Done the rounds today

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russ

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I have been to a few marinas today to see which suits my needs and location.
So my two final choices are MDL Windsor or Shepperton. Any thoughts on which is best? Windsor say that they are in the nicest part of the river and Shepperton say they are better positioned for a cruise up to London. Not to sure about going tidal without much experience in my first boat but maybe in the future.
I have a few weeks to decide before the boat is ready to be delivered from its last owner.
 
can you remind which boat you are buying please ? And what your nautical ambitions are in terms of places to visit, excursions, etc.
 
russ said:
I have been to a few marinas today to see which suits my needs and location.
So my two final choices are MDL Windsor or Shepperton. Any thoughts on which is best? Windsor say that they are in the nicest part of the river and Shepperton say they are better positioned for a cruise up to London. Not to sure about going tidal without much experience in my first boat but maybe in the future.
I have a few weeks to decide before the boat is ready to be delivered from its last owner.
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No contest - Windsor of course. Much smaller than Shepperton, in a nice spot and flexibility of staying at Bray or Penton Hook whenever you like. Flourishing boat club on site (TWYC), fried brekkie available a short walk up the road, fuel at cost..... need I say more?
 
Nar - going to be a marina "war"

boatone said:
No contest - Windsor of course. Much smaller than Shepperton, in a nice spot and flexibility of staying at Bray or Penton Hook whenever you like. Flourishing boat club on site (TWYC), fried brekkie available a short walk up the road, fuel at cost..... need I say more?
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Shepperton is putting in new pontoon moorings so it'll be all lickety-spit-posh new fittings.

It's also a sister to that awfully nice Harleyford set up, and you're terribly polite you may be allowed to visit for a short time at no extra charge, which give you the best of both worlds...
 
Not the prettiest stretch though...

Bray and Windsor are brilliant for day to day cruising, and as B1 said, you have access to Penton Hook for tidal convenience.

You also pay for the 'leccy as you use it...!!
 
you need to consider what you are likely to do (or want to do) in terms of regualar boating, and then see which marina suits you best.

For us, boating mostly consist of leaving work on a friday late afternoon, and getting to the marina in time to (if we are lucky), head out and within an hour before it gets dark moor up somewhere just to get away from the hassles of the week. In our case (based at bray, which is practically next door to windsor), this means on some fridays we can make it to cliveden reach. Most of the time, we spend the friday night in the marina, and then head out saturday morning. Being based at bray, this means we have a good choice of options for the saturday night, all within a days cruising:

cruise for a couple of hours and end up at cookham (good selection of pubs and restaurants if you want, or a large meadow if you want quiet and a bbq). Can get there in plenty of time to walk to shops, stretch the legs and relax before the evening.

cruise a bit further, and have the option of Marlow (which we for some reason never really do), with all the facilities that a small town can offer.

or go further still and have the choice of medmenham meadows or the town of Henley.

All these options can be done in a weekends cruising from our marina base and we have never had any trouble getting a mooring. Also in the shorter days in the winter months, when we only really get the chance to do the odd sunday cruise, we have the option of going to windsor for the day.
You need to consider things like this when choosing your marina
 
Why do you want to be marina based ? That would be my worst nightmare !
I suppose if youre old like this lot :D then plugging into the electric is better than recharging one battery once a year .
I can understand marinas where you get shelter from the sea but from the river ?
I just dont get it :confused:
 
Just did a quick visit to the website to work out the cost.
For my 30' boat at a monthly rate £427 per month (Over £5k annualy):eek:. Less a bit for booking a year at atime but Blimmy - hats off to you Russ you must be a wealthy man ;)
 
Loggo said:
Just did a quick visit to the website to work out the cost.
For my 30' boat at a monthly rate £427 per month (Over £5k annualy):eek:. Less a bit for booking a year at atime but Blimmy - hats off to you Russ you must be a wealthy man ;)
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Not wealthy by any means, just a hard working carpenter with dreams.
It has all been an eye opener on how much this interest is going to cost me but you only live once.
Not sure where you obtained your price from but my quote for an 8mtr boat is around half yours.
Where do you moore?
 
Loggo said:
Just did a quick visit to the website to work out the cost.
For my 30' boat at a monthly rate £427 per month (Over £5k annualy):eek:. Less a bit for booking a year at atime but Blimmy - hats off to you Russ you must be a wealthy man ;)
Click to expand...

I think you must be looking at the 'Additional Services short term rates. They tell you to ask for a quote for annual berthing.
 
B1 yes, They seemed a bit shy about annual rates on their website so I took the monthly rate and multiplied by 12. As I said - "Less a bit for booking a year at a time "
Russ - We were at Abingdon, Nice location, Not so pricey but few facilities.
Currently at Newark (don't ask !)
 
£3k a year for my 30 footer at MDL Bray!

One could save money elsewhere, but the facilities are brilliant, with lots of pristine toilets, showers, entry gates and pontoon doors, and secure parking.

The icing on the cake, apart from the staff, is the ability to berth at Penton Hook or Windsor whenever you feel like it.

We looked at Windsor too, and only went for Bray because of the Club. Never looked back, or felt the need to move...
 
No Regrets said:
£3k a year for my 30 footer at MDL Bray!

One could save money elsewhere, but the facilities are brilliant, with lots of pristine toilets, showers, entry gates and pontoon doors, and secure parking.

The icing on the cake, apart from the staff, is the ability to berth at Penton Hook or Windsor whenever you feel like it.

We looked at Windsor too, and only went for Bray because of the Club. Never looked back, or felt the need to move...
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Do you think it would be worth the extra drive to Bray rather than Windsor?
Not even sure how much further it is.
 
boatone said:
Dont know where you are coming from but there can't be much in it. Doesn't take ten minutes to drive between the two.
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Still looking for the best route to take from Yateley nr Fleet Hampshire.
Did M3-Bagshot-Ascot-Windsor which took half an hour and the same for Windsor-Bracknell-Crowthorne-Yateley.
 
More like 5 mins or less apart from each other. We chose Bray when we moved back to the river last year because it's surroundings are much greener and tranquil and feels less cramped than Windsor. We love it there & being MDL we can always moor at Windsor or Penton Hook FOC whenever we want.

Mark
 
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