mooring fees

[bobgosling]

I can just about afford a yacht and some basic safety equipment but there is no way I can persuade my wife to part with around 2000 p.a. for marina mooring fees , which is roughly what I calculate for a 24 ft yacht.

I am finding it very hard to find out about alternatives, i.e. mud berths or deepwater moorings. Can anyone point me in the right direction ( Brighton area ) and suggest what kind of ballpark costs I should expect to pay.

Thanks.

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[kilkerr1]

I'm there with you! I'm in Brighton and my husband and I have just emptied our accounts/pockets/piggy banks to buy or first yacht, a 22' Kingfisher. After extensive hunts around Sussex we decided to keep her on the Medway where her previous owners kept her, for the time being, as mooring fees around here would require re-mortgaging, and there seem to be very few spaces anyway. We can still only afford a mud berth though, and have access to the boat 1.5 hours either side of high water, which ain't ideal, but it's a start.

One pissabolity is joining a yacht club - their mooring fees seem to be cheaper; though you do need to pay membership, be 'invited' to join the club and all sorts. Another option would be swing moorings around Chichester maybe, have a look at the moorings page on their great website at http://www.conservancy.co.uk/water/moorings.asp. They have varying mud berths (i.e. some accessible for 3 hours +/- HW, some for only 1, etc.). Then there's Shoreham mud berths, try Shoreham Port Authority, Coastal Marine on 01273-413121 or Riverside Marina on 01273 592456, they're both also in Shoreham.

Let me know how you get on - and tell your wife it'll all be worth it!

Justine



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[Evadne]

I have a swinging mooring in Chichester harbour for £550 per summer for a buoy, haul-out + winter storage is about half as much again for a 29-footer (charged per foot). Our yard nearly always has spaces, PM me if you are seriously interested. A conservancy mooring would be a tad cheaper, see chichester conservancy website. Elsewhere Solent-wards will be more expensive, unless you go to IOW (even more remote, I suspect).
For similar berths closer to Brighton you should be looking at Shoreham, Littlehampton, Newhaven and Rye. I know Rye, absolutely lovely place, but I suspect the waiting list is longer than you expect to live for. For Shoreham look up the threads in recent months on locking in and out. Littlehampton is charming and unsophisticated, but I've not been back there for years. Newhaven is a bit unknown to me.

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[Bladerunner]

Could always try moving to Wales !
Yacht club £127 Mud berth £50 annually 3 hours +/- HW
It is a little extra if you want a lift out at the end of the season.

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[Johnjo]

swinging mooring River Fal 27 footer £94 a year

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[MUS]

You've got to be kidding! We're paying £520 for 6 months, 22 footer swinging mooring on the river Percuil. Perhaps a move nearer to Malpas? might be in order!

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[AndrewB]

Mud berths at Rye are about the cheapest on the south coast, around £25 per foot per annum last year. Changed ownership recently, I think its now being run by the Rye Partnership, if not they would know who, tel: 01797 229600.

Newhaven marina used to have some cheapish half-tide berths, as did Arun YC at Littlehampton, but I'm going back a bit on both of these.

 

[Johnjo]

Mus could well be, no joking thats it £94 !
In the best location on the south coast, fair enough its up the river,
But hey, we like the river !

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[Niander]

think ill stay up on the moray firth
about £125 per anum
on a mooring...i feel for you!

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[ruff_n_tumble]

I too live in Brighton and currently have a swinging mooring in Portsmouth Harbour at about £850 pa, including water taxi, from Gosport Boatyard which I'm very happy with and it's well worth the drive - cheaper, more interesting and sheltered sailing than Brighton. Before that I was in Chichester on a swinging half-tide mooring - same considerations. When starting I took advice from a lifeboatman in Shoreham who advised me that even allowing for the drive I'd do a lot more sailing in Chichester than Shoreham or Brighton - absolutely true.

<hr width=100% size=1>Steve Marsh
Hunter 27 OOD "Ruff-n-Tumble"
Gosport

 

[Abigail]

Last year Sailing Today (I think) did a round up of the most expensive and cheapest marinas in UK. Newhaven came out the cheapest for it's mud berth marina. I can't remember the name but it's something like Meaching. It is undoubtedly very basic and you must be able to dry out (and conseuqnetly you are of course tide locked) - but you get a very cheap deal.



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[billywilliams]

Having bitten my tongue when reading previous threads on moorings & fees I am about to betray one of the secrets of The Milford Haven Waterway! There are four Yacht clubs which, on behalf of The Port Authority, administer Voluntary Controlled Areas. These are deep water swinging moorings for which we pay £3 pa re-resistration fee. I have opted for an Authority directly controlled mooring as I can keep an eye on the boat from the kitchen window. For that I pay £26pa. Owners are responsible for laying & maintaining their own mooring. We have easy access to two excellent marinas which I understand charge about 3o% of some south coast companies. We are about 4 hours by road from London and 12 hours sail to Ireland. After much deliberation our club has just inceased annual subs to £30! Sorry about all that!!!

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[PGD]

Mooring fees are just another bugbear of many of the boating folk hereabouts. Prices can be very high indeed. Just come back from Cowes week, heard that for a 30 footer one marina was quoting 5K pa. That’s double the Thames prices.

I really do feel that more needs to be done by the marinas to make boating more affordable to more people. Payment terms are nearly always up front and carry costly instalments charges. Even direct debit, which I thought saved time and money, was secure and gave greater flexibility to both parties is charged for at a premium.

The marina companies really do need to move more towards a more customer friendly stance and away from the elitism seen so often.

On a lighter note reading the posts hear it does seem that there are several options open to you. I hope you find a suitable spot at the right price that gets you boating.

Good luck

Peter


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[oldharry]

I would expect Shoreham to be your best local bet for cheaper moorings, followed by Chichester, where you can pay as little as £300 a year. If youy wanta REALLY cheap Solent half tide mooring - have a chat with Langstone Harbours HM - last time I enquired it was around £60 a year for lay your own (HM approved) mooring up at Havant. Why so cheap? Well there's a main sewage outfall, and at low tide the boats are accessible to the kids from Leigh Park.... facilities about zilch. Most Chi Harbour sailing Clubs own some moorings, which might be worth pursuing.

I only pay £150 a year in Chi and can put up to a 28 footer on my mooring (4hrs- to 4 hrs + tide) - but these private licensed moorings are few and far between and may change hands for up to £2k for a prime site.

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[Castletine]

It's Cantell & Sons - I know as I'm berthed there!
It is a lot less expensive, a little more ragged round the edges, doesn't come with shower block or clubhouse, but does have the greatest collection of old salts who are a mine of information. Real characters, real people, real moorings, real prices.

That said, France is still cheaper

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[Birdseye]

bit pricy that! chepstow yacht club is £25 membership and £1 per foot per year for mooring - 3 hours either side of tide, and all the pleasures of the bristol channel.

the sensible answer is to join a club. most clubs are desperate for more members, nominations dont really apply (and would you want to join a club that did that sort of thing anyway?) and either the club will have cheaper moorings of the members will know where to find them.

at the moment , as a non boat owner, non club member, you are looking in from the outside. hence the difficulty.

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[Bladerunner]

I am on the Bristol Channel and wouldn't want to move anywhere else. Got to say, though, that Chepstow Yacht Club sounds a far better deal.

<hr width=100% size=1> Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas