Buying the boat is the easy bit....

[oldmonsty]

Good advice in another thread

Hello
I have the reverse problem, or at least I have tried to find a mooring before I got a boat as I perceived that the mooring would be the problem and yes I do live on the south coast!!. I got some very useful info. on very cheap moorings. It can be found in the Reader to Reader section 'Returning to boating' thread on page 2 - last post wednesday 26th. Good luck.

 

[Angele]

Bilge keel was really tempting for all sorts of reasons, but given the distance we have to travel I dont want to arrive on the quayside and have to sit in the car for 4 to 5 hours waiting for the tide!

If I lived half an hour away it would be a different matter!

I can assure you, you wouldn't be spending those 4 or 5 hours in the car. Yes, having checked the tide times, you may find it sensible to delay your departure from home, knowing the time at which your boat would float.

The only one thing that is entirely predictable about sailing is when the tide comes in and when it goes out.

You'd soon find it easy to plan around that.

 

[skyflyer]

I'll rephrase it then -

I dont want to spend four or five hours of perfectly good sailing weather, on a day off, mowing the lawn at home and cutting the hedge, so as to delay my departure so that I arrive at the quayside when the boat is just lifting off!

 

[photodog]

You need to get a smaller boat. 36ft or so... maybe even 33... Your making a beginners mistake in thinking that you need a 40 footer because there are 4 or 5 people...

Going down to 33-36 feet will still provide the same number of berths... plus the costs will be lower... and your moorings will be cheaper. £250/m/annum is cheap.

It will open up more all tide moorings as well....

Plymouth is a far better choice for you than Dartmouth... which is sutpidly expensive and actually IMO not the best base, as you are restricted by Start Point.... Going to the plymouth area will give you rthe option of Weir Quay, or as mentioned the Huggins Brothers at Tor Point....

 

[DownWest]

Left field idea, used by a few on this forum. How about France? Choose somewhere near a cheapy flights airfield in Brittany. Same craggy scenary as Cornwall. Better food (opinion biased here) and cheaper moorings or marinas.

 

[skyflyer]

Did I say 40ft? Certainly didn't mean to. Must be a typo Never been looking over 10mtrs!
@photodog. Re-read my post, that's for a swinging mooring not a berth. If you think £2400 pa for a swiging mooring is cheap be my guest
I realise I asked for suggestions and am grateful for all but clearly some folk have never worked an irregular roster pattern. The boat HAS to be afloat and reachable by car within 4-5 hrs max at a moments notice. If flights are involved it just isn't going to get used - in the airline industry we have a phrase "Time to spare? Go by air!"

 

[photodog]

If you think £2400 pa for a swiging mooring is cheap be my guest
I realise I asked for suggestions and am grateful for all but clearly some folk have never worked an irregular roster pattern.



I live in Nottingham and we have been boating in the SW for 12 years.... we run a 9.5 meter boat.... and I run my own business so never know when or if I can go down...

The problem with a swinging mooring is that you will probably have to have it out in the winter... so really £2500 for the mooring, the winter spot, the lifts, the dingy store, for a 10 meter berth in the SW is pretty cheap... Torpoint will do you a swinging mooring for 10 meters for around £1500... but you will need a winter shore or marina berth additionally.... plus the lifts, and having the mooring serviced.... and the taxi only runs until 9pm.... Been There Got the T-shirt. Plus of course there is no leccy, no running water, no secure parking....

We found in the end that the best bet by far was a marina berth... it meant we could use the boat whatever the weather, we could go down whatever the time, and in reality was only around £900 per annum more than the swinging mooring...

The only way to get what you want.. in reality is a marina berth. Which for a 10 meter boat in the SW is gonna be around £3600-4000 grand per annum excluding lifts and winters ashore.

You may find a cheaper berth at Mill Bay Marina in Plymouth, which iirc is a bit cheaper, but I dont know what there waiting list is like.

OTOH you could go to the East coast and get that 10 meters in a marina for around £3000.


Welcome to the world of yachting in the UK.

Have you thought about South Wales... cheaper there... Swansea? Or Milford Haven?

Your gonna have to rethink things if that is not affordable. Dont forget, that 4 hour journey there and back will also cost probably 60 quid in petrol.... plus 15 quid in costa coffee, plus the frustration of sitting on the M5 every weekend between May to October.....

TBH, if you want 10 meter boat in the SW... you will be lucky to get away with costs less than £500 per month excluding the boat... unless you are living locally, can do all your own work on board, and have a club mooring.

There really is no way around the simple choice.... Either pay in Cash... or pay in Time... Thats the honest situation. A lot of us are self emplyed in this place, so there are a lot of peeps who work a "irregular roster" I can assure you!


Have you tried a all in deal at Weir Quay?

 

[bendyone]

I live near Oxford and keep my boat in Calais - 9.5m berth is €960 a year inc water and elec. Never paid more than £50 for the ferry for a car + up to 9 people. Midweek is a lot less.

Quickest time to the boat three and a quarter hours via the tunnel. Longest nightmare journey 7 hours.

Not as nicer an area as the west country but the food and wine are better.

 

[Bru]

Well having just been through the process of buying a boat and finding somewhere to keep it I offer the following observations ...

I too had assumed finding a berth might be a tricky proposition but far from it.

We live in Northamptonshire and we really are just about as far from the sea as it is possible to get in the UK! (In fact, we live within 15 miles of the often touted "centre" of the country). From the pov of travel times, there isn't much to choose between Norfolh/Lincolnshire (i.e. The Wash), Bristol Channel / South Wales, the South Coast or Thames Estuary / Essex / Suffolk

We settled on the latter for a number of reasons -

Cost :- marina charges were cheaper than all but the Wash area
Sailing opportunities :- benign tides, fairly sheltered waters, lots of places to go
Romantic :- my ancestors were mariners from Maldon

Having settled on the area, much research followed into which of the various marina and mooring options would suit our budget and what have you

We decided Fambridge Yacht Haven would suit and more in hope than expectation emailed them to find out how long we'd have to wait for a mooring. The answer was "When would you like to arrive"! (April 2nd as it happens!)

A pontoon berth would have been around £1400 (not particularly unreasonable relatively speaking) but we're going on a swinging mooring for about £900. That charge covers winter storage, tender park usage etc. Crane in / crane out is about £170 each way if we want her out of the water for the winter.

OK, Fambridge is two or three hours up river from the mouth of the Crouch which is a drawback but OTOH the on site facilities are excellent (and we have access to all the same facilities as the pontoon berth holders), there is secure parking and a 120m deep water pontoon which we can use f.o.c. for loading/unloading and also overnight for a small additional fee. Basically, apart from the tender ride to and from the boat and the lack of an electrical hookup (tricky that on a swinging mooring!) we get most of the advantages of a pontoon berth for less than 2/3 of the cost!

A bigger boat would cost somewhat more of course - the prices are all on their website. There are cheaper places in the area if you're happy with a more basic setup and if you can live without secure parking and so on there are really cheap options. There are also rather more expensive places - it pays to shop around! As far as I can make out, there is no particular shortage of moorings in the area.

Bru

 

[blueglass]

I live in Worcester but we are looking at Devon or Cornwall,!)

Devon and Cornwall is very nice but a hell of a long drive for short stays aboard. Have you thought of North Wales? Superb cruising and no crowds. I used to boat out of Conwy from home in Shropshire not a thousand miles from you and an easy journey. Conwy, Deganwy and Pwythelli (sp?)marinas now seem to be charging south coast prices but lots of cheaper alternatives. A lot of clubs have swinging moorings on the Menai straits which would be cheaper. Or places like Port Dinorwig maybe. A big north walian contingent on here - Im sure one of them would advise as to current costs/availabilty.