trailer/mooring or marina?

[johnstop]

I wondered if anyone had experience of these options and could give me a newboy some pointers.
I have been trailering my boat so far but as I live about 400 yards to where I could moor my boat on the Dee Estuary am I doing the best thing.Looked at Marinas and they are very convenient .
Help

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[jfm]

You are better able to answer this than us, as logistics expert. But it's obviously convenience/cost/have-trailer-see-diffrent-places trade-off. Remeber if moor at marina you need to antifoul, and this can look a bit manky on trailered boats and devalue them. Otherwise you will need to put back on trailer evry 6 weeks or so and jet wash it. Yuo might also need to fit autobilgepumps and suchlike, unless you go to check the boat often when it's raining

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[lanason]

no option really - with a boat your size - piece of cake to put off and on trailer.
Very reduced costs but and best of all you can go visit different places - and should do ...... if you don't your better off with a mooring...

I trail a 23 footer and that can be quite hard work but is worth it.....

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian
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[aztec]

no contest, agree with the others, if you can, trailer it. if you have to work on it, it's loads easier. fueling ...easy... cleaning.... cheaper... you know the answer.

good boating.

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[Happy1]

I have had the same problem as you. I have a 20ft boat and have had it anti-fouled and put in a Marina, I also bought a trailer and use that as and when I want to go elsewhere. I must say I have found the trailer useful to get the boat out every 6 weeks or so, to jet wash it, I have only done this twice so far as the boat is pretty new. In my opinion the trailering is a pain in the arse compared to arriving at the marina, stepping on your boat and setting off, but in some cases finances would prevent some people from doing this.

The other option is the lost time in preparing the boat to take out on the trailer, drive in tow bar vehicle using more fuel with boat to launch site, launch, put vehicle somewhere safe, go out on boat, return, fetch vehicle and trailer, recover boat, drive home and spend 1hr washing down the trailer, boat and rear of vehicle, then securing the boat.

I have taken my boat from Chatham (40 mins from me) to the South coast on a few occassions now, I have the benefit of re-fueling in Tesco at 72p, but it costs me £75 return towing, plus the wear and tear on the trailer and tow vehicle. If I did this every weekend, it would be more expensive than keeping it in a marina, plus the time spent sitting in a car driving there and back. I have chosen the option of choosing an MDL marina, they give you 15 free nights at any of the marinas in their group as an annual berth holder, this in effect is 7 long weekends in different places. So I can be on the boat in the evenings without a 2.5hr trek, then every other weekend in the Summer try a new spot. This works out better for me in my circumstances.

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[BarryH]

Re read what you have said, your contadicting yerself.

To the original poster. Trailer the thing, you'll do more with it and see more areas. Being based in the same area with a boat of limited range will get quiet boring fairly quickly.

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[Happy1]

Barry, I gave my opinions on both. I have opted for a large chunk of marina and a bit of trailering, that way I get the best of both worlds IMHO. There is no doubt that the trailering to the South Coast 7 times or more will cost money, but still beneficial for me to have the use of Chatham and limited trailering, compared with the cost of a permanent mooring in the Solent for a small boat, that is only liveable in for the odd drunken night, plus all the travel and loss of use midweek /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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