Chatham Maritime Marina - Views Please

[MarcusMan]

Having spent the last two years moored at Sov Harbour at Eastbourne we fancy a change of scene and - after a house move last year - Chatham Maritime is marginally closer. Any views and opinions on the marina (we've been for a look and it seems very good) greatly appreciated.

Also, since we dont have the time to move the boat by water (why does it seem impossible to get more than one day at time on board - damn work!!!!) does anyone have any experience of using a company to move a boat by road in my area that can make a recomendation (good or bad).

Cheers

Mark

 

[oldgit]

How big your boat.Up to 8 or so tons and under 35 foot and Jim brett is your man.
01795 668263

 

[MarcusMan]

Thank you Sir!!! Mine is 27ft and I'll give him a call.

Mark

 

[w_anchor]

In my opinion the layout of the pontoons is very good,the facility block is excellent,the lock service is 24hr,but because the area around the marina is very open it can get very windy.At this moment the only boating facilities are fuel and a crane.Maybe things will improve in the future.Hope this is of some help.

 

[Medskipper]

Hi Mark,

I moved to Chatham about two months ago! of course the marina is only two years old so the facilites are still very new, so this is a real bonus. If you have a motor vessel you can get in and out at any state of the tide as you have about 1.5 mtrs at low water springs. The pontoons are wide and very stable and lit well at night. The toilet block is one of the best I have ever seen in a marina and I have been boating nearly 15 years! If the weather is bad you can just potter around on the river, but you are still very near the Thames estuary and the sea!

The downside that I have experienced so far is that the area is very open and strong winds across the pontoons can make life difficult for a high sided cruiser trying to moor up! the lock is a pain! although the staff are very good and will operate it for you when you ask on the VHF. The lock is quite small and over the bank holiday people were waiting half an hour or more on a fast stream trying to get back in! not great when you have friends on board who are not used to boating.

The other real complaint as far as I am concerned is that we are limited to only 6 weeks ashore in the winter! I prefer to have my boat lifted in January and I dont usually want to go back in the water until March, so this may cause a problem for me, i.e. not having enough time to get all the jobs done for the new season, as usual work and the weather conspire to stop us completing work on our vessels!

However all in all I am pleased so far and hope that MDL will not see fit to increase the prices by large amounts when they see the marina filling up!

Perhaps we will meet?

Barry

 

[tr7v8]

Interesting we looked at 3 a couple of months ago when we were looking for a place to moor Draco Cordis.
Medway Bridge; SWMBO hated on sight! Her words, untidy, too big and not secure. We'd also been warned about the muck from the M2 bridge (diesel & rubber dust).
Chatham Maritime; aside from the bad press MDL get, we didn't like the fact that it was exposed and finally it looks like a lot of building work will occur in the next few years based on all the roundabouts with stub roads going to nowhere.
Gillingham Marina; best security of the lot eg. you don't get in without going through a security gate, not visible from the road etc. so the wife liked that and very friendly staff.
So Gillingham it was, slightly the most expensive but we are at the moment very happy, tidal lock allows access 4 1/2 hours each side of HW.

Jim
----------

 

[trev]

Spent time at Chatham and Gillingham while pottering around the Medway last summer.
Chatham was all nice and new but a bit lacking in facilities (had to take the tender to get to the pub - otherwise a mile walk!). Also no chandlery. I believe all this is in hand and things may be a bit better now.
Gillingham was very good all round, with good laundry facilities, chandlery, clubhouse etc and very friendly staff.
I would choose the latter for future visits unless Chatham has got it all together, but impressions were that this would take several years.

Trev

 

[Canboria]

Chatham or Gillingham

The facts as I see them take your pick, I prefer Chatham, but my needs are different as I live 2 mins away on Basin 2, for those of you not familiar with the site the marina is situated in one of the 3 docks or basins, the marina is in basin 3, basin 2 has the Arethusa water sports centre, basin 3 is still in commercial use.

Gillingham

Better security
Has bar on site
Has chandlery
Has workshops
Has Leisure centre
Lock is smaller than Chatham
Lock has no floating pontoon, have to tie-up, to steel wires hanging down in lock or to the cleats on lock topside. wife hated the lock.
Berthing is a mixture of piles and pontoon, we had a pile no pontoons available at the time, absolute pain.
Not 24 hours access to river approx. four and a half hours either side of the tide
Fuel available on pontoon outside of the marina
Storage ashore in secure area
Good haul out facilities by travel hoist

Chatham

Security is by swipe card or by access code that is change regularly, the Chatham Maritime Security mobile patrol that covers the whole Chatham Maritime site do patrol passed the marina
No bar, nearest pub other side of the Basin take tender or walk for 10 mins
No chandlery
No leisure centre, (we are supposed to be boating)
No workshops
First class Toilet and shower block
Good 24 hour lock with 2 floating pontoons, bigger than Gillingham
All berthing is on pontoons with plenty of room
Lots of room to manoeuvre
Fuel available on pontoon inside the marina
Storage ashore not very secure
Haul out available by crane
Yes it does get windy

Given time the facilities will improve.

 

[MarcusMan]

Thanks to everyone for their comments!!! We intend to move to Chatham Maritime soon. I'lll post a note when we do and locals will be very welcome to come and say Hi and have a beer!!!

Mark

 

[Medskipper]

Mines a scotch !!!!


Barry

 

[Canboria]

Rather have a brandy, have glass!