Berthing charges around the UK (and further?)

cimota

cimota

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Putting costs and everything into the big spreadsheet in my head for the eventual boat purchase and I'm kinda curious of costs.

How much is it to berth (annually) where you are?

Bangor Marina, one of the Quay Marinas) is reputed to be an expensive, privately-owned marina and I put the costs for a 10m (30 ft or so) boat (to get the idea) into their annual calculator and I get an annual cost of £2250 (or 10 instalments of £237).

Now, just across the lough at the Council-owned Carrickfergus marina, they have an annual cost of £202 per metre which comes to £2020 per year. Not a lot of difference.

Now, for somewhere that it tidally locked, has poor-to-bad weather, and launches you out into the rough bit of the Irish sea, I'm curious about the value proposition here.
 
cimota said:
Now, for somewhere that it tidally locked, has poor-to-bad weather, and launches you out into the rough bit of the Irish sea, I'm curious about the value proposition here.
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Can't comment on the prices you have quoted, but one more consideration you should make in your comparisons is the distance you have to travel from home to boat.

I found 45 minutes too much on a previous home/boat. Now it is down to 5 minutes but we have to pay more for the privilege.
 
I don't have a marina berth but I often wonder at the value offered by some.
We have all sorts in the Devon area, from the first rate, to the third world.
Top notch Solent style will cost, say, £3000 pa for a 10m boat. Downmarket comes in at c£2000. For your 2 grand you can get showers in a tin hut (if you are fortunate), wonky cramped pontoons, public parking, tidal constraints and homespun management.
A thousand extra pounds is a lot of dosh but I think I would be tempted to spend it, or get a trot mooring.
 
What would be a really useful exercise would be if someone would set up a website of berthing charges at marinas, harbours and yacht clubs all round the UK, where users could (anonymously) enter what they actually pay and size of boat etc.

It could build up into a useful database.

Any volunteers for such a project?

Perhaps that's something that could be added to an existing site like Three Point Fix?
 
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Not exactly round the corner for most of you, but four years ago annal harbour fees for 10m boat on Isle of Man were around £100 (yes, one hundred) plus VAT. They'll have gone up a bit since then. The fee covered you to berth in any and all IoM harbours. This entitled you to moor alongside, or in some cases, for fore-and-aft moorings. Marina berths in Douglas and Peel are obviously rather costlier.
 
Bangor might be the most expensive marina in Northern Ireland but it is cheaper than the Clyde & Southern Ireland and those prices would trigger partying in the street if applied to English south coast marinas. It also seems pretty well run.

There are cheaper marinas in the north. Look at the prices for Ardglass, Glenarm, Ballycastle. There's also a marina at Portaferry but if boat handling ever became an Olympic sport they might well stage it at Portaferry.

There's also lots of places where you could moor a boat, not just in Belfast Lough but in Strangford Lough too.
 
cimota said:
Bangor Marina, one of the Quay Marinas) is reputed to be an expensive, privately-owned marina and I put the costs for a 10m (30 ft or so) boat (to get the idea) into their annual calculator and I get an annual cost of £2250 (or 10 instalments of £237).

Now, just across the lough at the Council-owned Carrickfergus marina, they have an annual cost of £202 per metre which comes to £2020 per year. Not a lot of difference.

Now, for somewhere that it tidally locked, has poor-to-bad weather, and launches you out into the rough bit of the Irish sea, I'm curious about the value proposition here.
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Since when has either Bangor or Carrickfergus been "tidally locked"? Both were all-tide access last time I visited.
Compared with the English/Scottish side, NI. is very reasonable cost.
As for the "rough bit" of the Irish Sea, I see the Irish coast as normally the smooth bit.
Can't really disagree about the weather though!
 
ProDave said:
What would be a really useful exercise would be if someone would set up a website of berthing charges at marinas, harbours and yacht clubs all round the UK, where users could (anonymously) enter what they actually pay and size of boat etc.

It could build up into a useful database.

Any volunteers for such a project?

Perhaps that's something that could be added to an existing site like Three Point Fix?
Click to expand...

I think this pretty much covers it.

http://www.pbo.co.uk/marina-guide
 
SolentBoy said:
I think this pretty much covers it.

http://www.pbo.co.uk/marina-guide
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Thanks, that's a useful start.

By no means complete though, for instance on my patch there's no mention of Avoch, Fortrose, Balintore, Portmahomack, Cromarty, Invergordon or Helmsdale (all places I considered) so there must be hundreds of places not listed throughout the UK.
 
earlybird said:
Since when has either Bangor or Carrickfergus been "tidally locked"? Both were all-tide access last time I visited.
Compared with the English/Scottish side, NI. is very reasonable cost.
As for the "rough bit" of the Irish Sea, I see the Irish coast as normally the smooth bit.
Can't really disagree about the weather though!
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We have friends who have moved their berth from Carrick to Portpatrick because missing the tides can ruin a day out.

I am buoyed up by the pricing reported here - it's not a lot of money really (much less than the mortgage I'm paying here) though it doesn't include leccy and other things. 5-8K I've had reported in far off climes.

The North Irish gets very bad press. They should work on that :) Good for surfing and windsurfing apparently.

And the weather - well - at least NI sailors are definitely going to be wearing their oilies.

I've already started on working on a "moorings" type app for around the Irish coasts - attempting to crowdsource much of the data and using local university student placements as the manpower. Link here.
 
Well you guys should think yourselves lucky.

Renewal at Port Hamble (MDL) for 40 foot berth this year is over £9000. And if you are a catamaran...........£13500!!!!!!!! When I received the renewal, it took my breath away.

So, it seems like however much you are paying, it can always get worse.

Cheers

Garold
 
I hope this doesn't sound too commercial but may I recommend Cardiff see: www.cardiffmarina.com . Prices are £220 / metre / year with full services and 365 day / 24 hour access to the sea via Cardiff Bay Barrage. We are very proud of the facilities and with the inclusion of Milford Marina in the group there are discount visitor exchange programmes, regattas etc. We are keen to promote the merits of South Wales (and beyond to Ireland) as a fantastic new place to discover. Affordable quality if you like.
 
ChristopherOS said:
We are keen to promote the merits of South Wales (and beyond to Ireland) as a fantastic new place to discover. Affordable quality if you like.
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Rubbish, south Wales is completely dreadful, full of awful people, very crowded, extremely expensive, very few decent chandleries, no good restaurants and nowhere to cruise to. Under no circumstances would it be sensible to leave the quiet and inexpensive south and south west coasts of England. You'd hate it. Honest.
 
Locmiquélic (Lorient) £1385 (9m50 berth) (payable in 10 instalments) including

reductions for long-term absences (cruising) if notified in advance,
access 24/7
Free electricity
Free water
Free showers
2 nights free at each of some 45 other partner marinas.
Subsidized (-40%) lift-out costs (in and out + 48 hrs on shore) £58.

I couldn't (or wouldn't) afford to boat in the UK or Ireland.
 
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I am amused by the idea that someone moves their berth from all weather Carrickfergus marina to Portpatrick because of access issues, the latter has depth problems in the fairway at low water even at neaps and you need to be pretty brave to enter or leave if the prevailing westerlies are F5 or above, if you can't get in you have to traverse the tide all the way to Loch Ryan. When we visited Portpatrick more frequently we were always prepared to have to wait until the wind dropped in the evening to get out safely, even with dredging of the channel the strong tidal streams along the Mull can give you a very uncomfortable first hour or two of your passage.
 
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