A National Campaign to Encourage Architects to Provide Decent Marina Facilities

johnalison said:

I should warn you that I harbour a perennial grudge against the owners of pilot-house boats.

Click to expand...

I however wonder at the weather naivety of western atlantic seaboard sailors who favour boats without roofs above a steering position. They wouldnt willingly go on holiday in a car without any roof just because their ancestors had to do so about 100 years ago

Robih said:

Likewise, very rarely complain to management, but the issue of cleanliness is often down to users who seemingly cannot operate a loo brush.

Click to expand...

I prefer not to use the loo brush when I have a shower. I use that for a different purpose.

Few years ago now but Sutton Harbour at Plymouth had excellent facilities.

Daedelus said:

Few years ago now but Sutton Harbour at Plymouth had excellent facilities.

Click to expand...

And an excellent cleaning team too…..

Robih said:

And an excellent cleaning team too…..

Click to expand...

Do they still do free coffee, and croissants on Sunday?

johnalison said:

Do they still do free coffee, and croissants on Sunday?

Click to expand...

We departed for Scotland in 2016, not been back. Since then all change I think, the visitor pricing especially seems to have made the headlines.

AntarcticPilot said:

Portavadie on Loch Fyne has superlative facilities!

Click to expand...

I'm there now, and was very surprised by the quality of 'shore side facilities', in that they're of a pretty good "International Hotel chain" standard.
Superb stop off place on the way up to the Crinan.
Gotta say, that having only stayed here and in Largs, they're both better than anything I've encountered further North, be it West or East coast.

Speaking as a female skipper, a shower and loo combo has a v necessary place (disabled loos are generally well laid out), duckboards to keep feet/trousers out of the standing water, fold down stool in the shower cubicle, enough room to bend down without bumping head, even women can be 6 foot tall, hair dryers, more hooks for wet and dry clothes, shelves for shampoo/conditioner etc, heated floor and mirrors, decent size waste bins that are regularly emptied, squeegi to mop down the floor. Ice box facilities def. not welcome.

Portavadie even had hair straighteners in the gents last time I was there but the marina itself is a man-made hole in the rocks and I find it a bit lacking in character. Berthing cost is reasonable but the plush bars and other facilities are a bit eye-watering in price.

The unisex facilities at Oban transit berths can be fun. A friend told me of coming out of the shower (dressed) to find several naked blonde Scandinavian women washing themselves at the wash basins. I've been in every time we go there but have never been that lucky.

Good to hear that the Scottish facilities are still as good as I remember.

I really liked Abroath's 'crew room' where you could sit and relax off the boat.

Chatham Maritime's well heated "family" shower rooms, incl basin and loo as well as shower were the main reason we decided to keep the boat there (we don't have a family).
This was 25 years ago, hope they haven't gone downhill.
Again, haven't been for some years, but the St Kat's facilities were a disgrace for a marina next to the Tower of London.
Some of the French facilities we encountered en route for the Med don't bear description.

Shoreham has the best facilities. As an ex prop forward, you have to walk sideways in to the shower, do the port side, walk sideways out in to the corridor, then go in on the starboard side. The entire changing facility and shower is narrower than shoulder width.

Just at Kerrera, which is a good set of pontoon's, but spoiled by the surcharges of £3 for electricity, and £2 for a shower.
The shower's are OK, but without any stool/chair/side table to put stuff onto, and a shower tray that was as slippery as ice; (really dodgy), and I'd not touched a drop.
Charging for a shower seems more pathetic each time I think about it. It's remeniscent of a 1950's Blackpool B&B landlady, and having to put a shilling in the meter to heat the room or run a hot tap.
Hasn't the World moved on from that?
Not good.

Dulcinea East said:

Speaking as a female skipper, a shower and loo combo has a v necessary place (disabled loos are generally well laid out), duckboards to keep feet/trousers out of the standing water, fold down stool in the shower cubicle, enough room to bend down without bumping head, even women can be 6 foot tall, hair dryers, more hooks for wet and dry clothes, shelves for shampoo/conditioner etc, heated floor and mirrors, decent size waste bins that are regularly emptied, squeegi to mop down the floor. Ice box facilities def. not welcome.

Click to expand...

Describes Chichester Marina

jamie N said:

Just at Kerrera, which is a good set of pontoon's, but a spoiled by the surcharges of £3 for electricity, and £2 for a shower.
The shower's are OK, but without any stool/chair/side table to put stuff onto, and a shower tray that was as slippery as ice; (really dodgy), and I'd not touched a drop.
Charging for a shower seems more pathetic each time I think about it. It's remeniscent of a 1950's Blackpool B&B landlady, and having to put a shilling in the meter to heat the room or run a hot tap.
Hasn't the World moved on from that?
Not good.

Click to expand...

Actually charging for a shower is fair enough, if the berth charges are cheaper as a result (as they are at Kerrera). Why should a boat which doesn’t use the showers pay the same as a crew of 6 all using the showers?
I was thinking of starting a rival campaign against costs of expensive facilities that are not needed by many

The worst showers I ever encountered were at La Maddelena. A Swiss sailor came back from the shower block, saying “ Do not go there, you will come out dirtier than when you went in!”

Skysail said:

The worst showers I ever encountered were at La Maddelena. A Swiss sailor came back from the shower block, saying “ Do not go there, you will come out dirtier than when you went in!”

Click to expand...

Worst I saw were in the marina in Palermo, Sicily. I'm far from fussy, but those were grim.

jamie N said:

Just at Kerrera, which is a good set of pontoon's, but a spoiled by the surcharges of £3 for electricity, and £2 for a shower.
The shower's are OK, but without any stool/chair/side table to put stuff onto, and a shower tray that was as slippery as ice; (really dodgy), and I'd not touched a drop.

Click to expand...

My recollection of Kerra's showers was that they were filthy. I also noted that on a couple of the showers there was a door between the actual shower tray & the dry section. But the door was so designed that to swing it there was insufficient room to get past it. Hence, one had to step out of the shower to swing the door back before one could get from one section to the next..
On one visit there was no water & the only available WC was the staff one. The door was hanging off the hinges & had clearly not been used for some time. The pan was stained brown & no attempt had been made to clean it for ages.
As for the electric I paid & went for a walk. I returned & found someone had unplugged my cable & put their own in its place. They were quite snotty when I unplugged them again & pointed out the procedure- as if it was my fault.

I then went for a meal at the rather limited eatery & the staff walked out as I got there, due to an arguement with management. So all I could get was a bottled beer. Then the little shop area could only be accessed by waiting for management. They had the hump when I looked & decided that there was SFA of interest, so did not buy anything.
Not my fault because without looking, I did not know what they had.

I then wanted to go ashore with a nice young lady from a German yacht. The ferry guy said come back in 20 mins as there was only one ferry on service as the other one was broken. It ran every 30 mins. . So I and the lady returned & a group from 2 large boats were waiting to go ashore. The ferry chap would not break their groups up even though we had waited first. So he said that we would have to wait for his return. Which we did. He then said we would have to wait another 30 mins. I was pissed off at this & offered £5 to take the lady & myself immediately. He accepted. At the other end the lady thanked me for my generosity. As I left she was giving him a right mouthful in what sounded like a mixture of German & English. He gave her the £5 back- she hurried up the street & gave it back to me. We parted on the best of terms.

I understand that there was a change of management shortly after my second visit as the first lot went into receivership. But I only have that third hand.

The Newlyn toilet and shower before it became a "marina" was only for the brave hearted, admittedly it was many years ago

I once took my family camping at the Bois de Boulogne site in Paris. I remembered it from the 70's when it really was a smelly old school 'French' pissoir & shower. It had been revovated and improved somewhat when we were there, maybe 2005, but on this particular day the Ladies shower block was out of commission, so the ladies were forced to shower & toilet in the Gents.
I was so happy that my 'wee girlies' were able to see the old school way of things, with the floor a mixture of shower resideue and piss, rather than the somewhat sanitized World of today.
AND you didn't have to pay £2 sodding quid either.............