I may be moving again!
Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 7:13 pm
Well, I may be moving the Lusty Slogger that is. I currently have the boat in Tavares Florida on Lake Harris. It's a nice lake and for me its large enough (about 8 miles end to end). The problem is its 55 miles from my house and that translate to about a 90 minute drive. I am the only sailboat at the marina and the only full time boat at all there. Its not really a marina as much as its a trailer park with a lot of dry storage. The channel the boat is in is about 200 yards long by 10 or 15 yards wide and subject to clogging by hydrilla that isn't cleared for most of the summer. Its one saving grace is its price, $80.00 a month compared to the several hundred at other marinas in the area.
I was not aware that Ocala was as close to the Gulf as it is. The city sells itself on its association with horse racing and the fact its "Central Florida" I found that we are only 26 miles from Crystal River and its outlet to to the Bay. I checked out a marina today that is almost 100 percent power boats but there was one spot at the end of the marina that could not be sold or wanted to be used. I make a deal with the Dock Master to rent that space for the same $80.00 per month. I have not moved yet nor have I officially said I would take the spot. I have a few issues with it. First, the depth runs about 5 feet. Now, the Lusty Slogger draws about 4.5 feet with the board down so that may not be a huge issue, depending on just how far that 5 ft depth extends. However, with a large fetch and only 5 feet of water I am familiar with short steep waves resulting from these conditions and they are no fun to sail in. Today when I was inspecting the marina the water was fairly flat and the winds were about 5 to 6 knots. The other issue I have is with the slip itself. Its just a slip, no electricity, no water. That's not a big issue since I wouldn't need to hook up to shore power although access to water to clean the boat would be nice. The other potential problem is it appeared I would have to tie the boat about 15 feet from the shore line. This would mean I would have to slog through mud and a few inches of water to get in and out of the boat, unless I misread where the boat would actually sit.
But again on the plus side, it opens to Kings Bay, its a fresh water marina (no barnacles to scrape) and its only 26 miles from my house.
If you check out the facebook page I have linked the area where you can see the smaller white boat is where I would be docked.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/petespier/p ... e_internal
I was not aware that Ocala was as close to the Gulf as it is. The city sells itself on its association with horse racing and the fact its "Central Florida" I found that we are only 26 miles from Crystal River and its outlet to to the Bay. I checked out a marina today that is almost 100 percent power boats but there was one spot at the end of the marina that could not be sold or wanted to be used. I make a deal with the Dock Master to rent that space for the same $80.00 per month. I have not moved yet nor have I officially said I would take the spot. I have a few issues with it. First, the depth runs about 5 feet. Now, the Lusty Slogger draws about 4.5 feet with the board down so that may not be a huge issue, depending on just how far that 5 ft depth extends. However, with a large fetch and only 5 feet of water I am familiar with short steep waves resulting from these conditions and they are no fun to sail in. Today when I was inspecting the marina the water was fairly flat and the winds were about 5 to 6 knots. The other issue I have is with the slip itself. Its just a slip, no electricity, no water. That's not a big issue since I wouldn't need to hook up to shore power although access to water to clean the boat would be nice. The other potential problem is it appeared I would have to tie the boat about 15 feet from the shore line. This would mean I would have to slog through mud and a few inches of water to get in and out of the boat, unless I misread where the boat would actually sit.
But again on the plus side, it opens to Kings Bay, its a fresh water marina (no barnacles to scrape) and its only 26 miles from my house.
If you check out the facebook page I have linked the area where you can see the smaller white boat is where I would be docked.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/petespier/p ... e_internal