How to find the right Marina or Boat Mooring?
When looking for a boat mooring or marina, there are many different aspects to consider from location and costs to facilities.
Location
Primarily, the most important consideration when choosing the right mooring is the distance to your boat from your home, and obviously the nearer it will be, the better. Location, location location – similar to house buying, the location of the marina and mooring is important and will to some extent determine the cost of your mooring. The closest marina is an advantage likely to beat any other facilities that might be available because of course, the nearer you are the easier the whole process will be.
Costs
The most inexpensive boat mooring is a floating buoy, which can cost anything from approximately £200 to £600 a year. The drawbacks here are that there will be no facilities available to you such as fresh running water to clean the boat or stationary power supply. If your boat is moored on a floating buoy in a harbour, or estuary, then it is likely that you will need a tender (a small inflatable boat) to reach your mooring, while on a river you may be using a buoy next to the bank in which case you will be able to board from shore.
By contrast the most expensive moorings for your boat will be a marina (probably on the South coast) with all facilities provided. In this instance the costs vary from marina to marina, depending on facilities and accessibility. Some marinas have locks for example, and you will need to wait for a high tide in order to take your boat from the marina. Another example is a marina on the South coast which is comparatively inexpensive, but has the disadvantage of having a lifting bridge which only opens at certain times of the day. The cost of
having your boat in a marina is usually priced by the meterage / footage of your boat, and is usually anything from £300 to £450 per metre. Be aware that your boat is measured from stern to bow, and the bathing platform is often included in the length. Therefore, an 8 metre boat can cost up to £3,500 a year in mooring fees alone.
Another consideration to take into account for your boat mooring is a dry stack mooring.
These can usually only be considered for boats less than about 9 metres. They are usually equally or more expensive than a marina berthed mooring, but do have other advantages. If your boat is in coastal waters they have the great advantage of significant savings on your boat maintenance bills, as for example your boat does not need to be anti-fouled so frequently, and anode replacement is less frequent. Usually with a dry stack mooring you just ring the marina 30 minutes to 1 hour before your arrival and on your arrival your boat has been lifted into the water.
Facilities
The marina facilities that you may want to consider are as follows:
- Petrol and or diesel pumps (often the marina will discount the fuel if you are a berth holder).
- Restaurant and pub facilities.
- Fresh running water.
- Electricity. Adequate power 30 / 50 amp. Is electricity metered and charged?
- Berth holders associations at your marina, that organise flotillas.
- Boat security, e.g., CCTV surveillance.
- Whether the marina has full access to trained boat engineers.
- On-site marine workshop.
- Boat repair facilities ashore and afloat.
- Wi-Fi or satellite TV facilities.
- Amenities providing showers, toilets and launderette facilities.
- Is there a tender or dinghy rack.
- Berths available for your visiting friends.
- Boat chandlery, with a good selection of boat parts and accessories.
- Boat hoist and wash off service, with hard standing.
- Dedicated parking.
- Distance to walk from your car to your boat.
- Local shopping centre within several minutes walk.
- Excellent public transport links.
- Listening watch on VHF radio channels.
- Marina has lockers to store any additional gear.
- Are there enough marina trolleys, for loading your equipment into your boat?
- Is there a lot of sea gull (bird) droppings on the fingers/boats or car parking area?