The best AND the worst marina shower facilities in the Solent?

[onesea]

Marina showers, I hate the new translucent glass they are using. I was in one and you could see the out line of the person drying in the cubical next door... Kind of not what I want to see...

As for charges, shhh do not tell marinas but you can pay 25-30 for a field with appalling showers no hot water etc if yo go camping... Campers expect it so they do not improve...

As for tokens, it does seem crazy that the token meters are outside the cubical's at Yarmouth.

I will always grumble about the price just to help keep them down... As for families I do not think it makes a difference to me if I want to go some where I will go. Then at the same time if we have no guests we will often have a long days sail and return to our home mooring because it saves us allot of money. If we do go to marina, we end up paying that then the meal out and afew drinks etc...

 

[Poignard]

I can't remember which Solent marina it was but it had individual shower rooms with personal lavatory, wash basin and shower. All very nice and new except it was stiflingly hot and badly ventilated. More like a Turkish bath. I came out more sweaty than I went in!

 

[[2574]]

TBH the worst showers and loos in the Solent are whichever ones used by disrespectful, skanky yotties who think its fine to leave stubble, toothpaste and empty contact lense packets all over sinks, hair and empty bottles all over showers, and the bogs looking like the aftermath of an industrial accident at the Cadbury's factory. Sort it out please people...that is NOT the marina staff's job.

That is true of everywhere. We berth at Sutton Harbour which, as someone has already said, has excellent facilities. But when the summer season visitors arrive the ****e that is left behind is beyond comprehension; I really wonder what state some home bathrooms are in if what I see at Sutton Harbour is par for the course for some. I feel for the (excellent) cleaners at Sutton Harbour who have to clean up after these toe-rags. And what is it with talcum powder that has to be spread about the facilities like grit on an icy night on the M3?

 

[Daedelus]

I can't remember which Solent marina it was but it had individual shower rooms with personal lavatory, wash basin and shower. All very nice and new except it was stiflingly hot and badly ventilated. More like a Turkish bath. I came out more sweaty than I went in!

Premier at Gosport have some like that.

They have the bizarre habit of not building enough showers in the first place and installing portacabin ones to take on the overflow during the summer months.

 

[markleuty]

I shower at my home berth all the time! I live nearly 2 hours away though

Best in Solent is Berthon - how could it not be with a choice of shower heads and shoe warmers!

Worst by far in Solent is Yarmouth - who puts a token meter OUTSIDE of the cubicle?! Come to think of it, who uses tokens this decade? Yes they are clean etc. but stopping the water flow dead when your time is up is unforgiveable. There are facilities elsewhere which have not been updated, and grotty facilities, but Yarmouth takes the cake as everything there was done on purpose and recently. Oh, and they charge more than Berthon...WTF?

SWMBO takes a whole load of stuff with her into the shower cubicles and takes quite a long time in the shower so likes to get her money's worth out of the tokens.

At Yarmouth a couple of years ago, she got all her stuff set up, got into her birthday suit and snuck out to put the token in the meter.

Then she heard the water in the next cubicle start up

Doh!

Mark

 

[Zagato]

Chichester Marina are very good, quite new, always clean, they go around pretty well continuously cleaning - also have relaxing classical music to soothe the days tensions away!

 

[Daydream believer]

If you want to go up the east coast then Scarborough have the scanckiest showers around the UK
On the west coast Oban is rough. Port ellen is not too good either
Glenarm is good if you go to Ireland
Ballycastle is ok but miles up the road
If you want to go to Holland Gouda leaves a lot to be desired
Lat time i was in Camaret they were poor too

Best tip in showers is to use them at 15-00 hours. The cleaners go in after the morning rush & by 15-00 things have quietened down
Take a cable tie to beat the time delay in places like Ostend

Oh & keep clear of those sailors who only use the ones at home. After a week's hols they tend to wiff a bit

 

[Plevier]

Island Harbour Marina pretty bad. Completely inadequate, lack of hooks and hot water a rarity when i was there.

 

[lustyd]

Anyone fussing about the location of the token input is being a trifle pernickity.

No. People fussing about tokens are being realistic about what to expect in one of the most expensive places in the Solent which charges extra for power and facilities which are inclusive at other less expensive and, frankly, nicer locations.

Wouldn't be hard to give tokens to anyone paying for a berth though, would it?

I'm OK with paying for a shower. I'll happily pop £1 coins into a meter all day long, and have spent quite a few quid on showers over the years.

What I object very strongly to indeed, is when I have no clothes on and soap in my eyes/hair/everywhere and the water stops without warning and the only way to get it back on is to walk naked and soapy outside the cubicle and deposit another token. A token which I have had to purchase in advance. If I didn't do so I would have to dry the soap off with my towel (which I'll then have to clean before I can use it for the rest of the trip) then get dressed, go to reception because there's no machine in the shower room, buy another token, go back to the cubicle and start the process again, except this time I have no way to get dry without also getting soapy.

I'm quite happy at the Folly where they have a £1 meter in the showers, same in Douglas, same somewhere in Ireland whose name I forget.

 

[lustyd]

Premier at Gosport have some like that.

They have the bizarre habit of not building enough showers in the first place and installing portacabin ones to take on the overflow during the summer months.

Half the Solent marinas have them like that! Haslar and Lymington are the ones that tend to get steamy though due to the moulded GRP cubes I think.

 

[windlipper]

Town Quay take some beating, very new and very plush, rival many good class hotels I've been in. (Or at least they were this time last year)

 

[sailorman]

In the course of organising and participating in a Solent based rally last year we went to a lot of the "better" marinas. The good news was that they all provided reasonable shower facilities, good enough to get the Sh**, SH**** and SH*** done.
Premier Swanwick - old fashioned separate fibreglass bathroom units, so great for privacy. Lots of hot water and generally very clean.
Berthon, Lymington - new, smart and practical. Good.
Yarmouth - Used them many times. They are clean, practical and just sufficient for the large numbers who use them each weekend. Anyone fussing about the location of the token input is being a trifle pernickity.
Royal Clarence, Gosport - long long walk to get there, bit primitive when you finally do, but generally OK. Just.
Mercury, Hamble - excellent all round.
Bucklers Hard, Beaulieu - no specific memories, so must have been OK.
Shepards Wharf, Cowes - Some confusion over free tokens, and some of the shower floors didn't drain effectively, loos and washbasins were fine. Cleanliness not perfect.
Cowes yacht haven - despite a much-trumpeted refurb last winter, this is the one marina at which we were unable to shower at the weekend. The reason - several million other sailors also wanting to Sh, sh and sh at the same time. When we did go there mid-week it was fine and dandy, but they really need to double the cubicles to cope with weekend traffic.
East Cowes - Excellent all round.

Further afield:
Weymouth - still like school showers, but very much in keeping with the cheerful low-brow standards that make visiting Weymouth fun.
Poole town quay - notable for the most entertaining conversation between the ex-forces crew of another yacht. Smart, practical and effective. The facilities, not the crew.

Poor quality instantaneous showers, with poor water flow. hiking boots to get there, spikes if the need to hurry

 

[DickB]

Sorry, but not in the Solent, Portland Marina has very nice new showers and loos... All spotless and the shower water pressure is great...

 

[fastjedi]

No .... I definately wouldn't have paid the tiler for that job

Not in the Solent but the best showers I have seen in the UK are in Sutton Harbour. Agreed Berthon are the best I have seen in the Solent but come at a huge price are are not a patch on Sutton harbour. the worst has to be West Cowes(Can't remember which one), yarmouth and Haslar.

 

[BlueChip]

Not in the Solent but the best showers I have seen in the UK are in Sutton Harbour. .

Sutton Harbour, not only the best but the cleanest by far. Even in the winter months the facilities are toast warm and the cleaners seem to be there every time I pay a visit whatever time of day. There is not a speck of dirt or dust, all the chrome and mirrors are polished to a mirror shine and the floors are spotless.
Coming from Haslar a few years ago it made me realise how grotty and unpleasant the facilities there really were.

 

[Joker]

There is a marina in Stralsund where you pay for everything using a prepaid RFID card. You hold it up to the electricity supply and type in the number of KwHr you want to use, and it deducts it from the card. The same with the water, and the washing machine.
When you go to have a shower, you have to type in the number of minutes that you want the water to run for, and it charges you half a euro for each minute. You put your card against the machine, press the button, and the water starts running.

 

[Resolution]

Sorry, but not in the Solent, Portland Marina has very nice new showers and loos... All spotless and the shower water pressure is great...

We went there when the marina first opened. It all looked five star hotel quality, but my shower was spoiled when I found the floor levels wrong and my cubicle flodded with other people's dirty water........

 

[Cardo]

We went there when the marina first opened. It all looked five star hotel quality, but my shower was spoiled when I found the floor levels wrong and my cubicle flodded with other people's dirty water........

Ewww. That would have had me running for the hills.

 

[colingr]

Kemps?

Is it still that portacabin? If so I agree assuming you mean grotty

 

[emsworthy]

Best - probably Port Solent or Lyminghton Berthon with East Cowes a close second

Worst - Bembridge Duver probably take some beating (unless you have a penchant for stale piss!) But we love the location so much and it's a little bit like camping anyway, we will keep going back regardless!