If you use Dry Stack, what benefit package would you like?

I too berth at Saxon Wharf, staff are great down there but again the price has gone up this year. For me a fuel berth or valet fuel like Trafalgar would be the main thing I would love to have. I had looked at Trafalgar also but wasn't a big fan of the journey time from berth to Solent compared to where i am now. This year I will be taking advantage of the free berthing days and staying at Mercury for a month in the summer.
One slight annoyance and it is quite rare is during the week it can be hard to find somewhere to park at Saxon Wharf, I guess this is something you have to accept when keeping your boat at a busy working boatyard.
 
benjenbav said:
For me, it would be a big incentive if the dry stack operator offered a guaranteed minimum time to launch ahead of use (in hours not days!). The size of boats in dry stacks tends towards day boating use. So I would like to think that if I woke up on Saturday morning and it was unexpectedly nice I could mail the operator and be sure the boat would be in the water ready to go a couple of hours later without having to beg and expect to wait.
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Must admit have never had a problem with this at Saxon and have only given them an hours notice at times, they have also phoned me on occasion when they are expecting it to be busy the next day and asked if I would like the boat put in the night before.
 
matt13 said:
Must admit have never had a problem with this at Saxon and have only given them an hours notice at times, they have also phoned me on occasion when they are expecting it to be busy the next day and asked if I would like the boat put in the night before.
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That's good news. I remember how disappointing it was when I was in a locked marina to try to set off on the spur of the moment just because the sun was shining only to find that everyone else had had the same idea!
 
benjenbav said:
For me, it would be a big incentive if the dry stack operator offered a guaranteed minimum time to launch ahead of use (in hours not days!). The size of boats in dry stacks tends towards day boating use. So I would like to think that if I woke up on Saturday morning and it was unexpectedly nice I could mail the operator and be sure the boat would be in the water ready to go a couple of hours later without having to beg and expect to wait.
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Trafalgar will launch within the hour, and it takes me 3/4 hour to get to Portsmouth so works fine. Obviously in busy periods it makes more sense to give as much warning as possible. If you want to go early etc they will launch the evening before and put it on the pontoon. They are very flexible.
There are a lot of ribs/day boats, but mine is a 27' Aquastar and it works well.
 
Ian h said:
So they refuel during week and put boat back on rack? That's not bad then . I assumed when you phoned up for a launch they fuelled at same time. Yes agree hate waiting for fuel. How often will they drop boat down and plug in for charging?
What about heating during winter? Or does the shed not get that cold ?
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I guess midweek is less busy so why not fill & stack a few boats? Blinking brilliant! I've had two shed-rack-shed operations so far this year, no limits on number of ins & outs, likes most things: don't take the Micky! You can leave her in the rack & run heaters if you prefer (I had to do that last winter as the shed was full) but in the shed, no power. Not run a max-min thermometer in there so dunno minimum temps. Regarding long trip to the Solent yup, for sure but: I get to find out what to do & how to do it again in the harbour & messing about on a boat beats hands down the tarmac option & 5 mins from the A27 parked up = happy punter!
 
Looking at other drystacks it seems many offer
Valet fuel (MDL Take note )
all appear to jet wash boat on return.
1 thing not mentioned is engine flush which i see some offer.
Inside would be ideal.
Decent facilities Showers ETC.
Some offer storage lockers for boat related bits and pieces.
For me Electric hook up to keep batteries charged and in tiptop condition.
And as a thought as the max boat length is say 45 foot how about a covered area with lighting water & Electricity so that engineer can work on the boat out of the UK Weather (like a large carport area)
ability to stay on the boat over night , So a few pontoons with all facilities.
And a fair price per meter regardless of boat length . I.E all boats pay say £400 per meter with minimum length charge of 6 meters. MDL have banding and the larger the boat the more you pay per meter , not really fair on larger boats.
Have I missed anything ?
 
Ian h said:
And a fair price per meter regardless of boat length . I.E all boats pay say £400 per meter with minimum length charge of 6 meters. MDL have banding and the larger the boat the more you pay per meter , not really fair on larger boats.
Have I missed anything ?
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Banding for larger boats is actually fairer than the same rate for all boats. Since drystacks are in 3 dimensions there should arguably be a greater difference in banding than in a marina (which are sometimes length * width). Otherwise small boats simply become too expensive for a drystack (subsidising the bigger boats), when they are probably the most suited for dry stack.
 
Has anyone not anti fouled and left the bottom just the gel coat on a new boat. Is this a good idea on the basis it will be washed each time you return to the dry stack
 
I dry stack at gosport premier. 30ft boat. Love it. Unlimited lifts all year round. Will be places on service stack if wanted. Can stay on water a long as I want just ask for a berth. And I can just hook up to electrics and sleep on board. Get free sea start. Free wash down on every lift. Only need to give 1 hour noticed. I have full use of all the facilities if I was to have one complaint I suppose I would prefer the waiting pontoons to be bigger as it can be a squeeze during busy times and I'm sure some of my scuffs on my boat were not put on there by me. If I could ask for improvement I would like it to be cheaper. I think it's just under 4k at present and maybe 1 free full valet a year but I suppose I'm just being greedy now ?
 
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