Where to keep yacht on West Coast Scotland

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charliehl

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Hi,

We are thinking about moving our boat to the West Coast.
Can any one recommend an affordable marina or mooring?

Ideally with the option for 6 months ashore.
She is 40foot and 13 tons.

cheers
Charlie
 
Hi,

I don’t know yet. We are thinking about moving to Scotland and part of the decision process is where to keep the boat.
All the best

Charlie
 
charliehl said:
Hi,

We are thinking about moving our boat to the West Coast.
Can any one recommend an affordable marina or mooring?

Ideally with the option for 6 months ashore.
She is 40foot and 13 tons.

cheers
Charlie
Click to expand...

Hi,

I have been reading through the Marina threads.
All a lot more than where we currently are.

Can any one recommend swinging moorings, preferably with a boat yard attached and boat service.

Cheers

Charlie
 
'West Coast of Scotland' is a bit vague - it's a large area.

It seems to me that there are 3 distinct regions: the Clyde E of the Mull of Kintyre (which I don't know); West of the Mull to Ardurmurchan Point; and everything north of that.

Where to keep a boat depends on where you live, what you want to do, and what your transport options are. The further north you go, the more limited you are.

It is quite normal to keep a boat in one place for the sailing season the move to another for the winter. (I do).

If you want a swinging mooring ther are a number of options within +/- 30 miles of Oban - Ardfern, Kilmelford, Balvicar, Ardoran, Kerrera, Creggan, Loch Aline may all be possible.

North of Ardnamurchan you are much more limited. Arisaig is a distinct possibility but there is generally a waiting list. Same with Plockton. Otherwise not much else till you get to Ullapool, and that is far North.

Feel free to PM me if you want specific details.
 
Options in the far north would be Lochinver or Stornoway, both good and cheap and good cruising grounds.
 
Kelpie said:
Options in the far north would be Lochinver or Stornoway, both good and cheap and good cruising grounds.
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Stornoway has a swanky new hoist to go with its swanky new marina. Apart from the inner harbour, it's all a bit exposed when it's a tad breezy. Not much space to spend time ashore though. Plenty of pontoon space now.

Lochinver has a smallish Sublift but a new dock is planned to use their hoist. Plenty of space ashore and more sheltered in the old quarry, but not much pontoon space.

To have the most chance of finding a berth and space ashore in those two it would probably be Stornoway for a summer berth and Lochinver for winter ashore.
 
charliehl said:
Hi,

I don’t know yet. We are thinking about moving to Scotland and part of the decision process is where to keep the boat.
All the best

Charlie
Click to expand...
There are so many options that you might need to narrow your options down a bit, both in terms of boat location and potential house location.
In both cases key factors are often how remote you are prepared to be - e.g. is travel time back to the south (Edinburgh or Glasgow ;-) an issue? Some places are a heck of a way to even the northern end of the M74 or A1, others like the Clyde are much closer to civilisation if wanted.
Living in the Outer Hebrides might be brilliant for some - or a restricting nightmare for others. Is travelling 3 hours to a supermarket a great escape from civilisation, or a nightmare.
 
Ignore the daft title, it is nothing to do with anchorages.
If you mean the West Coast, a year or two ago I would have recommended the Crinan Canal it has a marina, access to the Clyde and at the other end only 6 hours to Tobermory but now with (very) restricted operating hours, a five day week, crazy management and decaying facilities I would not wish it on my worst enemy. For example, today they are restricted to 2 hours either side of HW while it is chucking it down and the water waster is blasting in to Loch Gilp, yesterday they would not let boats in at Crinan until 11-30 because they were having to run surplus water off at Dunardry, I find it better to laugh than cry.
 
Quandary said:
Ignore the daft title, it is nothing to do with anchorages.
If you mean the West Coast, a year or two ago I would have recommended the Crinan Canal it has a marina, access to the Clyde and at the other end only 6 hours to Tobermory but now with (very) restricted operating hours, a five day week, crazy management and decaying facilities I would not wish it on my worst enemy. For example, today they are restricted to 2 hours either side of HW while it is chucking it down and the water waster is blasting in to Loch Gilp, yesterday they would not let boats in at Crinan until 11-30 because they were having to run surplus water off at Dunardry, I find it better to laugh than cry.
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Have you any constructive suggestions to make?
 
Years ago in Stornoway, you could put a mooring in (if you could find space) and not pay anything. They are discouraging that now (besides there’s no space unless you can borrow/adopt/inherit someone elses. But I wonder how many places in more rural places you could find a sheltered spot and lay your own mooring. Fishermen have been doing it for generations. You’d have to look after it yourself and find somewhere for over wintering but might be an option, if your happy being really remote. But I would suggest working out where you want to live first
 
boomerangben said:
Years ago in Stornoway, you could put a mooring in (if you could find space) and not pay anything. They are discouraging that now (besides there’s no space unless you can borrow/adopt/inherit someone elses. But I wonder how many places in more rural places you could find a sheltered spot and lay your own mooring. Fishermen have been doing it for generations. You’d have to look after it yourself and find somewhere for over wintering but might be an option, if your happy being really remote. But I would suggest working out where you want to live first
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I definitely wouldn't try that in Stornoway harbour these days. A lot of the old mooring space was lost when the new marina went in a couple of years ago.
There are definitely sheltered sea lochs further down the islands where there remains plenty of space to lay a mooring, but you need to get to know the lie of the land, make sure you're not getting in anybody's way etc. And there are, to my knowledge, no moorings contractors in the area so good luck persuading an insurance company that the mooring is up to scratch.
 
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