Spicy

I did it last year and Loved it... Took my 39 Cigarette down for Christmas Break for 10 days, came home New Years Day left it in Lauderdale at a friends house on a lift behind his house. It really broke up the winter, It would be going back down again if it wasn't in a hundred pieces!!! My goal is to have it all back together and down for the week of the Miami Show and do the Poker Run to Islamorada the following weekend and leave it there for 2 months afterwards.
I would fly down at 2;30 Friday afternoon flight be in Lauderdale for Happy Hour and catch the first direct flight out Monday Morning, be at office by 9-10AM depending on flight I grabbed. I went down 7 times last year by May 1 when I went down to bring it home for the summer...
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Here are a couple pixs from various weekends, these are from Miami, Lauderdale, Sandbar in Haulover to the sandbar in Islamorada!!! [ATTACH=CONFIG]513743[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]513744[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]513745[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]513748[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]513749[/ATTACH]!!!

Pat

Sydwayz

I've left mine down there for a couple winters. You just have to make time for cleaning and maintenance; or pay someone you trust to make sure they do it as well as you would.

Such goes for the trailer too. If there is one stereotype I can make about the Florida boating market; it's that trailers are viewed as tools and not vehicles. Obviously not everyone falls into this category, but it is a reality. You have to take care of both in similar fashions.

boating37

If you ever want to keep your boat in the Tampa/St Pete area, I rent a warehouse to keep my boat in, and I have 4 other guys who rent space in it for $300 a month so we can keep our boats clean and safe.

Excess

I leave my boat in Florida and fly down about once a month for 4-6 days on average.

314joey

The East and West Coast have different boating, you should try them both out and see what fits you and your families boating needs, both are tons better than your boat and you sitting at home watching it snow.

You need to be far enough South to get into the nice warm stuff, JMO

Thanks for admitting that the winter weather up North sucks, I've gotten beaten up about it, how is it, if a few can't enjoy Florida they like to bash it, seems funny huh, come try it once and you'll stay.

sy goldberg

BLUE OCTANE MARINE in Oakland Park is a safe place to store your boat in Florida for the winter.I have a lot of my clients using that facility.

precisiondetails

Ortho- the Pacific Ocean is cold, that's it! Lol

richanton

I kept the boat in Ft Lauderdale three winters in a row before I moved here full time. It's a no-brainer. Yes, the West Coast of FL is nice but I'm sorry if you are coming for the weekend once in a while you don't want to be on the West Coast, you want to be on the East Coast. Logistically, Ft. Lauderdale makes the most sense.

-The airport is small, easy in easy out, they have cheap flights and it is close to EVERYTHING. You can literally be at your boat in 20 minutes.

-Lots of great hotel choices that are reasonably priced, again close to the airport and your boat as well as beaches and nightlife.

-There is a ton of amazing boating from Ft. Lauderdale- Want to head down to Miami? No problem, just head out Port Everglades south to Haulover inlet 15 minutes and now you are in Biscayne Bay. You can either chill at the Haulover sandbar tie-up (every weekend) or from there you can go to South Beach Marina, Monty's in Coconut Grove, Bayside, cruise up the Miami River, the restaurants at Key Biscayne, Key Biscayne sandbar tie up (every weekend), or even head farther south to Gilberts, Postcard Inn Tikibar, Hawks Key, etc. etc etc. Or, you can head north to Boca Raton, lake Boca tie-up (every weekend), West Palm Beach, Peanut Island, etc. The ocean is too rough to go boating? No problem, just cruise the intracoastal, enjoy the scenery of beautiful houses, stare at all the eye candy on the other boats, and head to a waterfront restaurant for lunch or dinner. Bimini is 57 miles away, at 70 mph you are there in 40 minutes door to door.

-I don't think there is another town in the country that is focused on the boating lifestyle than Ft. Lauderdale. Almost everyone here boats, many major boating vendors are based here, nautical stores, parts, etc. Because of the intracoastal waterways that wind thru the city you can use your boat like a car, take it to dinner, bars, friends houses, etc. You want boating lifestyle, this is it.

-Ft. Lauderdale is a fun town, tons of great bars and clubs to suite any taste, and you never have to eat in the same restaurant twice if you don't want to. And I can't stress this enough, everything is CLOSE. The airport, boat, hotel, beaches and nightlife can all be within 10 minutes of each other! That is hugely important if you are only coming down for one or two days at a time.

I used to send the boat down for November 1st, do Key West, do the Miami Boat show run, and I would always be in town for both boat shows. I would try to make it down once a month for a weekend in between. I would keep the boat in FL till May. Fly in Friday, hit up Las Olas for dinner/drinks, stay at the W Ft. Lauderdale Beach, boat all day Saturday, Sunday would be clean, flush, etc. and fly out Sunday night. Boat storage- rack storage I recommend Harbourtown Marina, best around and close to the inlet, right next to the airport. You also have Thunderboat which is substantially cheaper but a longer idle up the river and they won't treat your boat with as much love. For storage on the trailer you have Brand X and Blue Octane, both will provide full service concierge service, drop you in, fuel, etc.

I can tell you that the ocean here can get ROUGH, especially if it is blowing out of the north east and/or wind against tide. I was used to boating in the Northeast where it can get pretty rough, wasn't really expecting how rough it can be here on certain days. I know LOTO gets rough as well, here it can be like driving over mountains some days. Also, some of the inlets can be tricky.

The other thing I can tell you is that you will never regret keeping the boat in FL. Plenty of people (including me) decided to not even bring the boat home for the summers after a while because the boating here is so good. Next thing you know you will have cash bar searching for houses in the area!

Here's Johnny

I've been planning on bringing the boat to Florida for a while now. Having a 5 year old and a 3 year old made it very difficult the past few years. I strategicly tore down both engines and drives this winter knowing that next winter I want to bring it south. I have a place in North Miami and want to start making some calls to plan for boat storage. For those that use Blue Octane Marine, is it conveniant ? Seems like they've got it all covered and I would imagine more cost effective then rack storage at a marina ? I want to research all of my options...... I always flew down a few times each winter (without boat) untill the kids came along, now that they are getting bigger it is much easier to drag the family down or just do a long weekend with some friends, not feeling guilty leaving everyone home in the cold....... keep the experiences and options coming guys.......great thread.......thanks.....

PARADOX

Been there, done pretty much "that", so I moved to Florida. And just a side note, the time some one pays for winter storage, (Heated? in some cases) winterizing, etc. etc. it's actually cheaper and better to have the lady in a "warm" climate.