T&T: Full time cruisers & marina question

[Wayne & Lynn Flatt]

The question asked was about using a marina short term, hours instead of
days for laundry, trash and other errands.  The direct question has been
answered, but maybe we can answer the ones between the lines.

We seldom use marinas and anchor out mostly.  We find laundry, trash and
errands not particularly a problem.  Besides I have a trashy women
partner and what else do we have to do.

Laundries at marinas seldom have enough machines and you usually have
access to only one or if luckey two.    We take the dinghy to town and
haul or clothes to the nearest laundromat.  It is here that you can use
all the machines you need to wash everything at one time.  It is also
great place to find out where the really good shops and eateries are
located.  Often people at the marinas like to tell you about the most
expensive places in town.  With our 50' boat and 20' boat budget we
prefer the simpler less expensive places.  Hauling a few provisions back
to the boat after touring a town or attending an event is never much of a
problem.

There is always a large dumpster nearby to get rid of bundles of trash. 
We prefer not to overload any ones dumpster, since we are not paying for
it therefore we spread the wealth of garbage we have around varioius
locations.

We find we can almost always unload our bikes from the dinghy somewhere
so we have reasonable ground transportation besides shanks mare.

Typically we go to marinas for a special event, like Trawler Fest or for
fuel and water.  We also take advantage of any free walls or docks as we
find them.

Wayne & Lynn Flatt

MV Skinwalker MT 49 PH