MDL renewal.

[ari]

Just received an email from MDL promoting winter berthing offers at a lot lower rates than the loyal annual berth holders get, how do they get away with that one ?

What are they getting away with? Short term berthing through the winter is obviously far cheaper than annual rates, they're trying to fill the berths left empty by boats being lifted out.

Try adding on the price for hanging on to that berth through the summer as well, like the annual berth holders do, and see how prices compare like for like.

 

[maby]

Out of interest how much is a 17/18m mooring in mdl ? Only asking out of curiosity not to move there !

It varies a great deal between their marinas. The east coast marinas are a lot cheaper than the Solent. Our boat is just 13m and I would expect to pay around £10k for a berth on the Solent - several thousand less on the east coast. There is a small price premium for MDL compared with other big name marina chains, but you do get the flexibility of being able to spend virtually unlimited periods of time in high-end marinas all over the country.

 

[Boat2016]

What are they getting away with? Short term berthing through the winter is obviously far cheaper than annual rates, they're trying to fill the berths left empty by boats being lifted out.

Try adding on the price for hanging on to that berth through the summer as well, like the annual berth holders do, and see how prices compare like for like.

I was told the price you pay for annual berth is same per month all year round, you only get charged the higher rate if you leave mid term so if you divide your annual berth by 12 you will be paying more per month than the offer price. I have also seen monthly offers for the summer months so am sure if you don’t mind moving about a bit there’s money to be saved. Although I had an MDL berth for around 12 years I have been looking again after a 6 year break and what’s on offer seems to vary between locations.

 

[Talulah]

We let the annual berth lapse and switched to a winter pay monthly berth. Paying six months winter berthing in advance saves another 10%.
However I think the best saving will materialise in April onwards. The plan is for some extended sailing so we won’t be paying for an unused berth at home.

 

[Firefly625]

Out of interest how much is a 17/18m mooring in mdl ? Only asking out of curiosity not to move there !

how about this for a bargain;

50ft berth in Gosport marina £2485 per year (includes £662 annual service charge)

….ok... so you have to pay that upfront until 2067, but man maths says its the cheapest way to berth a 50ft'er on the south coast.

 

[Blue Sunray]

The mobo owners have always been a problem at OV - but the hotel just tipped it beyond tolerable.

The only issues I've seen with noisy boats have been an Oyster being fitted out when the crew seemed to be soak testing the sound system (for a whole morning) but they did turn that down when asked and a visiting flotilla of a particular marque of smaller sailing boat, who were antisocial on a range of levels not just noise. However where you are berthed probably makes a difference and we seem to have good neighbours most of whose boats do, come to think of it, have some sort of pole in the middle.

 

[maby]

The only issues I've seen with noisy boats have been an Oyster being fitted out when the crew seemed to be soak testing the sound system (for a whole morning) but they did turn that down when asked and a visiting flotilla of a particular marque of smaller sailing boat, who were antisocial on a range of levels not just noise. However where you are berthed probably makes a difference and we seem to have good neighbours most of whose boats do, come to think of it, have some sort of pole in the middle.

Hmmm, our last summer at OV was often pretty terrible due to loud parties on mobos running through to 2am or later. I don't think I've ever had a problem with any sailing boat owner - and we tend to select marinas that are primarily sail boats.

 

[Blue Sunray]

Hmmm, our last summer at OV was often pretty terrible due to loud parties on mobos running through to 2am or later. I don't think I've ever had a problem with any sailing boat owner - and we tend to select marinas that are primarily sail boats.

Perhaps they (the noisy MoBos) moved out as well because of sound system jealousy re the hotel bar? As I said hasn't been an issue recently, though I wouldn't recommend the place.

 

[ari]

I was told the price you pay for annual berth is same per month all year round, you only get charged the higher rate if you leave mid term so if you divide your annual berth by 12 you will be paying more per month than the offer price.

It's a while since I've been in an MDL marina, but if you pay for an annual berth, well then you've bought an annual berth so it's not different rates per month, it's one rate for one year. And in theory if you leave, tough luck, you've committed to a year of berthing at an annual price, up to you whether you put a boat on it or not.

However if I recall correctly, they were prepared to convert you onto a visitor rate if you did want to leave, in other words if you left at the end of June, they'd agree to charge you the three months you'd have paid if you'd taken a (much more expensive per week) visitor berth and refund you the rest which struck me as entirely reasonable.

Not sure what that has to do with winter rates though, since you wouldn't have been there in the winter (there was a cut off point at which x number of visitor rate weeks added up to a year of berthing in any case, so past that point if they converted it, you'd be owing them!)

 

[Greg2]

We took an annual contract with MDL at the beginning of April - as has been said it is a fixed price with no difference in summer or winter months - we paid in full up front. Another option was a monthly contract, which is a higher rate than the annual contract divided by 12 and I think some differential for winter and summer months. The annual contract can be cancelled at any time with a pro-rata refund, but at the point of cancellation they treat you as if you had been on the monthly contract from the beginning of their year and work out the charge accordingly - so there comes a point later in the year when cancellation is pointless in terms of getting a refund.

We ended up cancelling within the first couple of months due to SWMBO having an accident on the boat and it turned out that cancellation within the two months of an annual contract means that you don’t get ‘moved’ onto the monthly rate, but we did have to give a months notice.

Overall, we were quite happy with their fee structure and paying a bit more than other local marinas was offset by fuel at cost and freedom berthing if we managed to cruise a sufficient distance to use it!

 

[Bigplumbs]

What I find interesting is if you as a visitor or a trailer boater ask MDL in the winter if you can have a berth for say a month they will happily take your money and pop you in on anyone that is free/empty. I have often thought that this is most likely another persons berth paid yearly and their boat is on the hard so in effect MDL are getting that months money twice. I wonder what would happen if that same person with their boat on the hard tried to sublet their space in the water to me for a month...……...

 

[ari]

What I find interesting is if you as a visitor or a trailer boater ask MDL in the winter if you can have a berth for say a month they will happily take your money and pop you in on anyone that is free/empty. I have often thought that this is most likely another persons berth paid yearly and their boat is on the hard so in effect MDL are getting that months money twice. I wonder what would happen if that same person with their boat on the hard tried to sublet their space in the water to me for a month...……...

Correct, and that's part of the terms of the contract. Likewise if you're away for a week in the summer you are supposed to let them know so they can use the berth.

Put the boot on the other foot, you turn up at a marina in your 30ft boat asking to stay overnight. They say 'sorry sir, we're full'. You know that there's a 30ft berth right in front of you that is empty for a week, you'd say 'surely I can go on there?' And they say 'no, he's away for a week so we're just going to leave it empty and you can't come in, there's no space'. Who would that benefit? You? Them? The vacant berth holder?

Bear in mind that while that boat is away, he/she can call into any MDL marina and berth for free on someone else's vacant berth, so in effect it's like they've taken their berth with them. Likewise, in the winter (certainly when I was there, I assume it's still the case) they'd put the boat into their boatyard and not charge for the space, so it's only fair that they can use your space.

Plus it's very useful in places like Brixham where the swinging moorings are incredibly exposed to winter storms if those people can take advantage of the empty berths of those out for the winter, gain some cheap safe berthing through the stormy season and MDL earn some money from berths otherwise empty.

It all seems eminently sensible to me.

 

[Cathy*]

Likewise, in the winter (certainly when I was there, I assume it's still the case) they'd put the boat into their boatyard and not charge for the space, so it's only fair that they can use your space.

We get 30 days on the hard then have to pay the normal storage rate unless there is a special deal going on.

 

[Firefly625]

We get 30 days on the hard then have to pay the normal storage rate unless there is a special deal going on.

with MDL? that's weird.. what marina?

I'm out 3 to 4 months every year... no storage fees just covered by the annual berth fee as ari stated.

(berthed at Mercury, I winter on the hard at Hamble Point)

 

[maby]

with MDL? that's weird.. what marina?

I'm out 3 to 4 months every year... no storage fees just covered by the annual berth fee as ari stated.

(berthed at Mercury, I winter on the hard at Hamble Point)

I think that is very dependent on the marina in question. We have been residents in some MDL marinas with lots of boatyard space where you can be out for months at no extra cost, but we have been in others like Chatham with limited space where they start charging almost immediately.

 

[bluetooth]

with MDL? that's weird.. what marina?

I'm out 3 to 4 months every year... no storage fees just covered by the annual berth fee as ari stated.

(berthed at Mercury, I winter on the hard at Hamble Point)

Yeh same at Cobbs Quay. I dont see a problem - they give you around 5 weeks ashore free (not lift though) but if you do before xmas you can get 10 weeks
The reason is space - everyone cant come out Jan-march/Arpil so they have to stagger

 

[Cathy*]

with MDL? that's weird.. what marina?

I'm out 3 to 4 months every year... no storage fees just covered by the annual berth fee as ari stated.

(berthed at Mercury, I winter on the hard at Hamble Point)

We're in QAB at the moment but I'm looking at all the other MDL's with a view to moving next year. I'm hoping that we'll be able to use freedom berthing to come over and visit. Why haven't you come out at Mercury?

 

[Bigplumbs]

Correct, and that's part of the terms of the contract. Likewise if you're away for a week in the summer you are supposed to let them know so they can use the berth.

Put the boot on the other foot, you turn up at a marina in your 30ft boat asking to stay overnight. They say 'sorry sir, we're full'. You know that there's a 30ft berth right in front of you that is empty for a week, you'd say 'surely I can go on there?' And they say 'no, he's away for a week so we're just going to leave it empty and you can't come in, there's no space'. Who would that benefit? You? Them? The vacant berth holder?

Bear in mind that while that boat is away, he/she can call into any MDL marina and berth for free on someone else's vacant berth, so in effect it's like they've taken their berth with them. Likewise, in the winter (certainly when I was there, I assume it's still the case) they'd put the boat into their boatyard and not charge for the space, so it's only fair that they can use your space.

Plus it's very useful in places like Brixham where the swinging moorings are incredibly exposed to winter storms if those people can take advantage of the empty berths of those out for the winter, gain some cheap safe berthing through the stormy season and MDL earn some money from berths otherwise empty.

It all seems eminently sensible to me.

Yes put like that it seems reasonable...……. Or they could feed back the ad hoc money they get from visitors using paid for berths to the berth holders in some way...…. Or do they claim they already do this in the 'low' fees they charge

 

[Blue Sunray]

We're in QAB at the moment but I'm looking at all the other MDL's with a view to moving next year. I'm hoping that we'll be able to use freedom berthing to come over and visit. Why haven't you come out at Mercury?

I can't speak for him but we changed from lifting a Mercury to Hamble point this year as:

- The car/boat park at Mercury is frankly petty grotty, muddy etc in places which didn't make anti fouling etc any pleasanter.
- In previous years we have been picking the detritus from the trees around the boat park (leaves seeds etc) out of corners of the boat for weeks after we went back in.
- Car and boat parking wasn't really segregated at Mercury giving me concerns that I might mark cars parked around the boat when working on it. (I'm not talking about the odd car from someone working on their boat but general medium to long term parking, they had to drag cars out of the way on trolley jacks on the last occasion that we lifted back in)
- The restaurant at Mercury was closed (since reopened)
- The Force 4 at Hamble Point is much bigger (though arguably less friendly)
- We found dealing with the staff at Mercury a frustrating experience with promises not kept and no sense of customer service.

Wouldn't go back unless things change at Mercury, which is probably MDL's intention as they want to build on the car/boat park.

 

[ST840]

Sean and the team at Mercury’s are second best in the “Southampton” MDL chain of marinas ! Bettered only by Barry and all at Shamrock quay.
Two working marinas that are probably not as suitable for the high end of boating but, still two of the most friendly and helpful marinas around !