Where have all the boats gone?

[gsturgeon]

When I first came to the South Coast some fifteen years ago, the marinas had long waiting lists and I was moved around "hot berthing" for some time until a permanent one became available. It was also wise to phone ahead to get a visitors berth before setting out. Now wherever I go there are empty fingers and "to let" notices.

As in the last decade thousands of boats have been sold and presumably few were scrapped, I just wondered where they are hiding.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I think many have been driven to lower priced cruising areas. When you can get a cheaper berth in the Med than the Solent, its very tempting

 

[Whitelighter]

Europe/Scandanavia.

Weak £ vs strong euro means they have been buying up cheap UK boats for a couple of years

 

[miket]

Recession?

Could be even boaters are starting to face reality.
Recessiion + high fuel prices.

 

[Mymobo]

Its the same in the Bristol channel. A few years ago there were wait lists for berths but not any more. In our marina the number of berth holders is down but the overall meters charged has gone up. Seems some people have moved up! Berth rates have also gone up.

Fuel cost is not helping either.

 

[jfm]

Yup, as W'lighter says, Scandinavia and rest of Europe

 

[MapisM]

Weak £ vs strong euro means they have been buying up cheap UK boats for a couple of years

Well, that should also attract foreigners to UK boating, otoh.
...though on second thought I'll rather stick to the Sardinian sea and weather for the moment!

 

[[2068]]

Could be even boaters are starting to face reality.
Recessiion + high fuel prices.

I don't do reality.

 

[Trundlebug]

Europe/Scandanavia.

Weak £ vs strong euro means they have been buying up cheap UK boats for a couple of years

Does that mean Eurpoe and Scandinavia have become much more crowded with boats?

Have any forumites noticed the difference?

 

[David_J]

When I first came to the South Coast some fifteen years ago, the marinas had long waiting lists and I was moved around "hot berthing" for some time until a permanent one became available. It was also wise to phone ahead to get a visitors berth before setting out. Now wherever I go there are empty fingers and "to let" notices.

As in the last decade thousands of boats have been sold and presumably few were scrapped, I just wondered where they are hiding.

Brighton to Solent at Easter, 32ft boat, dirty hull but £200 each way!!
TV this morning Quenten Wilson reckon we are fast approaching 2 £/L for road fuel following news yesterday from OPEC.
Feeding 450 HP is getting silly!

 

[Firefly625]

allegedly South Coast MDL Marina's are averaging 60% capacity and certainly that is pretty obvious at Mercury...

 

[colingr]

Looked less than that last time I popped round there, Hamble Point looking pretty sparse too. Dry stacks up the Itchen are pretty full though. Maybe people are looking to keep boats out of the water more to save on maintenance etc?

 

[Poignard]

Does that mean Eurpoe and Scandinavia have become much more crowded with boats?

Have any forumites noticed the difference?

I have just returned from France (Normandy) and I was surprised how few British boats were around.

Many of the so-called visitors' berths in St Vaast appeared to be permanently occupied by local boats.

 

[AdeOlly]

We are still hoping to move to something a bit bigger and so am almost constantly looking. In my conversations with brokers it's clear many, many, boats have indeed gone overseas.

MDL's Northney where we berth is full, but that may be the exception. You can check exact berth availability on Premier's site for all their marinas, and all except Falmouth have space, some quite a lot, such as at Port Solent which has 65 berths available, including 5 at 23m!

 

[colingr]

I have just returned from France (Normandy) and I was surprised how few British boats were around.

Many of the so-called visitors' berths in St Vaast appeared to be permanently occupied by local boats.

Likewise Honfleur last weekend. Probably no more than 6 yachts in the harbour, as far as I could see local, at least those wearing ensigns. Usually the place is heaving.

 

[Wiggo]

allegedly South Coast MDL Marina's are averaging 60% capacity and certainly that is pretty obvious at Mercury...

And at Ocean Village...

 

[DougH]

If all the missing boats have gone abroad they are certainly not in Mallorca.

All the marinas have lots of berths available.

 

[mjf]

Yes I popped in there a couple w/e's ago and indeed 25m berts free which must hurt the cash flow.

That said I heard the number was over 100 'for sale' as premier like to say.

The dockmaster did say that they had 20 or so new contracts in May thou.


As other indicate the new boats and s/c units are Euroland and Scanda

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

We are still hoping to move to something a bit bigger and so am almost constantly looking. In my conversations with brokers it's clear many, many, boats have indeed gone overseas.

Yup many have gone overseas but the last figures I saw was that 12% of brokerage sales were going overseas which IMHO is not a big enough number to cause the empty spaces in many Solent marinas. I still think that most of these empty spaces are down to boatowners voting with their feet and simply going somewhere cheaper to moor. For example, I know a couple of boatowners who've moved from pricey marinas to cheaper buoy moorings recently. How about dry stacks? How are they doing?
Anybody in the cheaper spots seen more boats in their marina or moorings recently?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

If all the missing boats have gone abroad they are certainly not in Mallorca.

All the marinas have lots of berths available.

Well, I've gone to Croatia and another forumite to SoF so thats 2 boats less in Majorca! Yes it is also a bit of a mystery where the missing Majorca boats have gone. I suspect also that they've gone to cheaper mooring spots on the Spanish and French mainland. I spoke to a UK boater last week in Croatia who has recently brought his big Princess around from Majorca.
Of course the reason for the missing boats in Majorca is different. Most, like me, were driven away by the matriculation tax. I hope that the Balearic tax authorities realise now that they've well and truly shot themselves in both feet although, being civil servants, probably not