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Marina Fees


Rog Davies

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This is a question only for those who keep [or have kept] their boats in big marinas, as opposed to CRT online, small yards, boatclubs etc ... what do think you are getting for the money you pay?

I have only been mooring in a 'proper' marina for the last 10 years and have felt that security of leaving the boat in others hands was a welcome peace of mind. I'd assumed that the staff would regularly wander around to see if everything seemed 'normal', and that like me, other moorers might notice anything out of the ordinary. Safety in numbers if you like.

Imagine the shock I received on Sunday upon returning to the boat after an enforced gap of six weeks, to find the boat sitting two feet lower in the water than normal. The engine room was flooded over the gearbox, and an oily, 12 inches of water throughout the entire boat. Now I know these things can happen, and hulls can spring leaks, but what amazes me is that no-one had noticed. People live onboard all around my mooring, including one guy who lives on his boat at weekends just across the jetty, 4 feet away! And the man on the boat behind me on the same jetty said he'd heard the auto-bilge pump running and thought it was odd because no-one was on board! To compound matters, the marina manager admitted that they had been around to every boat three days earlier to read the electricity meters.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not apportioning blame, but I am beginning to question the large amount of cash I hand over to moor in a 'posh' marina. It seems that if the boat is not being monitored in any way, I am paying nearly £200 a month to have somewhere 'safe' to leave the car whilst boating .... but I even question that now.

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Some marinas are better than others...

The one I worked in for a while would check boats once a week if owners were away, checking there was enough electricity on the meter and topping it up if necessary, checking bilge was dry and checking ropes.  And if a boat started getting low in the water, it would be checked as soon as it was noticed - and it would be.

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10 minutes ago, Rog Davies said:

This is a question only for those who keep [or have kept] their boats in big marinas, as opposed to CRT online, small yards, boatclubs etc ... what do think you are getting for the money you pay?

I have only been mooring in a 'proper' marina for the last 10 years and have felt that security of leaving the boat in others hands was a welcome peace of mind. I'd assumed that the staff would regularly wander around to see if everything seemed 'normal', and that like me, other moorers might notice anything out of the ordinary. Safety in numbers if you like.

Imagine the shock I received on Sunday upon returning to the boat after an enforced gap of six weeks, to find the boat sitting two feet lower in the water than normal. The engine room was flooded over the gearbox, and an oily, 12 inches of water throughout the entire boat. Now I know these things can happen, and hulls can spring leaks, but what amazes me is that no-one had noticed. People live onboard all around my mooring, including one guy who lives on his boat at weekends just across the jetty, 4 feet away! And the man on the boat behind me on the same jetty said he'd heard the auto-bilge pump running and thought it was odd because no-one was on board! To compound matters, the marina manager admitted that they had been around to every boat three days earlier to read the electricity meters.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not apportioning blame, but I am beginning to question the large amount of cash I hand over to moor in a 'posh' marina. It seems that if the boat is not being monitored in any way, I am paying nearly £200 a month to have somewhere 'safe' to leave the car whilst boating .... but I even question that now.

To be fair to our marina, the staff do go round all the pontoons on a daily basis to clear duck sh*t etc.

If my boat was flooding to that extent I'm sure they would notice it. They did once ring me to let me know that I'd left the padlock off the rear doors.

This was deliberate, as it happens, but it might not have been.

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I used to joke that I was paying for 2 rings and a rubbish bin at the marina I was in, I have since downgraded and now pay for 2 rings and no bin somewhere else.

I suspect that management wouldn't have picked up on a similar problem themselves but the people with boats either side of mine would have.
we seemed to always be spotting minor problems with each others boats, usually the problem would be sorted without contacting the owners, by minor problems I mean things like the wind breaking a tiedown on a canopy leading to rain getting into the bilge under a cruiser deck (the bilge would be pumped out and the tiedown replaced temporarily with a zip tie etc)

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59 minutes ago, Rog Davies said:

This is a question only for those who keep [or have kept] their boats in big marinas, as opposed to CRT online, small yards, boatclubs etc ... what do think you are getting for the money you pay?

I have only been mooring in a 'proper' marina for the last 10 years and have felt that security of leaving the boat in others hands was a welcome peace of mind. I'd assumed that the staff would regularly wander around to see if everything seemed 'normal', and that like me, other moorers might notice anything out of the ordinary. Safety in numbers if you like.

Imagine the shock I received on Sunday upon returning to the boat after an enforced gap of six weeks, to find the boat sitting two feet lower in the water than normal. The engine room was flooded over the gearbox, and an oily, 12 inches of water throughout the entire boat. Now I know these things can happen, and hulls can spring leaks, but what amazes me is that no-one had noticed. People live onboard all around my mooring, including one guy who lives on his boat at weekends just across the jetty, 4 feet away! And the man on the boat behind me on the same jetty said he'd heard the auto-bilge pump running and thought it was odd because no-one was on board! To compound matters, the marina manager admitted that they had been around to every boat three days earlier to read the electricity meters.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not apportioning blame, but I am beginning to question the large amount of cash I hand over to moor in a 'posh' marina. It seems that if the boat is not being monitored in any way, I am paying nearly £200 a month to have somewhere 'safe' to leave the car whilst boating .... but I even question that now.

That is not good. We had a similar incident last year at our moorings (Circus Fields, Aylesbury) but we got a phone call saying that the boat was looking low in the water which allowed us to get to it before too much damage was caused.

Tim

 

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1 hour ago, frangar said:

Irrespective of marina owners as a liveaboard I tend to give all the boats a once over as I go past....it could be my boat needing attention one day! 

Completely agree, this is what I have done when I have been marina bound. I also give a quick glance at the boats here daily. 

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Our marina do not walk the pontoons and it specifically says in the terms and conditions that you are responsible for your boat being in a sea worthy condition.

That said we have several people who visit the marina daily who keep an eye on our boat for us.

Also as soon as the marina staff are alerted to a problem with a boat they are on it day or night to prevent it sinking.

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Surely it is a responsibility of Marina management to have a duty of care for all boats in their waters as they pay for the business to survive and make a profit imagine one with no liveaboards locking the gates 1st november and going away until end of march this i believe is how some caravan sites are run.

 

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9 hours ago, Jess-- said:

.....leading to rain getting into the bilge under a cruiser deck (the bilge would be pumped out and the tiedown replaced temporarily with a zip tie etc)

There must be something wrong with the construction, or blocked scuppers/drain-holes, if rain water gets into the bilge under the cruiser deck .....s 

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2 hours ago, Horace42 said:

There must be something wrong with the construction, or blocked scuppers/drain-holes, if rain water gets into the bilge under the cruiser deck .....s 

agreed, bad design... boards sat on box section steel with no drainage channels.

every drop of water on the boards is going in the bilge (not my boat, mine drains overboard perfectly)

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I am moored online and have shared phone number with our neighbours. We all look out for each other which I thought was pretty normal. Surprised no one thought to contact you!

 

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1 hour ago, Jess-- said:

agreed, bad design... boards sat on box section steel with no drainage channels.

every drop of water on the boards is going in the bilge (not my boat, mine drains overboard perfectly)

Whilst I agree it is bad design, it is not uncommon for cruiser and semi-trad stern boats to get water in the engine bilge under the deck boards, unless they have a tonneau or some other cover.  However it should only be a small proportion of the water that lands on the deck that should get under it.  As mentioned above, I used to check boats regularly in a marina including lifting deck boards to make sure that the bilge pump was coping ok.

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1 hour ago, Jess-- said:

agreed, bad design... boards sat on box section steel with no drainage channels.

every drop of water on the boards is going in the bilge (not my boat, mine drains overboard perfectly)

Mine had no drain channels so I had the wooden deck replaced with steel and some put in. In accordance with apparent standard boatyard engineering skills, they managed to put one side in so the water actually runs away from the drain holes and overflows into the bilge. The drain hole at the stern is about two inches higher than the other one so the whole new back deck is on a wonk. When I pointed this out, they shrugged.

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5 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Mine had no drain channels so I had the wooden deck replaced with steel and some put in. In accordance with apparent standard boatyard engineering skills, they managed to put one side in so the water actually runs away from the drain holes and overflows into the bilge. The drain hole at the stern is about two inches higher than the other one so the whole new back deck is on a wonk. When I pointed this out, they shrugged.

The skills of many boat yards are surprisingly poor I'd agree. The standard of steelwork and general work I have seen often amazes me. Seems to me that unlike the real world where apprenticeships are served, most boatyards just muddle along with little attention to proper training for new staff. Obviously I do not mean all yards! Ian.

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7 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:

The drain hole at the stern is about two inches higher than the other one so the whole new back deck is on a wonk. When I pointed this out, they shrugged.

Maybe you judge them unfairly - maybe when they welded it up it was level, but, you had a full tank giving a 2" "wonk", now the tank is empty / part empty their 'level' has become the "wonk"

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We recently went to look at a marina with a view to moving from the one where we currently moor.  The prospective marina was actually a little more expensive than where we are now, but the overall standard of accommodation and the immediate environment was significantly worse.  Even though marina prices on the cut are pretty consistent I think there are huge variations in what you get for your money.  The situation the OP describes would be unthinkable where we are and personally I would be looking for somewhere else.  

A well managed marina, in my opinion, represents incredible value for money these days but I can see some poor folk are getting ripped off.

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