Why are marinas allowed to charge for nothing ??

[Downsman]

Now, I'm not complaining ok? It's their water, but I just wish I had kept the letter...

I was in a well known marina on the South Coast, doesn't matter which one but it's near Hove..
I wanted to alter my lazy jack set up and the rolled up inflatable stowed on the cabin top was in the way..kept falling over it, so I just semi- inflated it and put it in the water in the 'V' between the bows of my boat and the yacht in the adjoining berth. Marina man came round and left a note on board 'Please remove dinghy as it's occupying a berthing space, or pay for space'

Is anyone familiar with a triangular shaped yacht about 6 feet long capable of getting through the 12 inch gap between the fenders of two vessels when berthed alongside each other.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

which was easier than for the OP since we aren't liveaboards.

It's often occurred to me that there is a case for marinas charging liveaboards more as they often get to use the facilities far more than others. Showers, loo's, car parks, post, etc etc.
Yes, I know that liveaboards may help improve security.
Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

 

[JumbleDuck]

simple way is to pay for length of berth .

How would you define length of berth?

 

[capnsensible]

Its the distance from one end to the other, often measured in feet or metres.

 

[Robin]

Multiple a/c units?! Stop showing off!

W.

All to do with the aircon unit size. on the liveaboard trawler, we had 3, one feeding only the forecabin, one the main cabin and galley and one the owner's aft stateroom. This boat now we have one medium unit in the owner's stateroom (aft cabin) and one bigger one in the main cabin which has extra outlets feeding the galley and the forecabin as well. In Florida in summer heat and humidity (right now 95F and 85%), aircon is essential. We can run everything off just the one 30A cord if we don't use the microwave or toaster oven We can run only one when away from the dock however, by using a small Honda 1000W generator. We might be able to run one via the 3000w inverter off the batteries too at anchor, but I'm scared to even try that option other than maybe for a very short time to cool things a bit before going to sleep, after all we might not then have enough battery power left over for the micowave, toaster or coffeemaker come morning. Truthfully I would prefer the weather I grew up with and open hatches, outside of summer of course it is much less of a problem How is it on the 'left' coast? Because we are back living on dirt again mind we only run the battery charger 24/7 when we are at home and the boat is in our home slip(berth) Leaving that one cord plugged in and because we pay by number of cords connected not power actually used costs us $40/month so a tad unfair for battery maintenance alone but that is the system and it covers us for when we do sleep on board in the slip and are using the aircons and 'stuff'. There is currently a campaign by owners to get metered power installed which would certainly work to our benefit if adopted. Our slip fees are good by Florida standards at $10/ft/month so not too bad. Length is measured by boat length or slip length whichever is greatest, at 36Ft with the RIB in the stern davits, we pay for the 36ft boat length but not for the davit overhang (part of which is over the swim platform in fairness anyway), our slip is a '36ft ' one. previously with the mobo, we had a 50ft slip for a 47ft boat length and had to pay for the 50ft slip length.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Its the distance from one end to the other, often measured in feet or metres.

Length of finger berth or length of the boats that can be squeezed in?

 

[abraxus]

Its the distance from one end to the other, often measured in feet or metres.

The metric system definitely missed a trick by not having an equivalent of a foot.

 

[Tranona]

How would you define length of berth?

Exactly - and how do you define length of boat? LOA, LWL, LBP, with bowsprit, without bowsprit, davits etc.

All a marina can do is establish its method and stick to it. In our club marina the bosun measures every boat when it gets its annual permit because they discovered wide discrepancies between what members were declaring and the actual measurement. Visitors as in most marinas are not measured as it is too much hassle for one night.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

The metric system definitely missed a trick by not having an equivalent of a foot.

It has. It's conveniently called "305 millimetres" (approximately:ambivalence

 

[trying]

Ours charges up to 6m(IIRC), 6m-8m, 8m-10m etc. Not sure if thats usual? But does seem a bit unfair if your boat is only just into the next bracket up.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Exactly - and how do you define length of boat? LOA, LWL, LBP, with bowsprit, without bowsprit, davits etc.

All a marina can do is establish its method and stick to it. In our club marina the bosun measures every boat when it gets its annual permit because they discovered wide discrepancies between what members were declaring and the actual measurement. Visitors as in most marinas are not measured as it is too much hassle for one night.

Boats, like fish, are known to have varying sizes.

 

[Tranona]

Boats, like fish, are known to have varying sizes.

Yes, if you spend time in the Med with an SSR registered boat you can, within reason have your own length. Marinas tend, particularly for visitors, to rely on the length on the registration document for setting charges.

 

[JumbleDuck]

How would you define length of berth?

Its the distance from one end to the other, often measured in feet or metres.

OK, so how do you define the ends? Main gangway to end of finger? Main gangway to centreline of channel?

 

[Robin]

Boats, like fish, are known to have varying sizes.

one smart young HM fee collector in Brittany ( soon after France had just lost to England in a friendly footie match)suggested we had a 'thermally affected boat' one which grew in the sun's heat during the day yet shrank back when overnight in a visitor spot, it was a W33 that we had said was 9.99m, 'cos the rate bands for visitors went 8 to 9.99m and then the next one up was 10-12.99m. He laughed as he agreed to us being 9.99m and said 'but lookout next time England play France!'...

 

[Tranona]

OK, so how do you define the ends? Main gangway to end of finger? Main gangway to centreline of channel?

Size is used as a label and may not be directly connected to a physical dimension. Just means that the berth is suitable for a 13m boat or whatever. There is a sort of standardised layout for marinas but they are often modified to suit local conditions - tide, prevailing wind, depth of water etc. Our marina has less space between rows than others to maximize the usage of space - and of course members know how to control their boats. Width of berths is variable so I am in a wider bay that will take two fat a***d AWBs - just shifted the fingers a bit further apart to make space for us.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

one smart young HM fee collector in Brittany ( soon after France had just lost to England in a friendly footie match)suggested we had a 'thermally affected boat' one which grew in the sun's heat during the day yet shrank back when overnight in a visitor spot, it was a W33 that we had said was 9.99m, 'cos the rate bands for visitors went 8 to 9.99m and then the next one up was 10-12.99m. He laughed as he agreed to us being 9.99m and said 'but lookout next time England play France!'...

I removed some decals from my boat partly because they were as ugly as sin but also because they were a bit of a giveaway.
I did push my luck with one harbourmaster, who had just taken dues from a smaller boat alongside us on the visitors mooring. I announced that my boat was even smaller. It must be my honest face.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Sometimes Marinas, Harbour Authorities etc charge either by Metre or Feet, and the two do not equate, exactly, so I register my dinghy by using the metre and my boat by the ft scales. I presumed that when updating from feet to metric, it was easyier to round off the Metric at a whole number, but gave a bit more.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Size is used as a label and may not be directly connected to a physical dimension. Just means that the berth is suitable for a 13m boat or whatever.

Which is fine as general guidance, but I think would be even more troublesome as a basis of payment. Can you imagine how narked someone would be if they found they were paying more than someone else for a physically identical berth because some other aspect made it suitable for longer boats? Then you'd get the question of what sort of boat - a berth with an awkward turn into it might be fine for an 8m long keeler but a 12m fin keeler.

As you say, marinas can charge as they wish, but using the physical dimensions of the space occupied is probably the easiest after a flat rate.

 

[BrianH]

My Italian marina, where everyone moors stern-to, or bow-to, a fixed pier with two posts forming the outer end of a 'box', has berths from 6m upwards in 2m multiples and charges a pro-rata scale per berth depending on length. The width corresponds roughly to an average beam of the size of boat that fits the length. The convention is not to check or even stipulate on the length of boat that rents the space, consequently if you can squeeze between the posts, no one minds, even when, as many do, the boat projects well past the posts. Seems fair to me, although I rent a 10m box for my 9.4m boat. It costs circa €2500 p.a (£2033) inclusive of power and water, which are not metered, although no shore power allowed for unoccupieded boats.

Included, as well as excellent toilet facilities, is a large swimming pool with surrounding pine trees in a grassed area and there is an adjacent good restaurant ... many families just come for the pool and stay on their boats never going to sea during the summer.

 

[Lakesailor]

If you want to whinge and ask how to justify charges then look no further than Windermere where you get charged by the metre on a swinging mooring.If you take over an existing mooring they don't move it to allow for you boat length.

I have a friend who has had a 25' boat on a mooring for a few years. He has changed to a bigger one, but by the same maker and the same colour. He has named it the same as his old one.
No one will spot it is bigger so he'll save over £200 a year.