East Coast Marina

vjmehra said:
Interestingly I just spoke to Fambridge who offer a very interesting package where they launch and fuel the boat for you!
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That's the package i mentioned earlier. They also flush the outboard for you on recovery as well. If i get a trailer for Brigantia it's a tempting deal albeit rather more expensive than the swinging mooring
 
Yeah, it does cost a bit, but when you factor in the 'faffing around', it becomes much more appealing to use a boat that is already fueled and ready!

So far, having gone through the East Coast Pilot and recommendations I have come up with the following shortlist:

North Fambridge
Gillingham
Bridgemarsh
Cuxton
Port Medway

I know there are a few further down the Medway, but with the 6 knot speed limit I think they will be too far. Medway Bridge Marina looked promising too, but is miles from a train station when walking (admitedly very close by cab, but that just adds to the expense).

I have no local knowledge, purely relying on nationalrail.co.uk and google maps, so happy to be corrected on anything here!
 
Yeah, I am aware there is a speed limit in the creek, but from what I see on the Crouch Harbour Authority website, the majority of the river is fine, limits only apply in specific places, generally where there are moorings, which seems completely fair and rational to me (take note PLA!!!).
 
So after a bit of research, I've come up with this table to assess which marina looks to be the best one for us, my initial thoughts suggest Cuxton is the most promising, although North Fambridge interests me a lot because of their valet service (or whatever its called).

Anyway, if anyone has time to kill and cares to look over this, feel free to point out anything I may not have considered, all appreciated!
 
Follow your heart not your head. This is about quality time on the water and lack of aggro. I have sailed with a friend from Fambidge and it's a great system they have. You can always change after a season.
 
Yep, I quite like the idea as it means its hassle free, which sounds great!

However I share the RIB with 2 others, so majority decision wins, so will have to wait and see, hence all opinions/experience appreciated :-)
 
vjmehra
I looked at your spreadsheet and was interested in your train fares. Are you aware that Southeastern Trains [who service the Medway ports] offer a weekend return. I think it is from after morning peak on Friday through to midnight Sunday. It's the price of a offpeak single plus about 10%.
I also keep a boat on the hard at Rochford which I visit from time to time. I have tried to see if they offer a weekend return and they don't appear to. If that is the same operator that does the Burnham on Crouch train so that will not be available either.
For various reasons, mainly my wife's birthday I went down to my boat at Gillingham on Sunday and wanting to book a haulout didn't come back to Monday. Having to pay two offpeak singles instead of the weekend return was painful after getting used to paying the weekend return.
 
vjmehra said:
Our boat is an open RIB though, so staying on it isn't really an option unfortunately :-(
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You need to read 'Three Men in a Boat'. Not the TV thing by Griff Jones, but the book by Jerome K. Jerome. Any vessel can be stayed on. Theirs was a rowing boat with no mast or boom to suspend a canopy but they did have a special tent that could be rigged inside the boat. They had a dog along as well as I remember.

Met a fellow a few years ago on the Crouch in a 12' wooden dinghy who was sailing around the UK staying overnight. Had a tent he rigged over the boat each night a small stove and a bucket. What more do you need to stay on board for extended periods?
 
vjmehra said:
So after a bit of research, I've come up with this table to assess which marina looks to be the best one for us, my initial thoughts suggest Cuxton is the most promising, although North Fambridge interests me a lot because of their valet service (or whatever its called).

Anyway, if anyone has time to kill and cares to look over this, feel free to point out anything I may not have considered, all appreciated!
Click to expand...
Really depends what you want. There's not much to say about Cuxton, other than it's a place to keep a boat. If you want to enjoy both aspects of the Medway (i.e. the lower stretches down to the sea, or the pretty upper reaches to Allington and beyond) then it could be ideal. There's even a water-ski-ing de-restricted area close by where you can open the boat up for a short distance.
But if you want to go mainly further afield, then it's a long way to the sea, with a lot of it at a low speed limit.
But then I guess much the same could be said of the Crouch!
 
Glayva said:
You need to read 'Three Men in a Boat'. Not the TV thing by Griff Jones, but the book by Jerome K. Jerome. Any vessel can be stayed on. Theirs was a rowing boat with no mast or boom to suspend a canopy but they did have a special tent that could be rigged inside the boat. They had a dog along as well as I remember.

Met a fellow a few years ago on the Crouch in a 12' wooden dinghy who was sailing around the UK staying overnight. Had a tent he rigged over the boat each night a small stove and a bucket. What more do you need to stay on board for extended periods?
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Not sure how much deck space there is in a 18ft rib but could a couple of those pop up tents fit , maybe not ideal if there's some of the fairer sex along for a w/e but a couple of blokes should be able to manage ..
 
Hmmm, I don't think we're even going to attempt to stay on the boat!!! There isn't even physically enough space for someone to lie down, let alone try to sleep :-)

That aside, the speed limits I wasn't aware of. From what I've read there is a 6 knot limit that is in place from Allington to just past Gillingham (heading out towards the sea), then from there to the sea is de-limited, so from Cuxton only a small part of our journey is de-limited. Is this not the case?

I understand we may not be able to travel quickly necessarily due to moorings, other boats and conditions etc, however is there another speed limit I'm not aware of as this would affect our choice of marina's?

As with the Crouch, I'm only aware of limits in some of the creeks and when going past moorings, am I mistaken on that too?
 
vjmehra said:
.....That aside, the speed limits I wasn't aware of. From what I've read there is a 6 knot limit that is in place from Allington to just past Gillingham (heading out towards the sea), then from there to the sea is de-limited, so from Cuxton only a small part of our journey is de-limited. Is this not the case?....
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You're right, the speed limit extends from Allington down to Folly Point just east of Gillingham. Cuxton to Folly Point is quite a distance, though, would take you quite a while at 6 knots.
The Swale has a 6-knot limit too.
I think the Medway downstream from Folly Point has no speed limit.
 
Yes actually, you're right, its further than I thought!

Hmm, in that sense Gillingham may be the better option for us....
 
The Ferry Boat seems like a lovely little pub, so that could be a great idea one weekend.

I suspect what we'll end up doing is heading down on a Saturday, going on a bit of an adventure from our base (wherever that ends up being) and ending up in a different place at the end of the day, leaving the boat there, then heading back on the Sunday :-)
 
Maybe I'm missing sumat here but why not just get a sports boat with a cuddly cabin and campa hood like for example a fletcher 19gts sports cruiser , 3.0 petrol inboard shouldn't break the bank on fuel and can sit on a trailer , great little boats I reckon ....
 
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