Where have all the boats gone?

Spent last week trawling south coast brokerages and the consistent message was Scandinavian/european buyers, lots of empty berths and a notable switch in people moving from power to sail as opposed to the other way. Bit depressing really but combined with fuel looking to only go higher it did make us feel slightly better about our decision to sell our beloved Targa and think about moving to sail. Only slightly better though....:-(
 
As more of an observer than user looking back over last 15-20 years, I'd say a combination of:-
1) Eastern European market opening up (Croatia etc)
2) Many more marinas here since early 90's as local authorities realise potential.
3) Higher density in existing harbours (Torquay & Brixham come to mind locally as I watched Torquay being built in the mid-80's and Brixham came later I think)

In more recent times, there seems to be quite a few in 'dry storage' - both at brokers and in private driveways. I know of 6 in the 15-30' range within half-a-mile of me that haven't moved in 2-3 years or more. :(
 
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I did hear that MDL marinas have just over 60% occupancy, thats a hell of a lot of empty pontoons, if its true and yet when I asked for a deal was told " we dont do deals" well some marinas do!
 
Anecdotal evidence suggests that traffic is well down on the inland waterways too.

Marina spaces seem to be increasing, although the smaller cheaper marinas local to me seem to be holding up.

Biggies like Sawley in Nottinghamshire are reported to have higher than usual occupancy rates.

I don't see how it can be fuel tho, us ditch crawlers only use a litre or so an hour.

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Edited to say, As this topic interests me, I have started a thread on an inland waterways forum i'm on, to get a better idea.
 
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As someone who is returning from the fringes as it were, things I have noticed are.
Higher prices, obviously prices have gone up but they seem to exceeded the rise in wages.
The opening up of Eastern Europe due in part to the likes of EasyJet and Ryan Air.
 
volvopaul said:
I did hear that MDL marinas have just over 60% occupancy, thats a hell of a lot of empty pontoons, if its true and yet when I asked for a deal was told " we dont do deals" well some marinas do!
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Cobbs Quay occupancy rate is clearly well over 60%. Mind you the impending Twin Sails Bridge has already led to some boats leaving CQ and no doubt more will follow once the Bridge is operational.
 
Inland spaces are increasing too, or at least on the Broads they are, one marina has 15 spaces, doesn't sound a lot but bare in mind the marinas are mostly only small, this one has about 60 boats and it is has been full with a waiting list until last year.
Lots of other spaces available too and that is on a system with pretty easy sea access and known for low cost moorings.
 
IMHO, it's very basic, four years ago derv was 40-45 pence a litre, today it's the other side of a pound for pleasure boaters, when your cost of fuel more than doubles somethings got to give, unless you are fortunate enough to have plenty of disposable income. Add to this the rising cost of everything else we buy, most of us have to change our spending habits, me? I've gone semi-displacement!
 
epervier said:
IMHO, it's very basic, four years ago derv was 40-45 pence a litre, today it's the other side of a pound for pleasure boaters, when your cost of fuel more than doubles somethings got to give,
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This does seem the most obvious reason.

But it still fails to explain why the Raggies are vacating the marinas in the same numbers.

It is not all Mobos.
 
epervier said:
IMHO, it's very basic, four years ago derv was 40-45 pence a litre, today it's the other side of a pound for pleasure boaters, when your cost of fuel more than doubles somethings got to give, unless you are fortunate enough to have plenty of disposable income. Add to this the rising cost of everything else we buy, most of us have to change our spending habits, me? I've gone semi-displacement!
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I dont see what the cost of fuel has got to do with empty marina spaces. Just because the fuel cost has risen doesn't mean that boats have disappeared. They all have to be moored somewhere. If Solent marinas are now less full, that means that other marinas elsewhere must be more full. So far, according to this thread, it seems almost every area including the Solent, the Broads and the Med has less boats which IMHO is a bit of a mystery. Agreed that some boats have been sold out of the UK thanks to weak Sterling but I dont think this accounts for all the disappearing boats
 
Deleted User said:
I dont see what the cost of fuel has got to do with empty marina spaces. Just because the fuel cost has risen doesn't mean that boats have disappeared. They all have to be moored somewhere. If Solent marinas are now less full, that means that other marinas elsewhere must be more full. So far, according to this thread, it seems almost every area including the Solent, the Broads and the Med has less boats which IMHO is a bit of a mystery. Agreed that some boats have been sold out of the UK thanks to weak Sterling but I dont think this accounts for all the disappearing boats
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Boating is a luxury that is probably one of the first things hit when money gets tight.
I am sure many boats will be in land based storage facilities where the fees will be less than a marina, and little or no maintenance is required.
 
Are there any forumites who are based in Scandinavia who have noticed any increase in numbers?

If they're not in the UK, western Europe or Croatia, have they gone to Scandinavia? Or the Baltic states? Or even China, India or exported to Australia?:confused:

Boats can't just vanish, and I don't know any boat scrapyards...yet
 
As many have said, Scandinavia and Med bound and some even to Asia which is seeing a big shift in buying power for luxury goods, if memory serves me right I read an article recently that said Rolls Royce's biggest export market was now Asia / China. Spoke to our yard manager out in Asia who told me that large Italian brand dealer based out of Hong Kong (I think he said) sold 40 new boats in the first few months of the year nearly triple from the previous year.

In my last days of Absolute all bar one stock boat went to either Scandinavia or the Med, leads and sales from the UK were almost non existant.

Some of it is to blame on the Marina's they had it so good for so long they didn't react fast enough when things started to bite, a little incentive here or there but not enough for people to reconsider whether to leave. East Med is seeing good upswing, and many French and Italians are re-locating, Turkey also is seeing a sort of mini boom, Pendik Marina south of Istanbul is not that long open and now bursting.

Like most markets, when the government decide to tax the bejasus out of what they believe are the rich brigade they just up sticks an leave, many bigger yacht owners faced with clamp down on charter co's , leasing schemes etc have moved off to more favourable tax areas. Why on earth Gov's can't see the wood for the trees is beyond any sensible person, aka Spanish Matric tax etc.

DOH ! where has everyone gone ? LOL :-)
 
IMHO its a combinations of a number of factors, rather than just one simplistic reason:

Fuel - price rise has to be having some effect, both on people switching to sail and giving up entirely.
Berthing costs - ditto.
The economy - despite the blandishments of the Chancellor there's no end in sight yet and with the other fiscal pressures many people are having to sell up as boating has become too expensive.
Aging - many boaters are middle-aged to elderly and often their offspring don't have the wherewithal to keep their parent's boat going when they have to retire from boating.
The pound - is making UK boats for sale extremely attractive to overseas buyers, so well-priced boats are getting snapped up and exported at a rate I've never seen before. A pontoon neighbour sold his Bayliner to a Dutch buyer in only 2 days recently.

The combination of all of these factors is not good for boating either now or in the future, unless something gives.
 
strakeryrius said:
IMHO its a combinations of a number of factors, rather than just one simplistic reason:

The combination of all of these factors is not good for boating either now or in the future, unless something gives.
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I dont know the extent to which boating also got caught up in the world of buying things you cant actually afford to buy- hey, I dont need a wad of readies, I can just pay that nice Marine Mortgage Co a bit each month...I'm sure there is a difference if you are forking out each month as opposed to a bit of GRP capital in the Marina.
Is this bad for boating? Is less boats bad for boating? Might be bad if you build boats, or run a marina company... but bad for boat owners?
 
The inland waterways are also suffering a big drop in mooring numbers, the sales pontoons are full to the brim, boat sales are right down, new marinas are not even half full, I say new but I mean ones that have been open for about twelve months or so, traffic on the inland waterways is way down on last year and that was way down in 2009 swell, hiring of boats has increased on last year though,and the shared ownership of boats seems to be very strong at the moment, ownership of most boats is a luxury and luxury is the first thing to go when money becomes tight, coupled with rising fuel costs= boat ownership at the moment is a luxury some people can't afford! IMHO of course. This was typed from the luxury of my boat down on the Hamble, it looks like it will be quiet out there this week then?
 
gjgm said:
I dont know the extent to which boating also got caught up in the world of buying things you cant actually afford to buy- hey, I dont need a wad of readies, I can just pay that nice Marine Mortgage Co a bit each month...I'm sure there is a difference if you are forking out each month as opposed to a bit of GRP capital in the Marina.
Is this bad for boating? Is less boats bad for boating? Might be bad if you build boats, or run a marina company... but bad for boat owners?
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If marinas occupancy rates start to go into freefall they only have two options to stay in business; charge more for berthing, or shut down. Either option is not good for boaters as that translates into more expensive overheads and/or less choice of where to keep the boat.
 
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