multihulls and marina charges

[snowleopard]

i haven't managed to find any usable source of information on which marinas around the UK charge extra for multihulls. if anyone knows of one please let us know.

meanwhile, how about posting what you know here? to start the ball rolling, here are some of my experiences.

with luck we'll be able to get a fairly comprehensive guide which i'll then make available on my website.

Mayflower x 1.5 alongside
Dover x 1.5 in tidal berths, x 1 in locked basins
Ramsgate x 1 alongside, x2 in finger berths
Northney (MDL) x 1 alongside, x 2 in finger berths
Port Edgar, x 1.5 alongside
Mylor x 2 alongside
Peterhead x 1
Falmouth (visitors' marina) x 1

 

[Superstrath]

Ardrossan - No premium - so far.


Alistair

 

[bruce]

over here, unless you are at the end, there is a extra fee due to taking up the dock space next to you.(USA)

 

[snowleopard]

what type of berth is that - is it stern-to with bow lines? we don't have those in the UK. almost all our marinas have finger pontoons with two boats between each pair of fingers.

multihulls are generally moored on hammerheads or alongside walkways as they would take up 2 berths between the fingers. a lot of marinas add the surcharge even when you only take up one berth.

 

[Birdseye]

I've sold my cat and it is more than 12 months since she was last in the water. But in the 7 years I had her, all along the south coast, up the east to the Orwell, up the West to Milford, I never once paid a surcharge. Dover tried but I refused and they let me stay on the waiting pontoon. Milford tried but gave up when I rafted. Most other places never even tried. including marinas like Cowes YH where I expected a problem.

Obviously depends on the boat. Mine was 14'4" beam so could use a single pontoon berth as long as the boat alongside wasnt a 35ft Westerly or a tart trap. Guess if it had been a modern French cat with a 20ft beam it would not have been unreasonable to pay more.

On the continent it was different. In France it was still negotiable (partic if you got to the capitainerie before the marina lad in the dinghy told them you were a multicocque) but in Spain they always charged at least 1.5. This was one of the reasons for selling the boat - it used to upset me no end to pay the same as a 47ft Moody which had the same beam anyway!

 

[tritonofnor]

Plymouth Yacht Haven - Standard charges apply, but I could only fit you in on an alongside berth, not on a finger...

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Falmouth charged us 1.5x
Milford also 1.5x - They would not budge, I had a real argument with the marina manager, She had not only surcharged me, but had put us miles away on a crappy berth. (This is quite normal).

I think berthing managers have panics when they see multihulls. In Caernarfon we were not surcharged, but given a rubbish berth, same in Pwllheli (before I had a mooring here) and Aberystwyth.

We beam 13ft 9in not much more than a moody 36 who will undoubtedly be given a better berth than us. Another thing, to visiting boats, who would you rather raft alongside, a multi with stable decks or a 30ft tippy monohull?

 

[snowleopard]

delighted to hear it. so what would the overnight charge be for 12m? i need somewhere to rendezvous with crew, fuel up etc and £41 in mayflower is a joke.

 

[TonyMS]

From recent visits:

No surcharge: Ramsgate (outside berth), Eastbourne, Newhaven, Brighton, Chichester Conservancy pontoons, Elephant in Hamble, Fowey, Dartmouth HB, Boulogne, Cherburg, Diellette (outside pontoon), Paluden, Le Croisic (on a bouy), St Jean de Luz (on a bouy), Hendaye (on a bouy), San Sebastian (but expensive)

Surcharge: Weymouth, St Valery sur Somme (but cheap),Dieppe (v expensive), Oistreham, Carentan, St Vaast, L'Aberwrach (on a bouy - cheeky!), L'Aberdilt, Cameret (also on a bouy), Audienne (but we anchor free just off the marina), Doelan ( x 2), Sauzon (dries, but cheap anyway), Ribadeo (but cheap)

It would be good to have combined knowledge up on a web site. But maintenance could be a headache

Away from Normandy, we usually find we can anchor free around 3 nights in 4.

Tony