The complete houseboat marina guide with services, facilities, and amenities.

The houseboat marina guide will help you to see how they come in all shapes, sizes, and prices depending on the docks, services, facilities, and amenities offered. Picking the right one is an important decision since you could be there for quite some time.



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Common Houseboat Marina Questions?

When it comes to selecting a marina, you have to take a moment and try to fully understand your boating needs? You'll find some basic questions below that you should ask ALL THE MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY before searching for that perfect marina.

* Are you family oriented and enjoy going swimming and have BBQ's in a secluded bay nearby?

* Do you like to navigate long distances and explore all the waterways that the country offers?

* Do you prefer to stay around the marina and use your houseboat as a floating weekend cottage?

* Would you prefer to have quick access to your boat for some frequent suppers or sunsets?

* Do you not mind traveling a few hours to get to your secluded hideaway marina location?

* Do you want to use your boat as a short term (30 day) home / office to get away from the city?

* As you can see, these questions really help you understand your boating needs.

Some Basic Marina Information:

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Dock & Slip Fees

The dock slip fees are generally based on the length of your boat, multiplied by a fixed fee for full service dockage (ex: water, electricity), or a reduced fixed fee for limited or minimal dock services (ex: no water, no electricity)

Dock fees can range from @ $1,000-10,000 a year depending on the marina location, available marina services, and the overall vessel length. Some marinas will include other services in their "dock fees" like haul-outs, winter storage, or regular maintenance items.

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Slip & Dock Sizes

When it comes to slip sizes, there are marinas that cater to smaller houseboats such as 25-40 feet, and some cater to mid-sized houseboats such as 40-75 feet, and there are some well-equiped marinas that can handle all sizes, especially the large luxury houseboats ranging from 75-110 feet.

Small houseboats like 25-40 feet generally have a beam width of 8-12 feet, and mid-sized 40-75 foot houseboats generally have a beam width of 12-16 feet, and the large luxury 75-110 foot houseboats have a beam width ranging from 16-20 feet wide.

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Marina Services

Many larger well-equipped marinas offer additional services like laundry, groceries, ship-store, pump-outs, propane, boat washing, transient docks, family games and activities.

Many of the marinas are full service facilities when it comes to houseboat maintenance items like engine, drive, electrical, bimini canvas, electrical, mechanical, waxing/compound, and structural repairs.

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Covered Slips

When it comes to covered slips, there is a 50-50 opinion on them. They can provide excellent protection from the elements like rain, snow, sun.

They say that a covered slip can prolonged the life of a boat by five fold, and you can really see the effects of the sun on a uncovered vessels finish.

There are some drawbacks to covered slips as often there can be some birds or spiders who take up residency under the rafters (droppings).

Depending on your location and boating season, a covered slip will reduce the amount of daytime sunlight therefore lowering the warm sunny temperatures.

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Activities for Kids

Many marinas are equipped with facilities to keeps kids entertained with games like horseshoes, sandbag throwing games, recreation rooms, swing/slide parks, and ping-pong & billiard style rooms.

If you are a parent of young or teenaged children, it is nice to know that they can stay on site, still be safe, and have activities to keep them entertained.

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Lakes vs Rivers

If you are a long distance traveller, than a river marina location maybe a better choice and provide access to for example Great Loop travels.

If you are on a land-locked lake, than your likely to have limited access to other larger bodies of water. One advantage is that lakes tend to offer many great bays for weekend anchorages.

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Launching & Haul-Out

If you are transporting or having a large boat shipped to another location, you should verify if your chosen marina, or another marina nearby can launch your houseboat.

If you should require some underwater work or repairs, can your marina handle to haul-out your boat with a traditional hydraulic trailer, or with a travel lift.

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Winter Storage

Depending on where you do your houseboating, you may be required to "winterize your boat", or physically haul it out for winter strorage. Many marinas that offer winter storage often offer shrink-wrap options to cover and protect your boat from the winter elements.

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Repair Services

Many marinas are full-service when it comes to boat maintenance and emergency repairs. They generally have a service repair shop, or they have access to many mobile marine mechanics that provide on-call repair work.

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Fuel & Pump Out

One of the basic needs as a boater has to be the need for fuel and septic pump-outs. If your marina doesn't have these facilities, you will likely have to travel to another location to get fuel and empty your waste tanks.

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Site Security

In todays society, it is preferable to have some type of basic site security. Some marinas have installed a key punch style gate to limit or control access to the marina property.

Other marinas have a security gate with magnetic access cards to allow members full access anytime throughout the day. Visitors can simply contact the front-desk via telephone or intercom.

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Short-Term Living

Many states and countries have various rules and regulations regarding living aboard. There are many marinas that welcome short term liveaboards, so if you want to spend like 30 days at at time on your boat, than a marina is a beautiful and pleasant place to spend your days... :)

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Laundry & Groceries

Depending on the style or size of houseboat, you may have a onboard washer and dryer. If you don't than having access to groceries and laundry facilities, than a trip into town maybe necessary.

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Internet & Cellular access

With todays technological advances, there are many folks that need and require access to the internet and cellular phone signals in order to work or stay connected with family.

Generally speaking, many marinas are supplying cabled internet, or wireless internet (wifi) access for free or a small monthly fee. As to the cellular reception at a specific marina, possibly your telephone carrier can help you improve your cellular signal strength.

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