New family looking to begin our sailing journey - A question on Marinas in the South UK.

C

chrisrjcox

New Member
Hello Fello Sailing Forums users!

First post on joining this group.

We are new to sailing, working on our day skipper qualification at the moment and looking into purchasing our first boat, we are a family of four, so looking at yachts around 30-35foot.

With a new yacht, comes the cost of marinas. So really I was looking to get a feel for where you all keep your boats? What size is your boat, which marina is it moored, Approximate cost you pay for the year/month.

I have seen marina costs between £5000-8000 for a boat of 30foot, really trying to find a much cheaper way of storage. Any help or discussion and advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
I have family in the UK, but they're not really into sailing... either side of the pond, principles remain the same. At the marina & sailing club where I used to work, there were several options: pay moorage or slip fees (fairly expensive), keep a slightly smaller boat on a trailer and pay lot storage fees (much cheaper), or keep an even smaller boat on a rack (also much cheaper). After reading your post, I'd say buy a 22' to 27' sloop on a trailer and use a ramp or hoist to put her in the water. Some marinas Stateside are laid out in such a way that you can leave your mast stepped and standing rigging in place, no clearance issues in launching... a big plus, as less time is wasted on tedious rigging every time you want to sail. Also, you can put a 30' sloop on a trailer, no worries, the question is how much will they charge you to keep the boat in the parking lot? :eek:

Might wanna ask various marinas, you can save time by doing it on the web... that'll narrow down your choices, at which point you can go suss out each marina to see the layout and get a feel for the place, talk to the manager, maybe talk to some folks on the docks to see what they think of the place. Bar or snack bar too, those are good places to ask questions if locals are in the mood to talk. That's my advice... unless you plan on cruising later, you don't really need a 30' boat for a family of four, though a larger boat is nice. Depending on how young your kids are, you could comfortably sail a 22' to 27' boat and keep her on a trailer, preferably with the mast stepped and standing rigging in place... best of both worlds that way, and heller cheap compared to moorage or slip fees. Don't forget, you'll probably have to show proof of insurance for any boat in the water, and possibly some stored on land. :confused:

You can also judge how well a marina is managed by checking the grounds & docks, checking the cleanliness of heads & showers on shore, seeing whether the food is any good in the restaurant or snack bar, etc. If you're gonna do this, ya might as well do it right and pick the best possible overall choice of marinas to suit your specific needs. I've known quite a few liveaboards too, and little things can make a big difference when it comes to happiness, LOL. Working at a club or marina also gives one the perspective of staff members: good staff usually want things to run smoothly, bad or lazy staff don't give a damn, it's just a job to them. I was lucky, we had dedicated staff members at our club & marina, and we generally got along well together. If you do this whole marina thing, try to cultivate civil relationships with useful staff members, as they will be more willing to help you out in the long run. ;)

GOOD LUCK TO YA, AND DON'T FORGET TO KEEP MARINE SAFETY YOUR TOP PRIORITY, AYE? CHEERS!!! :cool:
 
Thanks Cactus Boy, do you have a boat at the moment? I should have mentioned we would be planning on holidays on the boat with a view to longer stints, so really even 30feet is the smallest we could have with the four of us, kids are 4 and 8yo. I’ll try to update my original post with this to make it clearer. Any other ideas other than marinas?
 
Naaaah, no boat at present, but I've sailed all my life aboard many different craft, and I hope to be taking paid sailing vacations in my home town of Coronado (San Diego) before too long. I would've already taken two weeklong paid vacations this year had an incident not occurred at work... it's a long story, and I'm still dealing with the fallout from that ridiculous fiasco. :confused:

Anyway, I understand you're set on a 30' boat, but you don't want to pay a fortune to keep her in a slip. If you don't want to deal with marinas at all, then you store the boat on a trailer on private property and use public boat ramps for launching. That property can be your yard or driveway, ditto for a relative's home, or some form of cheap rental storage on a lot, preferably a fenced & gated lot for security. :rolleyes:

Do ya know any friends or relatives with heaps of room on their property? Where boat storage wouldn't be a PITA? That would be your best option if you want to skip marinas altogether... otherwise, ya gotta pay the piper and pony up cash for storage. Covered storage (like a warehouse) gets more expensive, might be better to find an outdoor lot but cover the boat, aye? I can't think of any cheaper ways to do what you're planning to do... good luck!!! :cool:
 
Cactus Cowboy said:
I think it's global... but the info applies worldwide. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Haha, yes I know sailing info is worldwide, hahaha, but my question is about mooring in Southampton UK, hehehe. I have managed to also post on a UK forum this morning and got lots of useful info, hopefully if I can make this work, I will be back here again in the future with more general questions, haha
 
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