River Hamble - where keep tender

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yelbis

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I am considering taking a mid river mooring on the Hamble in the vicinity of Universal. I just called them to ask about dinghy storage and they quoted £940.

I would rather swim than part with that amount. I understand that includes facilities and parking but too expensive.

Can anyone suggest low cost alternatives, I would prefer access from Warsash side but not essential.

Thanks
 
Well that's a little cheaper than they quoted me last year!

My mooring is in a similar location.

If you want convenience, the marinas are in my experience the best option. Mercury is a similar price (about £80/month), less if you use their racks. Swanwick a bit cheaper by a couple of hundred, but then you've got a ten minute jaunt down the river each time. Deacons has never had space available when I've asked.

Other options include buying a tatty dinghy and leaving it on the foreshore near the piles at Bursledon, or there's a dinghy park to the east of Swanwick (not too sure who runs it - perhaps ask the harbourmaster).

Or bring a dinghy down in the car and launch it each time - I did this for a while, but it was a real fag, plus parking was sometimes a problem.

I've now stumped up for Mercury as it's convenient to get to, has good facilities, parking and I can get out to the boat in a very few minutes. But if the price goes any higher I think the water taxi would;d be cheaper.

Or perhaps joining the Royal Southern or the RAF club would be the better option (they have a water taxi service and some dinghy parking) and the annual fees are less than parking the dinghy in a marina. But then it would take 20 mins to get out to the boat.
 
Yelbis,

I'd suggest getting a mooring in Chichester Harbour, a lot nicer than the Hamble boat park and closer to Hove.

A deep water mooring should be around the figure you were quoted !

Do ask important awkward questions though, at places like Emsworth it's tricky finding a good safe place to leave the car and in midweek stow the tender if on Conservancy moorings.

Chichester Harbour Conservancy 01243 512301 and also try Wilsons Boatyard, Hayling Yacht Co, Emsworth Marina.
 
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I had a river mooring and being a member of the Royal Southern was really the only way of making it bearable. Not only do they have a water taxi, they also have tenders for members use.

I'm not a member anymore after I realised that keeping a boat in the Hamble was just to stressful for me. My boat kept getting hit (3 times) costing £1k a time to fix, the amount of traffic wake made working on the boat very uncomfortable and finally the scramble at the entrance was very offputting. Now on a swinging mooring in Portsmouth, much cheaper, much easier but admittedly not as nice surroundings.
 
Hi - Been keeping my dinghy at Premier Swanwick for a number of years now. The good thing is you can pay by the qtr so I tend to just keep the dinghy there during the summer months and keep an older dinghy on the public hard at Swanwick for winter use. It does keep the costs down a bit. I'm on the M piles and its not too far from Swanwick with the outboard. I looked at free or cheaper alternatives (such as inflating dinghy etc) but by and large the problem seems to be where you park the car! It is ridiculous what Marina's charge for dinghies and when you start to do the maths (1k dinghy, £900 for 4 weeks ashore, £700 pile mooring) you start to see why actually keeping the boat in a Marina isn't as expensive as it looks :(
 
What about joining one of the clubs and storing there, or using the club launch?

I havent dont any research into it, but I get the impression that that is the way to get regular easy access to your boat and depending on the club, a walk ashore pontoon for picking up gear / crew etc.
 
The River Taxi could be your best bet (depending on how often you go to your boat). Current fare from Warsash to Universal is £3.50 per head each way (minimum fare £10). This may sound like a lot, but at, say, £20 per weekend you would have to go to your boat almost every weekend of the year before you get up to the £940 which Universal charge. Parking in Warsash is free (max 7 days). The only snag is that the taxi does not run early or late in the day but he does fairly long hours during the main summer months so you should be able to work round it. Depending on the size of your boat, you could always keep a small inflatable on board in case you miss the last taxi run of the day.
 
We keep our Moody 31 on J Pontoon just opposite Universal.

We have had a dinghy in Universal this year - expensive but on the whole no problems. We got a 5% discount by paying early. However, you always have the problems of other people's tenders. We chose the middle tender mooring spot. Sometimes people would lock their tenders fore and aft to two cleats, which is pretty annoying when space is short. My other pet hate is people who leave outboards on their tenders with the prop out of the water uncovered. I'm always worried about our inflatable rubbing against one in a strong wind and springing a leak.

As already mentioned, Swanwick is a cheaper alternative (although further away and, I'm told, with a strong current on the bend in the river just south of Swanwick marina) as they charge quarterly. So if you are going to be out of the water for a 1/4 you could save that charge.

We've just joined the RAF yacht club. The launch operates in daylight hours Fri - Sun and Bank Holidays. Yes it takes 20 mins - and you might have to wait 20 mins to get picked up. But, compared to trolleying outboard to dinghy, unlocking dinghy, bailing out, pumping up, putting on outboard, returning trolley, motoring to boat (3 mins!), removing outboard and securing on boat, lifting dinghy onto pontoon it seems a better deal to me given you get the other yacht club benefits as well, including car parking. You can also keep a dinghy at the club, but it is a bit far to go in an inflatable in my opinion.

As already mention, a further alternative is to park at Warsash and use the water taxi. We will be using the water taxi (from the RAFYC pontoon) if we need to get to the boat during the week, unless it's for a few hours for maintenance purposes during the week when I will probably use the public slip at Bursledon :-)
 
You may like to join Warsash Sailing Club,
£140 a year plus £60 to keep your tender in the dinghy park plus a bit more for keeping an engine in the outboard shed. Also a very nice club. Plus a pontoon for filling up water, offloading people or calling in professionals etc You can stay overnight by appointment.

However I do not think they would be happy to have you JUST to park your tender
 
the lloyds said:
You may like to join Warsash Sailing Club,
£140 a year plus £60 to keep your tender in the dinghy park plus a bit more for keeping an engine in the outboard shed. Also a very nice club. Plus a pontoon for filling up water, offloading people or calling in professionals etc You can stay overnight by appointment.

However I do not think they would be happy to have you JUST to park your tender
Click to expand...

There'll always be a minority of people in any club who only join for the facilities. I met a couple for the first time the other day on the club launch who've been members as long as I have but frankly ONLY for the car parking, dinghy store and launch service. If that's quids in for the club, then that's okay. Ten such couples each year helps subsidise the rest of us.
 
Babylon said:
There'll always be a minority of people in any club who only join for the facilities.
Click to expand...

I am not ashamed to admit I am one....

I have offered to help never had it accepted. I have helped pull boats out of the mud on several times in a dinghy when it was to shallow for ribs, and had words of begrudging thanks to dirty looks.

I do not feel comfortable in the bar, I have taken friends there after sailing as it seemed like the right thing to do. They have never wanted a second drink and have never wanted to go back.

Even on the pontoons in history I have had hey you in that small boat move it I want to come alongside now, I was visibly dropping my mast at the time in the allocated berth.

Most recently my latest boat is similar in name to a boat a club owner once owned and did something famous in... Favorite conversation on pontoon now:

Is than "Blue ZXY of John fancydoublebarreledsirname Fame", no shes not shes "ZXY" "oh that's a shame Blue ZXY was so famous round here" and of they walk... Just rude, although the club does seem to be famous for it.

The problem is there facilities really suit me, so that's all I use the club for..

Club is not in Hamble River you will be pleased to know..
 
onesea said:
I am not ashamed to admit I am one....

I have offered to help never had it accepted. I have helped pull boats out of the mud on several times in a dinghy when it was to shallow for ribs, and had words of begrudging thanks to dirty looks.

I do not feel comfortable in the bar, I have taken friends there after sailing as it seemed like the right thing to do. They have never wanted a second drink and have never wanted to go back.

Even on the pontoons in history I have had hey you in that small boat move it I want to come alongside now, I was visibly dropping my mast at the time in the allocated berth.

Most recently my latest boat is similar in name to a boat a club owner once owned and did something famous in... Favorite conversation on pontoon now:

Is than "Blue ZXY of John fancydoublebarreledsirname Fame", no shes not shes "ZXY" "oh that's a shame Blue ZXY was so famous round here" and of they walk... Just rude, although the club does seem to be famous for it.

The problem is there facilities really suit me, so that's all I use the club for..

Club is not in Hamble River you will be pleased to know..
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, sounds like a certain Royal YC to the north of Dan Bran pontoon to me, we all have our tales of it's legendary hospitality to visiting sailors:D:D
 
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