annual berths available in marinas- sign of the times?

[PaulR]

couple of weekends ago spent a night at Mercury MDL marina in the Hamble and noted large sign saying "anuual berths available", last weekend strolling round Lymington and noted at marina similar sign - can't remember ever seeing signs before advertising annual berths and have often heard/read talk of waiting list? do wonder if this is a sign of supply and demand swinging the other way and perhaps - ever optimistic- charges might fall!

 

[capt_courageous]

Hi Neighbour
The first we noticed this was at Universal on the Hamble who were having some difficulty letting berths. I think the market has just topped out. Why anyone would pay such marina prices for the pleasure?? of sailing in the Solent at weekends defeats me. Luckily we have a very good cheap mooring and sail during the week.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Universal is maybe the odd one out because in '06 it built a lot of extra berths. Despite the fact that there are empty berths, it's still charging like a wounded rhino.

 

[Deleted member 478]

or perhaps folks are voting with their keels and heading south to sunnier climes?

 

[RobBrown]

I think so- first 4 people I chatted to at a recent Solent Moody Owners do had all moved their boats to France in last few years- tho I was told now getting big waiting lists there in favoured spots!

 

[boatmike]

Yeah! And pigs might fly.....

 

[MidlandsOnSea]

We've just sold our 36 foot boat and bought something we can trail. The cost of marina mooring charges was spoiling our enjoyment. Not having to drive down to the marina to do our maintenance, and the prospect of sailing in different areas are an added bonus that helped convince us that trailer sailing was worth a try. It's not just the mooring fees - you have to add the crane charges, storage ashore, the costs of paying others to do simple jobs simply because you cannot justify a trip to the marina for small maintenance tasks etc.

So far, it feels liberating.

 

[PeteMylett]

[ QUOTE ]
last weekend strolling round Lymington and noted at marina similar sign - can't remember ever seeing signs before advertising annual berths

[/ QUOTE ]


Hey I have a mooring in Berthon lymington. Which marina was it - might at least be able to use it as a bargaining ploy...

 

[PaulR]

the other one - nearest the IOW where ancasta are based (strolled round to look at their boat show ) and large sign on way down to show jetty

 

[bobgosling]

Maybe we should e-mail all the Marina owners the story about The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg ?

I too am about to leave a marina due to unaffordable charges.

 

[Superstrath]

Maybe the signs are to get a bigger waiting list built up, so that charges can rise.

 

[ChrisE]

Hmm, I think you'll find that the berths available will be for small or big craft. Last time I enquired craft in the range 35-45' had a 1-2 year wait. Things might have changed but given that this is the entry level these days, I somehow doubt it.

Not that I care, I'm on a swinger, he-he.

 

[Rob_Webb]

So what's the going rate for a 12m berth in a Solent marina these days?

Then I need to convert that into some other everyday cost of living benchmark, for instance a pint of beer?

Here in NZ I found almost everything (boaty and otherwise) seemed to be more expensive than in the UK but was plesantly suprised by marina costs. For a top-class marina I pay NZD$400 per month for a 12m berth i.e. NZD$4,800 p.a. which turns into about £1,700 p.a.

At about NZD$4 for a beer, it's gonna cost me about 1,200 beers to berth my boat for the year.

Or say a nice central Auckland hotel will be around NZD$200 per night, so it's gonna cost me two hotel nights for a month's berthage.

How does that compare with UK marina prices today?

 

[FullCircle]

Are we talking Pints or bottles here?

My swinging mooring, 11m is £1100 including Water Taxi/Dinghy & Outboard Storage and Winter hardstanding which is 458 pints in the bar.

In bottles that would be about 520.

 

[ChrisE]

12m berth in the western Solent is about £6000, and at £2.50 pint works out at about 2400 pints.

OTOH 1, a swinger on a nearby river comes in at about 200 pints, so you pays yer money... Well kind of, only locals, like me, are eligible for the swingers.

OTOH 2, in Norway we paid £400 for 10 months in marina with leccy, etc and with beer at £10/pint that's 40 pints. Beat that!

 

[Judders]

Now that I have got myself a good solid tender, I am wondering why I ever took seriously the quote of £1400 for a marina berth. The tide window is roughly the same, my mooring is in a gorgeous little tree-lined creek (Rythe as they call them locally).

On sunday evening we sat there moored doing odd jobs and relaxing and it was far more pleasant than any marina. In my view, Marinas are ok if you get an outside berth such as the one i had at Sparkes for a week because I could see out, but I am far happier with my view of the creek than a view of a couple of walls of white gelcoat!

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

East Coast, I am paying £2,666 for a 12m berth...

at £2.50 a pint thats 1066 pints.... not bad... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[BlueSkyNick]

On the piles in Beaulieu river, its 58.50/ft +VAT so a 44ft boat is just about 3000.

Same boat in Lymington yacht haven was to be about 8000 on a berth shorter than the boat, or 9000 for a berth longer than the boat. When I questioned the logic, they said it was a win-win for the marina. I complemented them on their honesty, and said I would come back another year.... when I earn as much as Enstone.

I had only been on the waiting list 3 months, which they review during March when the dues are due.

 

[nicho]

[ QUOTE ]
the other one - nearest the IOW where ancasta are based

[/ QUOTE ]

Last year, on a visit to Lymington Yacht Haven, I asked what were the chances of getting a berth for our (then) 37' boat. In spite of rumours circulating of a three year wait list, we could have got a berth there and then. I think that it depends what size of berth you need.

Also heard that Hythe Marina are advertising too, with some 30+ berths to fill. In Chichester Marina however, one 42' boat is still being moved from one temporary berth to another 'cos they can't give him a permanant spot - full up. Mind, for a 42' boat, Chichester is some £2500 cheaper than most solent marina berths.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Interestingly an East Coast marina told me a couple of weeks back that they have quite a few spaces for boats >38' LOA, but little or nothing for boats smaller than this.....

Kind of at odds with the market perception that all the boats are getting bigger.... I wonder if its related to the fact that its bloody expensive to keep a boat >38' in a marina, and the price has just started to get too high..... maybe its a sign of a period of small or no price rises over the next few years (he says optimistically!)