Henry Boyd
Well-Known Member
- Apr 24, 2007
- 6,014
- Boat Info
- ‘09 Sabre 38 Hardtop Express “Serenity”
- Engines
- Volvo D6 w/IPS450 Pods
We have our own neighborhood dock and used to keep our 280 on its mooring behind the house. When we first moved in all our neighbors were roughly the same age and neighborhood social events revolved around the dock in the summer. The local yacht club is like most of the yacht clubs north of Boston, all moorings. So besides the so so restaurant, the only things the yacht club offered of value were parking, and a launch service. For us it really wasn’t worth the effort and expense. The interesting thing is that many of our boating friends belong to the yacht club, and yet we hardly ever socialized at the yacht club. Not that guests were ostracized, or discouraged, but that everyone always seemed to end up at our dock, and usually later at one of our houses than the yacht club after boating.
For a variety of reasons, but mainly because the river where we moored filled in to the point it was too shallow for most of the tide cycle, we moved to a marina. We ended up with a group of great dock neighbors and find we keep in touch in the off season. The slip is more expensive than the mooring, but we would never go back to a mooring. As for having our own dock, we like the bump it gives our property values, but it is becoming more of a headache then it’s worth with increasing environmental requirements and sadly the envious attitude of the “I can’t have a dock, so why should you” folks.
So I guess the value of a yacht club is what you get out of it. It does not make economic sense, but nothing about pleasure boating makes economic sense. Our experience is that belonging to a yacht club is not necessary to enjoy boating and finding all of the benefits of club membership can be duplicated.
For a variety of reasons, but mainly because the river where we moored filled in to the point it was too shallow for most of the tide cycle, we moved to a marina. We ended up with a group of great dock neighbors and find we keep in touch in the off season. The slip is more expensive than the mooring, but we would never go back to a mooring. As for having our own dock, we like the bump it gives our property values, but it is becoming more of a headache then it’s worth with increasing environmental requirements and sadly the envious attitude of the “I can’t have a dock, so why should you” folks.
So I guess the value of a yacht club is what you get out of it. It does not make economic sense, but nothing about pleasure boating makes economic sense. Our experience is that belonging to a yacht club is not necessary to enjoy boating and finding all of the benefits of club membership can be duplicated.
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