Marina Fees

[Capt Popeye]

A senior member of our little club took me to task when this particular resignation was discussed and pointed out that times were hard for pensioners.
Having made his point he got into his new Jaguar and drove off.

Yes well , moved to Medway Towns in early 60s from South London , stayed in are for about 20 years or so , I found that Peopes in the Medway area were far more like Peoples from urban London than from any are in Kent , the main part of Kent being agricultural in the main , interspersed with High value Residential areas providing High End Homes for Londoners , I always thought that the Dockyard had influenced the make up Medway , this was born out to me when visiting the Chatham Dockard experience , a gallery warder , pointed out that a Model of an early Dockyard worker had an accompanying sound track , in a sort of Countryman dialect , the Warder stated that the Dialect should have been East London to be accurate , as the Chatham Dockyard workers were shifted down the Thames to Chatham / Gillingham area to man the Dock=yard . So I understood why Medway boating folk were were more akin to East Londoners that Men of Kent , or Kentish Men

Yes I gathered that boating costs on the Medway were in fact quite reasonable compared with Boating costs elsewhere , but perhaps , tightness of pockets is believed

In my early days in Medway the Commodore of RCC lived a few doors along from me , so we chatted about the Medway boating scene often

 

[volvopaul]

I know it's all about supply and demand, but I've never understood how marina berth prices can be justified.
Once the marina has been built, hardware installed of pontoons etc, what exactly are the running costs to justify these prices. I know I'm making this seem very simple, but the vast majority of marinas have existed for decades so their initial building costs will have been paid for many times over.
For the south coast as example, if you say 200 berths in an average marina and an average (this is just fag packet maths) of £6k berth fee, equates to 1.2 million. With running costs then taken into account, there is massive profits from running a marina.

I looked at both MDL and Premiers accounts , one made 12 million the other 14 I can’t remember which way round it was . When you look at the investment at Swanwick of late god know what they actually make from the berth holders to justify the investment capital . If these marinas were council owned the profits would be put back into the public domain instead of directors and share holders.
And yes I know it’s far too late to go back .

 

[Martxer]

I looked at both MDL and Premiers accounts , one made 12 million the other 14 I can’t remember which way round it was . When you look at the investment at Swanwick of late god know what they actually make from the berth holders to justify the investment capital . If these marinas were council owned the profits would be put back into the public domain instead of directors and share holders.
And yes I know it’s far too late to go back .

If they were council owned they would not make a profit there would be no investment, they would probably be full of potholes and speed cameras.

 

[PaulRainbow]

deleted

 

[oldgit]

If they were council owned they would not make a profit there would be no investment, they would probably be full of potholes and speed cameras.

Been fortunate enough to be able to actually do some boating recently and to experience mooring in fair number of locations in the South East of the country, mostly personal trips plus assisting to bring a boat or two back to the Medway.
Lowestoft to the North, Brighton in the South and all sorts inbetween including much of the Thames both tidal and above Teddington.
Have been in both privately run and local authority owned marinas and do not recognise the description of council owned moorings, in fact would suggest St Kats has far more cameras than Ramsgate.
Have generally found the service facilities and welcome to be equally excellent in both Ramsgate and St Kats, prices simply reflecting the location and whats on offer. Did not notice any potholes in either Ramsgate or Dover.

Two privately run exceptions, one where the quality of the pontoons is really dodgy , however dirt cheap and will visit again ...... another so badly organised that wild horses and free mooring would not get me back there again.
Lots of cruises planned for next year, a few old favorites, hopefully a new one or two including across La Manche.
Will pay more attention regards potholes and cameras as this apparently is important to some boaters.

 

[Daydream believer]

deleted

Your original comment came up in my in tray. I can understand how you feel. We had a problem where the committee was toxic & seemed to be putting people off with a perpetuating oligarcy of a miserable few. They would not do what the membership wanted. Some of them clung to jobs for years & no one else could get a look in. They would ask for help but as soon as someone came forward they quickly put them off. Potential new members walked away when greated with miserable disdain

Eventually a group got together & voted the old committee out completely. They are now finding out how hard it is to run a club. Yes, the club has now started to run into possible financial loss.The displaced members seem to love sniping in the background if something goes awray.
But give it a while & things will settle down.
The way to deal with trouble makers is to call them out & put them on the spot. That needs firm management or a good set of flag officers.
You should never just give in and walk away. Like I said- You are the loser, not them. I am in my 60th year of club membership & have nearly seen it all.

 

[DAW]

I looked at both MDL and Premiers accounts , one made 12 million the other 14 I can’t remember which way round it was . When you look at the investment at Swanwick of late god know what they actually make from the berth holders to justify the investment capital . If these marinas were council owned the profits would be put back into the public domain instead of directors and share holders.
And yes I know it’s far too late to go back .

I took a quick look at the financial statements. You're right, both MDL and Premier are highly profitable. For the year to March 2022 MDL made profit after tax of £9m and for the year to October 2022 Premier made profit after tax of £11.5m.

In the last few years both have reinvested a significant proportion of their annual cash flow in upgrading their facilities. Expenditure on assets in 2022 was £14m at Premier and £5m at MDL, in both cases mainly on land and buildings.

MDL is owned by another company (Yattendon Group) to which it pays relatively modest dividends as a percentage of its profits/cash flow .. £2m in 2022 and nothing in 2021. Premier seems to be ultimately controlled by the Wellcome Trust and gifts its surplus each year. Wellcome is a charity which invests in a variety of charitable and healthcare research activities.

Not sure it's fair to say they are simply handing their profits to directors and shareholders and not putting anything back into the public domain.

 

[oldgit]

Your original comment came up in my in tray. I can understand how you feel. We had a problem where the committee was toxic & seemed to be putting people off with a perpetuating oligarcy of a miserable few. They would not do what the membership wanted. Some of them clung to jobs for years & no one else could get a look in. They would ask for help but as soon as someone came forward they quickly put them off. Potential new members walked away when greated with miserable disdain

Eventually a group got together & voted the old committee out completely. They are now finding out how hard it is to run a club. Yes, the club has now started to run into possible financial loss.The displaced members seem to love sniping in the background if something goes awray.
But give it a while & things will settle down.
The way to deal with trouble makers is to call them out & put them on the spot. That needs firm management or a good set of flag officers.
You should never just give in and walk away. Like I said- You are the loser, not them. I am in my 60th year of club membership & have nearly seen it all.

In days of yore.
The days of retiring early at the grand old age of 60 with a comfortable final salary pension much of it contributed by you and me via a " chaps" employer is now virtually extinct apart from a lucky few.
The make up of many committees in the past invariably involved dead mans shoes, lowly committee member then Vice Commode followed by Commode, the chap may have been less than stellar in all the other jobs but the final job was his by divine right, provided the wife approved, probably pleased to get him out from under her feet.
No problem all the while a constant supply of folks with time on there hands was there to fill the vacancies.
Problem now, fine to complain about ones mature committee but they are there for better or worse doing the job as best they know how and many would simply love to hand the job over to some young energetic young firebrand full of ideas.
As long as they dont change anything of course.

But who wants to do it now ?
Your average club member now, both partners working , no stay at home little wives these days , both probably with some ridiculous commute and struggling to find the time even to sit down, who wants to come out to a meeting in cold clubhouse in mid February to argue with somebody whos experience of the real world ceased a decade or two ago.
Recent example.
Yes, committee member ....we do need a Risk Policy for ABC or XYZ and it might be more efficient to communicate by something called "email" than by sending out 180 letters by Royal Mail.

 

[Seastoke]

In days of yore.
The days of retiring early at the grand old age of 60 with a comfortable final salary pension much of it contributed by you and me via a " chaps" employer is now virtually extinct apart from a lucky few.
The make up of many committees in the past invariably involved dead mans shoes, lowly committee member then Vice Commode followed by Commode, the chap may have been less than stellar in all the other jobs but the final job was his by divine right, provided the wife approved, probably pleased to get him out from under her feet.
No problem all the while a constant supply of folks with time on there hands was there to fill the vacancies.
Problem now, fine to complain about ones mature committee but they are there for better or worse doing the job as best they know how and many would simply love to hand the job over to some young energetic young firebrand full of ideas.
As long as they dont change anything of course.

But who wants to do it now ?
Your average club member now, both partners working , no stay at home little wives these days , both probably with some ridiculous commute and struggling to find the time even to sit down, who wants to come out to a meeting in cold clubhouse in mid February to argue with somebody who experience of the real world ceased a decade or two ago.
Recent example.
Yes, committee member we do need a Risk Policy for ABC or XYZ and it might be more efficient to communicate by something called "email" than by sending out 180 letters by Royal Mail.

I sir have to point you to regulation 37.4:6 We now do not have emails or fe mails , one has to use the term , none binary mail, or non gender mail. Please keep up in the Med.

 

[TOKOLOSHI]

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Tough but subtle! ....................Love it!

 

[oldgit]

I sir have to point you to regulation 37.4:6 We now do not have emails or fe mails , one has to use the term , none binary mail, or non gender mail. Please keep up in the Med.

The office is also now having trouble finding a supplier of clay tablets and styli.

 

[Boathook]

[Inappropriate quoted content removed]

I didn't bother with a quiet whisper. It stopped a lot of questions / suggestions as well in future years.