What Is Linear Footage in a Marina? A Plain-English Glossary for Owners and Boards
Linear footage is the total length of a boat measured from its furthest forward point to its furthest aft point — including bow pulpits, swim platforms, davits, and anything else that hangs over the water. Marinas use linear footage to price dockage because it reflects the actual space a vessel occupies, which means charging by linear foot captures revenue that flat per-slip pricing leaves behind.
If you've ever had a "40-foot slip" occupied by a boat that's really 46 feet once you count the anchor pulpit and the dinghy on davits, you already understand why this term matters. This glossary covers what linear footage means, how it's measured, how it turns into a dockage rate, and the related billing terms that show up on marina rate sheets.
How is linear footage measured?
The industry-standard measurement is length overall (LOA) — the true tip-to-tail length of the vessel as she sits in the water, not the length printed on the registration or the model name on the hull.
A "Sea Ray 400" is not 40 feet for billing purposes. Add a bow pulpit (1–2 ft), a swim platform (2–3 ft), and davits with a tender (3–4 ft), and that boat occupies 45 to 48 feet of your dock. Most marinas that bill by linear footage write into their dockage agreement that the billable length is LOA including all attachments, and many round up to the next whole foot.
Two related terms you'll see:
- Registered length — the length on the state registration or documentation. Often measured differently (some jurisdictions exclude pulpits and platforms) and almost always shorter than LOA. Never bill from it.
- Slip length — the length of the physical berth. Many marinas bill the greater of boat LOA or slip length, so a 30-foot boat in a 40-foot slip pays for the 40 feet of infrastructure it's occupying.
How do dockage rates work with linear footage?
A dockage rate is simply a price per foot per unit of time. The three common structures:
- Transient rate — nightly, for visiting boaters. Typically quoted as dollars per foot per night (for example, $3.50/ft/night), often with a minimum length (e.g., 30-foot minimum, so a 24-foot boat still pays for 30).
- Seasonal rate — one price per foot for a defined season (e.g., $95/ft for the boating season).
- Monthly rate — per foot per month, common in year-round markets and for shoulder-season stays.
Rate sheets often layer on shoulder-season rates (discounted per-foot pricing before and after peak), utility metering or flat power fees (usually billed per pedestal or by amperage, separate from dockage), and premium location surcharges (T-heads, alongside dockage, easy-access outer slips).
Why do marinas bill by linear foot instead of by slip?
Because slip-based pricing systematically undercharges the boats that cost you the most space, and it can't price mixed dockage at all.
Consider a marina with a flat $4,200 seasonal rate for its "40-foot slips." Three customers sign up:
| Boat | True LOA | Flat slip price | At $105/ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34-ft cruiser, no attachments | 34 ft | $4,200 | $3,570 |
| 40-ft cruiser with pulpit + platform | 44 ft | $4,200 | $4,620 |
| 42-ft trawler with davits | 47 ft | $4,200 | $4,935 |
Under flat pricing, the 34-footer overpays and shops around, while the two larger boats underpay by a combined $1,155 per season — on just two slips. Scale that pattern across 150 slips where even a third of boats exceed nominal slip length, and a mid-sized marina is commonly leaving $15,000–$50,000 per season unbilled. That's not a rate increase; it's revenue for space you're already providing.
Linear footage also solves problems slip pricing can't:
- Alongside and T-head dockage has no "slip" — per-foot is the only coherent way to price it.
- Mixed fleets (a 26-footer next to a 58-footer) get priced fairly and automatically.
- Rafting and event dockage can be quoted instantly from LOA.
What's the difference between transient and seasonal dockage?
Transient dockage is short-term — a night to a few weeks — booked by traveling boaters, priced per foot per night, and paid up front or at checkout. It behaves like hotel revenue: higher per-foot yield, more turnover, more operational touch.
Seasonal dockage is your recurring base: a contract for the season or year, priced per foot for the term, usually invoiced on a schedule (single payment, split payments, or monthly). It behaves like lease revenue: lower per-foot yield, high predictability.
Healthy marinas actively manage the mix. A dock kept 100% seasonal is fully "leased" but usually yields less per foot than one that holds back prime alongside space for transient traffic at 2–4× the effective per-foot rate.
What does this mean for how you bill?
Three practical rules we see well-run marinas follow:
- Put LOA-inclusive language in the dockage agreement. "Billable length is length overall including pulpits, platforms, davits, and tenders stored aboard, rounded up to the next foot, or slip length, whichever is greater."
- Verify length at check-in or contract renewal. A tape measure at the dock — or a laser measure — pays for itself the first afternoon. Boats grow attachments over time; billing records rarely keep up.
- Bill from one system of record. When boat records, rates, and invoices live in the same marina management system, a corrected LOA flows into every future invoice automatically. When they live in a spreadsheet, a binder, and QuickBooks, corrections get made once and lost by next season.
Setting up per-foot billing without disrupting existing customers is its own topic — we cover the full transition process, including grandfathering and communication templates, in our linear footage billing guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does linear footage include the swim platform and bow pulpit?
Yes, under standard LOA-based billing. Anything permanently attached that extends the space the boat occupies — pulpits, platforms, davits, outboard brackets — counts toward billable length. Your dockage agreement should say so explicitly.
What if the boat is shorter than the slip?
Most marinas bill the greater of boat LOA or slip length, because the slip's infrastructure cost doesn't shrink when a smaller boat ties up in it. Some marinas offer "small boat in big slip" discounts when inventory allows — that's a yield decision, not a measurement one.
Is linear footage the same as LOA?
Functionally yes, in a billing context. "Linear footage" is the billing quantity; LOA is the measurement standard used to determine it. A few marinas use documented length instead, but that usually under-measures and under-bills.
How do I convert my flat slip rates to per-foot rates?
Divide your current slip price by the slip length to get a baseline per-foot rate, then check it against nearby marinas' published per-foot rates. Most operators discover their implied per-foot rate is below market for larger boats — which is exactly the leakage per-foot billing fixes.
Can I bill linear footage for boats on trailers or in dry storage?
Yes — dry stack and land storage are commonly priced per foot as well, sometimes with a beam-based surcharge for wide loads, since racks and yard space are consumed by length the same way docks are.
Billing by the foot only works if your boat records, rates, and invoices live in one place. Sharper MMS handles LOA-based billing, mixed slip and linear inventory, and seasonal rate schedules out of the box.
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