Need advice......Bummed
 

As some of you are aware, I am the new owner of a 2001 Baja OL 25. I bought the boat in KY with 84 hours on it. The boat is mint when it arrived last month. I live in the Boston are and I was going to use it both in fresh water and in salt.
Took the boat out for the first time a couple weeks ago in the Boston Harbor (saltwater) and it ran perfectly and my wife and kids loved it (more than I thought they would).
To make a long story short, we bought a slip at a marina since some of our friends are there and we just put the boat in the water to stay. The boat is there in saltwater and it looks like I am going to have to bottom paint. The boat has been in thre for a week and no growth on the bottom and of course I am anal about flushing and cleaning it whether i take it out or not.
I am not going to keep this boat for more than a couple years, maybe 3. What should I do? Bottom paint or take it out every couple weeks and power wash? I no longer have the trailer and it costs me 400.00 for everytime i have to take the boat out with the marinas lift. (very expensive here).
I sold the trailer when it arrived as it was a steel trailer and didnt want the trailer to touch any salt water.
So my question is, bottom paint or spend the 400 every month? Please give me some insight on what you guys think.
Thanks

PLEASE do not leave the boat sit in the water. The longest mine has ever sat in the water is 3 days. You will ruin the boat, if you bottom paint it knowone will want it.

Too late. :(
Paid 3500.00 for the slip for the summer.

Jeff, how will the boat be ruined? I see boats sitting there year after year and they look and run great. Is there something with the Bajas that are not made to sit in the water? I guess it is a moot point now, a little late. This sucks.

It has nothing to do with being a Baja. Any fiberglass hull will blister if it sits in the water constantly. Bottom painting protects against this. You just don't see very many performance boats that sit in the water. Therefore you don't see them bottom painted often. I would have invested the $3500 on indoor storage near the water.

Can you put a lift in to get it up out of the water?

You said you were only planning on keeping the boat a couple years, keep in mind if you paint the bottom of a performance boat you will KILL your resale value. I boat in salt water on the Chesapeake Bay and have my boat on a lift in the slip. Any chance your marina has lift slips or would allow you to install one ?

I can check on the lift in the slip. The marina has 500 boats and never saw a lift on any boats. I will check tomorrow on that. Regarding bottom painting, I agree on the resale value, how much will i lose? 20% of its value? More?

If you keep the slip get a lift. Is it covered? The boat will fade out real quick in the sun.

The boat is covered with the cockpit cover at all times when not in use. I have three coats of wax on it right now. I am checking on the lift tomorrow. If they allow a lift, what kind would you recommend? One of those inflatables?

I would get a full cover that covers the front and sides down to the chine. The graphics will fade fast if left out in the sun 24/7.

Me personally I'd have spent the $3500 on a used aluminum trailer...

There might be lots of boats left in slips...but I bet they are mainly cruisers where bottom paint is expected.

Being a 10 year old boat now, it's going to loose about 10% per year, maybe a little less but close. Bottom painting is going to cut the value 50% of that. Reason is so few people will buy a bottom painted go-fast that someone who buys it will be figuring in the cost and aggravation of having the bottom restored.......but most will just keep looking for a boat that has never been bottom painted. Basically you'll never sell it, at any price.

A floating lift would be ideal, I have no experience with any of them.


BTW: Painted boats will chalk up in a year, gelcoat will do it in 90 days of exposure.

Ditto.......

I do have a full boat cover, i can use that. I plan on buying a boat trailer, but the idea of docking it is for ease. I have 4 young kids and trailering it and offloading etc will just be a PITA. The wife likes the thought of hanging out at the marina and not having to worry about trailering etc.. Wait till we try to sell it, she just might be regretting it later!
Maybe now just thinking about bottom paint and then soda basting it in a couple years. I dont know. very frustrated at this point.

Are you at marina bay. they allow lifts. that would be the best money spent at this point. very easy to use keeps the boat high and dry. check around someone has to be selling a used one. I`m with you on the ease of coming and going with the kids pita to tailer then get everyone in and out. I`m on the charles river so mine gets a good flushing after I come in from the harbor. I wax mine every month no bottom paint and no blisters sits in the water all summer half time on the river other half at lake winnie nh. great sand bars in plymouth and barnsable harbor you should check them out if you dont mind the ride a hour or so after logan.

Jeez $3500 for a slip and $400 everytime for in/out???

Did you look into any dry rack storage places around you? You could use your slip on the weekends and have it put in the rack during the week. Although if a slip is that expensive I'd hate to think of what dry racking would cost around where you are....

Like everybody else said, if you bottom paint it you'll have to give it away when you want to get rid of it. For what it costs you to have the marina pull it I'd learn to SCUBA and just clean the bottom off that way.

302 Boss- I am at HIngham Shipyard, going to call them this morning. I would have no problem hiring a scuba diver to wash my hull, I would pay for that every couple weeks, dont mind doing that, but its the point of leaving it in the water for the summer. If I do scrub it say every 2-3 weeks, I am still concerned about the blistering of the hull. Hell I would pay the 400 a month for the next 4 months to power wash it and wax it. If i did do that, you think I would still have problems for the summer? I think next summer I will find another place or perhaps even go to a place that will allow a lift if my marina doesnt.
I am not concerned about the salt and the engine, I have a flush kit installed and spend an hour or more cleaning the engine and everything else on the boat with salt a way.
Guys, if I leave it in the water and pull it every 4 weeks, what do you think? This is if I cannot get a lift for my marina. The 1600 dollars I spend during the summer would still be considerable less when I want to sell the boat. Hell I would pay 2500 at this point.

Sell or sublease the slip on Craigslist; or sell it back to the marina at a loss. Sell it for $3000 or whatever you can get for it.

You have to keep that boat on a trailer. Performance boats are not meant to be kept in the water. You need to wash the salt off of the entire boat and flush it after each use. Period. You can get away with leaving them in fresh water for a week or so before you see growth, but you still need to keep the boat on a trailer.

4 kids and the desire to keep a boat in a slip.....sounds like you need a cruiser!!!! :)

Keep the boat in the slip for the summer. no reason to loose 3500. when the hull shows growth or needs cleaned, hop in the boat and take it into the shallows and clean the bottom with a brush , then take back to marina. avoids the 400 for lift service. then after summer store it inside or buy trailer.

You're definitely in a quandary. You do NOT want to bottom paint that boat - it will kill the performance and no one will want it, I can promise you that. Of course, leaving it in the water is no good either for a multitude of reasons. Blistering, marine growth and corrosion being the most immediate offenders. I get uncomfortable after a weekend in the water.

You're in Boston, so how long is the season really? 6 months maybe? I can't believe they charge 3500 bucks for that! Then add the monthly 400 buck lift and launch fee and you're talking serious money. That's nuts. Down here I can keep my 35 (37' LOA) Cig in high&dry for less than 400 bucks a month.

Either get a lift installed, buy a trailer or find a high&dry marina. I agree with the above, see if you can't sell it back to them or sublease it.

Thanks for all the comments guys, I appreciate it. I think as being a new boat owner (a baja one at that) I have learned my lesson. I am NOT going to bottom paint the boat. My marina does not allow lifts and will not issue a refund, so my plan is to pull it out every other week and power wash it. Not the best cost effective way, but it is what I have to do if I want to maintain this boat the right way. Marinas as expensive here. Since we wont be using the boat during the week, I will get it pulled every other monday and keep it out of the water during the week, so technically the boat will be in the water about 2 weeks out of the month and power washings and waxing in between that. Sucks, but that is what I need to do for now. Maybe things will change later, but I cant dwell on this too much longer, I am losing sleep! lol
Thanks for everyones input, I appreciate it very much!

I keep my boat here in florida baja 27, the marina charges me $200 a month high in dry covered and unlimited fork lift use. i could call and say put my boat in the water everyday all year long at no charge. plus when they pull it out they wash, flush it and cover it up.

Can you sublease the slip?

Cant Sublease space. Just talked with the marina and they are going to charge me 100.00 each time to pull the boat and power wash it and then put it back in. I think I may do this on a weekly basis. If they pulled it and stored it on blocks or a rack, it is 400.00.
Pacalim1965- I wish I could do that. Expensive here. 132.00 a foot to keep the boat in a slip.
The only thing that concerns me now is the blistering. What do you think? another 4 months in the water and taking it out weekly for a power wash, still get blistering?

Wow, and they want to charge to pull the boat once in awhile. I always thought the marina we used was expensive. We still have a buddy there with a Baja 290. For $2000, he gets indoor rack storage and unlimited ins and outs. They'll even set it in a workrack if you want to scrub the bottom or just work on it for the day.

Whats the boating like up in Boston?

Chrsbaja, i personally would not worry about blistering for only 4 months in the water. I would be more concerned with outdrive and zincs getting eatten up. i see boats here in florida getting pulled out for routine service after setting in the water all year long with no bottom paint and no blisters... I don't think you will need to pressure wash every two weeks. maybe once a month. whats wrong with taking it into 3 feet of water and cleaning the bottom yourself every few weeks? $132 per ft is insane, i pay 7.00 per ft for my 27 + tx.

Why not throw a coat of the new bottom paint on it that wears off with use?

I have had the boat in the water for a week tomorrow, Ia m checking on it tonight after work and see what kind of growth i have and the scumline. I guess I will just monitor it and see how often i need to pull it.
The prices here are crazy, but so is the real estate!
The boating up here is great, lots of great islands to explore, bars along the coast to visit and dock up to, so for the most part I love the boating in the Boston Harbor. This is the first year I have used a boat in the harbor, loving it and it is surely something that I will continue to enjoy. I installed a Garmin 740S Chartlplotter in the boat and it is incredible the ease of use and it is very accurate especially with the Vision 2 card for this area.
Anyways I guess once I take a look tonight and see what is going on, i will have an idea on how often i pull the boat. Regarding the zincs, just replaced them last week before the boat went in the water, they really didnt need replace, but did it anyways. The outdrive is another story. I will be scrubbing that and making sure I keep it as clean as possible.
I did install a flush kit in the boat and have only ran the boat on 3 seperate occasions last week and have flushed the motor with salt away one time and the other two times I used dishwasher soap (just a little).
Boomer: Not sure if I want to do that at all. When I decide to sell the boat I want to use the words " never been bottom painted", it seems that everyone looks for that when purchasing a baja or similar. I know I did when i was looking. Of course I also looked at "fresh water only", so that cant be used when I sell the boat. :mad:

Do ypou have a tow vehicle? If so would buy a trailer save the 100 a pull out plus the winter storage.Drop in on Friday night and pull out on Sunday and you will be fine.Thats if you have room at your house for it,if not boating gets very expensive.

Thats some bad advice. Unless you don't care about your boat....

Sounds like you are in a high rent district. Eat the $3500 because the value of your boat will drop in half after 4 months of salt water. Do what you want but dry storage or a lift with covered dock is the only way to go.

Also, I'm not sure how effective flushing it is when the boat is still sitting in the water. Even with a hose on it, seems like your lower unit is still picking up salt water. What does everyone else think?

"Your boat value will drop 50% after 4 months in salt water" That is the most rediculous comment that i have ever heard.....................Its not hydrochloric acid.. You must be a northerner to say something like that.

I checked the boat tonight and it doesnt even have a scum line on the hull. I realize everyone says to pull the boat etc, but talking to another boater tonight that has a formula 40ss, he has had his boat in the water for 3 years now, no bottom paint and he takes it out and has it power washed every three to four weeks and looking at it, it looks amazing. The boat is a 2003. Regarding flushing the boat while in salt water, if i have the valve closed and the drive is not picking up water and fresh water is going through the hose, it works. May not be 100%, but it is damn close.
I would love to just say screw it and pull the boat, but regular pulls, scrubbing and flushing, I don't think I am going to lose 50% of its value. I live about 20 minutes away from the marina, if I go by every day or two and hose it down, crub the sides and pull it every few weeks, I think I will be fine. I also spray the whole engine with WD-40.
If I decide to sell the boat at the end of the summer and lose 20% of its value, I will be happy. The engine has a total of 86 hours on the engine (496), (not a scratch on the boat) and even if I put another 30 or 40 hours this summer, I think buying the boat for less than 27K from someone that was going bankrupt and needed to sell the boat quickly, I still made out pretty well.

Get one of these. There are several around here and they work great. It is what I would do..
I'm sure the marina would allow one. I'd just tell them to piss off anyway after spending $3500.00 for a slip.

Please don't just leave it in the salt...
http://www.airdock.com

+1


mb.

OK, so we have about 10 people here post that they thought it was a bad idea. One person tells you no problem. I personally dont give a sh-t what you do. You are going to do what you want to do anyway. You purchace a boat without knowing anything about boating then plop down $3500 for a slip with no cover or lift. You do not own a trailor and most likley not a truck to pull it with. I just don't get it, good luck and enjoy your boat, maybe put some bottom paint on it, thats what all the sail boats do. :angry-smiley-038:

I went through this
 

I have 3 kids and with the marina lifting the boat in and out and constantly covering and waxing the boat got old for me. After 2 years I sold off the two speed boats I owned bought a Cobalt 282 bowrider and slapped on the bottom paint, we now go down to the marina and jump in and go! I will get back to performance boats when the kids get older and can help if they enjoy race boats or when I get a second house on the water with a lift in the yard. Good luck