Thursday 24 March 2016

A Bit of a Quandary

We have found ourselves unexpectedly in a bit of a quandary. Our marina has changed hands and yesterday we received a copy of the new rules and mooring terms and conditions. A number of which have given cause for concern. Not least a change in how the moorings are charged.

Up until now the moorings have been charged per length of boat, however from now the moorings will be charged per length of pontoon. Now there are only two sizes of pontoon in the marina, berths for up to 30ft and berths for up to 45ft. The result for those of us who have chosen smaller boats is a significant increase in annual mooring fees.So significant in fact that it has left us wondering if it is worth the additional cost.

So rather unexpectedly we are now actively looking for a new berth. But where to go?

We have up until now found Lincoln to be an ideal base for us with easy access to both inland waterways and the coast. We want to keep that ease of access to both types of cruising, remaining about a days cruise from the coast and with choice of inland routes, which is causing a bit of a headache and narrowing down our choices.

Any ideas guys? Do we stay local to Lincoln? Do we move further afield? Do we head to completely new pastures? Who knows?

14 comments:

  1. Suggestion....Goole Boathouse. Not sure if any available moorings, but worth asking. We pay bang on £1113.84 for our 35ft boat. They charge 51p per foot x52 weeks these are figures based on p.a. Only downside to Goole Boathouse are the shore facilities are very basic... hope you get sorted whatever you decide xxx

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  2. We have enquired at Goole Boathouse and they don't have any spare moorings. They have put us on a list though. So who knows.

    Looking at all options at the moment.

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    1. I have known in the past when people have expressed an initial interest they have been placed on the 'list', however when people have been in urgent need for a mooring they have in the past been able to accommodate them.,
      Any moorings for you closer to your other boating comrades ie Torksey? Failing that you may just have to bite the bullet, but what they are doing could very well be counter productive xx

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    2. Also...I don't at all like to promote it, however South Yorkshire Boat Club do pride themselves on cheap moorings. Approx (£500 for a 30ft boat)They are a club and for a joint membership they charge around £700 with subsequent annual £50 per adult member subs. It is important to remember they are a club and heavily rely on members input for work parties and a duty rota every 18months and require members to be socially active in events. Unfortunatley the emphasis over the last few years have been with more of the club/social aspect rather than it combined with the boating aspect, so this may not be for you, however if you were in dire straits you could opt for this as they did have 10 vacant moorings last I heard. I personally felt the club to be oppressive, but that is my opinion and not Peter's xxx

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  3. We tried being members of a boat club and it just wasn't for us. Ironically we only gave up our membership a couple of months ago otherwise we could have had a mooring there!

    We have plenty of options just not sure which way to go yet.

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    1. We had same thoughts. Spoke with Caroline who advised that we would be charged by boat length as previous. If small boat wants to berth in larger pontoon than normal then they would pay for longer pontoon. Speak to Caroline for clarification.
      Tony

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  4. I have already contacted Caroline. She is sending confirmation of what our new mooring fees will be next week.

    She has already confirmed it has gone up but not given us the figures yet.

    We were probably due a change of scenery anyway. Been there 8 years now.

    We will wait until we get confirmation of the fees but have plenty of options open too us if we decide to move on.

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  5. To be quite frank the mooring fees are only part of the problem. The new rather draconian rules and terms and conditions are also part of the reason we are looking to move.

    It could be an interesting few months in camp Naughty-Cal.

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  6. Have you looked at Selby or York or online on the Ouse near York?

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  7. You could always try Newark/ Kings Marina for a while, Charge by the foot, great facilities and 300 yards from the town.

    Only 1 days cruise from there to Torksey.

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  8. We have discounted York due to the flooding and lack of weekend cruising options. We would quickly get bored up there.

    We have enquired at King's and they do have space for us. We will go and look at the available berths. Far from ideal being a day further from the sea but they do have a reciprocal mooring agreement with Hull Marina so we can probably work around it.

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  9. We spent three months over this last winter at Kings in Newark. Friendly place and you'd get to mix with some narrowboats :-)
    We found Newark to be a great town, lots of history.

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  10. The rules and regulations have not real changed that much if you compare to the last contract. The mooring fee's are on length and on a 7.5m boat this is a change of £60 for the year.

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