Marina Hopping

Felicity in South Carolina

After the second marina we stopped hat handed us a killer goodie bag we had this conversation;

Daughter: "I love being a power boater, we get all this stuff!"

Mom: "Honey, we would get the same treatment if we were on a sailboat honey, we just never stay in marinas!"

It was not our choice to stay in marinas along the way it just sort of had to happen. Currently, the boat has an electric stove,  an electric refrigerator,  an electric hot water heater, electric heaters and no inverter and the generator is not functioning.  Basically, the boat works real well at a dock and monthly that might not be too shabby but as a transient; dockage is pricey! I'm sure we could have just ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and slept like 3 pigs in a blanket all cuddled up to try to keep warm but that just doesn't sound like much fun. The whole process of buying this boat was about having a little bit more of the comforts! We do not like cold weather and in North & South Carolina, Georgia and even into Florida temperatures were in the 40's a night so we were eager to plug in the heaters. The seller of Felicity has his mechanic coming by to fix the generator.(Fingers crossed) Then we won't have to marina hop anymore!

Our plan is to add in inverter, replace to stove with a propane powered one, as well as replace the water heater for a heat exchanger/120VAC. Then after we've run the engine all day the batteries will be fully charged, the inverter can run the fridge and because the engine ran the water heater is full of hot water and the stove will run on propane. We will be much more self sufficient and can anchor out and not have to spend soo much money on marinas! We can save it for solar panels & diesel fuel!

Not to say we have hated the marina experience, but we are not really into spending $100 a night just plug in. There is no way we can use $100 worth of electricity in one night. Now that we have stayed at a handful of marinas this trip we have experience all types of customer service experiences. Some marinas have a dock hand that will catch the bow line and hook up the electric cord and then shake your hand to say, " Welcome to ..." That feels good! Again we also love the little goodie bags and maps of the area and we have been joking for years that we wanted to find a marina with a courtesy car. Well, we found one, even though we didn't use it, it really felt good to get to the back country communities that trust people enough to let them drive a car!

Boating has it perks but we really gotta get back to making money instead of spending it! That's why they say:
B - Break
O - Out
A - Another
T - Thousand!

Ouch!