dralex
New member
I've was spending a lovely weekend playing with engines and servicing toilets, as well as scrubbing everything in preparation for our trip to the West Coast of France this week, when I noticed a shadow out of the corner of my eye. In their wisdom, the marina had put a rather large power boat in next to me. After lovingly polishing and waxing my topsides a couple of weeks ago, I know every inch of them and noticed the foot long S shaped gouge in my gelcoat. I then noticed that both the boats in the space were sitting on their fenders on the pontoon and the total gap between the boats was about 1 foot- our fenders were overlapping.
The owner turned out to be very pleasant and we chatted. He went out, then returned later on and scraped into my boat as he parked- he was fairly well lined up and obviously knows how to park, but still hit. His boat is high enough that his topsides over ride my stanchions- fenders don't work.
This was on a calm day with no difficult berthing conditions. It's going to be a nightmare for me to get in and out if there is any cross wind at all. Fair enough with a power boat with twin props, but the aisle we are in is pretty narrow at the best of times with a small engine and folding prop. I'm normally pretty competent at berthing.
What do you feel is the minimum gap you can legitmately expect between boats for our high marina fees? If we get any bad weather, the power boat is going to push my stanchions over.
The owner turned out to be very pleasant and we chatted. He went out, then returned later on and scraped into my boat as he parked- he was fairly well lined up and obviously knows how to park, but still hit. His boat is high enough that his topsides over ride my stanchions- fenders don't work.
This was on a calm day with no difficult berthing conditions. It's going to be a nightmare for me to get in and out if there is any cross wind at all. Fair enough with a power boat with twin props, but the aisle we are in is pretty narrow at the best of times with a small engine and folding prop. I'm normally pretty competent at berthing.
What do you feel is the minimum gap you can legitmately expect between boats for our high marina fees? If we get any bad weather, the power boat is going to push my stanchions over.