LOA for berthing: include bowsprit or not?

Not on a mooring but in a yard, ignored my boat but charged me for the length of my trailer over hang, what can you do,nothing.
 
Thank you. I didn't think I'd imagined it.

Expect you will find in the small print of the berthing contract they will reserve the right to measure your boat to establish the rate.

Probably not in the sort term contract as too much hassle to measure every visitor and provided the length quoted by the visitor sounds reasonable they will accept it.

Very different in the med where marinas generally insist on seeing at least the registration document and base the charge on the length (and possibly beam) stated there. No arguments then - although in the rare case of a long bowsprit they may demand extra or move to a bigger berth.
 
Your LWL does not have logic on its side. It is not the water space you occupy but the total space. The marina owns the space above the water as well and if you are occupying it they are entitled to charge you for it. In a hotel you don't just pay for the bed space you pay for the room even though when you are asleep you only occupy the space covered by your body.

True but my hotel beds are usually longer than I am, not 30% shorter.

Reductio ad absurdum if the hotel was run by a marina it would give me a 4' long bed (unless I was less than 5' tall in which case it would be 3' long), charge me 1.5x or even 2x the room rate if my waist or chest size was over 50" and the beds would be so tightly spaced other people would need to bounce off me in order to get to into their bed. If I stayed away for a night or two the hotel would give my room key to someone else and charge them for the room whilst still charging me and of course I might find I'd been moved to another room without any notice when I came back to the hotel one evening.
 
True but my hotel beds are usually longer than I am, not 30% shorter.

Reductio ad absurdum if the hotel was run by a marina it would give me a 4' long bed (unless I was less than 5' tall in which case it would be 3' long), charge me 1.5x or even 2x the room rate if my waist or chest size was over 50" and the beds would be so tightly spaced other people would need to bounce off me in order to get to into their bed. If I stayed away for a night or two the hotel would give my room key to someone else and charge them for the room whilst still charging me and of course I might find I'd been moved to another room without any notice when I came back to the hotel one evening.

Excellent ;)
 
In France, I have never paid for the bow sprit. Only the length of the hull.
In Spain, as a visitor, I have also never paid for the bow sprit.

However, now moving to Spain on an annual berth and they would not let me rent a 16m berth (my boat is 15.6m without the bow sprit), on the grounds that it would obstruct the channel between the pontoons. Dead right they are too.

So, for the first time I am paying for 20m (I am 20.03m from tip of the bow sprit to the back end of the stern). Which makes it twice the price of my 16m berth in France. :(

You may also end up paying more dinero for Spain's G5 tax for 20m LOA
 
True but my hotel beds are usually longer than I am, not 30% shorter.

Reductio ad absurdum if the hotel was run by a marina it would give me a 4' long bed (unless I was less than 5' tall in which case it would be 3' long), charge me 1.5x or even 2x the room rate if my waist or chest size was over 50" and the beds would be so tightly spaced other people would need to bounce off me in order to get to into their bed. If I stayed away for a night or two the hotel would give my room key to someone else and charge them for the room whilst still charging me and of course I might find I'd been moved to another room without any notice when I came back to the hotel one evening.

But a good (absurd) hotel would send someone round to check that you were securely tied to your bed in case of stormy weather!
 
True but my hotel beds are usually longer than I am, not 30% shorter.

Reductio ad absurdum if the hotel was run by a marina it would give me a 4' long bed (unless I was less than 5' tall in which case it would be 3' long), charge me 1.5x or even 2x the room rate if my waist or chest size was over 50" and the beds would be so tightly spaced other people would need to bounce off me in order to get to into their bed. If I stayed away for a night or two the hotel would give my room key to someone else and charge them for the room whilst still charging me and of course I might find I'd been moved to another room without any notice when I came back to the hotel one evening.

I am surprised that hotels don't charge a deposit for water and electricity.
 
The Sadler designed Frigate 27 ( very like a Sadler 25 ) is actually 26' LOA, presumably the extra was to sound more impressive; I bet people don't do that any more !

I have never actually seen anyone measure the length of a boat at a marina or anywhere else - if I saw someone out with a tape measure I'd mutter a few naughty words - though I suppose at marinas it's pretty clear how well a boat fits a known berth.

Chi Harbour Conservancy rules state that length includes all projections. A few years ago the Late Lt Col HM had a hissy fit about it and had the lads going round measuring boats on swinging moorings. Apparently they found quite a few that had grown since they were registered! I am told they do still occasionally measure boats, but that may just be PR.
 
Chi Harbour Conservancy rules state that length includes all projections. A few years ago the Late Lt Col HM had a hissy fit about it and had the lads going round measuring boats on swinging moorings. Apparently they found quite a few that had grown since they were registered! I am told they do still occasionally measure boats, but that may just be PR.

If they do measure boats at all I expect that would be a good reason for visiting my part of the harbour; checking nav marks and protecting listed ancient monuments from bait diggers apparently isn't.

I somehow doubt they'd measure boats around Itchenor, the harumphing from their mates would probably set off Russian satellite's missile launch alerts...
 
Twice every year for a couple of nights each time. But we've been permanently berthed in three marinas and none have ever asked for extra for the bowsprit or dinghy. I would think it very ungentlemanly for a marina to do so.

You've led a very lucky sailing life, every marina I ever heard of states things like bowsprits, bumkins & davits are chargeable - which seems fair enough as boats with these are indeed taking up that length of berth.

I remember someone with a classic gaffer commenting how nice it was that the Buckler's Hard staff let them off the bowsprit charge for the gaffer's rally, as they normally got financially clobbered for it.
 
Top