Keeping a boat on the South Coast: Affordable options please

cameronke

cameronke

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Hi Folks

I now live just south of Oxford and seriously miss my sailing.

I was previously based on the Clyde (sigh of longing...........)

I am considering the possibility of (say) a Sadler 32 in the Solent or surrounding area, at least commutable from Oxford.

I suspect a marina would be beyond my means and being a canny Scot would like to find the least expensive option for such a boat

Could you make any recommendations or comment please?

Cameron
 
Lots of good value mooring options in Chichester, Portsmouth and possibly Langstone Harbours. If they don't float your boat there are even cheaper options if you are prepared to go half-tide. Also space in the upper reaches of the Medina and Itchen rivers. Basically just select a preferred destination and you'll get many useful replies.
 
Buy a bilge keel Sadler 32 and keep her on drying or half tide mooring will be your cheapest option.

If with a club that allows you to keep the boat on the mooring all year round, you could be looking at £400-£500 per year for your mooring costs, perhaps less. Marinas will be multiples of thousands of £££ for a 32 footer.
 
Have you thought about further west?

Quieter waters than the Solent, exciting places to see and a tad cheaper.
 
Wicormarine are substantially less expensive than Solent marinas, and give very good service, but not walk ashore.

If you want a bilge keel boat to put on a drying mooring, they built far more bilge Sadler 29s than 32s. While the 32 will sail a little better, the 29 gives more or less the same internal space, is double skinned, hence warmer and unsinkable, and will cost a little less to moor.
 
It really depends on your definition of commutable.

If you mean head down Friday afternoon / evening after work and come back again on Sunday then you're really looking at Southampton or Gosport. The traffic will be bad and even those two will be 90 minutes to 2 hours drive at that time of the week.

Poole / Chichester are cheaper but at least another 30 minute drive.

If you head down at less busy times those same journey may be 30 minutes shorter.

Personally i'd look at somewhere up the itchen - Maybe Kemps.
 
You could consider the East Coast, both the Medway or the Crouch are a similar distance from Oxford as the Solent and considerably cheaper.... I guess it rather depends on what type of sailing you are into.
 
jac said:
But not really commutable from Oxford - Exeter is about 3 hours drive if the traffic is OK. with weekend traffic that could be 4.
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Yes it is ages and ages away and in traffic it can be a complete nightmare. Hours and hours on the A303/A30.
 
dom said:
Lots of good value mooring options in Chichester, Portsmouth and possibly Langstone Harbours. If they don't float your boat there are even cheaper options if you are prepared to go half-tide. Also space in the upper reaches of the Medina and Itchen rivers. Basically just select a preferred destination and you'll get many useful replies.
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+1..

Bilge keeler and a half tide mooring...
 
Telstarr said:
That's more like it :encouragement:
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Just don't mention that trains go from Reading to Exeter and Plymouth so for most weekends the journey could be pie and pint or two before getting off for the best sailing south of Scotland. We used to live in West London and work in Central London whilst keeping a boat in Plymouth so the evening train out got us nicely sozzled before the next day's sail and on Sunday we could keep the weekend going til the last minute then get the sleeper home for work the next morning.
 
RupertW said:
Just don't mention that trains go from Reading to Exeter and Plymouth so for most weekends the journey could be pie and pint or two before getting off for the best sailing south of Scotland. We used to live in West London and work in Central London whilst keeping a boat in Plymouth so the evening train out got us nicely sozzled before the next day's sail and on Sunday we could keep the weekend going til the last minute then get the sleeper home for work the next morning.
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Now you sound like you know how to have fun. Apparently the train line is all gone now, destroyed by the sea, no more trains...
 
Telstarr said:
Now you sound like you know how to have fun. Apparently the train line is all gone now, destroyed by the sea, no more trains...
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Ah well, once we had realised that a car was not needed as part of owning a boat then all our distance limitations fell away as did our transport costs as trains are very expensive. Our boat is now on another South coast getting beers on EasyJet on the way
 
Buy a smaller boat and keep it closer to home. Yes Southampton can be expensive. But there are ways to do it. A 25 footer in a MDL or Premier marina is about £3-4K depending on which one. You might get it below £2.5 at say Kemps, Ocean Quay or Atlantic wharf.

The best bit about walk ashore is that you actually get to use the boat, whatever the weather. I spent a very present lunch hour onboard today in OV. I will be there again on Saturday morning. No way would I have bothered to visit the boat on a day like today, if she was on a swinging mooring or mid river, with faffing around with a tender, outboard etc.

OK I get you wont come down for an hour, but if you know you can walk onboard at whatever time, you can time your journey to miss rush hour and make life just that bit more pleasant.

Another option could be to get a trailer sailer. There are summer deals around for under 8M for about £700 for two months walkashore in a marina. If you don't want to tow / store at home, there are storage places close to the Hamble (one is called Roddington Forge) for about £30 per month. OK so with this option you need to get her in and out, which is a faff but you always have the option to take her home for the winter, to fettle.

Pros and cons.

If you do go the bigger boat, cheaper moorings, look up Marchwood. I am told the club is friendly, fairly low cost moorings and would be fairly easy to get to for you.
 
PhillM said:
Another option could be to get a trailer sailer. .....
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Now there's an idea.... as the man says you could keep it at home and go to all the places listed on this thread or even further afield like perhaps the Med.... depending on which has the best weather for the weekend, or perhaps where there's a local race or cruise you want to take part in. Hang on, that's what I do!
 
Cameron
Welcome to the South. There's lots of good sailing in and around the Solent, and lots of people looking for good crew, so you don't absolutely need to buy your own. But if you do want to float your own, the choices are pretty clear.
1.If time is precious, sailing limited to weekends or similar, don't waste your time with any of the half-tide suggestions (which normally seem to involve owning a boat that sails like a brick). Think like Phillm and go for a marina berth somewhere. Your value for money invested in the yacht will be heaps better.
2. Locationwise, watch out for weekend traffic. Getting down to Gosport or the lower parts of the Hamble can be a nightmare at times. On the Hamble I would choose Premier (Swanwick), Deacons or Universal over all the others simply because they are far more accessible by road.
3. Don't rule out Lymington. Assuming you will be coming down the M3, it is a little bit longer distance to go than Gosport (or Wicormarine etc) but crossing the New Forest is far nicer and quicker. Once in Lymington you have a nice enough town and easy access to the Western Solent, prettier and less crowded than the Eastern end.

My nephew-in-law has just bought a nice little Dehler 34 in which to introduce his wife + two smalls to sailing in the South. Lots of discussions, starting just as you have, lots of driving down to look at river berths, mud, odd little harbours, and finally some marinas. Final conclusion was that it had to be walkashore if the wife + kids were not to be put off. Cost / value consideration again. Current choice is Universal Marina on the Hamble, mainly for its quality and ease of access from the M3.

Good luck!
Peter
 
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