Showers in Boatyards

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Wansworth

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There have been aspersions made on this forum about showers in boatyards ,infering thay are to say the least totally unneeded and iimplying the thin edge of the wedge ti life with a cold tap or the luxury of a solar shower ,when the sun shines,as a longtime bodger of boats in boatyards I love the idea of a shower and my wife would be even more pleased and thwrefore easier to persuade to join in with the bodging if a welcome hot shaower was available.
 
I approve of the basic portacabin bog with two shower cubicles in it at our yard. But if I'm honest, perhaps that's because I only ever use the lavatorial facilities and not the showers. Why would I, when it's my home berth and I have my very own bathroom waiting at home?

It seems to me that caring overmuch about showers at one's home base might be the mark of the "seaside cottage" dweller rather than the cruising sailor :) :p :)

Pete
 
Personally I think its the influence of the continent....I went one whole summer with only seawater washes but one has to keep up standards at the club ,whcich a shower affords.
 
In 36 years of boat ownership I cannot think of any occasion when i would have used a shower at the yard even if there had been one. I guess if it was something I regarded as an essential facility I would have found a yard where they are provided.

Now there will be one........ I doubt if I will use it I'd much prefer to hop in the car and use my own at home. Perhaps if I fell in the mud I would but not a lot of point even then without some clean dry clothes to put on!

Now my yard fees are 6 times what they were 5 years ago. Not a happy bunny.
 
I have used boatyard showers for years.. If you ever go campervanning and need a shower.. You just camp out near a marina and you get hot showers for free..
Europe make you pay a euro but some have good ammenities.
And then having lived and sailed up the east coast of the UK, I reckon for the best shower would be Ipswich haven marina, It is hot and feels like a pressure washer...
I am thankful for marinas and their shower blocks as its saved me thousands on accomodation..
 
nauticalnomad said:
I have used boatyard showers for years.. If you ever go campervanning and need a shower.. You just camp out near a marina and you get hot showers for free..
Europe make you pay a euro but some have good ammenities.
And then having lived and sailed up the east coast of the UK, I reckon for the best shower would be Ipswich haven marina, It is hot and feels like a pressure washer...
I am thankful for marinas and their shower blocks as its saved me thousands on accomodation..
Click to expand...

All the showers I know of on the south coaast have a code to enter,uswing a marina shower was easy 40 years ago but now they are reserved for berth holders or bona vide visitors.Working on a boat especially ashore away from home a shower to become repectable to go to the coop if not needed at least is pleasant........I would not be asking fro a wet room with piped music and tv al la Chichester marina,which on a cold wet day are inviting .
 
prv said:
I approve of the basic portacabin bog with two shower cubicles in it at our yard. But if I'm honest, perhaps that's because I only ever use the lavatorial facilities and not the showers. Why would I, when it's my home berth and I have my very own bathroom waiting at home?

It seems to me that caring overmuch about showers at one's home base might be the mark of the "seaside cottage" dweller rather than the cruising sailor :) :p :)
Click to expand...
Hmm, my home is 700km from my boat and every year I haul out for three days to anti-foul and two years ago was on the hard for four weeks for repairs while I lived aboard. Thank goodness my Italian yard has superb showers and washrooms.
 
prv said:
I approve of the basic portacabin bog with two shower cubicles in it at our yard. But if I'm honest, perhaps that's because I only ever use the lavatorial facilities and not the showers. Why would I, when it's my home berth and I have my very own bathroom waiting at home?

It seems to me that caring overmuch about showers at one's home base might be the mark of the "seaside cottage" dweller rather than the cruising sailor :) :p :)

Pete
Click to expand...

Move your boat a few hundred miles and try it for a year :) getting back after a cold wet trip on a boat which has no heads let alone hot water it's nice to shower before the 2 hour drive home. Similarly while ashore it's nice not to get the car dirty after working on the boat.

Unless your point was that those of us not living near the sea shouldn't have boats...
 
nauticalnomad said:
And then having lived and sailed up the east coast of the UK, I reckon for the best shower would be Ipswich haven marina, It is hot and feels like a pressure washer...
I am thankful for marinas and their shower blocks as its saved me thousands on accomodation..
Click to expand...
I am sure it was there last year that the hot water ran out.
 
ELAiNe333 said:
I am sure it was there last year that the hot water ran out.
Click to expand...

I expect they will have found some by now. :D We have always enjoyed our visits to Ipswich Haven, we pop up most years altho' not last years as it happens. The staff are friendly and helpful and the facilities are pretty good.
 
There are decent showers in the Isla Verde boatyard in Algeceiras and a nearby café with 3 course lunches for 9 euros.

There are adequate showers in the boatyard in Puerto Banus and nearby bars where you can pay nearly 9 euros for a lager.......
 
These days I try to avoid any work strenuous enough to break sweat, but I certainly have been grateful for a good shower in the past after spending a day preparing the boat for anti-fouling. We use the marina boatyard, so no problem with access to a well equipped, clean and comfortable facilities block.
 
I like to sleep aboard one night a week in spring, summer and autum. I get off work about 6. Nip to the boat, do a few jobs, make a meal then kip aboard. Next morning shower and go to work. Home berth facilities are important to me.

Works for me.
 
VicS said:
Now there will be one........ I doubt if I will use it I'd much prefer to hop in the car and use my own at home. Perhaps if I fell in the mud I would but not a lot of point even then without some clean dry clothes to put on!

Now my yard fees are 6 times what they were 5 years ago. Not a happy bunny.
Click to expand...

And along with other "improvements" it will no doubt rise again next year. I have a cieling price which I can go to. Once it hits that price I will consider selling the boat, no doubt along with a few others.....
 
The new showers at HYC (chichester harbour) are a distinct imoprovement over the older stone age (i.e. cold concrete floored) ones.

When you have to motor or row up a drying creek with steep muddy banks, you are glad to know they are available if needed. I never have yet, but the image of a mate returning along the sea wall after trying to beat the tide,rowing in the tender remains with me. Long story, but he ended up covered from head to foot after deciding to climb the bank rather than walk up the middle of the channel. I hardly had the heart to tell him that knee deep water over hard gravelly mud is better than climbing a six foot wall of thigh deep, black smelly mud. :D
 
BarryH said:
And along with other "improvements" it will no doubt rise again next year. I have a cieling price which I can go to. Once it hits that price I will consider selling the boat, no doubt along with a few others.....
Click to expand...

I think the yard owner is well aware of the weightbof the historybof the yard and will strike the rightbalance between progress and protecting the need to preserve the yards culture.
 
I live within an hours drive, tops, of my home port. As a consequence I seldom use the showers, but over winter, during refit periods, I have been delighted to have a hot shower after an afternoons work, just to warm up before the drive home,
 
Decent showers are appreciated ..... but surely vases of fresh flowers and baskets of toiletries is going a little too far? (Ocean Village, for one). Then again, there was a vase of fresh tulips in the Gents at Sainsbury's last time I visited :rolleyes:
 
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