Loaning our your mooring etiquette?

Tim Good

Tim Good

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Is this a done thing? I mean generally speaking if you rent a mooring from a harbour authority and you go away or your boat is ashore, can you let others use it? Friends, random people who ask etc?

We’re currently in Fowey and my partner is pregnant so we have to leave the boat for a week for tests and scans and stuff.

I was going to post on a few places to see if anyone wanted to lend me then mooring for a week but I’m unsure if that’s even the done thing or if Harbour authorities allow it?
 
I have generally found there the terms that exclude sub letting for lots of good reasons including preventing people in places like Fowey sitting on moorings and making an earner out of it, plus taking visitor income from the authority.
However it is different from place to place, in Plymouth the port is so large, and the Council so disorganised, that you could do what you like.

In Fowey I would put your case to the Harbourmaster in the office, personally for a week, I might not bother and just take their weekly rate, which I think gives you a free day.

.
 
I've managed to 'borrow' a mooring in a couple of locations, over the years.

They've always been club, rather than commercial, moorings, and have been arranged with friends who belong to the clubs involved.

I'd imagine that many clubs might welcome such temporary use by temporary members.

Could be worth asking the club(s) in the area directly, if you don't any know of their members.
 
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northcave said:
Is this a done thing? I mean generally speaking if you rent a mooring from a harbour authority and you go away or your boat is ashore, can you let others use it? Friends, random people who ask etc?

We’re currently in Fowey and my partner is pregnant so we have to leave the boat for a week for tests and scans and stuff.

I was going to post on a few places to see if anyone wanted to lend me then mooring for a week but I’m unsure if that’s even the done thing or if Harbour authorities allow it?
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I used to loan my mooring over winter while I was out on the hard, but it was formally arranged with the harbour authority so that he could pay the mooring charges to them.
The advantage of that arrangement was that I had the financial benefit (of not paying), but it would have been the harbour authority that would have had to chase him if he did not pay.
 
Typically it may be in the owners' t and C's with the harbour or club for the reasons outlined by Doug. That's their starting point.

Worth asking of course.
 
Be careful lending a mooring to people. We have found that many people take the p..s. They start wanting it for a "short while" then that extends to "a bit longer" because of some reason or other then you find you cannot get them off & when you want the mooring back you are stuck with a squatter. It has happened on our moorings many times over the years. We have just had to be hard & say "No" .
Many borrowing are doing so because of a host of reasons ie, they have had their own terimnated, or some such reason & that should get one's suspicions aroused straight away. A typical one is "Can we join the club? & can we go on a mooring whilst we are going through the joining process?" - Say "No" until you have their cash. " Another one is " My mooring has broken, can i go on one of yours until I sort my one out?" Forget it mate. The fact their mooring has broken shows what they are like.
 
NealB said:
I've managed to 'borrow' a mooring in a couple of locations, over the years.

They've always been club, rather than commercial, moorings, and have been arranged with friends who belong to the clubs involved.

I'd imagine that many clubs might welcome such temporary use by temporary members.

Could be worth asking the club(s) in the area directly, if you don't any know of their members.
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That’s a good idea. my club in Yorkshire I think is reciprocal with the royal Fowey.
 
Even if you borrow a mooring, harbour dues would still be due.
If you need to leave a boat for a week or more, it's often worth enquiring further up river.
In the case of Fowey, aren't there some moorings and a yard halfway to Lostwithiel by the church on the E side?
 
Daydream believer said:
Be careful lending a mooring to people. We have found that many people take the p..s. They start wanting it for a "short while" then that extends to "a bit longer" because of some reason or other then you find you cannot get them off & when you want the mooring back you are stuck with a squatter. It has happened on our moorings many times over the years. We have just had to be hard & say "No" .
Many borrowing are doing so because of a host of reasons ie, they have had their own terimnated, or some such reason & that should get one's suspicions aroused straight away. A typical one is "Can we join the club? & can we go on a mooring whilst we are going through the joining process?" - Say "No" until you have their cash. " Another one is " My mooring has broken, can i go on one of yours until I sort my one out?" Forget it mate. The fact their mooring has broken shows what they are like.
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Just for balance: there are genuine, decent, honest, and honourable, people around, too.

I've borrowed moorings from, and lent moorings to, people I know well on several occasions.

It's never caused any hassles at all.
 
NealB said:
Just for balance: there are genuine, decent, honest, and honourable, people around, too.

I've borrowed moorings from, and lent moorings to, people I know well on several occasions.

It's never caused any hassles at all.
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Like the time we used to have a single free visitors mooring.( It was shown as such on the charts) A guy turned up & parked on it. No problem with that, except he dumped the boat & stayed all season. When they finally caught up with him he just said " Well I was visiting & it is free so what are you going to do about it?"
 
Daydream believer said:
Like the time we used to have a single free visitors mooring.( It was shown as such on the charts) A guy turned up & parked on it. No problem with that, except he dumped the boat & stayed all season. When they finally caught up with him he just said " Well I was visiting & it is free so what are you going to do about it?"
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No, not like that time at all!

He sounds a nasty piece of work, rather lacking in the decency and respect departments.
 
The only problems I've encountered with people borrowing a mooring is where they haven't asked anybody anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered whether they were allowed.
It does sadden me that Daydream Believer has had such a negative experience.
FWIW I would be more than happy to let someone use my mooring. Advantages of owning it outright I suppose.
 
NealB said:
No, not like that time at all!

He sounds a nasty piece of work, rather lacking in the decency and respect departments.
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there are plenty about if you look hard enough.
We had another one who was a local who needed a mooring on the quick. Unfortunately a club committee member said he could have one ( mine !!!!!) & he stuck a boat on it. When we tried to locate him, it turned out he had been involved in a shooting incident in a pub & was otherwise detained. Fortunately a relation moved the boat after some months, but we had to keep moving it from mooring to mooring as they were all members moorings.
 
I borrow a mooring, with the owners' permission, at Oban. Both parties are happy, me having somewhere to park, and them knowing that my boat is suitable for the ground-tackle unlike some of the "borrowers" that were far too big.
I am concerned for Daydream believer who, when not being rummaged by foreign customs officers, manages to attract low-lifes to his moorings.
 
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