Devon/Solent berth swap, er, and stuff

[Will]

I'm planning on moving my boat up to the Solent for a few weeks towards the end of June. I have a berth in Plymouth Yachthaven so the obvious option would be to moor in Lymington YH and pay the difference, However this difference aint small, and I was wondering if any of you Solenty types had any tips on where I might find a cheapish berth for a week or two. There will be someone on the boat most of the time, but not all, so swinging from the Brambles buoy isn't really an option.
Or alternatively, how about a bit of berth swapping. I don't know the official position of the marina about this - quite possibly written into the contract is an underhand bit of deviousness about the berth being theirs to sub-let when vacant. Greedy swine. Does anybody have any experience of this?
Cheers,
Will

 

[tony_brighton]

Thought Lymington didn't encourage 'guests' unless from an approved club.

Also - you are completely right - most contracts with marinas prohibit sub-letting of the nature described. Think you might need to find a cheaper marina.

 

[Will]

Are you referring to the Yacht Club? Hopefully even those of us from westcountry YC's are approved these days. I understand that Yachthaven run a reciprocal berthing agreement with all their marinas - I was just a little suprised by the amount of price difference. It seems slightly unreasonable to me that I will be paying more fees in a marina with virtually identical facilities owned by the same company, while they gain extra revenue from the sub-letting of my berth. Unreasonable, but not unexpected I might add.

 

[Paragon]

Swap berth South Devon for money, I give the money!

Yep, I'm still on the lookout for a berth for a Hurley 22 - anything considered.

 

[Will]

Hi,

My berth is for a 28 footer in Plymouth Yachthaven. However, i suggest the man to talk to would be Dave Distin in Dartmouth. I don't have his number to hand but you should be able to get it from directory enquiries or Dartmouth Harbour Office.
Be wary of harbour dues on the Dart however - if you can get into Salcombe it's a far nicer place. You'll see what I mean when you deal with the harbour "board." If you don't mind drying then there's usually space at Kingsbridge.

 

[tcm]

Re: NOT greedy swines?

can't help with the berth, but cdn't resist putting in my oar.

If the berth was yours to sublet , then on this occassion twould be jolly good, I agree. But for most occassions, if/when you stayed away, you wouldn't be able to find a swap, nor a renter. So your berth wd be free, but would remain "yours" to sublet. Like your house.

It sounds a swiz that they rent out the berth and then rent it again casually on a nightly basis, but to appreciate the alternative, consider the chaos in the med.

Most berths are privately owned on long leases. The leases include the right to sublet. As many as 75% of berths are leased, not rented from the marina. the leaseholder does a long-term let to a boatie who does n't have the right to sublet, but neither does the boaties have any incentive to announce if/when the berth is available - cos the lease owner would get all the loot. Anyway, the marina has only a small incentive to accomodate visitors cos they only get 10 or 15 percent.

The result is that near-empty med marinas are announced by the marina as "full" when in fact half the berths are empty. I hope this makes you feel better - although it won't be cheap in the solent at least the will be spaces freed up by those visitng elswhere and vice versa.

 

[Paragon]

Thanks for your help Will. I'll see what I can do.