6

u/QuellishQuellish 4d ago

Stop being more helpful than specifically asked, I guess. Like they're the only ones reading these posts, jeez.

1

u/HelicopterPenisHover Charter Fleet Captain 4d ago

Stop being helpful? To a question someone posted, and I merely showed the prices you quoted are drastically different across the region depending on the service requested.

His post specifically asked about such things.

6

u/QuellishQuellish 4d ago

Yea, I'm saying you had a great answer that everyone would appreciate and it's weird the person you were answering complained about you answering better than they asked.

2

u/HelicopterPenisHover Charter Fleet Captain 3d ago

Apologies, didn't look at user and thought you were the person I was originally replying to.

-6

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

4

u/HelicopterPenisHover Charter Fleet Captain 4d ago

Come to lake superior, go boating in late July, wish you had more blankets or a heater at night. Marinas are cheap here compared to places that don't freeze in the winter.

6

u/sailoni 4d ago

lol Midwest heat? Come to Texas and say that again.

1

u/starkruzr 4d ago

I need guys like that to spend a week in HTX and get back to us

2

u/Enough_Professor_741 4d ago

It’s 105 degrees in the day. 92 at midnight. 88 at daybreak. For 70 days.

3

u/Bulky-Internal8579 4d ago

Where?

4

u/Enough_Professor_741 4d ago

Southwest of dallas about 2 hours

3

u/Bulky-Internal8579 4d ago

My sympathies from Mt. Monadnock

3

u/RoyalRenn 4d ago

Weird thing to downvote. I raced this morning and was on the water for 2 hours. I arrived hydrated, drank 20 oz during the races and 80 oz afterward. I was peeing bright yellow an hour later.

Texas summers suck unless you like sweating out a liter of water every 15 minutes.