Where to leave boat for 2 weeks - Exmouth to Brixham coast

R

richardm47

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 Nov 2007
Messages
223
Location
Hampshire
Visit site
Our boat will soon be re-positioned from the Solent to the Brixham/Exmouth area, ready for starting a cruise westwards to Plymouth. Can you recommend where we should leave her for 2 weeks please? 35 ft and draught 5ft.

Main concerns are shelter and security, then proximity of railway back to Southampton, then cost. Probably a marina, or a supervised mooring would be ok. But where exactly would you suggest?
 
Well Torquay is probably best for the train, but its MDL there and at Brixham, i would actually recommend Dartmouth... the Dartmouth harbour authority has lots of deepwater pontoon moorings that will be cheaper than a marina, and pretty well supervised... its not too far by taxi to the train at Totnes........ Exmouth needs good local knowledge to get in and out and Teignmouth even more so.....

Getting to the Dart from the Solent is pretty mcuh the same as Brixham..... and its a much nicer place to start a holiday...
 
The Exe estuary is very sheltered and there are lots of clubs with moorings that you could ask to use for a couple of weeks. Exmouth, Lympstone and Topsham all have railway stations with a regular (normally every 1/2 hour) service to Exeter Exeter St David's where the main line is.

My suggestion would be to try asking the harbour master at Exmouth. There is a very efficient water taxi service to all the moorings on the Exe from Exmouth Dock. Its then a few hundred yards walk to the railway station.

I suspect borrowing a mooring on the Exe would be a lot cheaper than most other options and would meet all your other criteria as well. PM me if you want some local contacts.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The Exe estuary is very sheltered and there are lots of clubs with moorings that you could ask to use for a couple of weeks. Exmouth, Lympstone and Topsham all have railway stations with a regular (normally every 1/2 hour) service to Exeter Exeter St David's where the main line is.

My suggestion would be to try asking the harbour master at Exmouth. There is a very efficient water taxi service to all the moorings on the Exe from Exmouth Dock. Its then a few hundred yards walk to the railway station.

I suspect borrowing a mooring on the Exe would be a lot cheaper than most other options and would meet all your other criteria as well. PM me if you want some local contacts.

[/ QUOTE ]

John, one small problem is that there is no HM at Exmouth! However there is a "visitors" pontoon just off Dawlish Warren which you will see as you enter the river on your port side. This seems to be free of charge but would strongly advise mooring on the south side with bows facing west as the ebbing tide flows at 3+ kts. I was on the pontoon only last week and have a mooring about 50 yards upstream so I know the area pretty well!! There are a few visitors moorings near to No 13 buoy which have less tide and will suffer less wash. Starcross Fishing and Cruising club does have one or two visitors moorings up by Starcross, and as long as you can get ashore there it is right by a mainline station.

Having said all that, I'd personally feel safer in Dartmouth as has already been suggested.
 
You could try Teignmouth. They have added another visitors pontoon this year. Note that this is not connectedto shore, so you would need to find out what you would do with your dinghy. Main line train station as well.

Contact the harbour master. Entrance is restricted but provided you come in above half tide, it is easy - port is used by cargo ships.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The Exe estuary is very sheltered and there are lots of clubs with moorings that you could ask to use for a couple of weeks. Exmouth, Lympstone and Topsham all have railway stations with a regular (normally every 1/2 hour) service to Exeter Exeter St David's where the main line is.

My suggestion would be to try asking the harbour master at Exmouth. There is a very efficient water taxi service to all the moorings on the Exe from Exmouth Dock. Its then a few hundred yards walk to the railway station.

I suspect borrowing a mooring on the Exe would be a lot cheaper than most other options and would meet all your other criteria as well. PM me if you want some local contacts.

[/ QUOTE ]

John, one small problem is that there is no HM at Exmouth! However there is a "visitors" pontoon just off Dawlish Warren which you will see as you enter the river on your port side. This seems to be free of charge but would strongly advise mooring on the south side with bows facing west as the ebbing tide flows at 3+ kts. I was on the pontoon only last week and have a mooring about 50 yards upstream so I know the area pretty well!! There are a few visitors moorings near to No 13 buoy which have less tide and will suffer less wash. Starcross Fishing and Cruising club does have one or two visitors moorings up by Starcross, and as long as you can get ashore there it is right by a mainline station.

Having said all that, I'd personally feel safer in Dartmouth as has already been suggested.

[/ QUOTE ]Thanks for the update. For some reason I assumed there must be a harbour master at Exmouth, but have never had dealings with him/her so was assuming - always a mistake! I agree that Dartmouth will be fine as well, but I suspect many times the price.

We live in the area nowadays - but our boat is still on the Tamar...
 
There is no harbourmaster at Exmouth but there is a dockmaster. There are often berths in the 'marina' but it has silted up quite a lot and I don't know if there would be enough water - he would know. The 'new' swashway entrance to the Exe is not too bad in good vis. Pass the Safe Water mark buoy (red & white vertical stripes) and head straight for 9 buoy (green can normally lying on its side). Min depth probably about 0.5m at CD.
 
I suppose it depends what you mean by cheap. At that price it still makes it the best part of £200 for the two weeks that he was asking for. I can't quote a price, but I would be extremely surprised if it was anywhere near that to borrow a mooring on the Exe for a couple of weeks.
 
Probably a fair bit cheaper, but the poster does ask for a marina or supervised mooring, which I guess excludes Exmouth but encompasses Dartmouth.

But as I said before, the pontoon off Dawlish Warren probably won't cost him a thing.
 
If you want to try the Exe give Phil Wills (01626 890225) a call. He should be able to find something for you near Starcross. It would be a swinging mooring, but the Water Taxi would be able to get you to the shore; as others have said there is a station at Starcross..

The pontoons near Dawlish are chargeable....at least they were last year when we parked up for a couple of hours.
Personally, I wouldn't want to leave a boat on them for any length of time.

If you try Teignmouth I'm sure the Harbour Master would be happy to work out a deal for you. You would need to find somebody to cadge a lift off to get to shore.
 
He should be able to find something for you near Starcross. It would be a swinging mooring, but the Water Taxi would be able to get you to the shore

Not too sure about the water taxi landing at Starcross. Certainly last year that was a definite no no. The pier is strictly off limits unless you have a key but the alternative is to take the water taxi over to Exmouth and catch the ferry back. Or plead with the ferry peeps to pick you up from your boat on their return trip. Mark and John who run the ferry are decent guys but they do not let just anyone use the pier.

Landing anywhere in the river Exe is a perenial problem, a right pain in the @rse.
 
If you can take the water taxi to Exmouth, then its a short walk to Exmouth station with regular connections to Exeter - as per my original post.

I don't think that there should be a problem leaving a boat on a mooring in the Exe for a couple of weeks. Its very sheltered and there are plenty of people about to keep any eye on things. The local clubs are very friendly too in my limited experience of them.
 
Yes the locals are friendly, I belong to both the Exe Sc and Starcross boozing and cruising club. I love the Exe and really do miss the fabulous scenery and friendly users now the boat's in Plymouth.
 
Ah just got back by train from Weymouth, Lyme Bay planned for this weekend. So thank you all for lots of interesting info, it is encouraging to get details of Exmouth.

Think I marginally prefer Exmouth because it's a new port for me, we'll lay it better from Portland Bill in a SouWesterly on Saturday, also then we can cruise SW towards Plymouth without re-tracing steps. But will contact Exmouth by phone first. Any bad weather and we'll probably go for Torquay and a lighter wallet. On the other hand, Dartmouth's steam train sounds good too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Porthandbuoy
Where to park boat for a week or two?
Replies
5
Views
334
dunedin
D

Share this page

Top