A National Campaign to Encourage Architects to Provide Decent Marina Facilities

[Sandy]

I've recently returned from a week on Lake Solent. During the week we tied up in a few marinas. Shall I say the 'facilities' left a lot to be desired, given this is the UK capital of sailing.

This is what I'd like from a marina's facilities:

• Enough room to undress six layers of clothing
  Many of the shower cubicles had no room to swing a cat.
  
  
• Somewhere I can hang up my kit
  Piddly wee cloths hooks don’t hack it – I want somewhere I can hang up dripping wet olies and a life jacket.
  
  
• A seat
  To rest my weary bones, remove my sea boots and can place dry garments on it.
  
  
• A screen to stop the shower soaking my dry kit
  Fed up of narrow screens that don't shield your kit from the shower.
  
  
• A shower that you don't have to press a button every 10 seconds for lukewarm water
  I want something that I can control, be it a button and a decent amount of time to drench myself or a proximity switch. I want control of the water temperature – I might want a hot shower to warm up or a cool shower to cool down (on the one day of summer). A movable head is a great addition not something connected to the wall that delivers water at an odd angle.
  
  
• Somewhere to place my soap/shampoo
  At about chest level - I can't be faffed bending down to pick up a wet bar of soap or reaching beyond the screen and getting my kit any wetter.
  
  
• NO muzak
  This is not a lift

Please join this campaign to encourage architects to go sailing on a cold, wet, windy day - F7 through the Needles Channel was fun - then walk ashore for a hot shower and consider the above points.

 

[Daydream believer]

What we do not want- & we find in some so called "posh" wash areas- are the loos in the showers.
Apart from having to wait for a shower whilst someone just goes for a s..t there is the awful experience of having a shower whilst engulfed in the stink of someone's version of last night's curry.
Just try following a group of sobering winch monkeys after the night before & you will know what I mean.
The loos should be separate from the showers & the wash areas separate again. Seating outside the shower for stripping off smelly muddy boots etc before treading into the shower area would also seem sensible.
I think that the bloke that designed east bourne showers should design one more then die.
.
I would also recite my experience at Hartlepool, in the hope it gets me removed from the child sex offender's register.
I went for a shower late one night. Stripped off, went into the shower & the light went out. I looked up in the darkness for the sensor & realised it was in the centre of the room & the shower door obscured me from it. Being suitably lathered up but on my own, I had no wish to continue in the dark. So I stepped out-naked- into the main room. The b..y thing would not turn on & I started dancing about in the altogether waving my arms under it to get a response. I heard a noise & there was a young boy standing watching, just as the light went on.
Fortunately, his dad had told him to run like hell, when faced with a naked man, covered in soap & doing a moon dance at 11-00 PM
I blamed the electrician
I now have an excellent shower on my boat.

 

[bedouin]

What we do not want- & we find in some so called "posh" wash areas- are the loos in the showers.
Apart from having to wait for a shower whilst someone just goes for a s..t there is the awful experience of having a shower whilst engulfed in the stink of someone's version of last night's curry.

Or just as bad - having to wait in a shower queue when all you want is a quick pee

 

[veshengro]

I believe the Marina Operators when designing berth and facility space, adhere...But only in part..to the old adage of Stack 'em high and this is where they fall down sell 'em cheap.

 

[geem]

I've recently returned from a week on Lake Solent. During the week we tied up in a few marinas. Shall I say the 'facilities' left a lot to be desired, given this is the UK capital of sailing.

This is what I'd like from a marina's facilities:

• Enough room to undress six layers of clothing
  Many of the shower cubicles had no room to swing a cat.
  
  
• Somewhere I can hang up my kit
  Piddly wee cloths hooks don’t hack it – I want somewhere I can hang up dripping wet olies and a life jacket.
  
  
• A seat
  To rest my weary bones, remove my sea boots and can place dry garments on it.
  
  
• A screen to stop the shower soaking my dry kit
  Fed up of narrow screens that don't shield your kit from the shower.
  
  
• A shower that you don't have to press a button every 10 seconds for lukewarm water
  I want something that I can control, be it a button and a decent amount of time to drench myself or a proximity switch. I want control of the water temperature – I might want a hot shower to warm up or a cool shower to cool down (on the one day of summer). A movable head is a great addition not something connected to the wall that delivers water at an odd angle.
  
  
• Somewhere to place my soap/shampoo
  At about chest level - I can't be faffed bending down to pick up a wet bar of soap or reaching beyond the screen and getting my kit any wetter.
  
  
• NO muzak
  This is not a lift

Please join this campaign to encourage architects to go sailing on a cold, wet, windy day - F7 through the Needles Channel was fun - then walk ashore for a hot shower and consider the above points.

You are assuming architects have been employed. Lots of development of this type is done cheap. The developer sees bathroom facilities as eating away at his profit. They are a a necessary evil for the developer. It all depends who is developing the site. If an owner of the land is having a builder doing the project against a specification set by him and his architect/design team then you can expect thr project to meet a certain standard.
I spent my career working in construction as mechanical and electrical consultant. Developers were the lowest of the low. Their approach was 'how much money can we take out of this project to increase our profit'. This went from design team fees, to construction materials, to car parking space sizes, absolutely everything. If you think a developer will provide a quality project, left to his own devices, think again.

 

[Sandy]

You are assuming architects have been employed. Lots of development of this type is done cheap. The developer sees bathroom facilities as eating away at his profit. They are a a necessary evil for the developer. It all depends who is developing the site. If an owner of the land is having a builder doing the project against a specification set by him and his architect/design team then you can expect thr project to meet a certain standard.
I spent my career working in construction as mechanical and electrical consultant. Developers were the lowest of the low. Their approach was 'how much money can we take out of this project to increase our profit'. This went from design team fees, to construction materials, to car parking space sizes, absolutely everything. If you think a developer will provide a quality project, left to his own devices, think again.

Totally get that, but perhaps with a bit of poor customer feedback perhaps somebody might wake up to the idea that decent showers are an asset.

My own club has decent showers why not a marina?

 

[rotrax]

With all due respect Sandy, what you describe as desirable is more akin to a sailing club's facilities.

I cant concieve of going to marina facilities for a shower or to use the toilet-other than a quick pee-dressed in oilies and boots.

Being extremely experienced in getting a quick shower while there is still some hot water and while the floor is not flooded from my days as a Speedway rider and when I used to turn out Saturday afternoon for the Old Vasectamist's extra 'B' fifteen, I wear the minimum possible when going to a Marina's facilities. Then, whatever I find, I can cope. A tiny coat hook will be fine to place my tee shirt, shorts and usually, the now much maligned crocs, my preffered footwear.

Going for a shower wearing foulies and boots? Not on your life!

IMHO, of course.............

 

[Sandy]

I would also recite my experience at Hartlepool, in the hope it gets me removed from the child sex offender's register.

I was advised to cross the bridge and use the showers on the side away from the office in Hartlepool.

When visiting Braye, Alderney, both my crewmate and I forgot the soap - the sight of two grown men dashing between the shower and the wash hand basin to get soap from the dispenser caused much laughter amongst the other crews.

 

[Sandy]

Going for a shower wearing foulies and boots? Not on your life!

IMHO, of course.............

How do you walk from the boat to the amenity block with a F6, horizontal rain and a temperature of about 6°C before you take into consideration the wind chill after a long day (18 hours)?

 

[Daydream believer]

How do you walk from the boat to the amenity block with a F6, horizontal rain and a temperature of about 6°C before you take into consideration the wind chill after a long day (18 hours)?

He does not sail in the winter
He smells-- a lot
After 18 hours all he wants to do is get his head down & shower the following day.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

How do you walk from the boat to the amenity block with a F6, horizontal rain and a temperature of about 6°C before you take into consideration the wind chill after a long day (18 hours)?

Faced with such conditions I would shower on my own boat in comfort.

 

[johnalison]

This is the subject of perennial discussion on our boat. I agree with the separation of loos/showers, but the combined ones seemed fine at Hamble Point, without too many people using them.

If not already mentioned, I would add the need for a dry floor to change on. It may be OK for those who habitually go around in shorts and flip-flops but some of us lead civilised lives and a wet floor makes trousers wet and socks soggy. This is partly due to psychopathic shower-users who are happy to leave a quagmire for the next person to clear up. It is not hard to part dry while still in the shower and leave a dry floor outside.

Showers tend to be included in the price in Britain, so I can understand the need for some means of preventing overuse. Timed controls are a nuisance, but there is no reason why they should not be for half-minutes instead of a few seconds. I would also prefer it if there were some means of running the water until hot without the need to reach through a cold shower just to assess it. A steerable shower head is all I ask for.

 

[[2574]]

And as users we have a responsibility to leave the facilities in a state suitable for the next user. I’m constantly astonished and shocked by the mess (understatement but it is Sunday lunchtime)) some people leave behind for the next user or the facilities cleaner, it beggars belief that such people are part of a civilised society.

 

[geem]

And as users we have a responsibility to leave the facilities in a state suitable for the next user. I’m constantly astonished and shocked by the mess (understatement but it is Sunday lunchtime)) some people leave behind for the next user or the facilities cleaner, it beggars belief that such people are part of a civilised society.

I wonder how many people complain to management about shower facilities? I must confess that I never do but if the facilities are poor we just shower on the boat.

 

[[2574]]

I wonder how many people complain to management about shower facilities? I must confess that I never do but if the facilities are poor we just shower on the boat.

Likewise, very rarely complain to management, but the issue of cleanliness is often down to users who seemingly cannot operate a loo brush.

 

[geem]

Likewise, very rarely complain to management, but the issue of cleanliness is often down to users who seemingly cannot operate a loo brush.

I blame thier parents

 

[rotrax]

How do you walk from the boat to the amenity block with a F6, horizontal rain and a temperature of about 6°C before you take into consideration the wind chill after a long day (18 hours)?

I normally change into shore clothes, whatever the time of year. Since changing eight years ago to our current boat with its huge heated pilothouse, my shore clothes ARE my sailing clothes.

I might brave a F6 with horizontal rain at 6C degrees if I was suffering from an acute case of the squitters, but not for a shower-I would shower on board.

I have owned and sailed simple boats without the facilities we now enjoy, it is like camping on water.

Not for us anymore.

 

[johnalison]

I normally change into shore clothes, whatever the time of year. Since changing eight years ago to our current boat with its huge heated pilothouse, my shore clothes ARE my sailing clothes.

I might brave a F6 with horizontal rain at 6C degrees if I was suffering from an acute case of the squitters, but not for a shower-I would shower on board.

I have owned and sailed simple boats without the facilities we now enjoy, it is like camping on water.

Not for us anymore.

I should warn you that I harbour a perennial grudge against the owners of pilot-house boats. This developed when we set off for the Baltic in late May and picked up a couple of companions in Ijmuiden in a Nauticat 33. The next part of the trip, through Dutch canals and to Kiel took place in freezing cold weather with horizontal rain. At the end of each leg, although we had perfectly serviceable sea-going clothing, we were met by the sight of our companions poking their heads out of their saloon in little more than their pyjamas. We then had the task of peeling off multiple layers before we could join them for drinks.

 

[rotrax]

Told you so.................................

 

[ashtead]

If you go to Berthon in Lym it’s rumoured some facilities give e massage included in the berthing fee but seriously there are a limited number of adequate facilities but in summer months with charter boats these can become very busy. Other issues are communal shower blocks causing delays in user through put, now a limited sight but at least in the Solent I haven’t seen drug dealing as seen at Torquay marina . The best facilities are of course in Lymington but the Yarmouth ones much improved in recent years . I’m not certain many visit though as described by the OP but each to their own -maybe a RNLI dry robe for Christmas? Might ease the pain. Of French facilities general low scoring save for St Cast which seems popular for many.