Mooring fees

[Pat]

Hi everyone,

My name is Pat and this is my first post here. I live on a 34 by 12 Oxford Bermuda with my girlfriend Janine. We are moored in Norwood Green, Southall on the grand union and pay 4 grand a year for a private, fully residential mooring. We also have to pay council tax..... expensive for what you get, but the only residential mooring I could find in London. I used to be moored at Brentford Dock marina where I payed about £180 a month, but they were not to happy about people living there... so when the mooring in southall became available, I took it.

[nbtafelberg]

Is that the one above the Hanwel flight.

[Pat]

Is that the one above the Hanwel flight.

 

That's right. It's just before you get to the Lamb pub, before the bridge. There has been a big old rusty home made boat there for years, and recently myself and another guy have moved there too. There is a 4th mooring which has been taken, but no boat there yet.

[nbtafelberg]

Aha yes I saw it.

 

We'd have gone for it but there's not really anywhere to turn a 70 footer round....

 

I might have waived at you...

[Pat]

Aha yes I saw it.

 

We'd have gone for it but there's not really anywhere to turn a 70 footer round....

 

I might have waived at you...

 

That's true. And the moorings are 50 feet max. Mine is the old Norfolk broads cruiser in desperate need of a paint job. I suppose turning a 70 foot boat is quite a challenge... Lulama is only 34 feet long, so I can turn quite easily. Although she is not the easiest boat to handle.

[GRPCruiserman]

How true Martin. It's a reflection of the number of people buying boats as an alternative to country cottages. Just look at the advantages - cheaper to buy (unless you go for one of those really high spec jobs), cheaper to run (until you get the demand for the mooring fee), and constantly changing scenery (unless you leave the boat in the marina).

 

We've just had our bill for next year. £94 per metre plus VAT comes out at £1,447 for our 42' boat - up around £200 on this year.

 

 

Linear moorings on The Lancaster are getting harder and harder to get, as boats increase in length, then each boat takes up more linear footage. That means that each person is now occupying the space that two did some years ago before cruisers were replaced in the majority by narrowboats. I have a 25foot GRP cruiser which costs me £100 per year to the farmer plus £200 to BW for a mooring permit. The farmer does charge double for a narrowboat, as it takes up two moorings so to speak. Don't know how much mooring permits are for narrow boats, but I would have thought that they wouldn't be double, so BW are actually loosing a bit as it were. We have no electric, but there is a tap in the farm yard, and a water point about a quarter of a mile away. Nearest sanitary stations are about 4 miles North and 5 miles south.

 

There are some new residential moorings on The Lanky but they cost £1800 per year!!

 

I can barely afford what I'm paying now, I certainly couldn't afford what all you guys are paying. I used to have a smaller boat, and this one seems to cost a load more. They are certainly making boating a rich man's pastime. This happened on Windermere a few years ago and drove all the average income people off the lake. Looks like the canals are going the same way. It's now almost impossible to find boats under £1000 to buy as well, and there used to be loads everywhere.