2005 Marina charges

N

nicho

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I've just had the 2005 marina renewal details, and yet again they have increased by more than inflation. In fact, at some 5.6 percent, the increase over 2004 is more than double the inflation rate.

What can you do? We want to stay where we are so we just have to grin and bear it, but I would love for once, to be surprised, and for the increase to just reflect inflation. Do you really believe THAT will ever happen?

It's particularly galling when those in French marinas keep telling us how cheap it is to moor over there. One day..........

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be thankful lyou don't have the equivelent 'on land marina' - a mobile home. My mooring fees have gone up over 10% pa since 2001....:o(

<hr width=100% size=1>madesco madidum ..../forums/images/icons/smile.gif
 
sorry to say this but you (and the other berth holders) have only yourself to blame. marinas are businesses and any business will seek to strike the optimum balance between raising prices and driving customers away, so as to achieve the maximum revenue. the only way to hold down prices is to vote with your feet. at what level would you say 'stuff that' and go back to a mooring? and how many vacant berths are there in your marina?

what response would an MD get at a board meeting if he stood up and said 'the dividend is down this year because we felt sorry for the berth holders so we cut our prices'?

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As Snowleopard says it is all supply and demand. It is pretty certain that there will be very few more moorings in the Solent area for a start so prices will go up with demand. We are lucky in having a club mooring at club prices. I just could not and would not pay for a marina pontoon mooring. For our boat that could be between £3000 and £5000 p.a. in the Solent. I would want a pretty good charter in the Med for that.

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5.6% sounds reasonable to me. The thieving b...stards in my local council have increased my rates / council tax by slightly more than 9% per annum COMPOUND since the end of the lamented poll tax.

And they havent got shareholders as an excuse. In fact its the shareholders they are shafting.

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.
 
That assumes you actually believe the crap about inflation being 2.5%! when its actually nearer 5 6 or 7%. My Marina put the charges up very modestly last year but this year they've gone up by over 5% ish, however they did send out a very apologetic letter saying their costs have gone up by over 6% this year. And like the others have said my motoring costs and home ownership costs have gone up by well over 10% p.a for many years now. Hell my council tax rise was over 15% last year and is going be ONLY 5% this year (which we can all assume is a one off election special offer, never to be repeated!).
Most businesses have seen much greater than Gordons mythical 2.5% inflation for the last few years. In a year when Oil, metals and most other raw materials have doubled in price its only reasonable that output costs have risen too.
At the end of the day it does come down to supply and demand and the marina is full so it can't be that unreasonable. At the moment it suits me to have the boat less than an hours drive away, but when families start appearing and work commitments mean that I can't use the boat as much I could definately see the attraction of having the boat in holland, belgium or France for significantly less cost.


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10 meter berth 768 euros per year. City center location ??

Waterford City Marina.



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now tell me, is it a municipal marina? lots of those in france, cheap rates and they are seen as an asset to the locality. in this country any council who tried to build a marina would be pilloried for spending council tax on 'rich men's pastimes'.

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Yes, but it takes you up to three hours to get out to sea. Not knocking Waterford, thought it was a beautiful place, but how do your prices compare to say Kilmore Quay?

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=red>Woof</font color=red>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk/P.html>Posting pictures tutor</A>
 
To a degree you are right. However we have made a conscious decision to berth in a secure, well equipped marina with full services, mainly because we spend a lot of time on the boat throughout the year, and 240v supplies in particular, are a necessity. Not only that, but we have a great community spirit in the marina, which is situated in the New Forest area, and we enjoy a far greater social life there than we do at home in the midlands. No, we are not bitching about the cost as such, for we have taken it on the chin for 8 years now, and understand that we have to pay a lot of money to be in the Solent area. What really bugs me is that like council tax, we are charged much more than inflation EVERY year, and really do not see year on year improvments for it. It seems to go straight to their bottom line.

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Funnilly enough I was looking at the current MDL charges on the south coast between the solent and Plymouth as I do from time to time as I have a swinging mooring and the cost seems to go up every year convincing all the time that I am right to stick to swinging mooring. I thought the Solent was the most expensive but Torquay is up there with the big boys.

League table 2004 prices for 9.5m

1 Hamble Point £7353
2 Port Hamble £6999
3 Torquay £6840
4 Hythe £53865
5 OV £5278
6 Cobb Quay £5187
7 Brixham £4959
8 SQ £4788
9 Plym QA £3933

Crazy prices and unnecessary.

Regards.

Peter


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As you say its a long way inland .I dont keep my boat there ,just had a brochure through the mail and was amazed at the low prices.

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Come to the east coast, 9.5 m in locked secure marine in Harwich harbour, £2500 + £1.50/month for shorepower electricity, not crowded nor noisy on the VHF. Damn I've spoilt it now.

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Sorry, but whilst I'm not defending MDL prices, your figures, (some at least), are incorrect. Our 11.4 metre boat in Hythe for 2004 was £5180, and with a band break below 10.9 metres, a 9.5 metre boat would have been considerably less. Also, Brixham quoted me around £3850 this year for the same size boat. Still a lot of money, but it's easy to forget the benefits of an MDL Marina such as Hythe, including security patrols, CCTV, electricity, heated shower blocks, 24 hour staff on site, and the fact that Jimi and BIG NICK are in the same place (perhaps a good reason for a discount!!). My bitch is the insistance on charging way over inflation year on year.

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I'm sure it's great, but we love the Solent area, complete with it's overcrowding. There's so many places to go, and even France is a shortish hop. In spite of some of the posts you may have seen on here, most people boating in the area would not move - it's such a social place.

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I'm not sure where the notion of overcrowding comes from.

Except when there are unusual events, start of round the world, America's Cup Cowes week and fireworks evening, Round the Island weeks, etc, you can spend entire weekends with hardly any company out there, and evenings, and especially weekend evenings, you barely see any other boats out. Sure, there are races and things, but these tend to be localised, leaving plenty of space outside that area.

Peak season, spaces in the popular marinas and anchorages can be a pain, but that's about the limit annoyance wise, and if you get fed up with the 'crowds' it's a small enough space that it's easy to escape outside and go further afield quite easily, with many marinas and anchorages within easy cruising distance

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni
 
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