Dagmar's Dry Docking May Be New Marina Trend

MARYSVILLE

Long a fixture along I-5 between Everett and Marysville, Dagmar's, the "dry" marina, is quietly growing at about 5 percent a year and has the ability to expand by about 33 percent without facing troublesome permit delays.

Dagmar's is owned by Sato Corp. in Bellevue, a real estate development and management firm. The company bought Dagmar's in December 1985 after the original developers lost the land to the bank, says Victor Loehrer, a Sato vice president.

At a dry marina, boats of up to about 40 feet are stored on land. They are taken in and out of the water with a modified forklift at the owner's request. When stored, the boats sit off the ground on a variety of stands, depending on the vessel's hull design.

"Dagmar's is unique in the Puget Sound," says Bob Goodwin, a coastal resources specialist at the University of Washington. Some other local marinas offer a small amount of "stacked storage," where smaller boats are stored in stacked compartments in open buildings, but no other marinas have dry-land storage like Dagmar's, he says.

According to Loehrer, storing a boat on land offers advantages for boat owners and will probably become more popular because of the increasing environmental regulations being imposed on the marine industry.

Because the boats are already out of the water, owners can inspect their boats often and easily do repairs. Also, land storage helps preserve the boat, unless it is a wooden vessel, which should be stored in the water to prevent shrinkage, Loehrer says.

Recently proposed regulations regarding toxic bottom paint, found on many boats, means land storage could increasingly become the moorage of choice. Loehrer says boats stored out of the water have less need for toxic paint to keep bottoms clean.

Dagmar's is particularly busy on weekends. About 250 to 300 boats are moved in a single day when the weather is nice, says Kernan Manley, Dagmar's operations manager. The marina also leases space to marine-related businesses, such as a repair shop and boat dealer.

Currently Dagmar's stores about 850 boats. Loehrer says Dagmar's has permits allowing it to expand to about 1,300 boats. Expanding would take little additional capital and could be done quickly. The land is already cleared and constructing an additional 25 to 30 boat cradles would take only about four days, Loehrer says. Dagmar's has the ability and necessary permits to accommodate its anticipated growth for the next three or four years, Loehrer says.

Despite Dagmar's capacity and expansion capabilities, finding boat moorage in the Puget Sound region is not always easy. Goodwin says in Snohomish County, moorage occupancy is virtually 100 percent.

Both government-owned, privately owned and port-owned marinas offer moorage. In Snohomish County, the Port of Everett and the Port of Edmonds dominate the market, Goodwin says. The county has moorage for about 4,300 boats; the two ports own and operate about 2,800 of the spots, Goodwin says.

Up to now, some public facilities haven't been as profit-oriented as private companies, so they often have priced spaces below market rates. Because of "bargain" rates at port-owned facilities, waiting lists are typically long.

Shilshole, which has moorage for 1,500 boats, charges between $5.42 and $6.75 per foot per month depending on the size of the boat. The marina has a four- to five-year waiting list for moorage for boats over 40 feet, says Marla Kleiven, manager of Shilshole marina services manager at Shilshole.

By contrast, the new Elliott Bay Marina in Seattle, with moorage for 1,200 boats, charges between about $6.90 and $9.50 per foot. According to an employee, the marina is about 75 percent full,.

However, governments are looking more to their marinas as revenue sources and rates are quickly becoming comparable with private facilities, says Hal Schlomann, director of government affairs for the Marine Trade Association in Seattle.

In California, Goodwin says, boaters regularly pay $12 or more per foot to park their boats.

The cost of dry storage at Dagmar's ranges from $112 per month, or about $4.10 per foot, for boats up to 23 feet, up to $146 per month, or around $3.65 per foot, for the largest boats the facility can store.