Annoying marina design mistakes

[Daydream believer]

When i go to various marinas i am amazed how they seem to repeat mistakes in design
One is the position of the electric boxes.
Why on earth do they put them right in line with the bow of the boat on the pontoon?
In one french port i came in single handed & wiped out the box with my bow anchor
In Dieppe in heavy winds the harbour staff had to struggle to hold my bow off whilst i tied up to the pontoon where the cleats did not make it easy to tie to & had to lash the bow to one side to miss it
i will not mention where else they do this on the grounds it may incriminate me

Why do they put the spring cleat half way up the pontoon so that only the smallest boat finds it in the right place instead of a bit nearer the end

Why do they put wood rubbing strakes on the pontoon but miss the bit in the corner where there is always a b..y great metal bracket waiting to chip the gel off the bow?

As for showers.
Why are they all 750 mm square so when one drops the soap one cannot bend to pick it up without rubbing ones rear end up the tiles
Why is there no shelf in the shower to stick ones accesories whilst showering

Why do marinas - like Eastbourne- spend a fortune on showers ( many do not spend any money I hasten to add) & put the loo in the same cubicle as the shower
If the vistor before one needs to discharge last nights curry so the following person has to shower whilst inhaling the stink
Why do marinas like Oban ( gets the award for scanciest showers in UK) stick a door on the shower so that to get from the tiny changing area one has to step naked from the cubicle to open the door to get in or out of the shower

Just a couple but I am sure forumites have their own pet hates

 

[AngusMcDoon]

There are lots of new pontoons going in on the west coast of Scotland, and there are some unbelievable errors in the layout and sizing of the pontoons. Examples are...

Mallaig is the worst cock-up, where the fingers are way too far apart such that the length of the main pontoon is wasted. When they are busy they have to put 3 boats between each pair of fingers. They know the problem but won't change it now as the holes for attaching the fingers have been drilled and they don't want empty holes.

Lochaline, where most of the fingers are too small. This is almost entirely a visitors' facility. Most visitors have boats of 35' or up, but many of the fingers are only really suitable for boats of 30'. There are also far too few electrical sockets.

Lochinver, the opposite, where there are 20 or so resident dayboats - but all the berths are for boats much larger, so space wasted again. (This is going to be remedied when the council have the funds by creating 20 small boat berths).

Port Ellen, where the hammer head berths are not optimal. There are asymmetric fingers available that have a straight edge along one side which when used on a hammer head makes one double length berth for a big boat. Using the symmeric type with an angle or curve at the root leads to a bulge in the middle of the hammer head, so they have no berths suitable for large boats (new pontoons this year may have changed that).

They really should get someone who sails to design their layout.

 

[harry potter]

Cherbourg where you jump off and it sinks!

 

[JumbleDuck]

Port Bannatyne doesn't have bow cleats on the finger. The first cleat is about six feet back from the root and the only bow cleat is on the pontoon itself. Fine if the wind is onto the finger but a pain if it's blowing you off, as there is no way of pulling the bow forward and in.

To add to that, the cleats are galvanised bars and almost invisible against the galvanised framing of the pontoons and fingers. Everyone I know who goes there regularly has stubbed feet on the damn things.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Lochaline, where most of the fingers are too small. This is almost entirely a visitors' facility. Most visitors have boats of 35' or up, but many of the fingers are only really suitable for boats of 30'.

Excellent! Duly noted ...

 

[Birdseye]

The worst one round here, and maybe even UK wide, is Watchet where the design of the walls and gate system has ensured the place clogs up with mud at a tremendous rate and leaves the operator with major economic problems. Have a look at the Bristol channel bit of the forum to see what I mean.

 

[johnalison]

My home marina at Titchmarsh, like some others, can be challenging for visitors since the fingers have hoops instead of cleats, OK if you have your own lines.

Poor protection from swell is a common problem, when a small shelter would make all the difference.

British showers on the whole are rather better than most continental ones, and invariably included in the price. My chief grouse is a wet changing area, since I am a cold mortal and mostly wear long trousers. A shower curtain or door is hardly rocket science. In this respect, communal showers such as at Salcombe YC can be better.

What we want from marinas is easy berthing, safety and comfort, with wide alleys so as not to be too challenging for the inexperienced, unlike St Peter Port and Stralsund.

 

[prv]

Port Bannatyne doesn't have bow cleats on the finger. The first cleat is about six feet back from the root and the only bow cleat is on the pontoon itself.

Are the gaps between the boards big enough to get a warp through and round the frame? Quite a few boats at our home marina have at least one line done like that, as do we when I put on the extra winter warps when we lay up afloat.

Pete

 

[prv]

British showers on the whole are rather better than most continental ones, and invariably included in the price. My chief grouse is a wet changing area, since I am a cold mortal and mostly wear long trousers.

It's impossible to get truly dry in most marina showers, whether from overspray from the shower or just the damp steam swirling around. So I generally visit the ablutions in minimal clothing (loose shorts, t-shirt, sandals), accept that I'll still be somewhat damp when I put them back on, and get properly dried and dressed back on the boat.

As you say, a more open area can be better for this, due to ventilation, than a cramped mass of small damp cubicles.

Pete

 

[Lucky Duck]

Where berth numbers are difficult or impossible to read as you motor down the fairway trying to find your allocated berth

Lack of a cleat on the end of a finger makes life harder than it need be

 

[stuartwineberg]

Where berth numbers are difficult or impossible to read as you motor down the fairway trying to find your allocated berth
Lack of a cleat on the end of a finger makes life harder than it need be

+1 on the berth numbers - I like visiting Gosport marina but always struggle with that one

 

[[32511]]

Not a marina, but Tobermory harbour's slipway takes some beating. About an 80 degree angle to reverse round at the top, and no wall to moor against once launched- just rocks.
They do have plans for a rather better one, which I hope will get the go-ahead!

 

[JumbleDuck]

Are the gaps between the boards big enough to get a warp through and round the frame? Quite a few boats at our home marina have at least one line done like that, as do we when I put on the extra winter warps when we lay up afloat.

No boards - panels of coarse mesh (recycled GRP, I think) set in galvanised framing. The lack of bow cleats is astonishing - the place, or rather the components. must have been designed by someone who had never had to tie up a boat.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Not a marina, but Tobermory harbour's slipway takes some beating. About an 80 degree angle to reverse round at the top, and no wall to moor against once launched- just rocks.
They do have plans for a rather better one, which I hope will get the go-ahead!

Ah, Tobermory. Twenty quid a night and the showers are locked at 8pm.

 

[prv]

No boards - panels of coarse mesh (recycled GRP, I think) set in galvanised framing. The lack of bow cleats is astonishing - the place, or rather the components. must have been designed by someone who had never had to tie up a boat.

Ah, I know the stuff.

Still possible to attach a line using several turns of thinner cord through the mesh, but of course you shouldn't need to employ such chicanery.

Pete

 

[Goldie]

Cleats. Any pontoon or finger which needs the end of a rope passing through a loop to make fast instead of having a 'proper' cleat that can be looped, lassooed or have bowline dropped on it.

ESPECIALLY - if it coincides with a finger which barely reaches the boat's mid-point and sinks when you stand on it.

 

[johnalison]

Cleats. Any pontoon or finger which needs the end of a rope passing through a loop to make fast instead of having a 'proper' cleat that can be looped, lassooed or have bowline dropped on it.

ESPECIALLY - if it coincides with a finger which barely reaches the boat's mid-point and sinks when you stand on it.

I think it is high time we campaigned for a standard Eurocleat. This would be a cleat with a hole for threading a line, and at least we would know what to expect when coming in to land.

 

[Daydream believer]

I think it is high time we campaigned for a standard Eurocleat. This would be a cleat with a hole for threading a line, and at least we would know what to expect when coming in to land.

Can you imagine the EU getting their hands on that request
Every pontoon in Europe ( except French Spanish & Greeks who would ignore it anyway) would have massive bollards to take 50 tonne barges, Ropes would have to be minimum 3 inch dynema
All corners would have to be welded steel frames with no protection. Every boat would have to have 30 different ropes & 10 cleats along each gunwhale, Fenders would have to be maximum 1 per boat 2 inch diameter ( to suit the French)
5 marina staff on hand for all berthing.
Qualified persons only allowed to dock boats
Fines for UK marinas would run into millions

They would go on for ever

 

[westhinder]

Can you imagine the EU getting their hands on that request
Every pontoon in Europe ( except French Spanish & Greeks who would ignore it anyway) [...]

They would go on for ever

Exactly. It were the French, Spanish and Greeks who ignored the red diesel directive and subesequently blamed the Dutch and the Belgians.
Or did I miss something?

 

[Sybarite]

Exactly. It were the French, Spanish and Greeks who ignored the red diesel directive and subesequently blamed the Dutch and the Belgians.
Or did I miss something?

I think finger pontoons should have a vertical post 3'-4' high at the end over which you could drop a loop attached to a midships cleat on the boat. Keeping the motor slow ahead the boat is pinned to enable you at attach the other warps.