cheap marinas close to london??

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jim99

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My girlfriend and I are considering sailing to the UK to live and work (legally!!), at least for a while, and would probably live in London (for professional reasons -- that's where almost all our potential employers seem to be).

Anyway, I've been patrolling the web trying to find marinas as close to London as possible, probably missing all the good places. Any suggestions?

Cheaper the better, of course, but within reason. I like the convenience of marinas, but will consider a mooring if I can't find a marina I like.

cheers
 
St Katherines Dock (Beside Tower Bridge)
South Dock Marina (a little further down stream on the other bank)
another one opposite South Dock is, I think, called Lilliput yacht basin - where the Cruising Club have their office - only trouble with this is there is no tube station very close by -

The other two have tube stations and big supermarkets within walking distance. They are all fairly inexpensive - behind lock gates. Live aboard communities in both - St K does not allow things like washing to be hung out - I have lived in both and had a good experience.
 
Heavens. I admit it is my ignorance, but I never imagined I could get that close. Clearly, I have a lot to learn. Last time I was in London was in 1976, when looking good for girls was my chief concern.
 
London is not cheap

St Catherine's is expensive, South Dock is cheaper, but still not ideal as a place to live. You may well find a residential mooring on the Thames near Brentford. A thought would be to look East if you want to be away from the stress. Why not try Faversham?
 
Re: London is not cheap

I would also suggest looking towards the East Coast..... train service in Central London is OK, and would be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper for marinas.......

Ipswich Marinas are within walking distance of main line train station...... as would be most of the East Channel marinas such as Brighton, Eastbourne, Ramsgate and Dover....

Extra cost of travel might offset marina savings though.... but would be netted off against being on the sea, and thus able to sail, rather than an 8 hour slog out to open water....
 
By 'Lilliput' I think you probably mean 'Limehouse'.
True there is no tube station, but there is a station for the Docklands Light Railway just 5 minutes walk away.
As one who spent about 30 years commuting into London from East Kent, I certainly wouldn't recommend using the train from anywhere further out than Faversham. Oare Creek (with which I am extremely familiar!) would not be my idea of a place to live, nice though it is to keep a boat there.
Perhaps a little further west - Gillingham Marina for instance.
 
Many thanks for the suggestions. Clearly, I have a lot to learn. Gillingham Marina looks comfortable, as do many I've looked at today. cheers
 
Well, my money's on the 'missed something' option. 1st post, along lines of live and work IN London and second post refers to 'blimey, didn't realise a boat could be moored so close to London.

Back of the class my boy /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Hmm.. I think you will find that most UK marina’s have a prohibition about people ‘living’ on their boats. I am not sure what they mean by that mind you/
 
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Back of the class my boy /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

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Not yet, my hand is still up

1. 'Probably working in london'
2. 'Looking for mooring near London'

Whilst the IMPLICATION might be that the guy's looking for a live aboard, I didn't want to jump to conclusions and 26' is pretty small for two.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are the two of you seriously thinking of living on a 27' Vancouver or have I missed something? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

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Well, like another poster said, I didn't think I could get that close to London, but then when I realized I might, I thought "hey, maybe we could liveaboard."

My girlfriend brought me back to reality. There's lots of room for the two of us in Southeast Asia on a Vancouver 27, which is wide open 100% of the time, with a covered, dry cockpit. Living space is huge. I have fans, but it is usually not much fun below no matter how big she is. It has been about 10 years since I've lived in a cold country.

My girlfriend began to tick off all the restrictions of living aboard in a cold climate, such as washing clothes (long trousers!!), washing yourself (no just jumping in the sea), ironing and hanging work clothes, enclosed spaces (she's a bit claustrophobic), installing a heater, on and on. For some reason she was well armed, and I had thought of none of it.

I'm sure we could figure out happy solutions, but no, I don't expect to liveaboard, but I would like my boat as close as possible, so I can work on her whenever I feel like it, overnight occasionally and spend most weekends on her. And yes, I'll install a heater. Not sure, but I might find that I want to be closer to the sea and closer to sailing, but I'll just have to figure that out once I've been there for a while.

PS: You do indeed have lots of girls in the UK. Most of them, if I remember correctly, even speak English without having worked in the sex industry. Ooo, how sexy is that?!

cheers
 
liveing aboard a small boats amazingly comfortable! But the lack of a laundry and hot onboard shower can be annoying.
I find in marinas or moorings/anchorages near a hot reliable shower fine often there are laundrys and showers in the same area.so its not so bad
A large comfortable cockpit helps a lot!

Having sufferd months of non stop rain and cold this summer i almost abandond ship!sometimes i couldent go back,i stayed in a cafe as long as i could,where as on a 12 meter boat its possiable to move from one cabin to another have a bigger book shelf writing table.

But providing it only rains perhaps 2 weeks in the month then the smaller boat far out weighs the bigger,less costly moorings,easier maintanance,more likely to cast off the lines to sail,more than cosy even when 4 people are below visiting

and if its sunny for a few day the washing can be done by hand reducing the visits to a laundry

Another big advantage i imagin (hope) is a small boat is less likly to be broken in to or have eqipment removed? as well as finding very quite(wash wise) places within marinas
 
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