Advice on UK marinas/areas for liveaboard (and any jobs...)

[H35]

Due to personal reasons I may find myself spending 6-12 months in the UK. To make it less dull, bringing my sailboat over and live in it may be an option.
A reasonably priced marina, which provides electricity, washing fascilities and a daily shower is what I'm looking for. Oh, wait.... There are a few wishes more. It may well be in an area with decent public transportarion (trains, planes...). -And any sort of job opportunity to bring food on my table while I'm there.
I really have no idea what part of the UK is the more prosporous. I suppose I could do anything from providing professional sales to a detail shop (outdoors, sports, boating...), to driving commercial trucks, or even pour pints in a pub somewhere.

So if anyone could bring on any good advice to me, should it come to this, I would really appreciate it.

Throwing in a picture of my boat to make you more curious...

 

[Mike k]

Liverpool marina could work for many of your requirements. Lots of liveaboards there.

 

[pvb]

A reasonably priced marina, which provides electricity, washing fascilities and a daily shower is what I'm looking for.

Perhaps if you define your idea of "reasonably priced", you may get better feedback.

Edit: The more prosperous areas of the UK are in the south east, and that's also where you'd find the best job opportunities and transport links. But you'd be paying at least £4000 a year for a marina berth for your boat.

 

[H35]

Perhaps if you define your idea of "reasonably priced", you may get better feedback.

Not familiar with UK prices. If any job should arise in an area, it would make a slightly higher price acceptable. Outside Oslo it would easily run up to £2000-2500 a year ex electricity for a boat the size of mine (35ft).

 

[pvb]

OK, I edited my post whilst you were writing yours. As an example, Brighton Marina is fairly open to liveaboards, has great facilities, has good transport links, and is in a vibrant city with loads of job opportunities. But it would cost £4000 a year to moor your boat there.

https://www.premiermarinas.com/UK-Marina-locations/Brighton-Marina

 

[[3889]]

About £2.5k for a berth at Preston with good transport but not exactly a prosperous region.

 

[H35]

OK, I edited my post whilst you were writing yours. As an example, Brighton Marina is fairly open to liveaboards, has great facilities, has good transport links, and is in a vibrant city with loads of job opportunities. But it would cost £4000 a year to moor your boat there.

https://www.premiermarinas.com/UK-Marina-locations/Brighton-Marina

£4000 may very well be payable. It depends what income I would be able to scrape together as a formally "uneducated" but skilled and hard working 50 year old.

 

[H35]

About £2.5k for a berth at Preston with good transport but not exactly a prosperous region.

I'll Google Preston! (Where it is....?)

 

[H35]

Liverpool marina could work for many of your requirements. Lots of liveaboards there.

All I know about Liverpool is Kevin Keegan, and something about language difficulties there....

 

[Ludd]

HGV driving on nights on agency in Felixstowe/Ipswich area pays about 30% more than NW England. Preston is cheap for a reason!
Don't say liveaboard Say " I will be spending most of my time aboard"
Fox's marina or Ipswich dock would suit. If working agency, you need a car to get to most jobs.

 

[laika]

As an example, Brighton Marina is fairly open to liveaboards, has great facilities, has good transport links, and is in a vibrant city with loads of job opportunities.

From the Brighton Ts&Cs:

12. LIVING ABOARD BOATS IS PROHIBITED
12.1 No one is permitted to reside aboard a Boat in the Marina and Boats may not be used as houseboats. This restriction does not prevent residence aboard a Boat during a holiday. In any event, no one is permitted to reside aboard any Boat for more than forty days in any twelve month period unless with the express written permission of the Marina Manager. At no time should a Boat be hired out or rented to third parties for residential purposes.

Now the point here is not to contradict pvb but to highlight the difference between "official" and "unofficial" liveaboards. On the south coast you'll find it difficult to find anywhere that officially allows liveaboards. I don't know what the situation is like elsewhere but the couple of marinas in central London which have proper residential moorings I've been on the waiting list for for over 10 years. So probably best to ask around (e.g. on the liveaboard forum) what the de facto situation is at a particular marina than calling them up and asking if they accept liveaboards. A knock-on problem for you would be having an official address in order to register for tax in order to work. Most "unofficial" liveaboards will use the address of family or friends for this. This may be more challenging for you depending on your contacts in the UK. There are post forwarding services (e.g.http://www.boatmail.co.uk/dvla.html) but I have no personal experience of them.

One other bit of advice would be that if you're thinking of less than 12 months, many marinas do very attractive winter rates for the 6 months october-march which don't always appear on their web sites, so if you're staying here over winter (which only someone from Scandinavia would regard as an attractive option) and not for a whole 12 months, definitely ask about winter deals. In Brighton for example the winter deal + 6 individual summer months is about the same price as an annual contract.

 

[A1Sailor]

Maybe find a job then decide where to berth?
http://eddiestobart.com/careers/vacancies/

 

[Daverw]

Hull Marina could be an option, good rail links and marina in centre of city, on the right side of the UK from Norway, cost when we were quoted for 30' was £2000

 

[jdc]

Firstly I'm sure you'll be made very welcome, particlarly so as a Norwegian who are very much liked here. Unemployment in the UK is actually very low by any European standards, and a fit 50 year old who wants a job will certainly find something unless in one of the mercifully few areas of real deprivation. Wages and demand for employees correlate pretty well, so this may be a uesful guide https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/nesscontent/dvc126/

From the suggestions made earlier, Suffolk Coastal looks good, for instance Ipswich. The area is pleasant enough with good local cultural things, there are trains to London and Cambridge and it's not so far from airports (Standsted and Norwich are relevant for you probably).

Welcome from me anyway!

 

[pvb]

From the Brighton Ts&Cs:

Official terms and conditions are often present to satisfy planning restrictions. The reality, as you surely know, is that Brighton Marina has many liveaboards, who don't get hassled by the marina.

 

[laika]

Official terms and conditions are often present to satisfy planning restrictions. The reality, as you surely know, is that Brighton Marina has many liveaboards, who don't get hassled by the marina.

Now the point here is not to contradict pvb but to highlight the difference between "official" and "unofficial" liveaboards.

Premier will even rent you a mailbox for £250p.a into which they'll put 80% of the mail which gets sent to you. Wonder why they think anyone would go for that who were spending <40 day a year there?

 

[Lucky Duck]

What do they do with the other 20% of the post?

 

[pvb]

What do they do with the other 20% of the post?

Eat it.

 

[laika]

What do they do with the other 20% of the post?

Based on how we'd regularly get other people's mail and occasionally missing stuff appeared in our mailbox a couple of months after the "received" date the marina stamped on everything I imagine it was mostly down to some staff not being able to match the number on the envelope with the number on the box and some less public spirited box owners binning incorrectly delivered mail rather than returning it to the office. And there were the times the mailboxes were levered open because they're pretty much made out of tinfoil.

 

[thesaintlyone]

Gillingham Marina has Tidal which unofficially doesn't mind liveaboards showers toilets laundry etc on the site about £300 a month.

Job wise Agency work for Commercial Trucks is plentiful if you have the license or Agency working in social care working with kids in care or those with disabillity or the elderly again plentiful and flexible