Becoming demoralised...

[ylop]

An astonishingly impressive display of faffing!

Fit permanent mooring warps to the pontoon (a bow, a stern and a spring line),

Certainly that might save a bit of effort - but (you’ll want two springs and) to tension them properly.

fit permanent fenders to the pontoon

If your marina will allow it, obviously is a chunk of cash and from what I’ve seen (many) people still put out their own fenders if leaving the boat permanently.

(obviously have mooring lines and fenders stored aboard for mooring elsewhere), and don't plug your shore power in if it's such a 'faff' (you don't have in on your swing mooring so you can obviously manage without it).

I fitted a solar panel but the OP is intending to have a generator. Generally considered antisocial to run that in a marina.

Lift three mooring warp eyes off three cleats and go. Opposite on return.

I don’t understand how you’ve got three lines with no tension/adjustment required and no second spring - certainly not how I’d be leaving a boat for a long time. If you want to leave your mooring lines permanently on the pontoon, assuming your marina permit it, then you need to leave the lines neat - not just so it’s safe for others but easy for you to pick up. A big job? No - that’s my point you have several small jobs which do add up.

Car handbrake to actually sailing VASTLY quicker and easier than faffing with launching a tender,

Surely depends on the storage and launch arrangements of your dinghy!

dragging the outboard down to it,

You bought the wrong o/b!

loading it up with gear, puttering out, tying it on, hoisting your gear and yourselves aboard,

Which my point is depending on the location of the mooring and distance down the pontoon, may actually not be the time difference you think - clearly if you are the closest pontoon berth in a tiny marina v a 15 minute dinghy trip then you will be - but if you are 300m pushing a trolley to get to the boat, and 300m to put the trolley back, and then walk back to the boat but your mooring is close to shore and your dinghy storage convenient you might be surprised if you actually time yourself.

wondering how you're going to clean the seagull poo off

Do seagulls not poo in your marina? Do you not have a bucket and a brush?

or deal with the flat battery without shore power,

Any sensible boat would have multiple batteries and the means to deal with that easily. Any sensible skipper would have left it so this was unlikely to happen anyway. If shore power is the answer you aren’t going anywhere quickly.

oh dear, forgotten the milk, back in the dinghy again... etc etc.

I’ve never forgotten the milk, but when in a marina I did have crew who would be, “oh I’m just going to get this from the car”, same when going home “people” seem to be more careful that they have everything when you are leaving the boat on a mooring than when you are just 5 minute walk away.

And yes, I've done both. Swinging moorings have their place - mostly cost plus quite nice to be on once you're actually there, but hugely more faffing about.

I’ve done both too (on the same boat) - I expected swing mooring to be a PITA and was pleasantly surprised that it could be slicker than expected.

It’s OK to have different views and experiences but I think it’s important that people understand that just because your are paying a premium for a marina berth it doesn’t mean it will be super convenient.

 

[ylop]

Lets not forget the lower insurance rates we get because we are in private, well maintained marines, rather than sloshing around on swing moorings open to the elements being battered by every storm coming our way and being hit by every boat who's captain is having a beer while steering.

How much do you think you are saving? I don’t recall my insurance changing price from switching marina to swing mooring. I’ve seen enough boats damaged on pontoons in really bad weather to suspect that the insurance cost would be similar. Obviously the “drunk” captain issue might be more of an issue in very busy areas, but I’ve seen boats pranged in marinas too! My insurer gives a few pounds off if there is 24 staff on site, and I think for CCTV. Even if my swing mooring insurance was free it wouldn’t offset the cost difference for a pontoon.

 

[dunedin]

….
If your marina will allow it, obviously is a chunk of cash and from what I’ve seen (many) people still put out their own fenders if leaving the boat permanently.
…….

The fenders screwed onto a pontoon are certainly not sufficient on their own in a severe storm, even in a well sheltered marina, in my experience.
When the boats start seriously moving around in the wind (even with no waves coming in) the pontoon fenders can get detached - either screws pulling through the fender holes or simply pulling out of thin pontoon decking. Regular occurrence in serious storms.
Best with a mix of both fixed and boat fenders.

 

[Elessar]

In the UK I only used 2 fenders in marinas most of the time.
Stern one has a loop and goes over a cleat. A half second job.
Only the forward one needs a knot. Hardly a lot of faff. If you’re putting loads of fenders out - why?

 

[SC35]

In the UK I only used 2 fenders in marinas most of the time.
Stern one has a loop and goes over a cleat. A half second job.
Only the forward one needs a knot. Hardly a lot of faff. If you’re putting loads of fenders out - why?

Because this can happen:

 

[Lucky Duck]

Because this can happen:

Sparkes?

 

[SC35]

Sparkes?

Indeed.

 

[Elessar]

Because this can happen:

I said “most of the time”. There is a thing called a weather forecast.

 

[SC35]

I said “most of the time”. There is a thing called a weather forecast.

Indeed.

But four fenders up the side spreads the load well for me in moderate conditions if it’s blowing onto the pontoon.
Fewer fenders might work fine if your marina is more sheltered.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Indeed.

Keep meaning to visit but if it’s that exposed to the prevailing winds I’d probably give it a miss as a permanent berth.

 

[SC35]

Keep meaning to visit but if it’s that exposed to the prevailing winds I’d probably give it a miss as a permanent berth.

It’s actually okay in almost all years - it’s maybe twice in 25 years that a chunky storm has come in from exactly the wrong wind direction and caused chaos.

And as Elessar says, the forecast is your friend.
The bad storms were all predicted well in advance, and were in Winter - many boats had been lifted out and were not affected.

 

[ylop]

I said “most of the time”. There is a thing called a weather forecast.

If I’m leaving the boat I like to work on the assumption that I’ll not be able to get back to the boat in time if there is a storm - whether leaving it in a marina or a mooring.

I also put out fenders on the other side - because sometimes people mess up and end up resting on you. So 4 fenders dock side, 2 open side. That’s six fenders to find in a locker, hang in the right position at the right height (perhaps all the pontoons you visit are the same height - but not here). Usually crew do that on the way in, and I adjust before leaving. Then on the way out they need removed, and stowed. Is it the most onerous task? No, but it is a degree of faff you just don’t have on a swing mooring.

 

[Alicatt]

Just had our invoice in for 2026 for Hunter, mooring for 12m comes to €488.01 inc VAT (£423.35)

We have 4 cylinder fenders along the side and a ball fore and aft, also ball fenders on the far side of the boat as some times people raft up when there is no space left on our dock. We have 2 springs and 3 points moored to the dock. More worried about branches falling from the trees and that bleeding tomcat that came and sprayed the canvas Bah! it stank.

 

[ari]

Certainly that might save a bit of effort - but (you’ll want two springs and) to tension them properly.

If your marina will allow it, obviously is a chunk of cash and from what I’ve seen (many) people still put out their own fenders if leaving the boat permanently.

I fitted a solar panel but the OP is intending to have a generator. Generally considered antisocial to run that in a marina.


I don’t understand how you’ve got three lines with no tension/adjustment required and no second spring - certainly not how I’d be leaving a boat for a long time. If you want to leave your mooring lines permanently on the pontoon, assuming your marina permit it, then you need to leave the lines neat - not just so it’s safe for others but easy for you to pick up. A big job? No - that’s my point you have several small jobs which do add up.

Surely depends on the storage and launch arrangements of your dinghy!

You bought the wrong o/b!

Which my point is depending on the location of the mooring and distance down the pontoon, may actually not be the time difference you think - clearly if you are the closest pontoon berth in a tiny marina v a 15 minute dinghy trip then you will be - but if you are 300m pushing a trolley to get to the boat, and 300m to put the trolley back, and then walk back to the boat but your mooring is close to shore and your dinghy storage convenient you might be surprised if you actually time yourself.

Do seagulls not poo in your marina? Do you not have a bucket and a brush?

Any sensible boat would have multiple batteries and the means to deal with that easily. Any sensible skipper would have left it so this was unlikely to happen anyway. If shore power is the answer you aren’t going anywhere quickly.

I’ve never forgotten the milk, but when in a marina I did have crew who would be, “oh I’m just going to get this from the car”, same when going home “people” seem to be more careful that they have everything when you are leaving the boat on a mooring than when you are just 5 minute walk away.

I’ve done both too (on the same boat) - I expected swing mooring to be a PITA and was pleasantly surprised that it could be slicker than expected.

It’s OK to have different views and experiences but I think it’s important that people understand that just because your are paying a premium for a marina berth it doesn’t mean it will be super convenient.

One warp from the stern quarter nearest the pontoon running aft, stops the boat moving forward, one spring warp from the same cleat running forward, stops the boat moving aft, one bow line. Won't work for sailing boats due to the hull shape, but we're in the motorboat forum. Of sufficient diameter and assuming a reasonably sheltered marina its all you need during the season when you're using your boat regularly. You might choose to add more warps or double up in the winter, but then you're not using the boat as much (indeed if it's on a swinging mooring it's probably out of the water anyway - another advantage of marina berthing).

Decent proper fender pads of an adequate size (not fenders lashed optimistically to the finger) require no extra fenders and are kinder to the boat as they spread the load.

Yes bird poo on boats in marinas, but they also have fresh water hoses that allow you to wash the boat down properly.

You will lose as many friends, probably more, running your generator on a quiet swinging mooring as you will in a marina, the beauty is that you don't have to in a marina, you can simply plug in, the ultimate in 240v convenience.

As said before, I'm not saying swinging moorings don't have their place, I've used them in the past. But the suggestion (that I was originally replying to) that marinas make it more of a faff to use the boat than swinging moorings really is for the birds.

 

[ylop]

As said before, I'm not saying swinging moorings don't have their place, I've used them in the past. But the suggestion (that I was originally replying to) that marinas make it more of a faff to use the boat than swinging moorings really is for the birds.

I don't think I was saying more of a faff, I was just pointing out that they have different faff and depending on the location of each might not take any longer.

 

[Tranona]

How much do you think you are saving? I don’t recall my insurance changing price from switching marina to swing mooring. I’ve seen enough boats damaged on pontoons in really bad weather to suspect that the insurance cost would be similar.

Are you sure? Every insurer I have been with has given a minimum10% discount for being in a recognised marina berth and no excess or loss of no claims for claims while in the berth.

 

[lustyd]

Are you sure? Every insurer I have been with has given a minimum10% discount for being in a recognised marina berth and no excess or loss of no claims for claims while in the berth.

GJW didn't change ours at all when we cancelled the marina berth, even though we told them we no longer had a home. Our "home berth" just states "various" on the docs. I was quite surprised as I was expecting it to rise quite a bit.

 

[ylop]

Are you sure? Every insurer I have been with has given a minimum10% discount for being in a recognised marina berth and no excess or loss of no claims for claims while in the berth.

There may be a difference in the excess, no claims rules - I'd need to delve into the policy to check. I've checked the invoices, and there was indeed a shift - moving between Largs and James Watt Dock halfway through the season cost me the extortionate increase of £0.52, moving to a swing mooring near Oban the following year put that up by £8.41 - but some of that was because its winter berth also moved to somewhere without 24/7 security, and general inflation increases.

 

[ylop]

GJW didn't change ours at all when we cancelled the marina berth, even though we told them we no longer had a home. Our "home berth" just states "various" on the docs. I was quite surprised as I was expecting it to rise quite a bit.

do they know you are liveaboard? in some ways that must resuce their risk?

 

[lustyd]

do they know you are liveaboard? in some ways that must resuce their risk?

Yes but they said that didn’t change anything. They did agree we can stay on mooring buoys any time of year but can’t leave overnight in winter on one. Not that I’d want to be on a buoy at the moment!