On board in yard

[lotsaknots]

Im buying a boat base on the River Dart in Devon which needs some work. Im hoping to haul out locally and would like to spend the odd night on board to save a long drrive to and fro. I dont want to ask the yards directly as I tink Ill getvan anser I dont want. Does anyone know of a yard locally which will turn a blind eye to an ocassional overnight stay?

 

[Laysula]

Staff go home overnight at Dartside quay.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I used to stay overnight at Plymouth Yacht Haven no idea whether it was allowed or not or the current situation.

 

[jac]

Personally i'd just keep a low profile and say nothing. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission and all that.

 

[Boathook]

Im buying a boat base on the River Dart in Devon which needs some work. Im hoping to haul out locally and would like to spend the odd night on board to save a long drrive to and fro. I dont want to ask the yards directly as I tink Ill getvan anser I dont want. Does anyone know of a yard locally which will turn a blind eye to an ocassional overnight stay?

Where I am they know that I 'camp' on board when ashore and there isn't a problem. There isn't anything in the 'rules' to say that you can't.
have a look at the T&C's for the yards you are interested in. If they don't mention that you can't stay on board when ashore it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[andsarkit]

Baltic Wharf definitely chase you out at closing time and lock the gates

 

[Chiara’s slave]

It’s all free and easy round here except at Kingston, where the gates are locked. We’ve spend several nights on board ashore in recent memory, and, having dry sailed boats in the past, many times, going back a bit.

 

[KevO]

Baltic Wharf definitely chase you out at closing time and lock the gates

They didn’t when we were in there a few years ago. They do shut the gates at close of play though so if you needed the car after that time you would have to move it beforehand.

 

[Sandy]

You may have problems with insurance cover if anything happens 'out of hours' and you are not authorised to be there. There is a remote possibility that you could be arrested on suspicion of theft.

 

[andsarkit]

They didn’t when we were in there a few years ago. They do shut the gates at close of play though so if you needed the car after that time you would have to move it beforehand.

I was there last year and they drive around telling everyone to go before they lock the gates. The only way out after that is by water. There is a plan to reduce or replace the yard by houses and part of the plan seems to be to make the yard as diffficult as possible so the pesky boaters go away. (not a reflection on the staff but on the owners of the land.

 

[Daydream believer]

They didn’t when we were in there a few years ago. They do shut the gates at close of play though so if you needed the car after that time you would have to move it beforehand.

So what happens if you arrive back from a trip, of a few days, or a delayed one, late at night & want to go home. Is your car locked in so you cannot leave?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

So what happens if you arrive back from a trip, of a few days, or a delayed one, late at night & want to go home. Is your car locked in so you cannot leave?

It seems odd in a boatyard if they have moorings of any sort attached. The one that’s locked around here is just maintenance, nobody moors or lands there.

 

[Zagato]

I have spent the night aboard in three different yards in three different boats... just ask them, many boat owners do it!

 

[dancrane]

...just ask them...

Just what not to do, surely. If they have the least worry that it isn't a good thing to let owners be on board in the yard overnight, you would have been told...so if you haven't been, it's reasonable to assume that isn't their attitude.

On the other hand, if you introduce a question which they haven't given serious consideration, you more likely prompt a negative response than a positive one - because you seemed to think it required permission.

If you aren't breaking a written rule, you're okay. If they haven't said you shouldn't, why shouldn't you?

 

[dutyhog]

Years ago we stayed often overnight in the yard where we bought the boat, getting ready to sail away. We didn’t ask and yard staff didn’t comment.

 

[steveeasy]

Baltic Wharf. I used to stay on my boat all week. they locked the vehicle gate, but they had a pedestrian gate. they knew I stayed on board and seamed happy. That said the office(one member) were extremely difficult and made access totally impossible in the end.

My last yard said you could not stay on board while the boat was on the hard. I therefore did not stay on board. lots of people did though.

My latest yard does not say you cant so you can. I think you have to accept what is in the contract and abide by it. There are good reasons for not allowing people to stay on board while on the hard. It is their business and their decision. I just do whats allowed and you stand half a chance for peace.

Steveeasy

 

[LittleSister]

Just what not to do, surely. If they have the least worry that it isn't a good thing to let owners be on board in the yard overnight, you would have been told...so if you haven't been, it's reasonable to assume that isn't their attitude.

On the other hand, if you introduce a question which they haven't given serious consideration, you more likely prompt a negative response than a positive one - because you seemed to think it required permission.

If you aren't breaking a written rule, you're okay. If they haven't said you shouldn't, why shouldn't you?

And when you do, make sure that you are not creating a nuisance, irritation or hazard for others. Not that I'm suggesting the OP might, but the reality is that what once was common and taken for granted - indeed in this case is almost inherent in the concept of a boatyard - is often stopped simply to get rid of or avoid some inconsiderate minority, or even single individual, who has abused the facility.

In days of yore, I doubt there were any (certainly not many) boatyards in the country who had even thought about prohibiting people occasionally staying aboard, and many would have a had some old duffer living aboard in some semi-wreck in a corner of the boatyard who either kept himself (it was usually a man) to himself, or made himself useful and pleasant to have around. With the growing housing affordability/access crisis and other trends over the last few decades, there are now vastly more liveaboards and wannabe liveboards, a significant minority of whom have alcohol, drug and/or mental health problems, or are just plain inconsiderate, and cause grief to those around them, including the boatyards and their customers (and other liveaboards!).

You only have to get one or two of 'the wrong sort', or even just the boatyards' fear of getting them. and suddenly normal boatyard use is curtailed, at significant inconvenience to everyone.

One boatyard I use has, since I had the boat lifted ashore there, unilaterally instituted (as they can) a ban on staying overnight unless you have written permission from them in advance and it is for no more than 2 nights (they claim this is for insurance purposes). That is a serious constraint on my maintenance and use of my boat in their yard, which is at quite some distance from my home, and on fitting that in with the vagaries of the weather, life's other demands, and the tendency of boat jobs to progress not quite as swiftly or smoothly as one might have liked to imagine .

Or even just the romance of occasionally sleeping aboard, hearing everyone's halyards and loose bits clattering in the wind, and soaking up just being on the boat and dreaming of when it's back in the water again.

 

[ridgy]

I thought it was normal to stay overnight, always have done in various yards. Don't ask don't tell.

 

[LittleSister]

I thought it was normal to stay overnight

It was. Increasingly, though boatyards are becoming, er, abnormal!

 

[Daydream believer]

If it is not in the contract then do not ask. Just do it discretely. If you ask, you put pressure on the yard staff. They are more likely to issue a refusal. ie if there is anybody they would rather not have overnight it is difficult to stop one, if you have had permission. If an insurance issue arises they can say that they did not give permission etc. If you did not ask they may not say anything.