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

Berthon Marina - Lymington and Southampton Town Quay both have Excellent Shower facilities which we use when visiting inc east cowes below
Ooops I also forgot Lions Den x 2 :)

followed by:-
East Cowes
Universal Marina


Worst showers for the money is Swanwick - very tired imho
 
My own yard could probably give most places a run for their money for worst. Not that I care - why would I be having a shower at my home berth, I have a house for that. But there are two very cramped cubicles in the cold and shabby portacabin that serves as the "facilities". I think they were probably converted from the end two of five toilet stalls, which are not large even for their original purpose. When you come out of the shower, you step (barefooted?) straight into the area in front of the urinals.

And does any of this bother me? Not at all. Though old and well-worn, the bogs are generally clean. The showers are irrelevant. It's all in keeping with the atmosphere of the yard, which suits me down to the ground. I'd feel out of place anywhere too posh :)

Pete
 
prv said:
why would I be having a shower at my home berth
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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?
 
Among the best have to be Deacons, and just outside the Solent, the ones on the far side of the marina at Premier Chichester. Both give most nice home bathrooms a run for their money.
 
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.
 
Now that Cowes Yacht Haven have refurbed their showers, it's fine. In fact, I'm struggling to think of anywhere really bad. Outside the Solent we have Poole Quay Boat Haven, who miraculously had showers (over the road) not working properly for months on end last year...or was it the year before? Card machine was working fine though...

Also Beaulieu I'm afraid...in line with the rest of the marina, lots of money for something that is way behind the curve now.

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.
 
Likes:
Berthon
Haslar - I'm quite fond of the light ship facilities.

Dislikes:
Yarmouth - Pay for tokens when you've already paid top dollah for a berth? That's just flippin' cheeky.
Gunwharf Quays - The facilities themselves are ok, but you have to walk out of the marina and along the busy promenade to get to them. Not well thought out.

To be fair, most of the Solent area marina facilities have been done up in the last few years so most generally have the quite nice all in one cubicle with loo/basin/shower.
 
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.
 
Seven Spades said:
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.
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Those would be my two favourite, but I'd put Berthon first. Having said that, the only time I've been to Berthon was after running away from an F7 with a seasick crew on a miserable day which possibly made the showers seem even more glorious.

I think it's when you're really wet and cold and tired that you most appreciate excellent facilities. For rinsing the muck off after a day working on the boat in a yard it's not such a big deal.
 
lustyd said:
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?
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Cherbourg until last year (they still have tokens, but hand them out free at the desk). Itchenor. Just about everywhere in the West Country. I dread to think what some poor hard-done-by Solent yotties would think of trudging up the hill out of Salcombe to get to the communal showers in the basement of the Yacht Club :)

Pete
 
I have never been a great defender of Yarmouth, but perhaps part of their problem is that the showers are in a publicly accessed building and if they didn't have tokens then the facility would be used by a lot of non-boating people.

Wouldn't be hard to give tokens to anyone paying for a berth though, would it?
 
Ex-SolentBoy said:
I have never been a great defender of Yarmouth, but perhaps part of their problem is that the showers are in a publicly accessed building and if they didn't have tokens then the facility would be used by a lot of non-boating people.

Wouldn't be hard to give tokens to anyone paying for a berth though, would it?
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Just like Cherbourg do. I don't have a problem with that, but expecting people to pay on top of the berthing fee is just greedy. I could understand if the berthing fee were cheap as chips, but it really isn't.
 
Cardo said:
Just like Cherbourg do. I don't have a problem with that, but expecting people to pay on top of the berthing fee is just greedy. I could understand if the berthing fee were cheap as chips, but it really isn't.
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The problem with high marina charges is it discourages family's from visiting. Rarely will I visit Yarmouth in season with the family as I would be the one footing the bill. However, when boats are filled with people sharing costs the high marina charges are often not factored in the equation. It is a shame there aren't more loyalty type schemes where repeat visitors reduce their costs.
 
Talulah said:
The problem with high marina charges is it discourages family's from visiting. Rarely will I visit Yarmouth in season with the family as I would be the one footing the bill. However, when boats are filled with people sharing costs the high marina charges are often not factored in the equation. It is a shame there aren't more loyalty type schemes where repeat visitors reduce their costs.
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Yarmouth, Poole & Weymouth had a sort of loyalty scheme running last year - spend a night in one and get money off tokens for the other two... we enjoyed various nights in both Yarmouth & Weymouth that way though ened the season with a clutch of vouchers for Poole!
 
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