Marina or online

[mayalld]

You're mistaking lively debate and banter for arguments.

 

There isn't a member of this forum I wouldn't sit down for a friendly pint and, quite possibly, some bar room banter.

 

Damn, Damn, Damn!

 

There I go agreeing with Carl again.

[Hekaterine]

QUOTE

12 monthly contracts are £130 per metre

 

 

Ahh, not so cheap.

 

Sadly, it's very reasonable for the Lincoln/Newark area. We'd love to be bankside but before the mooring tender pilot there were 27 boats on the waiting list and the tender drove the most recent prices for a mooring in Lincoln up to £5250 a year.

 

We're just about to sign a contract at Burton Waters and hope we'll be very happy there. Where we are now is not as nice and is more expensive.

 

See you for a pint in the Woodcock once we've settled in, Phylis.

[Naughty Cal]

Sadly, it's very reasonable for the Lincoln/Newark area. We'd love to be bankside but before the mooring tender pilot there were 27 boats on the waiting list and the tender drove the most recent prices for a mooring in Lincoln up to £5250 a year.

 

We're just about to sign a contract at Burton Waters and hope we'll be very happy there. Where we are now is not as nice and is more expensive.

 

See you for a pint in the Woodcock once we've settled in, Phylis.

 

Very brave. Watch out for the sly comments now.

 

Look forward to the drink.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Phylis

[Hekaterine]

I did think twice about posting to be honest, especially following the post from someone who suggested that people who moor at burton waters are putting on the dog but I thought I'd nail my colours to the mast

 

As a few people have said, it's horses for courses. The world would be terrible boring if we all thought the same.

[Naughty Cal]

I did think twice about posting to be honest, especially following the post from someone who suggested that people who moor at burton waters are putting on the dog but I thought I'd nail my colours to the mast

 

As a few people have said, it's horses for courses. The world would be terrible boring if we all thought the same.

 

Nice One. See you around

[mayalld]

I did think twice about posting to be honest, especially following the post from someone who suggested that people who moor at burton waters are putting on the dog but I thought I'd nail my colours to the mast

 

As a few people have said, it's horses for courses. The world would be terrible boring if we all thought the same.

 

If you are comfortable mooring there, then all is well with the world.

 

Personally, I wouldn't like the surroundings, or the apparent attitude from some of the moorers.

[magpie patrick]

I'm going to be boring (what's new, I can hear you whisper) and just answer Phylis's question...

 

Ripple had, for around two years, an end of garden mooring on the Macclesfield Canal. I was content (and single, the weren't connected though) because the house belonged to a friend of my parent's and the boat was safe and secure, which is my main prioirity

 

However, with Val on the scene, the four hour drive to visit the boat became a drag, mainly because rather than leaving Bath at ten AM friday morning we were now leaving Radstock (ten miles south) at 5pm. so we decided to move the boat south: I started looking for moorings...

 

The guide price for moorings on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal were around £2000, a four fold increase over what I was paying on the Macc, and there was nowhere to park the car, no public transport, no tap and being towpath moorings they weren't that secure and they weren't supervised: on the outskirts of Gloucester security is an issue and I also like the reassurance that if the boat starts sinking (on a canal that is twenty feet deep) someone will notice and let me know!

 

Then I heard, through this forum, of Saul Marina, which at the time hadn't opened but was nearing completion. It turned out that the moorings in the marina were slightly less than the guide price for the towpath moorings: a no brainer really.

 

I don't care whether I'm in a marina or not, but I do like to be able to leave the boat unattended, possibly for months (so far never more than four weeks) and know it is "alright" because someone will have told me if it isn't.

 

I can understand that it is nice to have passing boats, but I have also found that there is a comunity in the Marina, to the extent that we ended up talking to one our "neighbours" while helping a friend get his boat down Caen Hill three weeks ago. It's a bit like coming from the same village

[Chertsey]

Good point, a marina is a great place to LEAVE your boat, if that's what you're looking for. Probably not much controversy about that. The question really arises over whether it's a good place to spend time. Obviously the BEST place to be on a boat is on the move.

 

Our marina is a nice, friendly, eccentric village with plenty of tatty and interesting boats in lovely spacious surroundings and I'm quite happy spending time there. There's more difference between my marina and Phylis's than there is between my marina and being online, so online or marina isn't really the question. Rather, what sort of marina.

Edited December 11, 2008 by WarriorWoman

[MoominPapa]

The idea of a marina in the middle of a new housing development with CCTV and security gates, on the other hand, would be my idea of absolute hell. But for someone else, it's clearly very heaven.

But Bill Fen does have CCTV cameras. Well, CCTV camera, to be precise. It doesn't have security gates, just an access road capable of rendering all four wheels on an average car completely square during the trip from the main road to the marina.

 

It does have wireless internet.

 

MP.

[Chertsey]

But Bill Fen does have CCTV cameras. Well, CCTV camera, to be precise. It doesn't have security gates, just an access road capable of rendering all four wheels on an average car completely square during the trip from the main road to the marina.

 

It does have wireless internet.

 

MP.

Yeah, well, it's not actually in the marina is it. And there are a lot of redeeming features. As marinas go it's a nice place to be. But I'd rather be on a canal. But don't tell Lyn I said that.

[sociable_hermit]

I'm in a Marina at the moment. I like it because:

 

- the other boaters are really friendly

- they keep an eye on things, and there's always something going on if you're bored

- but you can hide away in your boat if you need some space

- the mix of liveaboards and weekend boaters seems about right (roughly 20% liveaboard)

- there are toilets and showers and a laundrette and a nice restaurant

- you can buy gas and coal and have repairs to your boat carried out (either professionally or by friends).

 

HOWEVER:

 

we seem to be having a real struggle getting the owners to understand what people want out of a Marina. It took about 3 months to persuade them that something affordable in the restaurant might encourage the regular boaters in. So they they launched a 'pie and mash' night on a Wednesday which is packed out - the main meal costs £3.95 and it's a bargain. But now they're saying that because it's the only popular night but still not particularly profitable, they're going to shift the pie night to a Friday and shut the restaurant Monday to Thursday. Maybe if they'd offered a more sensible cheap and cheerful option on the menu EVERY DAY, at a slightly higher price (say £4.95) alongside the more expensive stuff, there might be a good mix of people in there every night, and they'd be making money. More outsiders would stay, too, rather than walking round the corner, spying the empty seats, and skulking away again. I've seen it happen. Nothing makes a restaurant look worse than loads of empty seats. But they have polarised their markets rather than serving everyone at the same time, and I can only see things getting worse.

 

The main office isn't open on a Wednesday or a Sunday, and they sometimes get quite upset if you have the audacity to try and spend your money on those days. It feels like we're an inconvenience. I'm only prepared to pay inflated prices for things if there are fringe benefits to balance up the additional cost - for example, convenience, or the friendliness of the staff. If it isn't convenient and the staff don't give a monkey's then fuck 'em, I will take my money somewhere else.

 

At the same time one of the partners who lives in the main building has decided to shut the main toilets and washroom between 21:30 and 07:30 because the noise of people walking up the stairs and slamming doors etc. keeps waking him up. The attitude seems to be that "liveaboard boaters choose to lead an awkward existence" so it's ok to shut everything because, hell, that's what you wanted when you bought a boat, right?

 

It doesn't seem to have occured to them that maybe, just maybe, everyone looked at the price and the facilities on offer and thought, "That looks like good value. I can have the best of both worlds and lead the life I want to lead, there". And now suddenly half of the facilities are being shut it's gone from being good value for money to bloody awful. From my own point of view I work pretty random hours and can be away for several days at a time, so I need to know that food will be available when they say it will, and I can have a shower when I get back at 10pm without waiting another hour for the Aldi to heat my water up. That's why I moved here. It's also why I will move out if they can't deliver what was promised.

 

All this stuff about Marinas being great just doesn't ring true with me at the moment. I am absolutely fucking livid. Not even with the way we're being treated, so much as the sheer stupidity of the way the place is being run. They just can't seem to see the correlation between pissing people off and losing money, and between selling what people want when they want it, and keeping promises, and making money. At the moment I think I'd be better off out on the cut, because at least I would be my own boss and I wouldn't have to watch a bunch of idiots ruin a fine community through bad management.

 

Rant over.

[MoominPapa]

Yeah, well, it's not actually in the marina is it.

True, it's pointing at the access road. (Probably to provide an alert if any wheels actually become detached whilst cars are traversing it.)

And there are a lot of redeeming features. As marinas go it's a nice place to be.

No argument, there.

But I'd rather be on a canal. But don't tell Lyn I said that.

Promise.

 

MP.

[RLWP]

The fitter in the yard has been telling you porkies, all he does is refit them after they have been for refurbishment. The draft on most of the craft is around 2 foot 11 inches. The channel in the Fossdyke is about 4 foot so how do you ground a prop when you have more than enough water. .

 

Experience tells me that travelling quickly in a confined channel causes the water around the boat to lower (it's a velocity, pressure, atmosphere thing). In addition, a boat travelling quickly tends to sit down at the back. So, the faster you go, the nearer the bottom the propellor gets. In addition, the increased flow pulls stuff off the bottom - sticks, logs, bricks and stuff. So, almost three foot draught, uncertain depth of water pobably less than four feet, increased speed and loose stuff on the bottom. That should do it.

 

Richard

 

Still want to do 27 mph on a canal?

[fuzzyduck]

we seem to be having a real struggle getting the owners to understand what people want out of a Marina. It took about 3 months to persuade them that something affordable in the restaurant might encourage the regular boaters in. So they they launched a 'pie and mash' night on a Wednesday which is packed out - the main meal costs £3.95 and it's a bargain. But now they're saying that because it's the only popular night but still not particularly profitable, they're going to shift the pie night to a Friday and shut the restaurant Monday to Thursday. Maybe if they'd offered a more sensible cheap and cheerful option on the menu EVERY DAY, at a slightly higher price (say £4.95) alongside the more expensive stuff, there might be a good mix of people in there every night, and they'd be making money. More outsiders would stay, too, rather than walking round the corner, spying the empty seats, and skulking away again. I've seen it happen. Nothing makes a restaurant look worse than loads of empty seats. But they have polarised their markets rather than serving everyone at the same time, and I can only see things getting worse.

 

This is probably the wrong thread, but I've never actually seen Pillings advertised as a destination, and I live a few miles away. It seems that other than a marina, it's not exactly attracting people.

 

Whats the atmosphere like for a few afternoon swifties?

[Naughty Cal]

Experience tells me that travelling quickly in a confined channel causes the water around the boat to lower (it's a velocity, pressure, atmosphere thing). In addition, a boat travelling quickly tends to sit down at the back. So, the faster you go, the nearer the bottom the propellor gets. In addition, the increased flow pulls stuff off the bottom - sticks, logs, bricks and stuff. So, almost three foot draught, uncertain depth of water pobably less than four feet, increased speed and loose stuff on the bottom. That should do it.

 

Richard

 

Still want to do 27 mph on a canal?

 

We have a depth sounder so know the depth of water we have below the lowest point on the hull. At no point have we grounded.

[fuzzyduck]

phylis

 

if some tosser shoves something in that channel tomorrow your depth sounder wont see it till its far too late.

[Naughty Cal]

phylis

 

if some tosser shoves something in that channel tomorrow your depth sounder wont see it till its far too late.

 

Which is why the most vunerable item (the outdrive) has a kickup function such that if it hits an item it kicks up and causes no damage to the unit. And i can tell you we have yet to try that function out as we have come across no "shallow" water to try it in.

[denboy]

We have a depth sounder so know the depth of water we have below the lowest point on the hull. At no point have we grounded.

does it have the ability to stop the boat dead from high speed when it picks up a pram or bike on the bottom so you do not hit it,, from my last experience with depth sounders under 6 ft depth and they are/were useless

even the experts get it wrong

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27655996/

Edited December 12, 2008 by denboy

[mayalld]

We have a depth sounder so know the depth of water we have below the lowest point on the hull. At no point have we grounded.

 

You seem to have a lot of gadgets to pay attention to. Are you sure that you can devote enough attention to where you are actually going?

 

Odd that you seemed to think that I was paying insufficient attention to steering by looking at a watch and milestone every 20 minutes.

Edited December 12, 2008 by mayalld

[Naughty Cal]

You seem to have a lot of gadgets to pay attention to. Are you sure that you can devote enough attention to where you are actually going?

 

Odd that you seemed to think that I was paying insufficient attention to steering by looking at a watch and milestone every 20 minutes.

 

The gadet is a little box sat on the dash next to the steering wheel. As there are two of us on the boat one can keep an eye on the depth should there be a need to. However on the Witham and Fossdyke depth really isnt an issue.

[carlt]

Which is why the most vunerable item (the outdrive) has a kickup function such that if it hits an item it kicks up and causes no damage to the unit. And i can tell you we have yet to try that function out as we have come across no "shallow" water to try it in.

Personally I'd rather lose a Z-drive, than the bottom of my hull.

 

As, you claim, most repairs at your yard are due to boats ending up grounded, in shallows, and you claim to be incapable of steering a boat, at low speed, I would guess that you meeting some shallow water is merely a matter of time.

 

The gadet is a little box sat on the dash next to the steering wheel.

Please don't develop an over-reliance of your electronics.

 

Learn to handle and navigate a boat first, then use your screens as back up.

[fuzzyduck]

Here's some free advice.

 

You never want to try the outdrive kickup function in anger especially at anything than dead slow, also instruments are no replacement for knowing the water.

 

there is a bit of river near me where there is an obstruction, my depth sounder doesn't see it, but my prop does if I have any squat on.

[Naughty Cal]

Here's some free advice.

 

You never want to try the outdrive kickup function in anger especially at anything than dead slow, also instruments are no replacement for knowing the water.

 

there is a bit of river near me where there is an obstruction, my depth sounder doesn't see it, but my prop does if I have any squat on.

 

I dont plan on trying it out. We have gauged the levels of water where we are and know that there is plenty of water for the depth of our boat.

[carlt]

We have gauged the levels of water where we are.

Huh?

When was this survey carried out?

[Naughty Cal]

Huh?

When was this survey carried out?

 

Probably on the many trips up and down the river we have managed. The river levels are managed very well and even during heavy rain dont vary greatly unless it is a very heavy storm.