Port Solent

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nicho

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Hi all. It's a long time since I have posted, and this is a bit of a long shot. We are considering buying a house in Port Solent as our permanent residence, and also purchasing a BenJenBav 34/36 to keep on it's berth. However, I have a bit of an aversion to semi/terraced houses, so I would be grateful if anyone who does/has lived there would comment on their experiences.
We have been out of boating for three years now, but fancy a Solent runabout, and being totally retired for some time, and relying on pensions and (diminishing!) investments, it would be a bit of a stretch to buy a house in the South Coast area, and keep a boat in a marina. It's not helped by an ever widening gap in house prices between the Midlands and the South!!

Any comment, good bad or indifferent would be welcome.

Thanks
 
Hi Nicho, great to see you are still alive and kicking !!!

I can't comment on living at Port Solent, but from a boating point of view its not great. It would be worse than being back at Hythe, in that you have to lock in and out of both but it takes a lot longer to get sailing. It takes at least an hour to get out of the harbour entrance and clear of the swashway.

If you do decide to live there, I would suggest a smaller and less thirsty motor boat.
 
The lock wouldn't concern me as your retired and can pick when to go. i.e avoiding weekends in the Summer.
The one thing that would put me off is the planned development of the area around Marine Superstore. This development keeps get shelved then taken off the shelf again. I don't know what the current state of the development is.
 
I find Port Solent quite a depressing place nowadays. At one point it seemed almost too vibrant and noisy but now it seems to be in a decline. Even the newsagent/convenience store has long gone.

I thought of moving there (renting) and the prices were good with the berth included and there was plenty of availability which suggested that it attracted investors but I'm sure lots live there also.

IMO its a pig to get out down to the harbour entrance; I used to be on Spider Lake and soon bored of the time it took.
 
Thanks all. Much in line with my thoughts I guess. It is a long way to the Solent, and the lock can be a pain, but we would avoid weekends and busy periods. I'm interested to hear that the development around the Marine Superstore is still "live", it seems that's been around for years. We are going down in a couple of weeks to look for ourselves, and was hoping I might get a response from someone who lives there.
We want to downsize from our large, five bedroom house (SWMBO is complaining about the amount of housework, and I'm in danger of having to do some hoovering), but in Northants, we're way behind Hampshire prices!! Port Solent properties are relatively inexpensive, and from the proceeds of our house, a boat and a Port Solent property is do-able, which is the attraction.
Thanks for your input (and good to hear from you Nick)
 
Have you thought of one of the deckhouses around Emsworth Yacht harbour- not all on the marina side, some further away, and not often on the market.
No berths with them, seperate deal, but lots of small properties in and around Emsworth itself, easily walkable, to EYH, and the conservancy still have a few vacant moorings down the Emsworth Channel this year too.

Depends how much you have in the kitty- Hayling Island has possibilities too?

SeaJet might have a few pointers too?
 
Just buy big boat at stay on it at PS until you are fed up with the place then move it somewhere else. No point in buying a house and keeping a boat there in my opinion
 
Nicho,

Rather than spend an hour motoring to the harbour entrance have you considered Haslar Marina?
It is expensive compared to Port Solent but you are 5 minutes from the Solent.
Rampart Row adjoining the marina has some 3 bed 3 storey town houses (one on the market with Fairhalls).
No connection, but we sail from a similar spot just over Haslar bridge and nothing beats being able to get into the Solent that quickly...

Andy
 
moodyNick said:
Hi Nicho, great to see you are still alive and kicking !!!

I can't comment on living at Port Solent, but from a boating point of view its not great. It would be worse than being back at Hythe, in that you have to lock in and out of both but it takes a lot longer to get sailing. It takes at least an hour to get out of the harbour entrance and clear of the swashway.

If you do decide to live there, I would suggest a smaller and less thirsty motor boat.
Click to expand...

Out of interest have you included the various charges in your calculations? When I looked at the properties there they all required ground rent and maintenance charges which were very hefty on a monthly basis (more than my Reading 3 bed rent!).

I'm in the marina and can say the lock doesn't seem an issue even on very sunny weekends, and none of the other boats seem bothered by it. It does seem to bother people who have never been though as these will always comment on the forum against PS which I guess keeps the price down. In my Vivacity slow boat it takes around 40 minutes to get out of the harbour against the tide. One of these days I'll do some planning and find out how long with the tide but I think Nick's estimate of an hour is a bit pessimistic unless he actually means all the way to Gilkicker.
 
I dont like the idea of being so close to the tip. The emsworth idea looks a good one in my opinion, for what its worth
 
lustyd said:
Out of interest have you included the various charges in your calculations? When I looked at the properties there they all required ground rent and maintenance charges which were very hefty on a monthly basis (more than my Reading 3 bed rent!).

I'm in the marina and can say the lock doesn't seem an issue even on very sunny weekends, and none of the other boats seem bothered by it. It does seem to bother people who have never been though as these will always comment on the forum against PS which I guess keeps the price down. In my Vivacity slow boat it takes around 40 minutes to get out of the harbour against the tide. One of these days I'll do some planning and find out how long with the tide but I think Nick's estimate of an hour is a bit pessimistic unless he actually means all the way to Gilkicker.
Click to expand...


We have visited Port Solent many times over the years and are familiar with the lock and the trip to Gilkicker. Being in Hythe for many years (and indeed on the Thames for several years too) locks do not faze us, and we can avoid the busy times.

I was trying to get a heads up on what it's like to actually live there. For example, what % of the houses are in permanent residence and how many are used by owners for weekends only, what is the build quality of the houses - what is the sound insulation like etc etc. We live in a quiet environment at the moment, but do fancy a change of lifestyle and fancy a move South to be near kids and grandchildren, and getting another boat before we get too old and decrepit!!

The proceeds of our house will buy us a reasonable house at PS and around £50k for a used sail boat without having to sell some of our rental properties which fund our retirement. Anyway, it's a bit of a long shot trying to find someone who actually resides there, but worth a go. Thanks all for your contributions so far.

PS we have taken note of the various charges, and they are no problem
 
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rosewood said:
I dont like the idea of being so close to the tip. The emsworth idea looks a good one in my opinion, for what its worth
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The tip makes no difference to the marina or the houses - have you actually been there and tried it?
 
Twister_Ken said:
even duller than Milton Keynes.
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What an odd thing to say, Milton Keynes is one of the most interesting places I've ever lived with so much going on there's never a quiet moment. I'd agree that Portsmouth is less fun to live in than MK although it has some nicer views.
 
Twister_Ken said:
Nicho,

I had a pal who lived there for a few years when work brought him south from Milton Keynes. His verdict - even duller than Milton Keynes. That is going back about 15 years though.

Best wishes to you and the missus.
Click to expand...

Yep, that was my impression on an extended rerigging stay there in 2013. Emsworth and Hayling have a better community vibe and facilities+buses and trains.
 
Perhaps it's just me, but I get the impression that Port Solent is slowly going downhill. Its two biggest restaurants (old Chinese on the entrance archway and Indian on top) have gone bust and are lying vacant. The Wetherspoons pub is a bit grotty and there's nowhere to buy even a pint of milk, an ice-cream or a newspaper on site. The closest shop is I think Tesco, which must be a mile and a half away.

Re buying a property; some of them seem v. nice, reasonably quiet and with lovely marina views. But others, even those with a dedicated berths, seem to suffer from a lot of road noise as the development is tucked in beside the M27. You'll also need to make a call on the overall direction of the entire residential development - I can't see why it shouldn't work, but it isn't really firing on all cylinders and you'll need to figure why. Perhaps nearby Gunwharf has ripped the bottom out of of its business model ...either way a really good dose of due diligence will be required ahead of a property purchase IMHO.

That said I still very much like the place!
 
nicho said:
PS we have taken note of the various charges, and they are no problem
Click to expand...

I didn't mean in terms of being unaffordable but rather in terms of how they would compare to just being in a different marina. When I looked it seemed like I could use another marina and end up paying less overall by not living in Port Solent. From what I've seen there are about 3 houses which regularly have people in off the main marina, and even then I'm only there at weekends. I'd hope the houses around the back are a bit more lived in, if buying to live in I'd probably choose one of the properties away from the main marina strip.
 
andyp said:
Rather than spend an hour motoring to the harbour entrance have you considered Haslar Marina?
Click to expand...

+1 for Haslar. Lovely marina and lovely staff.

This looks OK...
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44787320.html :-)

Gosport is quite a bit cheaper than Portsmouth but a pig to get in and out of by car.

As someone else has said, I agree that Gunwharf has had a large impact to Port Solent.

The house I looked round was nice, solid, quiet but soulless. Late afternoon/early evening weekend viewing and the place was dead.

Even Sunsail admin have run away from the place.

Great chandlers though, which is the only reason I go there now and sometimes pop in for lunch at the same time.
 
Hi Ken, trust you are well. We live about 15 miles away from MK - It's a great place to shop, eat and go to the theatre, but not sure I want to live there........though my daughter and her family do, and absolutely love it. So much to do there.
Anyway, not getting great vibes about PS, though we will go and take a closer look. The idea behind buying there was for a cheap berth, and a way of buying a boat from the sale proceeds of our house. Looks like we'll be staying here and selling one of the rental properties to fund said boat. I'm also doing a lot of flying these days, and if you thought boating was expensive..........!

Cheers,

Mike
 
The lock can be busy on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons rest of the week it is fairly empty. On the higher tides there is a free-flow so you don't need to lock-in/out, just motor straight through. The service charge on the house / berth is about eighty pounds per month. This includes all marina charges and estate maintenance (for the residential part).
The berths are on a one hundred and fifty year lease from the date the houses were built. The oldest houses were built in 1988. Berths are nominally eleven meters, some are longer, it depends on the individual house. This link gives some useful info. http://posol.co.uk/ the management company is owned by the residents.
 
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