Bad neighbor

quote:
Originally posted by Bruce Herrington

I would think the marina's insurance policy would prohibit slip renters from cluttering up walkways..

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EXACTLY!

EDIT: and for those of you who are saying sabotage his boat or slip, you can't fight stupid with bigger stupid. Be smart about this, go for the pocketbook, that's what really gets attention. The marina owner has the biggest pocketbook and the most power to fix this....Outsmart your neighbor.
 
I would move to another slip, however there are no others available at our marina. The other marinas on our lake are either not desirable to stay at or is WAYYYY overpriced. We like several of our neighbors and don't wish to move. We have the perfect view of a huge cove behind our boat, which is scenic.

Thankfully, they're trying to sell the boat, but they're not getting many lookers at all. It's a 1991 houseboat, so financing is hard to come by.

We actually hung out with this couple many times and even went on vacation with them this spring. The guy is a bit off socially - I think he's bipolar. His wife is as sweet as can be and is fun to talk to.

Regal 2860 mentioned the Army Corps of Engineers - THAT'S IT! In the marina's contract, it states the that the Army Corps states that the fingers must remain clear of debris so as to allow easy access to fingers in case of emergency. Our marina has also recently stated they're going to start charging by the foot for boats sticking out beyond the end of their fingers. They're allowing no more than 10% to stick out, which my neighbor sure exceeds!

I'm not sure if he gets permits for all his decks, but our marina allows you to build them inside your slip.
 
I think you should try and make friends with him.

If that fails, sleep with his wife.

Or daughter, if that is appropriate.
 
Unfortunately if I slept with his wife, I think that would torpedo my own mariage! LOL!
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost

Does this boat have any rigging by chance? Throw a few of the ring clips on his deck that hold rigging pins together. I don't own a sailboat, but I do own a small case of the little clips. Works great when you run into obnoxious sailboaters. Funny as he'll watching them stare into the air for an hour trying to figure out where they came from.

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This is the most awesome idea I have ever read in this forum.
 
Be the better man, if he wants the finger.......

GIVE HIM THE FINGER
 
NC, the beauty is in doing no harm. It only causes a person to inspect things that should get inspected anyway. It's really a great way to help out a fellow boater. It adds motivation, and fights off that nasty monster that is complacency.

Can I help it if it causes an overly focused individual to slip into a fit of paranoid rage? Those qualities would have to already be present to be elicited, I could hardly feel responsibility.
 
Duct Tape will fix anything on a boat. The corollary is that steel wool will really screw up anything on a boat. Every time you walk up wind of his boat have a small ball of it pulverizing between your fingers and thumb.
 
quote:
Originally posted by GoVols

We actually hung out with this couple many times and even went on vacation with them this spring. The guy is a bit off socially - I think he's bipolar. His wife is as sweet as can be and is fun to talk to.

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I would consider working thru is wife. She may be able to clean up his act a little bit.
 
I have to say, I don't understand the suggestions to do harm to the neighbor's boat. I didn't see anywhere in the OP that says the neighbor did anything malicious to his property. I would try talking again to him. You mentioned that you have even vacationed with him. If that doesn't work, go to the marina owner and tell them if they don't do something about it you will have the fire marshal come out to inspect. It is definitely a fire/safety hazard to have all that scrap wood laying on the dock. I just don't understand the "damage his property" mentality.
 
I agree with Golfman and Fish Guts.. Escalation by subtly causing damage to personal property would be a very fleeting and expensive skirmish victory.

If possible, a casual convocation with just you and your wife, Him & his wife and the marina manager over refreshing beverages and munchables might ease discussion of what everyone there might come to agree as necessary and reasonable use of the area in question and what your dock neighbor might find unacceptable if you were to do the same as he does in the shared space.

After all, there should be reasonable expectation of NORMAL type use of both rented slip and the shared dock finger.

Perhaps another spot of reasonable convenience could be found for the construction supplies and his other obstacles.

You might ask the manager, just for discussions sake, if it would be OK for you and everyone else to add a nice relaxing deck in your slip and let your boat stick out 23' into the approach,too. I've never heard of anyone building a serious deck in part of their slip ,but them I live on a little island and don't escape much.
 
I hate it when people want to get even by damaging his boat (OP has never mentioned any damage being done to his boat, just his comfort). Just brings them down even further than he has shown to be.

Management needs to be brought in to this equation. Local fire marshal as suggested as well if needed.
 
I am sure the marina does not want the Army Corps of Engineers to inspect, they can be a royal pain in the butt. They will make everyone who has a gas grill on the dock remove it. The fingers cannot be blocked, electrical cords cannot be tie tied to the docks, have to use Velcro. You could really make things hard for the marina. I am sure they will want to take care of the problem instead of the corps. In addition, if you think the Y valve is still on the house boat that is a large fine and I am sure the corps will notice the smell.
 
I talked again to the marina manager yesterday. She said she was unaware my neighbor was sticking ~25' beyond the end of his slip and he shouldn't be that far out. Really?! He's been that way for over 2 years! The marina initially had a X<10% guideline for sticking out beyond the end of the slip, but they quit enforcing it a while ago. She said they'd ask him to have the deck removed and his boat pulled in, but I then offered an alternative solution: If he extends our common finger to the end of his boat, I'd be fine with that.

My concern is, the person who buys his boat will expect to get the nice deck as well and I'll have to endure this much longer. If I didn't mention his boat's for sale - it's been since February with very few lookers.

She also was unaware of all the junk on his finger. She said she'll have it moved immediately. She said it's a safety concern and the marina doesn't want to be held liable for trip hazards, as they were already sued 2 years ago for something like this.

I've talked to them before about this stuff and they've responded with minimal success and effort. Hopefully this time it will sprout some results. Thanks for listening to my venting.
 
All kidding aside, its great you made some progress with the management. I would still strongly recommend to follow up with the manager in writing, whether she takes action or not. Usually there is some small response in good faith, two steps forward and then the one step back to where you are. You don't want to start from zero the second time, and the written communication will mean a lot.

If you want to take the bite out of it, send it as a thank you note and then list the actions that you understand them to be taking. Do note that you will be saving the communication in case of future follow ups.
 
GoVols, just curious which part of TN you are in, and on which lake? You mentioned the Corp, so you must not be on a lake that is part of the Tennessee River system, as those are controlled by TVA. I am in middle TN on Center Hill Lake.
 
WASJR,
I'm on Percy Priest. TWRA polices the lake, but I've seen Corps boats there as well enforcing rules and such. In fact, the Corps has regular inspections of the marinas well. I've never seen anything dealing with TVA, except the powerlines leaving the damn.
 
quote:
Originally posted by WALSHIE

quote:
Originally posted by Bruce Herrington

I would think the marina's insurance policy would prohibit slip renters from cluttering up walkways..

Click to expand...


EXACTLY!

EDIT: and for those of you who are saying sabotage his boat or slip, you can't fight stupid with bigger stupid. Be smart about this, go for the pocketbook, that's what really gets attention. The marina owner has the biggest pocketbook and the most power to fix this....Outsmart your neighbor.

Click to expand...

I am really surprised and disappointing that more people on here have not made this comment.

Doing something "to get even" is absolutely wrong. It makes you worse than your neighbor. He is just being ignorant or disrespectful of your rights.

You would be showing that you are just a bad person.

Work "the system" top get something corrected.

George
 
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