Good Old Joe and the Storage Boat

Note: The following fable is a hypothetical and composite case. It is not intended to reflect on any past or present member of QCYC.

There she sits. And sits. And sits.

Her ragged burgee is bleached to an anemic pink. Tattered canvas, once a jaunty blue, is now a depressing fungal green. Dollops of pigeon poop cover the house and deck, slowing aging from runny white slime to crusty black globs that ultimately peel away like diseased scabs. It has been said the glow from her questionable shorepower cord can be seen from the space shuttle. Rumors of rodents aboard may be well founded. Her WN tabs expired in 2009, but a critical eye observes that the tabs on the dinghy expired in 2008. (Only the cheaper dinghy tab were actually renewed in 2008, and slapped on the primary hull to keep up appearances).  The bilge pumps runs more frequently these days, often discharging a puddle of dark grey mystery goo in the process.

A few years ago, she was listed with a broker. While that badly overpriced sales offering has long expired, another listing continues. In fact, it's to starboard and growing progressively worse.

She belongs to Good Old Joe. A lot of the older members cleary recall Good Old Joe, but he hasn't been seen around the club for several years now. Stories are that he moved to Palm Springs, or Palm Desert, or Phoenix, or San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. Nobody really knows for sure, but we assume Good Old Joe is still alive. Somebody sends in his quarterly moorage payment. Good Old Joe relies on the generosity of fellow club members to adjust his lines as the lake rises and falls. Once in a while, Good Old Joe thinks about his unused boat in Seattle. He knows he really should make a decision to sell (or to scrap) his incredible hulk. While it may not be cheaper, it's certainly just easier to let the boat sit until he gets around to it.

During a docks work party, an almost brand new member observes Good Old Joe's derelict in its slip. The new member asks a more seasoned member, "What's up with that? I thought the moorage rules required members to use their boats for cruising and club functions away from the marina in order to keep moorage here? Why would there be a rule if it isn't enforced?"

"There are rules, and there are rules" replies the older member. "Some of them we enforce stringently, and others we don't enforce at all. When you've been around here a while, you'll learn which rules really count and which don't. The fact is, we never established a standard that determines how infrequently a boat can be used before it becomes a storage boat. How can we? Nobody uses a boat every weekend, some people don't use a boat once a quarter, some don't use a boat more than every six months, and maybe somebody else thinks that letting the grandkids take the boat out for a weekend every two or three years is a lot of activity. Nothing would be more detrimental to the future of the club than getting into peoples' business about how often they use their boat."

"Besides," continues the senior member,"even if we were to try to enforce the moorage rule we would give Good Old Joe a pass. He's been a life member for almost 20 years, and was commodore back in 1960 or 70 something. He paid his dues to this club, serving on committees and going through the chairs. If he needs a place to park his boat during his last few years of retirement, who's going to begrudge him? We wouldn't want to alienate Good Old Joe, he might decide to move back to Washington and take up boating again. Nothing would be more detrimental to the future of this club than running off guys like Good Old Joe."

"Well," remarks the newer member. "I can certainly see why the club would want to honor Good Old Joe's past service by allowing him to keep his unused boat here. But what sort of plan is in place to ensure that slips eventually become available for newer members on the waiting list?"

"Glad you asked," replied the older member. "This club is primarily about moorage, and nothing would be more detrimental to the future of this club than asking new members to wait longer than necessary for a slip. Here's how that works. As soon as we know for sure that Good Old Joe has died, we get in touch with his widow and tell her she's got six months to get that darn boat the heck out of our marina!"

.......

Thanks to VC Wilson, the moorage committee and the board for the recently improved efforts to enforce QCYC moorage rules. That has to be a thankless and unpopular task. Without regard to how the membership decides other questions currently under consideration, enforcing the moorage rules will help keep the club marina filled with active boats (rather than unused storage boats) and that seems to be situation that most people agree would be desirable.