Northney marina

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ricky_s

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We stayed overnight at Northney marina last night and it seems a nice place. No lock to negotiate and the trip up the Emsworth channel felt much more relaxed than the other side of the harbour.

Any of you lot berthed there? Do you like it? Is so much smaller than Chichester marina but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
 
ricky_s said:
We stayed overnight at Northney marina last night and it seems a nice place. No lock to negotiate and the trip up the Emsworth channel felt much more relaxed than the other side of the harbour.

Any of you lot berthed there? Do you like it? Is so much smaller than Chichester marina but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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My brother used to keep his boat there, and I have a friend on a drying berth just round the corner so have been there a few times. For us mobos it does have 24hr access, raggies are now starting to struggle on low water as the channel is silting up and Chichester conservancy is not playing ball with dredging. There is no chandlery which is a pita, but apart from that it's nice small marina. And the no lock aspect is significant.
 
We were there for four years, leaving last year for Gosport. It is a really nice marina and a lovely picturesque spot and genuinely helpful staff.
Plus points are 24x7 access, but at LWS it gets a bit hairy... like 0.3m on the sounder (below the props)l, a good boatyard, fuel 24x7, manned 24hrs, plenty of parking. Downsides are a narrow fairway down to the fuel pontoon, no chandlery/cafe/shop and the Langstone bridge can be a PITA on summer weekends. It can take 20 minutes to get from the marina to the A27 on a sunny Sunday afternoon when the masses have descended to the Hayling Island seafront and are making their way back home.

Emsworth channel is much quieter than the eastern arm of the harbour. Once clear of the harbour entrance there are rarely any dinghies to dodge, just 'normal' raggies which pose no problem. There were two reasons we left. The new boat went over 10m and the berthing fee got a bit silly. Secondly, we do most of our boating in the Solent or further west, so decided to move a bit further that way and cut out the 'lost' time travelling to the Solent 'proper'. (It's an hour from Northney to Horse Sand Fort).
 
I used to keep my boat there and, as has already been said, it's a nice small marina with good access in a relatively quiet part of Chichester harbour. The staff are excellent too.

However, it's little more than somewhere to park your boat. There's no chandlery, no bar, no restaurant and little in the way of marine businesses. This means that it is very quiet - think ghost town - which may, or may not, be to your taste.

We liked it there but I got a far better deal at Chichester marina and so went for that (Northney refused to negotiate). I've not regretted that decision as I enjoy the location and having access to the additional facilities that Chichester offers. It's a pleasure to just go there and spend the weekend on board now and again without taking the boat out, whereas I can't really imagine doing that at Northney (partly, in fairness, because I only live 40 mins walk from Northney!).

I guess it depends how much of an issue you consider the lock at Chichester marina to be. As a raggie - who makes a point of motoring as little as possible - I go with the tides. This means leaving at or near to high water and returning on the approach to high water - whatever time of day that might be. I therefore find that, more often than not, freeflow is in operation. So access for me is not much different to Northney. If, however, you want to leave at 0900 on a Saturday and return at 1600 on a Sunday, I gather there can be queues for the lock. If that's your preference, the absence of a lock at Northney could be a huge bonus and enough to make it worth moving.

When I moved to Chichester, I accepted the compromise of the lock because of the saving I made. Having made the move, I'm not sure that I'd return to Northney even if I was offered a berth for the same price as my Chichester one.
 
Thanks, some good points there.

Pros
Quicker access to sea
Less dodging of racing boats
No lock
Quiet

Cons
Expensive
Few facilities
Traffic
Quiet
 
When we were in Chichester harbour we thought about Northney once and had a look around. For reasons I can't really recall it left us unmoved and so we remained unmoved.
 
Do we like it..... Yes we do.

Like anywhere else it has its good and bad points. Being a quarter of the size it lacks some of the bustle of Chichester Marina, but on the other hand there’s no queuing for the lock. No it doesn’t have a chandlery shop on site , It has all the normal facilities (bar the chandlery ) including some very capable contractors. At the end of the last season it also had a cafe/bar which hopefully will reopen next season. Its no more expensive than anywhere else, or put another way: its about the going rate. There are also several nearby pubs..... So you pays your money you takes your choice, which in our case for the last 10 years or so, has been at Northney.
 
Something else to bear in mind when deciding what's right for you is the other MDL marinas you'll be able to visit for free if you move to Northney.

When we moved from Northney to Chichester, it was nice to have free access to Premier's other marinas as a change from MDLs. The same will no doubt be true when moving the other way. Of the two groups, I'd say that MDL probably has the better selection. Their Freedom berthing arrangements also make it possible to relocate your boat to a new cruising ground for a while at no extra cost. Worth thinking about perhaps if you're getting bored with the Solent!

As for the cost, it depends where you sit within the bandings that Premier use at Chichester. For example, an online quote for a 10m boat with the early payment discount is £3946, whereas a 10.1m boat is £4797. I believe Northney just have a price per metre for up to 10m and and another for over 10m, so there are no big price steps. Whilst they don't publish their rates, I think it's about £5300 for a boat of around 10m.

I've no axe to grind by the way. I like both places for different reasons.
 
Houleaux said:
Something else to bear in mind when deciding what's right for you is the other MDL marinas you'll be able to visit for free if you move to Northney.

When we moved from Northney to Chichester, it was nice to have free access to Premier's other marinas as a change from MDLs. The same will no doubt be true when moving the other way. Of the two groups, I'd say that MDL probably has the better selection. Their Freedom berthing arrangements also make it possible to relocate your boat to a new cruising ground for a while at no extra cost. Worth thinking about perhaps if you're getting bored with the Solent!

As for the cost, it depends where you sit within the bandings that Premier use at Chichester. For example, an online quote for a 10m boat with the early payment discount is £3946, whereas a 10.1m boat is £4797. I believe Northney just have a price per metre for up to 10m and and another for over 10m, so there are no big price steps. Whilst they don't publish their rates, I think it's about £5300 for a boat of around 10m.

I've no axe to grind by the way. I like both places for different reasons.
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Thanks Hourleaux, We are just under 10 metres and I think they quoted something like £4800 in Northney, as you say its a bit more than Chichester Marina.
 
We're thinking of going to Northney for a couple of nights towards the end of this week. Partly because it's MDL so for us it's free, and partly because we're looking at possible marinas to move to next year. The fact it's quiet suits us so long as there's a couple of pubs doing real ale and decent grub within a reasonable walking distance. Any suggestions/recommendations?
 
Royal Oak and the Ship are both the other side of the bridge. My preference is the Royal Oak good beer and food but the Ship is Fullers so can't be bad. 15 mins walk from Northney
 
We were there for a few years, and still like to go back and visit as I think it has a very good atmosphere. We moved to a more central location as
-we always came out of the marina and turned right anyway
- it becomes a bit of a pain the long journey in and out of the harbour if you are a bit time pressed
-this isnt a dig.. I got totally pizzed off with the arrogance and aggression of the sailing dinghies.Maybe things have improved on that front....
 
Roger52 said:
Royal Oak and the Ship are both the other side of the bridge. My preference is the Royal Oak good beer and food but the Ship is Fullers so can't be bad. 15 mins walk from Northney
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Thanks Roger. Both sound good, especially The Ship as I'm partial to an HSB.

gjgm said:
We were there for a few years, and still like to go back and visit as I think it has a very good atmosphere. We moved to a more central location as
-we always came out of the marina and turned right anyway
- it becomes a bit of a pain the long journey in and out of the harbour if you are a bit time pressed
-this isnt a dig.. I got totally pizzed off with the arrogance and aggression of the sailing dinghies.Maybe things have improved on that front....
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Thanks gigm. I think the "always turning right" bit is probably the biggest reason why we wouldn't want to stay there for any length of time but as we're new to the area we thought we'd take a look.
 
I found it difficult to get in and out of the berths if there is a brisk wind blowing,also boats moored on the port side as you are going in restricting manuever ability especially if reversing in.Call me a wimp ( I'm a wimp) if you like but I find it a tad tight.MDL seemed to have packed a lot of boats in what is a small marina.Thats my excuse anyway.Its off my overnight stop list.
 
mad_boater said:
I found it difficult to get in and out of the berths if there is a brisk wind blowing,also boats moored on the port side as you are going in restricting manuever ability especially if reversing in.Call me a wimp ( I'm a wimp) if you like but I find it a tad tight.MDL seemed to have packed a lot of boats in what is a small marina.Thats my excuse anyway.Its off my overnight stop list.
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Just had a look at Google Earth and it does seem a tad tight for a 13.5m boat, depending on where they put us.

Could I just check if we're talking about the same marina though. As you enter all the moorings are on the starboard side?
 
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