This is quite scary for the sailor who depends on draft and bridge height limitations when choosing a home for their craft.  Just because a home or piece of vacant land advertises sailboat water doesn’t mean it is.

Here is a true life story and then I will cut to the chase.  Back in 2005 at the height of the real estate bubble a realtor sold a piece of vacant land in Pirate Harbor to a true sailboat person.  The buyers had faith in the listing and agent and paid an extraordinary price of $450,000 for an undeveloped piece of land.  Later they discovered that the canal depths averaged 6 feet or more but the exit through the estuary had 3 feet on average and at times the “so called” channel would be nearly dry on a northeasterly, full moon or other naturally occurring weather condition.  They were flabbergasted about this discovery and of course, never utilized the property for the intended purpose.

The simplest way to be sure you know what your buying is interview your real estate agent and see what they really know to start with.  With or without an agent you can pull up the property of interest in the county tax assessors office website.  For Charlotte County Florida go to www.ccapprasier.com  Type in the address and pull up the aerial view.  From there you can zoom in.  Light colored sand areas will show up easily in the water.  Deeper water is always dark in color and shades of tan requires further investigation.  To be sure try and determine the route to the deepest open water where you would set sail.  Sometimes there are prohibitive shallow spots for deeper craft even if your canal depth is fine behind the house.

There are many neighborhoods that will have less of a concern mainly in Punta Gorda.  However, some PG neighborhoods have shallow areas that you should know about.

Port Charlotte and Englewood you must be very careful!  There are lots of canal homes that have very little water at low tide.

One other point regarding sailboat homes.  Real estate agents will advertise a sailboat waterfront home if there are NO BRIDGES.  Sounds ridiculous but that is the case in SW Florida.  With that said, this advertising can be false.  Sailboats generally don’t float in 3 feet of water!  On the topic of bridges there are very few bridges that will allow clearance for any substantial mast height.  Two bridges are more forgiving and they are the RT. 41 bridge and the RT. 75 bridge over the Peace River.  The RT. 75 bridge has water depth concerns with a winding channel.

The post How To Detect A FAKE Sailboat Waterfront Home/Sailboat Accessible MLS Listing appeared first on Sailboat Home Listings.

Boat Lift Concerns, Issues and Dangers.  Boat Houses and Awnings

If you have chosen Charlotte County Florida to live your waterfront dream you have made a great choice.  Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte and Englewood offer a ton of options for waterfront living.  The majority of us are boaters or wanna-be boaters and this means having a boat lift for most of us.  Nothing is better than pushing a button on a moments notice and having your boat drop into the water and away you go!  Sure beats the days of launching at a boat ramp which is where most of us come from.

I have lived in Punta Gorda for over 19 years and have learned a lot about boat lifts and water front issues that are very important for everyone to know about.  Power boats or sail boaters can all utilize a boat lift with some lifts carrying vessels up to 50 feet!

With that said, let me hit the biggest issue and danger with keeping your boat on a boat lift.  The biggest danger is related to lifts that have a remote control which is very common.  The remote module is integrated into the wiring of the lift and with a push of a button with your hand controller (FOB) you raise the lift out of the water when departing and then on your ride back to dock you can press a button dropping the lift into the water.  Sounds like a great idea unless the remote system malfunctions or some device in your neighborhood triggers the activation of the lift.

The outcome of this almost always ends up in the boat lift going up, not down without you even knowing it is happening!  In a location like Punta Gorda Isles where there are no boat houses or canopies your boat will rise until the bunks/cross-members holding your boat (and possibly your boat) make physical contact with the metal cross members that hold the lift system up.  It is quite possible for your boat to fall off the lift at this point doing extensive damage to your boat, dock, lift and anything else around it.

If you are in a location that allows a boat house what will happen is the boat will rise into the wood or metal structure above it crushing and breaking the boat house canopy and applying forces to your boat that will likely end up with significant damage to your hull and of course, your T-top, upper helm, etc.  Yes, that is pretty close to a nightmare for a boater and an expensive one at that.

This happens more often than you might think.  I contacted a local metal canopy builder about the frequency of occurrence and was told he gets a call relating to this many times a month. The canopy or boat house is damaged plus your boat!

The remedy is to deactivate the automatic remote feature or identify a fix.  I have not heard of one yet but it seems to me the remote control companies should have some accountability for this situation.   I have presented this as I have first hand experience with this scenario with neighbors on my canal and its not pretty.

The post What You Need To Know About Boat Lifts, Dangers and Concerns Before Putting Your Boat On One appeared first on Sailboat Home Listings.

Many neighborhoods in Punta Gorda have seawalls in place which are owned by the city and maintained by the city.  The rest of Charlotte County including Port Charlotte you are responsible for the maintenance of your waters edge.  With that said if you are buying a property with an existing seawall:  Be Careful!  Most homeowners and realtors don’t understand the mechanics of seawall failure and the tell-tale signs of what to be concerned about.  A new seawall will likely cost between $25,000 and $35,000 depending on how long the seawall, how deep the seawall panels are and any other factors such as blasting rock if necessary to allow the seawalls to be put in place.  Deeper waters for sailboat properties may require a seawall that is placed deeper into the canal which requires a longer seawall form, which adds cost.  Most canal bottoms are mud so putting them is place is not hard.

A seawall is built by placing pre-cast concrete panels (see pictures below) that are rectangular in shape into the bottom of the canal.  These panels when cast have multiple loops of heavy rebarb that a crane can hook onto BUT also serve as a mechanical device to attach the top cap to a rod that ties back into the lot (more on that later).  Each panel is lifted into place with a crane and generally 2-3 men stand in the water (yes, very dangerous job) and physically manipulate them into position while shooting a jet of water into the mud bottom blowing the mud out of the way as the panel is pushed further into the canal bottom.  Each panel is Tongue & Groove, like a hardwood floor.  Once all panels are positioned to the length of the property, weeks or months are allowed for the seawall to “settle in” prior to the next steps.

The second phase of seawall installation is to build the forms for the top cap.  As previously mentioned these forms have a loop of rebarb (see photo with orange paint on rebarb).  Once the forms are in place a long piece of heavy rebarb with a hook on the end is connected to the loop of rebarb that is on top of the seawall panel.  When the concrete is poured into the form the rebarb tie-back is permanently attached and embedded into the concrete.  This is the big stabilizer to your seawall!  The rebarb is then angled down into the soil where it is attached to a block of concrete reinforced with rebarb.  This concrete tie down is known as a Deadman (see pictures).  I think the pictures below will tell the whole story.  Seawalls are not very complicated but extremely labor intensive to install.

After all the concrete hardens earth is put back into place and now your are ready for dock and boat lift installation.

As for maintenance, there is really not much for you to do to a seawall.  The only maintenance is when some of the material on the land side develops a hollow spot.  This usually forms during our rainy season when soil and marl (crushed coral) are washed out.  You can by marl, which compacts like concrete once installed and is used to fill the holes.  If the pockets behind the seawall become very large (like big enough for someone to climb into) the water/land pressure can exceed the static pressure on the water side and cause lateral fractures to your seawall which may lead to your seawall falling down the road.  Don’t worry however as simple maintenance will prevent this from happening.

I am here to help when looking for that dream property to place your sailboat or power boat behind.  There is nothing quite like having your boat at your own dock!  Be sure of your seawall condition even if it is a city owned seawall.  Of course, I can help you with understanding the condition of a seawall on any property

.  The Hook (inside cap from)that will have rod tiebacks connected Seawall Cap Form, prior to concrete poured in.

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