Tranona
Well-known member
We looked at that with our club marina but area is not a good discriminator as widths between fingers are largely fixed and it is easier to vary size by length as you cant easily narrow the berths to get more boats in if they are narrow beam. Area works better in the Med where fingers may not be used and boats just back up to a quay side by side, so beam does influence capacity. we do however charge yard use by area as space is limited and capacity is determined more by area used.Rather crude, but I reckon that smaller boats would be better to have for the marina owner were all boats to be the same. Now the complication: but boats come in all sizes, so the marina has been built to accommodate that. It's a fixed asset, so you want to maximise income, and can't fill it every day. Each time a bigger boat arrives and can be fitted in, it gives a higher income. So the fair policy is to charge long term berth holders by Length x Beam, but visitors by length only.