Buy boat & then arrange berth - OR arrange berth & then buy boat.

sharpness

sharpness

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With the boat buying process, is it the norm to have a berth all arranged prior to purchasing a boat, or is it looked upon more favourable by marina operators / yacht clubs to offer a berth once a boat has been purchased.

The reason for my asking, is I currently hope to have funding all in place for boat purchase towards the end of 2012, but have noticed many marinas and clubs have waiting lists for a berth, in particular for a mobo 11 - 13 metre l.o.a, location ideally on the Severn. Does the forum think it wise to approach marinas / clubs at this stage and put my name forward for a berth (running the risk of looking like a timewaster if offered a berth, and don't yet have a boat), or to wait until boat purchase process is underway and then enquire for a berth (running the risk of having a boat and nowhere to moor it).

Thanks in advance for any advice given.
 
BERTH/BOAT

I remember a bloke who had a berth for a 33' sealine, who went and bought a 36' sealine, without informing the marina, when he got the new boat into the berth it stuck out a bit, the marina requested him to vacate the marina, as there were no other berths for that size of boat. So I think you would be wise to enquire at a Marina first indicationg the type and size you are contemplating. Good manners really.
 
sharpness said:
(running the risk of looking like a timewaster if offered a berth, and don't yet have a boat)
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Not really - if they offer you a berth, all you've got to do is pay for it and they'll be happy. I imagine they wouldn't care less if you put a boat on it or not.

Having said all that - I don't what it's like in the specific area that you're looking, but down here on the south coast it doesn't seem at all difficult to get a berth at the moment. Nevertheless, it's hard to see what you would lose by making an early enquiry with your marina of choice.

Good luck with both the berth and boat hunting!

Cheers
Jimmy
 
nothing to be lost by arranging a berth up front, although of course it would be nothing more thana friendly conversation unless money was to change hands, which would not be a good idea - it may take longer to find the right boat than you plan on.
Don't know what its like now but years ago i had a boat moored there and far from a waiting list - there were plenty of spaces available. In fact Stourport marina agreed to transport my 32 ft boat from the Thames free of charge in order to secure my custom. Nice deal for me.
 
I'm buying a 36 footer at the mo, I placed the deposit last week and still haven't got a berth sorted. Having said that, I have made some preliminary enquiries locally, and I can keep the boat ashore for a (shortish) while at the broker's until I get sorted. As you'd guess, I'm confident of securing a berth. Its going to be a messy and expensive season if I've got it all wrong!

Enjoy the chase of finding your right boat. It's the only time shopping's fun!
 
Unless you're only prepared to stay in one particlular marina that's really oversubscribed, then its not normally too much of a risk to buy the boat first. If they don't have a space at first then put the boat somewhere nearby, stay a few visitor nights at the 1st choice marina, and schmooze whoever allocates the berths. Waiting lists seem to be an art rather than a science
 
Thanks for the replies. The views so far have encouraged me that there can't be any harm in approaching mooring operators along the Severn to see what the current situation is, though it is positive to hear that having a berth secured upfront isn't necesssarily the major priority i initially thought.
 
I can't imagine buying a boat prior to securing somewhere to berth it.

I'm not saying that you should sign the marina agreement or pay the fees before actually owning the boat but having somewhere lined up and ready has to be a good thing. IMO securing somewher to keep your new toy should be an integral part of the boat buying process.

Keeping it on the hard outside the brokers office (even if it was only for a short period of time) straight after I took ownership would drive me nuts!!
 
sharpness said:
With the boat buying process, is it the norm to have a berth all arranged prior to purchasing a boat, or is it looked upon more favourable by marina operators / yacht clubs to offer a berth once a boat has been purchased.
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If you know that the marina you like is pretty full or has a waiting list, then just make it a clause in your boat purchase offer ("Offer subject to survey and to obtaining berth in marina x"). So then you can make the offer and, if accepted, then sort out the marina prior to the purchase. I did this a few years ago as there was a huge waiting list for the marina I wanted, didn't want to end up with a boat and no local berth for it.
 
Thats quite a range of boat lengths, 35 ft to 42 ft.
I think it might help if you could narrow down your likley options for the boat. It will help when looking at moorings. For example a marina may have plenty of moorings for 35 footers but fewer for 42 footers. You certainly want to be moored alongside boats of a similar size to your own. A 35 will look small alongside a 42.

Spend some time looking at boats and marinas this year. We made something of a hobby of it over the year before we bought a boat. We were recognised as regular visitors at one particular marina but no one complained. And eventually we did buy through them.

We did narrow our selection to a particular make/model and got a good feel for the right price and condition/equipment that might be expected. In the end we must have made the right choice as we still have the boat after 4 years.
 
MartynG said:
Thats quite a range of boat lengths, 35 ft to 42 ft.
I think it might help if you could narrow down your likley options for the boat. It will help when looking at moorings. .
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Currently coming out on top of the wishlist is Fairline Turbo 36, though referring to the specs it has LWL of 11.1 m and LOA of 12.2 m, so being pessimistic i can imagine mooring operators would get out the tape measure and say mooring charge for 40ft (more if including dinghy/davits), even though it would have 36 slapped on the superstructure. :)

As before, thanks to all previous replies.
 
sharpness said:
With the boat buying process, is it the norm to have a berth all arranged prior to purchasing a boat, or is it looked upon more favourable by marina operators / yacht clubs to offer a berth once a boat has been purchased.

The reason for my asking, is I currently hope to have funding all in place for boat purchase towards the end of 2012, but have noticed many marinas and clubs have waiting lists for a berth, in particular for a mobo 11 - 13 metre l.o.a, location ideally on the Severn. Does the forum think it wise to approach marinas / clubs at this stage and put my name forward for a berth (running the risk of looking like a timewaster if offered a berth, and don't yet have a boat), or to wait until boat purchase process is underway and then enquire for a berth (running the risk of having a boat and nowhere to moor it).

Thanks in advance for any advice given.
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Seems to me that if you're expecting to take possesion of a boat towards teh end of this year even if you haven't got s permanent berth secured you will be able to take advantage of low cost winter moorings till the end of March 2013. The winter offers normally run from October to end of march and are avaialble from most, if not all marinas.
I am expecting to take delivery of a 43 foot Sealine in a couple or 3 weeks, and when we started the process of buying the boat we had no permananet berth. Thishas now been resolved and we'll move onto our new mooring when she arrives from the Solent to the River Dart in a few weeks time.
We've bought and sold 3 boats in as many years and in each case we haven't had a mooring sorted out. It seems to me that the people that provide you with the moorings don't take anyone REALLY seriously till they see the colour of your gelcoat (metaphorically speaking), but once they realise you're serious then they will normally helo you out.
As a very last resort you can always use visitors moorings. Not ideal I know but it could be considered a temprorary sollution for a month or so.(You just need very deep pockets! )
 
sharpness said:
Currently coming out on top of the wishlist is Fairline Turbo 36, though referring to the specs it has LWL of 11.1 m and LOA of 12.2 m, so being pessimistic i can imagine mooring operators would get out the tape measure and say mooring charge for 40ft (more if including dinghy/davits), even though it would have 36 slapped on the superstructure. :)
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Yes they certainly will get the tape measure out.
As you have realised the model number of the boat may be significantly different to the overall length. Or in one case I know of , not related to length at all.
 
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