River Arun - dinghy launching and parking - help please

Cliveshep

Cliveshep

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Can any one please advise where I can launch our inflatable near Littlehampton and also park the car for the day either Saturday or Sunday next weekend without going broke (I'm unemployed) and also point me to where I can download tide tables for the weekend?

I haven't navigated the Arun for over 30 years and it's high time to re-explore, hopefully up as far as Pulborough on the tide, have a picnic, and get back. We have all the necessary equipment, loads of power, two engines, main and spare etc, and the boat is the same size as the army raider so that is not a problem, but I expect that there will be harbour dues, parking fees for car and trailer etc and I'd like the most economical. Oh, and we do have insurance as this is our 2nd tender covered for such explorations on the main policy.

If you can advise the costs as well it would be very helpful. Many thanks in advance.
 
Clive, just had a quick look myself, indeed all info including photo's there....

or be lazy, and here it is:

first, public slipway:

Ramp Description: This is a brand new public ramp with Lifeboat station at the top. Do not leave trailers or obstructions on the slipway. Avoid this slipway during the Littlehampton Regatta which in 2008 is on the 21st June unless you want to queue.
Directions: Off high street in public car park. Next door to lifeboat station.Prior to launch PWC operators must visit the Harbour Office for a safety brief and submit a copy of RYA training other wise PWC users will be stopped by the river patrol.The speed limit of 6 knots is strongly monitored and there are CCTV cameras with linked to a radar monitoring system, so be warned.
Ramp Type: Concrete then mud.
Upper Area: Concrete
Lower Area: Mud
Suitability: Large trailer needs a car
Ramp Length: 3/4 tidal
Facilities: Pub nearby. Car park next to slipway. Best to take trailer up to the Tesco Car Park and leave it there.
Charges: £8 harbour dues. Pay Harbourmaster or can be paid at the 'Look and Sea' sited next to the slipway
Navigational Hazards: Harbour entrance on a flooding tide can have 1.5 knots coming around the end as well as a cross tide which comes through the pier which makes it entertaining,
not for the novice

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or a little further upstream the Marina Slip:

Phone Number: 01903 713553

Ramp Description: Slipping costs are inclusive with Boat park agreements. Must provide a copy of current insurance certificate. Launch within Marina operating hours only and up to 1 hour before low water and 2 hours after. Only Marina staff may launch or recover craft, no other use is permitted. Please ensure all trailers are in good working order. No Jetskis.
Directions: From Littlehampton take the A259 toward Bognor. Cross the river on bridge road and take the next left, drive back to the road and turn left again.
Ramp Type: Concrete
Upper Area: Concrete
Lower Area: Mud
Suitability: Large trailer needs a car
Ramp Length: 3/4 tidal
Facilities: The Marina has space for 110 wet moorings and 230 trailered craft. It also has large areas of hard-standing ground to allow winter storage or works to craft. Slipway launch is available seven days a week and included in the boat-park agreement. All the usual marina facilities are on site. Good wash down facilities.
Charges: Weekdays £24/day. Weekends and Bank holidays £30.
Cruising Area: Good access to channel only 10 minutes at 6 knots. Short distance from Isle of Wight Bembridge harbour.

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no local knowledge... but hopefully useful!! (the reason I used to use this website all the time!) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I went up onto the Boat launch site, under the Public Slip in Littlehampton it said:

Quote: "PWC operators must visit the Harbour Office for a safety brief and submit a copy of RYA training other wise PWC users will be stopped by the river patrol."

What does "stopped" mean? Prevented from boating on the Arun without a RYA training? Cheeky Sods! Well, I don't have RYA training, but I've boated all over the world since 1967, I've owned boats all my life, my family lived at on the harbour at Bembridge I.O.W and I went back & forth in my own boat regularly regardless of conditions. I've done the Arun loads of times in the past but long ago.

Can anyone advise on this, I don't want to drag family and outfit down there for nothing if these Elf 'N Safety w@nkers are going to spoil the day.
 
the slip by lifeboat littlehampton town centre, this is by far the cheapest, next to it is a cheap public carpark and the harbour office. best place for a picnic is to moor at arundel and wander down to the park.
 
Clive

worry you not, as Carlton said PWC's are jet bikes & jet ski's.... and as such this rule seems very harsh but perhaps there have been a few nasty accidents with PWC's hence the rules... But in your boat you will be fine!
 
I think that's the same slip I had in mind, used to be a gravel/mud ramp down to the water called Fisherman's Hard, between Gridley Miskin and the Harbour Office (showing my age here). Firefly625's suggested advice site suggests parking car & trailer in Tescos - couldn't do that where I live!
 
[ QUOTE ]
Firefly625's suggested advice site suggests parking car & trailer in Tescos - couldn't do that where I live!

[/ QUOTE ]

... I noticed this... not sure I would feel too confident that tesco wouldn't have done something about this. Would be a pain to come back to retrieve your trailer and it be clamped with a £75 release fee.... worth dropping in at the Marina Slip IMO, parking and trailer storage will all be taken care of on site and all included in the costs... but are a bit high! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Phew - referring to your post confirming Carlton, I could see some verbal going Harbour Patrol's way over that little gem, the sort you get from a really Grumpy ol' Git, thanks for the relief there.

covenanter1978 suggests that there is a cheap public car-park close by so that looks like the one for me, just have to pop down the boat and retrieve heavy chain and padlock for the trailer. Looks like we could be off for a picnic but not at Arundel, much higher up, Greatham or Houghton perhaps, away from all those little hired motor boats at Arundel, assuming they still have them. Then maybe a blast out to sea later if the tides and offshore weather are both ok,
 
I used to live there for 30 years, it was called fishermans quay untill recently. Tescos has a 2 hour limit with someone walking about taking note. plenty of nearby on road parking.
 
You're kidding aren't you? On-road parking in Littlehampton in Summer near the slip? When I ran a Church Children's club and bought my own 53 seater to run them around I had a struggle to park anywhere in Littlehampton, even in the coach parks. Even my mini-bus gave problems up the back roads when I used to take a small party, loads of yellow lines etc. and that was 20 years ago! What about the cheap public carpark you mentioned, or can one still park on the hard (Quay?) after launching?
 
the car park is next to the slip. about £6 per day. you would take 2 spaces though. within 400 metres i could point you to dozens of suitable roads for free parking.
 
Hi

Sorry for coming in late here been away.

There are as you say 2 places the marina and the one mentioned above. The lifeboat station is ok at most states although low tide is hard and muddy. The marina will charge about £19 each way for small inflatables.

The parking issue is bad most people launch and park at one of the places mentioned although if you have a good trailer lock you can park at tesco a mile down the road. that area is not good it has no parking. Or you can park the trailer at the marina its safe and costs £10. so you launch free then drive round and park for a tenner.

Hope that helps

dont hit my boat like 2 people did last week.
 
I'm coming round to the idea that I'll need to fit the safari rack (we have a Pajero LWB 4x4) and put the trailer on top of that and just park the car in the back streets. The trailer is aluminium anyway, made especially for dismantling and going into the caravan when the tender isn't behind the boat and we use the van. Looks like driving around in the vicinity of all the streets mentioned and finding one where I can park in just a single space will be the answer.

Again, many thanks for all your help, everyone!
 
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