How Much Does it Cost to Have a Sailboat in Georgia?

When planning my trip from Rhode Island down the ICW to the Bahamas, I knew I didn’t want to come all the way back north in one year. I wanted the option to return to the Bahamas or cruise Florida for a second winter. So, I planned to haul and store my boat on land for hurricane season along the ICW. We will call this Plan A. Like so many things with sailing, that didn’t exactly go to plan. When I was just a couple of hours from the boatyard where I’d been planning to go for several months, I learned they didn’t have space for me.  I didn’t have a backup plan, but I did have a flight in a few days. Here are my lessons learned and a range of costs and considerations.

Boatyard communication challenges. I tried and failed to make arrangements for my 32-ft. catamaran. In December, I contacted a boatyard in Georgia to arrange a haul out and to store my boat starting in May. Communication with this boatyard got confusing. In December I was told: 1) They expected to have room for me but couldn’t take a reservation and 2) I should contact them in the spring to make arrangements. That is what I did. Starting in March I emailed and called and called and emailed, and I did not receive a confirmation that they had space for me for weeks and weeks. I repeatedly asked in my messages what they needed from me and got no response.

I’ve experienced other boatyards in the past that didn’t communicate well over the phone or email, but were fine boatyards once I arrived. So, I left the Bahamas a little nervous that I hadn’t heard back from them, and I continued north up the Florida section of the ICW towards this boatyard. The day I was supposed to arrive at the boatyard—having traveled more than 500 miles to get there, I got an email saying they didn’t have room for me and they never “got my paperwork.” This was the most frustrating moment of my entire trip and made me question my choice to pursue part-time cruising

As usual, my schedule was getting the best of me. I was single-handed and now had a flight in a week to my next set of non-sailing commitments, and I had nowhere to leave my boat. This is one of the challenges of part-time cruising, sometimes solo. I anchored at the next anchorage in very northern Florida to breathe, eat lunch and make some phone calls to try to make a new plan. On to Plan B. There were several considerations for me, and for you, if you hope to store your boat for hurricane season in this region.

INSURANCE

Insurance may limit where you can leave your boat and remain insured. My insurance, for example, required me to be out of Florida by June 1. So, my search for a place to leave the boat started at the Georgia border. I was willing to go as far north as Beaufort, South Carolina, where I considered a long-term slip, but I knew I didn’t have enough time to get from where I was in northern Florida to Savannah or Beaufort and settle the boat before my flight a few days later.  So I focused my efforts in the southern section of the Georgia ICW.

In late April, Thunderbolt Marina in Savannah, GA did have space for me in dry storage. They are also a full-service marina, and that is not my first choice. I especially like to do my own work on my motors because it makes me better at fixing them when they break in remote places.  I got a quote for them for storage, but I decided I couldn’t reasonably make it there in the time I had.

I could have changed my flight to expand my geographical options, but I was also more-than-ready for a break from the boat after four months on board. One of the things I have learned from cruising in the last year, is that I am a very happy part-time coastal cruiser, but I benefit from boat breaks. I decided to keep the scheduled flight out and try to find a solution in the available time I had.

HOW BIG IS YOUR BOAT?

A mast height over 65 ft. will limit your options on the ICW, and multihulls with wide beams (over 16 ft. or so) will also have more limited options for haulouts and slips. The Boat Galley ICW guide is an excellent resource for the bridge heights and haul out options along the ICW. In general, the bigger the boat, the fewer the options. This is one of the many reasons I love having a smaller boat on the ICW. Since many fees vary by the size of the vessel, bigger is also more expensive. The table here compares three options for dry storage in Georgia.

DO YOU WANT TO DO YOUR OWN BOAT WORK?

Some places allow people to work on their own boats, some allow owners to do some things on their boats, and others are full-service and want you to hire them to do any work. At any boatyard, a budget-conscious cruiser should investigate labor rates and whether you can do your own work. I have generally used boat yards that allow me to do my own work, but have professionals available when I need them.

WET OR DRY STORAGE?

I did both, and this was more costly than if I’d just left my boat on the hard the whole time, as I originally planned. I spent about three months in wet storage on a dock. My plan B turned out to be on the face dock for $19 per foot per month at Jekyll Harbor Marina on Jekyll Island—or $608 per month for my 32-ft. catamaran for three months. Electricity is additional, but I didn’t need electricity. My unplanned visit to Jekyll Island turned out to be one of the top delights of the ICW (link to piece about ICW delights).

When I reported my boat’s location to my insurance, which I had to do because the marina wanted to be named on the policy, my insurance raised my premium mid-year because my boat was not out of the water as originally planned. When I protested this, they sent me a cancellation notice, and I begrudgingly paid the extra premium ($386) before they canceled my insurance. Interestingly, in my upcoming renewal my rates are now slightly lower than they were when my boat was mostly in Rhode Island.

Unfortunately, Jekyll Harbor Marina didn’t have space for me for the whole hurricane season, so I had to take an extra unplanned trip from California back to Georgia to move the boat in July. This was more money—extra plane tickets, a couple nights in hotels by airports, Lyft rides, and more). It was more than $1000 of travel in total, and I vastly preferred Georgia weather when I passed through in May and January over the sweltering heat and humidity in July.

I found another wet slip in Beaufort, South Carolina at Lady’s Island Marina for a monthly rate of $17.50 per foot ($560 per month for my boat) and planned to move my boat from Jekyll Harbor Marina about 150 miles north along the ICW to Beaufort. This was Plan C, but it didn’t last long.

While on the way back to Georgia, I got off the waitlist at Brunswick Landing Marina for a storage space on the hard. Who needs plan C when you can have plan D? Plan D vastly simplified my trip. It was also serendipitous because when I returned to my boat, both my motors were malfunctioning for different reasons. Both problems were repairs I am capable of making myself with the right supplies, but I didn’t have all the right supplies, and I also didn’t have enough time that week to fix the motors, move the boat 150 miles and then pack her away again before my next flight. The pesky schedule again. Will I ever learn? Since I only needed to go eight miles to my haul out in Brunswick, I decided to call for my first tow.

Selected Georgia Boatyards with Haul Out Capacity for a Cruising Sailboat

COST OF A TOW

Thanks to my Boat US policy, the cost of my tow was just the tip I gave the towboat driver ($20). I already paid for Boat US membership which included towing the eight miles from Jekyll Island Marina to Brunswick Landing Marina, and I highly recommend membership with Boat US or SeaTow if you plan to spend time in the ICW. I was able to schedule my tow at a specific time a few days in advance and time it with a favorable tides and my appointment for a haul out in Brunswick.It was one of those rare moments when a sailboat and a schedule cooperated.  Granted, it required a tow boat!

TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS

When considering where to store my boat, I discovered some places are much closer to airports and other options for transportation.  Some places are much more expensive or inconvenient to travel to and from than others. There are major airports in Jacksonville, Florida and Savannah, Georgia. I’ve now taken some expensive car rides to them (generally $100-$150).

If you do plan to do some of your own work, it is worth considering if you can stay on your boat while you do it. Most of the boat yards I considered in Georgia do not allow customers to live aboard their boats while in storage on land. St Mary’s Boat Services is the exception and charges $10 per night for liveaboard. That beats a cheap hotel or AirBnb by a lot.

OTHER COSTS

When I am away from my boat for a while, I pay someone to check on my boat periodically.  Rates for this vary. I generally pay about $25 each time someone visits my boat for a few minutes. I do this at least once per month—sometimes more often if there is a storm. The fees are more if I need them to do anything. The boatyard at Brunswick Landing Marina provides this service, and the Jekyll Island Errand Girl (https://atyourservicejekyllerrandgirl.com/) provided this service in Jekyll Harbor Marina.

MAKE RESERVATIONS IN ADVANCE

Book in advance, if you can. Get on waitlists if you encounter them because sometimes the waitlists do produce a needed spot. The inexpensive DIY spot that could have saved me hundreds or thousands of dollars was not available, despite my best efforts.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I plan for my 32-ft. catamaran to cost at least $1000 per month when it is sitting still, and I am not using it in this region. This only includes the cost I am paying for storage or at a dock (often around $600-plus per month), my insurance premium for that month ($200-$250), paying people to check on the boat and other miscellaneous costs. This doesn’t include any maintenance or upgrades, which can add up quickly on a 20-plus-year-old boat. I spend at least $5000 per year on upgrades, and sometimes more. So, I think of my boat as $1500 per month expense—and this is a boat I own outright without a loan. It’s not a bad deal if I live on it for half the year. Currently I make this work by living the other half of the year in my RV in an almost free (to me) campground where I volunteer. This balance of part time cruising and RV life in the mountains serves me well, but there are challenges to owning a boat thousands of miles away.

I don’t recommend the path I took shifting from plan A to plan D, but looking back, I’m not sure I could have avoided the frustrating and costly aspects of my situation either. Sometimes traveling by sailboat is costly and frustrating. Other times it is blissful. I prefer blissful, but I’m convinced I have to pay for some bliss with money and frustration.