What's the point of an anchored pontoon mooring?

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DogWatch

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You still have to get there by dinghy, you still get wet going over and then you have no privacy, damage during bumpy weather, difficult approach during high wind etc..

Seriously, I don't get it.. just pondering it after looking through Jimi's 'is your berth on google earth' thread.
 
Is it higher density of use - no need for swinging room, so boats can be berthed closer together fore and aft and abreast. Better for revenue generation. Can't compare with a swinging mooring from the users perspective, in my own opinion.

Mark
 
a) you can get 10 boats in where there is room for maybe 2 swinging moorings.

b) a lot of sailors are only happy when tied alongside a pontoon.
 
HI
I can only see an advantage if a pontoon is put on existing pile moorings in a relatively sheltered area. We had a pile mooring for several years and I guess it would have been easier to come alongside a pontoon. It was certainly a lot easier if our neighbour was on his mooring, something to grab hold of. As you say a pontoon in an exposed area is the worst possible option. I spent a few days on an outer pontoon in Gosport Marina and that was really bad - kiss your fenders and rubbing strakes goodbye.
 
Dartmouth has several pontoons that are not connected to land. They are very popular, relative to the other moorings in the river. The only drawback is the need to use a dinghy but they are fully serviced with water and electricity. I imagine what people enjoy is the feeling of being able to step of the boat onto something that feels more like solid ground, and not having to board the boat directly from a (wobbly and partially deflated) dinghy.
 
I suggested them as an alternative to some of the swinging moorings here in Braye. It has been universally unpopular.

It seems to be that bigger boats (60ft+) really struggle with swinging room, whereas two could tie up easily to a 50ft pontoon.

In our case there would have to be an arm coming out from the breakwater to offer some shelter in a NE, but that is desperately needed anyway.
 
Cerddinen said:
Dartmouth has several pontoons that are not connected to land. They are very popular, relative to the other moorings in the river. The only drawback is the need to use a dinghy but they are fully serviced with water and electricity. I imagine what people enjoy is the feeling of being able to step of the boat onto something that feels more like solid ground, and not having to board the boat directly from a (wobbly and partially deflated) dinghy.
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We are berthed on one of these pontoons. We keep a dory in the local marinas and so have the use of the marina facilities. We also use the marina car park. The dory makes it easy to transport large quantities of gear backwards and forwards when necessary.

Once on the boat we don't have the constant passage of trolleys backwards and forwards and fewer drunks at closing time!

As mentioned above the pontoons are fully serviced with water and power - means we can use the boat as a second office during the day and go for a sail early in the evening.


All this for around 35% of a marina berth. Seems a good deal to me.
 
Cerddinen said:
snippy.... and not having to board the boat directly from a (wobbly and partially deflated) dinghy.
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up north us posh sailors use foot pumps to inflate our dinghies.

Anyways, you still have to climb out of a wobbly dinghy onto a wobbly pontoon, there is no advantage that I can see in this area; unless pontoons are more stable, do pontoonees not take their pontoons to sea then, if this was the case.

I didn't know they had power and water on these remote pontoons, so I score approx 5-1 against a pontoon so far ..
 
Dartmouth pontoon party

Cerddinen said:
Dartmouth has several pontoons that are not connected to land. They are very popular, relative to the other moorings in the river. The only drawback is the need to use a dinghy but they are fully serviced with water and electricity. I imagine what people enjoy is the feeling of being able to step of the boat onto something that feels more like solid ground, and not having to board the boat directly from a (wobbly and partially deflated) dinghy.
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During the "summer" we were on one of the Dartmouth pontoons, along with several other boats, waiting for better weather to cross the Channel. We got very bored and organised* an impromptu pontoon party. Various types of wine (including some very good stuff from a French boat!) and snacks appeared and what would have been a dreary evening ended up as a lot of fun. When the rain returned we adjourned to a luxurious trawler yacht for coffee. You couldn't do that on moorings

* 'Organised' = wandering on to the pontoon with a box of wine and shouting "Anyone fancy a party?"
 
pessimist said:
All this for around 35% of a marina berth. Seems a good deal to me.
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Grrrrrrrrrr :(
http://www.dartharbour.org/moorings-moorings-policy/waiting-transfer-list/

Which waiting list is moving the quickest?

The quickest moving list at the moment is for the Kingswear Trots – which can be a wait of anything in-between two to four years. For pontoons, you could wait nearly five or six years, or even longer. For a mooring up river, the waiting time is currently around five or six years.

All these times are very approximate because it depends on how many of our customers give up their moorings each year and also how many give up with an equivalent size berth to the one that you require - sometimes you can be lucky and get one a lot quicker.

Grrrrrrrrrr :(
 
DogWatch said:
You still have to get there by dinghy, you still get wet going over and then you have no privacy, damage during bumpy weather, difficult approach during high wind etc..

Seriously, I don't get it.. just pondering it after looking through Jimi's 'is your berth on google earth' thread.
Click to expand...


It makes it easier to maintain a freesat signal for the telly.
 
DogWatch said:
You still have to get there by dinghy, you still get wet going over and then you have no privacy, damage during bumpy weather, difficult approach during high wind etc..

Seriously, I don't get it.. just pondering it after looking through Jimi's 'is your berth on google earth' thread.
Click to expand...

Somewhere to fold the sails is the main advantage for us but the pontoon is very handy with kids and visitors and generally easier to load and unload the dinghy. Greater density of moorings is the advantage for the yard. Ours used to be pile moorings and are reasonably sheltered and some of the swinging moorings are so close together that boats there occaisionally bump when the wind's against the tide.
 
I have used the Brightlingsea pontoons as a visitor, and as far as I am concerned, the advantages over a swinging mooring are:-

A water taxi if I don't want to pump up the tender.

An easier way onto the boat - tender to (stable) pontoon, and then step onto the
boat from the pontoon - no climbing up the ladder at the back - especially useful if
carrying something heavy.

The pontoons are long, so I can go fo a walk, looking at other people's boats.

If I was on the pontoon permanently, then the pontoon gives extra workspace for
Workmates, etc.

Mind you, swinging moorings also have a number of advantages over pontoons.
 
I can see several advantages to them in addition to those mentioned above. For example, my boat is on a fore-and-aft mooring in a river - if there was a pontoon in place then you could put a boat on either side thus doubling the number of moorings available. It would also make it easier to depart and return to the mooring - at the moment I have to do something complicated with the dinghy and floats attached to the mooring lines so I can retrieve them when returning. Of course I would be reliant on fenders and springs to tie upto the pontoon whereas at present I have two lines fore and two aft which when rigged are simple enough but often get tangled and twisted by the tides and currents when I'm away from the mooring.
 
One is also able to stroll up and down on it whilst enjoying one's first coffee and cigar of the day.

Always assuming there are not too many dinghies in the way. :)
 
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