Mooring costs?

[asteven221]

Does anyone have an estimate on what sort of money I should expect to pay to get a company to install a brand new mooring? I am thinking in a location with plenty of moorings i.e. tried and tested seabed and easily accessible.

The boat is 46ft fairly modern AWB and the mooring would be for permanent mooring say March to the end of October.

I am just considering it for next year as an alternative to the ever increasing marina fees (£6k this year) which I have been paying for years. Likely I will just paying the fee, moan for a wee while and then forget it until the following year!!!!

 

[lw395]

I think it depends a lot on whether contractors have a barge in the area at the right time. A couple of blokes with all the kit will cost the better part of £1k a day, but they can do several moorings in that time. I'd guess at around a grand forthe first year, then a couple of hundred a year for inspection.
Mostly, you have to acquire or rent a site to place your mooring. In Portsmouth, for instance, the areas are let out via clubs and boatyards, there are often waiting lists. Other places, the Harbour office may let moorings directly.
Talk to your insurer, some mooring areas are frowned on or only allow a short season etc.

 

[jwilson]

You don't say where you are but unless in Syria or other similar place if it's a good weather-safe location for a mooring there are probably others already there, and someone already servicing them.

My first mooring cost about £20 all in: old small truck engine block, bits of old chain and some rope. Very long time ago now though and the area now has licensing, fees etc. and someone who lays the moorings and rents them.

 

[doug748]

You are fortunate if you are in an area relatively free from bureaucracy. I had my own mooring for 10 years and was glad to get shot of it.
Costs were not too bad, maybe new chain every 4 years c £800, inspected every season + bits and pieces c£250, perhaps new buoy c£500 every 10 years. I would think putting down a single new mooring might cost between £1500 and 2k ish.
On top of this a local authority charge of c £450 pa. However they were always trying to jack up the charge, incompetent, incapable of keeping records and constantly changing policy regards insurance inspection and management.
With changes in H&S diving policy it became more and more difficult to get anyone to do work at any price.

This was a 32ft boat on a mooring capable of taking 42 ft - with your larger boat, in a better organised area, you may feel it is worth taking on. Club or managed moorings are much less aggravation but at 46ft may not be that easy to find.

I am getting on a bit and just moving in the opposite direction, in a marina I use the boat more but sail less, very comfy though.

 

[asteven221]

doug748. Yikes £450 to the authorities?

Up here in bonny Scotland in the Clyde I have two moorings I share. together we pay about £50 in total for one and I think slightly less for the other as it's part of a mooring association or similar. The fee goes to the Crown Estate. That's the total paid to the authorities.

 

[[3889]]

I read the OP's enquiry as relating to hardware and labour only for initial installation. On that basis I would expect 2k as a guide though that will vary with tidal range, water depth etc. Laying the mooring is a pretty straightforward process, a couple of hours at most.

 

[GTom]

Probably depends on the location, but I'd second the 2k-ish figure (got some quotes from Scotland last year) for the gear and work.

 

[Daydream believer]

Please tell us what area you want the mooring- It does make a difference.
if you want it on the River Blackwater at St Lawrence Bay ( excellent sailing area on the east coast) I can tell you the full cost - I supply the complete kit & place the moorings.

Currently I (with the help of the mooring holder) lay a mooring for £ 40-00 for on going mooring holders & £ 75-00 for new ones. Annual rental is circa £135 for boats over 30 ft . Allow circa £ 600 for the tackle & another £ 25-00, plus parts, for annual maintenance.
The mooring comes out on a 3 year cycle & if you go in at year 2 it still comes out on year 3 at a cost of £ 100 (last year's price & depends on cost of tug) It then gets full service/renewed & relaid on the 3 year cycle
You do not have to be a club member but you can only lay up on club grounds if you are
All the details on how it works on our web site is www.stonemoorings.com

 

[[3889]]

Please tell us what area you want the mooring- It does make a difference.
if you want it on the River Blackwater at St Lawrence Bay ( excellent sailing area on the east coast) I can tell you the full cost - I supply the complete kit & place the moorings.

Currently I (with the help of the mooring holder) lay a mooring for £ 40-00 for on going mooring holders & £ 75-00 for new ones. Annual rental is circa £135 for boats over 30 ft . Allow circa £ 600 for the tackle & another £ 25-00, plus parts, for annual maintenance.
The mooring comes out on a 3 year cycle & if you go in at year 2 it still comes out on year 3 at a cost of £ 100 (last year's price & depends on cost of tug) It then gets full service/renewed & relaid on the 3 year cycle
You do not have to be a club member but you can only lay up on club grounds if you are
All the details on how it works on our web site is www.stonemoorings.com

£600 for ground tackle for a 46" boat seems remarkable unless you mean a tractor tyre filled with concrete and scrap iron and condemned lifting chain for the ground chain and riser.
I paid £800 in 2007 for ground tackle for a 2.2 tonne boat and that was the best price I could find for new kit with proper anchors.

 

[lw395]

I read the OP's enquiry as relating to hardware and labour only for initial installation. On that basis I would expect 2k as a guide though that will vary with tidal range, water depth etc. Laying the mooring is a pretty straightforward process, a couple of hours at most.

Laying the mooring is a few seconds of a big splash, often followed by a tea break debate about whether it's near enough in the righ place. You pay for however long the barge and the boys have to be away from base.
Best divided around at least half a dozen moorings.

 

[Daydream believer]

£600 for ground tackle for a 46" boat seems remarkable unless you mean a tractor tyre filled with concrete and scrap iron and condemned lifting chain for the ground chain and riser.
I paid £800 in 2007 for ground tackle for a 2.2 tonne boat and that was the best price I could find for new kit with proper anchors.

New chain & shackles all bought in bulk. I do not charge any profit to the owners. I have been doing it for about 16 years. I just want to see the clubs cruiser class flourish. We use sinkers & have a stock of standard ones. Bigger ones (over 1 Tonne) are made by helping the owners make them on the club grounds. That saves a lot of cost. As time goes on we find that we often have second hand ones come up for sale.
I act as the Fairways "Chandler".
Owners do not have to buy from me, but most do because they cannot get the stuff anywhere as cheap. I also supply various ropes etc & do splicing for them.
If I did it as a business it would be much more of course.

 

[Kelpie]

I guess this isn't applicable down south, but in this part of the world the best bet is to speak to a friendly fish farm. They have hefty mooring gear and change it out fairly often, so if you're lucky you can pick up good gear for far less money than people are talking about in this thread. And you might even get it laid for you.

 

[[3889]]

Laying the mooring is a few seconds of a big splash, often followed by a tea break debate about whether it's near enough in the righ place. You pay for however long the barge and the boys have to be away from base.
Best divided around at least half a dozen moorings.

My 2 hour estimate was based on my single experience of laying a mooring:
Drag buoyed chain, anchors and riser buoy onto beach, wait for tide, tow behind launch, drop 1st anchor at previously buoyed position, motor 30m and drop 2nd anchor. Obviously a shorter process with a mooring barge.

 

[Kelpie]

In my fairly limited experience a big factor is how crowded the space is with other moorings and boats. Most times that I have been involved in laying moorings, the vast bulk of the time has been spent fine tuning with the exact spot to set everything to maximise swinging room.

 

[Seajet]

I am out of date with this now - but around England it's nigh on impossible to lay a NEW mooring ( ' additional obstruction on seabed ' or similar, part of the MCZ nonsense ) - ok to use an old position even if it's on some scruffy harbour diagram 200 years old.

Old Harry - the real one from Chichester - is the man who knows the rules and where they apply.

 

[langstonelayabout]

They have hefty mooring gear and change it out fairly often, so if you're lucky you can pick up good gear for far less money than people are talking about in this thread.

Used mooring gear discarded by one careful owner before me securing my boat to the sea bed? I don't think so.

Having had a (brand new) oversize mooring swivel break after 21/2 years I'll only use new gear to secure my boat thanks.
The cost of new mooring gear is negligible compared with the cost of a mooring or marina berth in the Solent.

 

[Seajet]

+1, I doubt insurers would be overjoyed either.

 

[Kelpie]

Suit yourselves. My boat is moored to a pair of 150kg anchors, with 40mm stud link link ground chain and a 19mm riser. All in perfect condition. Shackles and swivel brand new.

I sleep fairly easily knowing what's down there, and it cost me a small fraction of any of the prices quoted on this thread.

 

[Daydream believer]

I had to stop people selling their mooring on to new owners along with their boats. They would claim things like " only placed last year". In many cases the new owner would have better off placing their boat on a necklace.
We introduced a rule that if you sold the boat your mooring had to be recovered & serviced before the new owner took over. It creates so much arguement.
I have come home and found my wife crying when she has been threatened by owners shouting & been abusive to her over mooring rules etc. I have had the most abusive letters one can imagine because I have asked owners to sort out duff moorings etc.
I have had drunks come to my house & my wife has been scared to answer the door. No problem to me as I am ex building trade but not what one really needs.
I have, in the past, had to refuse to place some moorings when owners have tried to place their old tackle. Sometimes the chain has corroded so much that just 6mm diameter remains & they quite happily expect to place a boat on it.
The number of owners who comment " It is OK the boat is insured" is surprising
But it is NOT OK insurers see claims in an area & then raise costs to other owners or withdraw their services altogether for a particular area.
When I became clerk to the Fairway committee in 2003 it was the year after £30,000 of damage had been done by boats dragging or breaking free. My first job was to insist on larger sinkers & the uproar was amazing. At the time the broker in Leigh on sea said that he could only find 4 insurance companies prepared to insure boats on our moorings.
Since then we have had some drag, but usually they break free due to stupid owners not tying the boat to the buoy properly. We give them as much advice as we can, but you can only lead a horse to water !!!
I did the job of clerk for 10 years. The next clerk packed up after 3 years due to abuse & hassle from mooring holders
I still handle the chain sales & place moorings etc & currently the present owners are a great crowd.95% are happy to use new gear & not cut corners

 

[NotBirdseye]

I had to stop people selling their mooring on to new owners along with their boats. They would claim things like " only placed last year". In many cases the new owner would have better off placing their boat on a necklace.
We introduced a rule that if you sold the boat your mooring had to be recovered & serviced before the new owner took over. It creates so much arguement.
I have come home and found my wife crying when she has been threatened by owners shouting & been abusive to her over mooring rules etc. I have had the most abusive letters one can imagine because I have asked owners to sort out duff moorings etc.
I have had drunks come to my house & my wife has been scared to answer the door. No problem to me as I am ex building trade but not what one really needs.
I have, in the past, had to refuse to place some moorings when owners have tried to place their old tackle. Sometimes the chain has corroded so much that just 6mm diameter remains & they quite happily expect to place a boat on it.
The number of owners who comment " It is OK the boat is insured" is surprising
But it is NOT OK insurers see claims in an area & then raise costs to other owners or withdraw their services altogether for a particular area.
When I became clerk to the Fairway committee in 2003 it was the year after £30,000 of damage had been done by boats dragging or breaking free. My first job was to insist on larger sinkers & the uproar was amazing. At the time the broker in Leigh on sea said that he could only find 4 insurance companies prepared to insure boats on our moorings.
Since then we have had some drag, but usually they break free due to stupid owners not tying the boat to the buoy properly. We give them as much advice as we can, but you can only lead a horse to water !!!
I did the job of clerk for 10 years. The next clerk packed up after 3 years due to abuse & hassle from mooring holders
I still handle the chain sales & place moorings etc & currently the present owners are a great crowd.95% are happy to use new gear & not cut corners

I'd institute a new rule if I were you if that situation arises again.

"Any abusive behaviour will be reported directly the the (whoever authorizes the moorings) and whoever is found on balance to have engaged in abusive behaviour will have their fees refunded pro-rata and instructed to move on, else the boat and the mooring will be seized and sold for trespassing. "

There is no excuse for that kind of behaviour at all. Thanks for the tip re- private mooring caution though!