How marinas could make it safe

[Tintin]

So the nice weather continues while my boat rots on its berth. Thoughts turned to how marinas could make it safe for their staff and customers, if they took a "can do" attitude.

It seems many businesses large and small can manage to de-risk and operate, and yet marina's seem to have taken the view that its easiest for them to just sit back and watch the pounds roll in.

So here are some thoughts ....


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Essential work would include:
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- engine checks, servicing and planned / regular maintenance

- rig checks, including replacing standing and running rigging repair and replacement

- electrical system checks, repairs and maintenance

- water system checks, repairs, and maintenance including flushing and sanitizing

- Deck and hull maintenance and repairs where failure to do so could cause damage, including washing to remove bird poop (which might stain gelcoat), removing fouling, applying anti-foul coatings as part of normal replacement schedule

- Cleaning, maintaining and repairing interiors, for example to help prevent growth of mould or surface staining.

- ground tackle and mooring equipment - essential maintenance, repair and replacement

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The sort of measures marinas could implement for staff and customer safety could include:
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- pontoon distancing - mark places where people could pass by each other with at least 2m gap with floor tape and a flag, e.g. at transition points and junctions, with the tape to mark the safe "waiting" area.

- luggage trolleys - provide sanitiser and paper roll to wipe down trolleys, just as supermarkets do

- mark waiting areas at the top and bottom of pontoon access ramps, as super markets do

- taps and hoses - remove hoses so peopleuse their own, and advise people to wear gloves when touching the tap, or to sanitize it, plus twice dally sanitizing

- sanitizer and wipes beside access doors to essential marina facilities such as WC's

- WC's - encourage people to use their heads if they have a holding tank, if they need WC while doing their maintenance.

- working on boats- insist on minimum 2m distancing

- contractors - to sanitize wipe their "touch areas" after doing boat work

- marina held keys - marina staff to wipe down before handing over, and have a 2.5m pole with a hook so they can pass them over to owners and contractors

- fuel - if fuel is needed for heating or testing, then up to 10 litre fuel containers to be left with marina staff in a holding area, for them to fill, and for the owner to then collect them, paying by contactless card.

- bin areas - tape marks waiting area, one in, one out, with sanitizer for touch surfaces.

- hourly or 2 hrly sanitising of touch surfaces around marina common areas - handrails, doors, taps, switches, etc...

- install perspex screens in reception staff areas and mark a 2m exclusion zone.


My woek team have had to adapt and adopt new ways of working, and so have our customers (small plumbers and builders across EU). We could have thrown our hands up in the air and taken a "can't do" approach - instead we have adopted "can do".

Time for marinas to have a change of mindset I think.

 

[Bobc]

I'm assuming (i.e. hoping) that marinas are putting plans together of measures they can put in place to enable them to help customers and staff stay safe once we become allowed to visit them again so that they can re-open.

I don't see why marinas shouldn't open again once the lockdown is lifted, but I guess they main measures that they will need to be careful about are the showers.

 

[Charlie Boy]

I'm assuming (i.e. hoping) that marinas are putting plans together of measures they can put in place to enable them to help customers and staff stay safe once we become allowed to visit them again so that they can re-open.

I don't see why marinas shouldn't open again once the lockdown is lifted, but I guess they main measures that they will need to be careful about are the showers.

Door handles eg security gates, passing on the pontoon, adding to the risk level for the Emergency services. I’m sure there are others. Plus the staff will have to police the whole thing which adds to their costs and raises their risk level.

 

[nicho]

I'm assuming (i.e. hoping) that marinas are putting plans together of measures they can put in place to enable them to help customers and staff stay safe once we become allowed to visit them again so that they can re-open.

I don't see why marinas shouldn't open again once the lockdown is lifted, but I guess they main measures that they will need to be careful about are the showers.

.........but then we open the can of worms as to what constitutes non essential travel.

 

[fredrussell]

I walked past my local marina the other day and was surprised to see four members of staff rolling around in a big pile of money, laughing and jeering and so on. My initial outrage was lessened, however, when I noticed that the pile of money was so large that they were able to cavort in it whilst still maintaining a two metre distance from each other. Fair play.

 

[Bluetack42]

Lets imagine that 3 weeks from now the unlock has started, and that to save the economy government is encouraging businesses that can implement social distancing to resume. Fundamental to this to work is customers, without them there can be no restart. Of those businesses serving the public directly some are perceived as essential eg food & pharmacies whilst others not eg garden centers & marinas. If the restart is to happen then being a customer of a non essential business is going to have to be allowed. It’s striking how much noise the garden center industry has been making about being allowed to reopen, they have a very strong motivation with all their stock moving towards being worthless & insolvency. In contrast the marina industry seems to be keeping its collective head down, saying nothing whilst seeing the cash continuing to roll in, as the OP describes it would be relatively easy to implement social distancing in a marina & once out on the water what would be easier.

However I fear that for an easy life in 3 weeks time when the garden centers of this country are back up & open our boats will remain locked down, its a near perfect business model for them, keep the cash coming in & avoid the hassle

 

[capnsensible]

My yacht is safe and sound in a marina berth. Which is what I pay for whether I use her or not or whether there is a temporary global pandemic or not. Lucky me.

Im not about to whine over marina profits. They are providing the service I signed up to. And then some coz they are checking all the boats a lot, every single day to make sure they are safe and secure.

One of those times, Im afraid, where the whingers are just gonna have to live with it. I really dont want to be rude about it, but cmon. Count the plusses.

In your next life, own a marina. And if you really wanna consider how it could have been worse, think about those sailing schools and charter companies with loadsa boats. Having been there, I see their problems. Bye bye business.

 

[doug748]

So the nice weather continues while my boat rots on its berth. Thoughts turned to how marinas could make it safe for their staff and customers, if they took a "can do" attitude.

It seems many businesses large and small can manage to de-risk and operate, and yet marina's seem to have taken the view that its easiest for them to just sit back and watch the pounds roll in.......

Good post.

Whatever happens there will come a time when they have to reopen. I think there are enough empty berths and boats still ashore, for them to have a fair financial incentive to get cracking.

Probably showers have to be closed in the early stages and great care taken in the use of toilets. A shame, but bars and eating places will maybe the last to resurface

Apart from that, given education, I don't see huge risk around the average marina. It's the long distance travel that will seal their fate for a fair old time - alongside second homes etc.

 

[wully1]

Living in a reasonably remote community the last thing I want is a load of folk turning up here from all over the country to visit their boats until there is some way of controlling this virus.
The numbers here are low , the ratio of vulnerable people is high.

STAY HOME You will not be welcome Until we have a handle on this disease.

 

[claymore]

Living in a reasonably remote community the last thing I want is a load of folk turning up here from all over the country to visit their boats until there is some way of controlling this virus.
The numbers here are low , the ratio of vulnerable people is high.

STAY HOME You will not be welcome Until we have a handle on this disease.

Sweet wullyum - I get the feeling ye mean me....!

 

[wully1]

Sweet wullyum - I get the feeling ye mean me....!

Only if ye drag yer plague ridden carcass into our pristine village...

 

[JumbleDuck]

Door handles eg security gates, passing on the pontoon, adding to the risk level for the Emergency services. I’m sure there are others. Plus the staff will have to police the whole thing which adds to their costs and raises their risk level.

There doesn't seem to be any particularly strong evidence that touching things is a significant route of transmission, though if an infected person sneezes on their hands and then touches a handle which a hitherto uninfected person touches before picking their nose or wiping their eye it's theoretically possible.

 

[[163233]]

They are providing the service I signed up to.

I think I would have paid less if I were to be barred from accessing my boat for two months.

 

[RJJ]

I think I would have paid less if I were to be barred from accessing my boat for two months.

likewise. It's in the Ts and Cs that I'm allowed to do work on the boat; that the gate is open for certain hours, and that a key fob can be used outside those hours. Contract is not being fulfilled.

I have prepaid until the end of May including a relaunch date. I'm going to suggest, then ask, then demand that there is financial recognition of the denuded service provided, to the extent that I can't get the boat ready for launch. If we are allowed in at the next 3-week review, then no complaint.

 

[Resolution]

likewise. It's in the Ts and Cs that I'm allowed to do work on the boat; that the gate is open for certain hours, and that a key fob can be used outside those hours. Contract is not being fulfilled.

I have prepaid until the end of May including a relaunch date. I'm going to suggest, then ask, then demand that there is financial recognition of the denuded service provided, to the extent that I can't get the boat ready for launch. If we are allowed in at the next 3-week review, then no complaint.

Why not go the whole hog and sue the Chinese state for permitting the virus to escape from China and cause your enormous inconvenience?

 

[capnsensible]

I think I would have paid less if I were to be barred from accessing my boat for two months.

Its not the Marina thats stopping access. Boats still need to be docked. Thats life. No point grizzling. None at all.

 

[Ian_Rob]

There doesn't seem to be any particularly strong evidence that touching things is a significant route of transmission, though if an infected person sneezes on their hands and then touches a handle which a hitherto uninfected person touches before picking their nose or wiping their eye it's theoretically possible.

Dunning-Kruger?

 

[fastjedi]

They can keep their washrooms, restaurants and bars closed. I probably wouldn't use them if they were open. I'd love to be able to sail. I'd settle for being able to visit and work on the boat for now. I think the biggest problem is fear of people mingling from different parts of the country - same logic as holiday homes and caravan parks.

 

[ryanroberts]

There doesn't seem to be any particularly strong evidence that touching things is a significant route of transmission, though if an infected person sneezes on their hands and then touches a handle which a hitherto uninfected person touches before picking their nose or wiping their eye it's theoretically possible.

There's an annoying lack of standardisation in case reports and that sounds particularly hard to determine even with good data. There are medical encoding systems so comprehensive that you can specify inane levels of detail like being attacked by a duck at your mother in law's house but apparently there's an unfortunately a lot of guesswork in analysis of the reports from different sources. Outside vs inside seems intuitively correct to me and is seemingly backed up by data.

 

[Paulg25]

Time for marinas to have a change of mindset I think.

No.

What if you, god forbid, were struck down with a serious illness that kept you in bed for 10 - 12 weeks?

What about your boat then?

As far as I am aware most marinas still have staff/contractors working. Pay for your maintenance during lockdown.