Are no moorings available on the Sath Coast

J

Jools_of_Top_Cat

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Have been reading the marina charging thread with interest; it does keep coming up, we are paying too much, yes I agree, so I rent a mooring at less than a quarter of the marina cost.

Does the sath coast not have this option any more?

Advantages of mooring >

Easier to get on in strong current / wind
Quieter and more private
Only accessible by dinghy (less of an Aladdin’s cave to thieves)
Less snobbery (in my opinion)
You have to be more self sufficient (I do have a twinge of satisfaction about this)
Less chance of being set on fire by your neighbour (recent proof)
Much safer in strong winds (boats have been known to go under pontoons)

Yes I understand the convenience of a pontoon, but it is not your only option, is it?

Don’t get me wrong though, I also envy the marina berth holders for the ability to

Walk on
Wash down with fresh water after a trip
Have Power available (but at what cost)
Easier to chat to neighbours
No dinghy trip, no dinghy full of water when you arrive home (rain).

So, if you are paying too much, vote with your feet and get a mooring, or pile whatever, then you might see prices fall.


<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

TC_COIN.GIF
 
I agree.

Keep my 12 metre lump on a mooring in Poole Harbour. The mooring is hired from Salterns the most expensive marina in Northern Europe. Cost 1200 quid for a 6 month mooring includes launch service on demand 0900 until 1700 and harbour dues etc.. Trouble is I have to find somewhere to keep her from 1st Nov until March. She is ashore in Davis's at present which costs around a grand all in. Cost of a 12 metre pontoon berth in Salterns..........around 8000 quid a year.
There are other moorings avalable in PH costing a tad less but nowhere to park and no launch.


Also from Salterns ...a once a year reception with as much champers as you can drink.........didn't make a grands worth though no matter how much SWMBO tried!

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Chi Harbour offers a lot of different types of mooring - that's where our little monkey is headed once we bring her down from her (tricky for us, hilarious for spectators) fore and aft mud mooring on the Medway. Chi offers all sorts - we're going for the cheapest (£150 per year, people!) which is swinging (pure joy after the shenanigans of fore and aft) and we'll have access 2.5 hours either side of HW (more joy, as we're used to 1 hour either side, rush, rush, rush, things going over the side, fun and games). I agree with you on the privacy, cost etc., and tea leafery is pretty much impossible through 6 feet of the finest Medway mud at low water. Totally agree about the satifying aspect of self-sufficiency, it's a kind of living in the wilds type thing. On balance I'd go with a mooring.

Having said all this, during our latest jaunt around Kent's rivers last week (was meant to be Essex, long story...) we ended up having to put into Gillingham Marina. Blimey. Luxury. Showers, toilets, water, leccy - I mean I knew obviously this is what marinas are meant to offer, but never having used one before I did get very attached to the creature comforts offered. Well, I wouldn't be a proper SWMBO if I didn't..!

Chi is about 45 minutes drive from us, that's the only thing. I'd love to be able to pop to the boat on a moment's notice - Brighton Marina is only 5 minutes away, and I know it's not the best in the world, but if we had the money we would seriously think about berthing Santa Teresa there, simply to be near her and have 24 hour access.

Ho hum. Beggars and choosers, eh?

Oh - and if anyone knows which "muddy creek near Brighton" was mentioned in one of the yottie mags a few months back (article about a bloke and his lovely wooden boat, pics of him and mates sailing in said muddy creek) I'd love to hear from you. I know of no creeks anywhere near here...

Pip pip.


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I think you will find that boats on swinging moorings are much more at risk from thieves than those in marinas.

<hr width=100% size=1>Sail the Se7en seas...
 
This compromise of renting off a marina or boatyard is not bad, I used to rent a trot off Moodys, and will request again if I ever complete a purchase. You get the car parking, the restaurant, the showers, (you get a launch I had to use my own tender but had a place to tie it up).

Also a swinging mooring is better for the boat as it doesn't weather in one spot only.

Also, even if you go aboard for a beer or a little varnishing you feel yourself at sea without all the bother of actually doing anything. Good for a relaxing snore.




<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
John,

My cruise to Southern Ireland this summer started at Dolphin Haven and ended on my mooring half an hour later as the engine snapped its cam belt and buggered the valves etc. Sat on the mooring for four days stripping and rebuilding. Crew stayed on board and enjoyed watching the racing in the harbour and just relaxing in the glorious weather. Ended up in Brittany cuz of time retraints. They enjoyed the stay on the mooring as much as the rest of our cruise.
Ireland next year....

Nigel

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I have tried both and am currently on a swinging mooring. For what it's worth here's how I see it.

Swinging mooring
Pros cheap (as much as anything marine is cheap), peace and quiet, ease of access and tying up, smug glances at other poor sods who can't get a mooring in my river.
Cons - time to and fro from mooring (I'm 1.5m from the landing), inconvenience for having work done on boat when not about, having occasionally to throw a boat off our mooring (twice in 8 years), theft (the boat 2 up from us was nicked this year, happily now returned to owner)

Marina
Pros, convenience, er is there anything else?
Cons - cost, other berth holders, damage from out of control berthing manouevres, noise of rigging in the wind

I have tried both when living 2hrs drive from the boat and as now 2 mins drive from boat. I now use marinas only when work needs to be done during the season and whilst living so close would go not back to a marina.

I might consider it if I had the 2hr drive again. I, too, was in Poole harbour off Brownsea for 3 seasons and got a tad fed up with the unpacking the dingy, etc that added at least an hour onto what was alread a long Friday.

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After 20 or so years on swinging moorings in Poole we eventually succumbed to the tempatations of our new club marina. When on a mooring I could never understand why some SMALL boats were kept in Salterns Marina in Poole, it has always been the most expensive in the UK, and the money saved by a swinging mooring would pay the mortgage to move up several boat sizes! That said after 20 years of arriving on board with wet gear from the dinghy trip the marina beckoned.

Advantages:-

We can be on board in 10 minutes from home, everything dry.
We can go down in the evening and do odd jobs, or sit and gaze at a view people pay millions for!
We have water available for filling the tanks or washing down the boat.
We have power available for boat heating, hot water, mains lighting, battery charging, power tools.
We get to socialise with many more people, it can take some time to walk to/from boat and car!
If we need outside help from engineers, the weather is not a limitation.
We can sleep on board after a boozy club social event, summer and winter. No taxi home required.
The boat stays much cleaner, no above waterline fouling.
Less risk of damage in bad weather (Poole is exposed to SW/W)
No dinghy banging the hull with wind against tide.
No dinghy to inflate/deflate except away from home.
We get to take the French booze off the boat by trolley not dinghy

The downsides are:-

Cost (about £1500 pa more than a club mooring plus winter in the yard, 41' boat)
We berth with the cockpit facing one of the best views in the UK, but into the prevailing wind/rain.
Berthing in bad conditions (downwind and/or being blown off) is harder than grabbing a mooring.


Wow now I know why! BUT we regard the home marina as a boatpark, when we are away any length of time it is much different and we will use a marina only every 5 or 6 days and anchor out wherever and whenever possible.

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Re: Muddy creek

Hmm, had considered Newhaven, but thought that only lickle motor boats could get up there under the bridge..? I guess Shoreham would maybe be the one. Could always just ask my mate, as she was actually in the boat in the photos...

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I think you'll like Chichester harbour. I learned to sail on the East coast (Burnham) and kept my boat at Maylandsea for the first year. Chichester is just like that, the mudflats, the haunting calls of Curlews and Redshanks, the endless sunsets, etc., etc. We even have seals and dolphins, (though not at the same time) not to mention egrets.
Swinging moorings are not invulnerable to theft, as the boats are unattended and unwatched, but we tend to have less to pinch than the marina boys which puts the pros off. I've had 1 break-in in 18 years, and I'm pretty sure it was kids after the beer in the bilges.

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Yup, I'm really looking forward to it. All v pretty - tho' of course lacking in the many and varied species of the Medway and Thames Estuary, such as the Red-Spotted Power Station, the Wide-Shanked Container Carrier, the Bandy-Legged Battle Tug and the Brown-Chested Sewage Works...

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://kilkerr.members.easyspace.com/santateresa_pics.htm>Santa Teresa and other t'ings</A>
 
They were probably dreading the hack to Cork or wherever anyway, instead they got all the good bits about being afloat during a sunny summer. I've never been to Ireland but the idea of "heading south" is a great magnet.

How did you manage with the engine, that's a big job.



<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
John,

It's amazing what you can do with the manual. Only problems were obtaining parts as the engine is 25 years old but thanks to Ford main dealer managed to get all required (the engine is a Ford Tempest which is the marinised version of the series A Transit engine) and getting the timing sorted. A cheap but very good non marine mechanic skimmed and rebuilt the head for a song. Cannot afford Salterns 70 quid an hour.
The weather for the days we were on the mooring was perfect for Cork wind south easterly for a 4 day period. By the time the engine was fixed it was westerly so Brittany was a better option.

Nigel

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Based in Chi Harbour, and I cannot remember when I last used a marina in my own boat. My swinging mooring gives minimium 4 hrs each side of HW, much more on neap tides. It costs me £150 a year. I gether there are swinging moorings available in Langstone, and more up in Portsmouth.

Could the 'muddy creek' near Brighton be Shoreham, or Littlehampton? Both have plenty of boats and plenty of mud, though I have no idea of the moorings situation in Shoreham. Littlehampton is pretty well limited to the 2 marinas, having little or no room for swinging moorings.

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8 grand a year for a pontoon berth? Bl#$dy Hell!
Now I remember why we dont live in England any more.
A 12 metre pontoon in Lagos portugal is 4091euros plus 19% iva (4868.29 euros per annum)


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Yes but we too are in Poole and our berth for 12.5mts is less than yours in Portugal. OK ours is a club marina but Davis's and Cobb's Quay are similar cost, it is Salterns that are out of step, unbelievable rates for not a lot really IMHO!

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Phew! Thank goodness for that.
I know I am a bit out of touch in UK but that did sound a hell of a lot. I had visions of everybody giving up boats cos of mooring prices.
Why are Salterns so out of touch then? Have they just got greedy or do they have a reason.
We did spend a week or so in Cobbs Quay 4 years ago, but cannot remember what we paid.


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