Becoming demoralised...

[PaulRainbow]

Personally I prefer to avoid the cry of ‘Messiah’ when I open the hatch in the morning. Marinas are like living in a goldfish bowl. I wake up to be greeted by kingfishers, egrets, cormorants and the occasional seal.

We all have our own personal preferences. I used to have a swinging mooring in a reasonable remote land area, all very nice to start with, but dragging the tender to the waters edge, full of supplies, motoring to the boat, transferring the supplies, tying the tender up, heading off to fill up with water, running engines to charge batteries (solar now so not so much of an issue), motoring ashore for a pint/meal out and then repeating it all at the end of the weekend soon got very tiresome.

Moved to a marina a little further down the river. Same rural type location, but walk on/off access, electricity, water, pub/restaurant on site etc. Plenty of wildlife and seclusion a 5 minute motor along the river.

 

[Tranona]

Dover is a very long way from Poole though, and has little else to recommend it. We all have our pet ports though, mine is my home port of Yarmouth. With the new foot ferry, it might just be accessible to the OP, though I’d think a river mooring in Lymington or swing in Poole might suit better

Don't recall ever seeing a 44' MOBO permanently on a swinging mooring in Poole harbour, although RMYC have some moorings that could take one. Very exposed though. Problem with Poole is that 3 out of the 6 best marinas are owned by clubs and 2 of those are essentially sail only. Cobbs Quay is the most popular with MOBOs but not the best for access because of the bridge and Salterns is I think the most expensive in the country.

As the OP has found out there is a shortage of 12m+ berths everywhere around the Solent. All very well to talk about cheaper berths elsewhere - but they are cheaper for a reason mainly to do with demand.

 

[markc]

If you have the time, definitely consider basing the boat in the Med. It can be cheaper, warmer plus you'll get the chance to use the boat loads more rather than sheltering from the cold, wind and rain!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Don't recall ever seeing a 44' MOBO permanently on a swinging mooring in Poole harbour, although RMYC have some moorings that could take one. Very exposed though. Problem with Poole is that 3 out of the 6 best marinas are owned by clubs and 2 of those are essentially sail only. Cobbs Quay is the most popular with MOBOs but not the best for access because of the bridge and Salterns is I think the most expensive in the country.

As the OP has found out there is a shortage of 12m+ berths everywhere around the Solent. All very well to talk about cheaper berths elsewhere - but they are cheaper for a reason mainly to do with demand.

Of course, you’re right on all counts. Lymington and Yarmouth are his nearest ports which could accommodate a 44’ mobo. Boats have got bigger, it seems that moorings have not. We might squeeze another 2ft onto ours. More restricted now cos the guy in front has gone from a Vancouver 27 to a 34. More than a fathom longer.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Of course, you’re right on all counts. Lymington and Yarmouth are his nearest ports which could accommodate a 44’ mobo. Boats have got bigger, it seems that moorings have not. We might squeeze another 2ft onto ours. More restricted now cos the guy in front has gone from a Vancouver 27 to a 34. More than a fathom longer.

Probably a few kilos more draft as well

 

[Never Grumble]

Approaching semi retirement I started to investigate a slightly larger sail boat but have given up on that and spending the extra money on updating the present boat. Amazing how expensive boating can be and the number of people who can afford to do expensive boating!!

I sat down to do my retirement planning yesterday afternoon, actually writing the numbers down and adding them up gave me a bit of a shock.

 

[lustyd]

Now isn’t a good time to look at numbers, everything is down this week. With any luck we’ll be back to normal in February and it’ll be ok to look again and/or sell some investments