Need permanent marina suggestions - Lwr Ches Bay

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brodgers

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I am relocating my family from Atlanta, GA to Richmond, VA and will be moving my 36' Doral with me. We have loved having it up on a large lake that is only 45 minutes from our house, but are looking forward to keeping it on the Chesapeake Bay and getting some "big water" experience.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a Marina where I can keep my boat? I'd like it to be relatively close to Richmond, VA. Because we aren't going to be right around the corner, I would prefer one of the nicer marina's where they might be more inclined to keep an eye on her. A covered slip would also be a huge plus.

Just looking at a map, it seems like the Gloucester/Severn River/Ware River area would work, but I don't know of any marinas there. While we would like to be able to get out on the bay, most of our boating time is spent gunk-holing on the weekends.

Thank you in advance for your advice!!!

Brad
 
KiDa should be able to help you, as he is down that way.
 
Don't overlook the Deltaville area marinas. A lot of Richmond area boaters call that home, and the drive in that direction can avoid some of the messy I64 traffic closer to Williamsburg-Hampton-Va Beach. I'm at Norview Marina(804-776-6463)and believe it's worth a close look. Don't know about what they might have available in the dockage you want, but they have open and covered slips as well as boatel racks.
 
We always stay at York River Yacht Haven when we boat in the area. It has great amenities, a really fine restaurant as well as a crab deck, and it has covered slips, if you can get one. Its also fairly close to Williamsburg and the amusement park at Busch Gardens. You can go upriver on the York to the Pamunkey River and go gunkholing or visit the indian reservation or if you are more adventurous, go out into the Chesapeake Bay proper and find all sorts of places to visit in a few hours ride like Salt Ponds Marina, Hampton City Dock or Norfolk/Portsmouth.

Jim
 
One thing to look at is the local personal property taxes on boats. Hampton and some other jurisdictions do not charge personal property taxes on boats but that may change. A lot of the other counties charge an annual personal property tax on boats. Middlesex county charges taxes on boats kept in Deltaville. Check the local tax rate before deciding on where to base your boat. It could be as much as $1.25 per $100 of value.
 
Ianbuilder - Good point on the taxes. That can add up pretty quick. I wouldn't mind being in Hampton except I haven't found any covered slips there.

Jimmiere - I spoke with the YRYH and they don't have any slips right now. However, they did say that moer become available at the end of each month. They seemed pretty pricey though. For a 45' uncovered slip, they want $1027 per month. Is that about on par with the rest of the area?
 
They are definitely a premium marina, and they know it. Is that a short term monthly rate or the annual rate divided by the number of months you think you will be boating? Seems high either way, though.
 
That was the annual rate they quoted me... I talked to another marina up there that wanted about $300 per month. Now, it's probably not as nice, but it is a pretty significant price difference.
 
If you have the time and the inclination, I would get a few marina names and drive around to check them out. I think it boils down to a decision on whether you will always be out on the boat and never using the facilities at the marina vs. sometimes you just like to stay at the marina, swim in the pool and let the kids run around. I would say that 1/3 of the time we overnight at our marina, swim in the pool, eat in the restaurant, frequent the tiki bar and hang out with our dock buddies. I will have to see where fuel fits into the equation this year, probably less overnight/long trips and more close to home/short cruises.
 
Holden On - I spoke with Norview and they do have a slip available. It's on their A dock. Since you "live" there, can you give me any insight into whether that's a "good" dock to be on?

Jimmiere - In a perfect world, I would drive every marina within a large radius and go check them out. However, I am a little constrained in that I am having to do this from 500 miles away. I suspect I'll narrow it down to 3 or 4 and then go check those out. So far, Norview and YRYH are the only two I have on my list...
 
There are both covered and open slips on A dock, all having easy access in and out. I don't know the habits of many of those on A, but it always seems clean, neat, etc. I would not classify it as a "party dock" yet very congenial. One side faces away from the main marina area and gets what water traffic there is going in and out of the boatel docks. The fuel dock is on the very end of A past the open slips so I would imagine there is more foot traffic than on the other docks. I will be there this weekend -- let me give it "once over" and report back in better detail.
 
For what it's worth, after my last reply, I "Googled" Norview for curiosity. The picture that posted is old, but A Dock is the upper red roof that shows -- one can see the section of covered slips on the right, with the open slips to the left.
 
Don't know if you are still contiplating where to locate your boat, but the "open" slip at Norview seems to be in an OK spot on "A" dock. It is on the right side of the dock if you looked at the picture on the web site. Let me say again, with some bias, that Norview is a grand marina with accomodating personnel. It's not a yacht club, but is clean, cordial, and convenient from both land and water.
 
Holden - I'm not looking for a Yacht Club, so Norview may work out well. Are there nice areas (coves, beaches, restaurants, etc.) to go within a short run (by boat) from there?
 
There is no restaurant right at Norview, but there are several good eating places in the Deltaville/Urbanna/Kilmarnick/Irvington areas. We normally go by car since most are not right on the water fronts. Not sure what your "short run" is, but boats routinely make runs to Va. Beach,the Eastern Shore, Tangier Island for day excursions. Yes, as was posted earlier,the restaurant at York River Yacht Haven is good and about a 1 hour run. There are numerous coves, etc up the Rappahannock for anchoring. We are not great campers so I usually dock when we overnight away from Norview.

Hope you will have the opportunity during the season to "explore" Norview for yourself. Doug Respass or Wes Hunley at Norview are straight "advisors" if you want to check more detailed curiosities. As open as I've tried to answer your questions, I realize that each has his own opinion. I love my Regal; my friend loves his Sea Ray!
 
I keep my boat at Southall in the salt ponds in hampton. http://www.southallmarina.com a 36 foot boat would run a litle over $180 a mounth and you won't have to pay boat tax (this year anyway) no covered slips though. I would not enjoy my boat as much if it was in a covered slip
 
Prowler - I'm intrigued by your comment about not enjoying your boat as much in a covered slip. Please explain. I've always had a covered slip on the lake, so that's what I'm used to. If there's something "better" out there, I want to hear about it! I have assumed that a covered slip would be better for the boat - less UV, less weather, etc.
 
I had a chance last week to drive by and visit about 6 marinas on the lower and mid Ches bay. Holden On - I did make it to Norview Marina and was impressed with the place. I think we could be happy there. I also saw the Doziers Regatta Point in Deltaville. I thought that was a very nice place too - and they have slips available. Prowler - I went by Southall Marina and they don't have any slips right now. The other marina I really liked was the York River Yacht Haven. No doubt, they have figured out how to do it right and might be worth the extra $$$.

I think I have it narrowed down to either Dozier's in Deltaville or YRYH. They are both nice, but different. I equate Dozier's and Deltaville to the outer banks. More of a "pure" water town. YRYH is more like Hilton Head. A resort first, and a beach town second.

After seeing the marinas, here are my lingering questions:
1) How important is hurricane haul out service? YRYH has a policy where, for a named storm warning, they try and contact you once and if they can't get you the default action is to haul your boat. At Dozier's, I'd have to contract with Norview Marina (or one of the other yards) to do my haul out and I suspect I would come right after Norview Marina boats.

2) Does Deltaville have restaurants and shops in town? I'm thinking more for the Admiral here. She likes the idea of YRYH's crab shack onsite. Is there something similar in Deltaville where, within a short drive, we could pick up steamed crabs, shrimp, etc and bring them back to the boat to eat?

3) Covered slip or uncovered? I had been leaning towards covered, but I am wavering. I like the idea of being on a floating pier vs a fixed pier and both Dozier's and YRYH have fixed piers for their covered slips. I have a 2 year old and 2 golden retrievers to get on board and I suspect it will help to have the pier be about the same height as the swim platform. I've got full canvas on my boat, so the cockpit would be covered and provide a shade area for the little one.

4) Travel time from Richmond seems to be about the same on paper. The trip to YRYH is more on the interstate, which has pluses and minuses. The average speed to Deltaville will be slower, but the drive is more scenic.

5) The cruising grounds seem to be fairly comparable. From YRYH it looks to be a little easier to get into Mobjack bay. But from Dozier's it seems like you have a better river to play on if the bay is choppy. One thing I did like was that the YRYH seems to be the starting point for a number of organized group trips. When I was there they were talking about a group that was heading out of YRYH to go to Maine. I suspect anyone could join them, but if you didn't have a slip at YRYH, I'm not sure how you'd hear about it.

Thoughts? What else am I missing in my analysis?

Thanks.
 
For anyone who is keeping track, I made a decision... We are going to try the York River Yacht Haven for a year. If it works great, if not, we'll keep on searching. I took a covered slip, although I did ask to be put on the waiting list for an open slip.
 
I'm curious as to why you didn't pick somewhere closer to home such as Jordan Point in Hopewell?
 
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