A bit of a rant

[MarkR]

OK, I apologise in advance but here goes...

We have our boat on a mooring at a marina and leave her in the water over winter in order to enjoy sailing year round. In order to keep her warm and dry we use a frost-control heater (max 1.5kw) and a dehumidifier (max 1.3A ~1.5kw) on a timer cycing 4hrs on 4hrs off. So no problems there then, but....

The marina electricity supply was very unreliable until replacement earlier this summer with a single use smart card based system. This involves the purchase of a smart card from the marina office to insert into the pontoon unit. A system which works superbly until you realise that the only card unit available is 10kwhr and it is not possible to use multiple cards to "feed the meter". With the above power requirements (and any engine battery recharge, fridge, etc.) I figure that 1 card ~ 3 days. Which means I have to visit the boat minimum 2/week. I spoke to the marina office yesterday and they now admit this system is dumb but they need to "change the entire system" in order to make the cards worth more power.

What is typical elsewhere? I am trying to build a case to show these guys exactly how stupid this new regime is....


p.s. Having spent the money on the power system they now have none left to replace the tyre barrier that is rapidly falling apart and protects the marina from northerly gales. This due to the fact that the marina is council run, makes a profit and as such subsidises other council run leisure facilities (e.g. swimming pools)!

 

[ccscott49]

couldn't you purchase the cards and then ask the marina chaps/chapesses to put a card in for you? When it runs out. I get your point though, but everybody screws up sometimes! All the money collected for the marina should go to maintaining the marina first, then any profits can go the other facilities, but thats sensible!

 

[MarkR]

Thats what I am doing just now - question is, in other marinas with this system what power rating is typical on the cards?

 

[jimi]

At Hythe we have metered leads which are a bit of an expensive one off cost, however after that you just pay for electricity consumed.

 

[kdf]

We too have a card system - its a cardboard swipe card where you instert it once and it tops up the meter. You then dump the card. We however can top up with as many cards as you like plus there are larger cards available - 50 kw is the usual card here. I usually fill mine up at the start of the season and that takes me right through until Sept/Oct.

 

[wayneA]

At Penarth there seems to be 2 systems. On some pontoons there is a one off fixed fee to use the electrical outlets, and then you get unmetered use for the year.

On the newer pontoons, I use these, we have a metered card system. This card system allows you to add credits to the existing units left - feed the meter. The cards are single use, so all the credit is downloaded to that electrical outlet and then no longer valid. You can't move remaining credited units to another outlet.
Two price banded cards are available, upto £5.

Wayne

 

[davel]

Ditto at my own marina, purchase a meter lead then pay for power as used.

I discovered the true value of this a couple of weeks ago when I received an electricity bill from the marina covering the period from July through to September - £238 !!!!!

When I rang up to ask what was going on, they said they thought the lead wasn't metered - "apologies, we'll double check and send a fresh invoice". A week later the proper bill came through for £10!

Dave L.

 

[Guest]

Re: Cash for the tyre barrier

I heard in the pub the other day that the cooncil is trying to find a buyer for the marina, so there could be changes soon anyway

 

[pkb]

I kept a boat at Lymington Yacht Haven for seven years and bought a metered cable and then paid for what I used. When I left the marina I sold the cable for about two thirds of what it had cost in the first place. I'd be pretty sure that in most marinas there's a market in second hand metered power leads. I'm currently in the Parkstone Haven in Poole where the supply is metered on the power connection unit on my pontoon and I pay for what I use. Much simpler I think than pre-paid card systems which I guess are based on the premise that you might run off without paying for your power. Which of course you wouldn't.