How Much Boat? – Annual Marina Fees vs Length

Part 3 (of 4) of ‘How Much Boat?- Marina Fees vs Length’

Captain’s Log

Star Date 201197

Bones, the worst Vet in the galaxy, has let me down entirely. No joy to be had at the vet appointment that should have cured the madness of my First Mate. 


Instead I got the vaccination booster, a cold thermometer in an unmentionable place and hearty assurances that the Can Opener had never looked better.

The fur-less collude against me.

Now, while the Can Opener bangs away over our sink trying to extract my evening smoked oysters from the tin, I scan more of his notes curiously titled Annual Marina Rates vs Lengths:

‘Is there a magical low cost region for marina rates?

Not unexpectedly, the Caribbean/Bahamas had the most expensive marina rates.

The US and the Med fees appeared similar in this small sample when compared in a base currency. If I had, however, included the traditionally more expensive shores of Spain, France and Italy in the Med calculations, I imagine the picture would quickly change.

English marina rates in this short survey seemed cheaper than in the US. I had understood that the UK is about 30% more expensive than the US, so more investigation (and a bigger sample size) will be needed later.

While looking for data, at first brush it did seem easier to find small town English marina websites that included their fees online. (I did look initially for small town US marinas too, but ultimately seemed to wind up looking at bigger cities to find sites with marina fees displayed). So this could just be a village vs big city pricing effect.

A surprise showing was the Pacific Island of Fiji with by far the lowest marina fees sampled. Sure sounds appealing to refit while already in a beautiful cruising ground!

Would Fiji be a good place to refit a boat?

This will have to be further researched versus the cost and availability of refitting materials, labour and facilities there. It sounds great, but also too good to be true!

Average annual marina rates – regional averages per m/ft for this small sample

England: £333/m ($541/m) or £102/ft ($165/ft)

Mediterranean: £413/m ($671/m) or £126/ft ($204/ft)

Bahamas: £987/m ($1600/m) or £301/ft ($488/ft)

USA: £413/m ($670/m) or £126/ft ($204/ft)

Fiji: £180/m ($292/m) or £55/ft ($86/ft) ‘

But… it looks like he might consider…Fiji for refitting? For a whole year?? A beautiful island surrounded by the endless fish supermarket of the Pacific… Hmmm.

Now that sounds like madness I can put up with.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener

– who has forgiven all for the price of a few shared smoked oysters)

Next up: How Much Boat? – Country Entry Fees vs Boat Length, Part 4 (of 4)

Previously:  How Much Boat? – Daily Marina Fees vs Length, Part 2 (of 4) 


N.B. Info on how the First Mate collected his data for this short survey can be found in ‘How Much Boat – Marina Rates vs Length’, Part 1 (of 4).

How Much Boat? – Daily Marina Fees vs Length

Part 2 (of 4) of  ‘How Much Boat?-  Boat Fees vs Length’

 

Captains’ Log
Supplemental

Stardate: 201196

The First Mate continues his descent to madness. He remains unmoved by the superior form and clean lines radiant in my draft of a design for a three-storey starcruiser yacht.

Herewith a further excerpt from the mangled papers he flourished at me this morning whilst I arranged my cape in the mirror.

They were clearly marked: ‘Average daily marina rates vs boat lengths’. Note the complete absence of reference to boat heights…

‘Average daily marina rates vs boat lengths

– total, per m/ ft with respect to regions various

England:

9m boat: £24.53/night ($39.79/night), £2.68/m ($4.35/m)

30ft boat: £24.53/night ($39.79/night), £0.82/ft ($1.33/ft)

10m boat: £26.59/night ($43.12/night), £2.64/m ($4.28/m)

35ft boat: £27.96/night ($45.34/night), £0.80/ft ($1.30/ft)

12m boat: £31.22/night ($50.63/night), £2.55/m ($4.14/m)

40ft boat: £31.22/night ($50.63/night), £0.78/ft ($1.27/ft)

14m boat: £35.33/night ($57.29/night), £2.51/m ($4.06/m)

45ft boat: £34.64/night ($56.18/night), £2.51/m ($4.07/m)

Mediterranean:

9m boat: £23.16/night ($37.57/night), £2.53/m ($4.11/m)

30ft boat: £23.16/night ($37.57/night), £0.77/ft ($1.25/ft)

10m boat: £27.72/night ($44.96/night), £2.75/m ($4.46/m)

35ft boat: £27.72/night ($44.96/night), £0.79/ft ($1.28/ft)

12m boat: £39.37/night ($63.85/night), £3.22/m ($5.22/m)

40ft boat: £39.37/night ($63.85/night), £0.98/ft ($1.60/ft)

14m boat: £40.77/night ($66.14/night), £2.98/m ($4.83/m)

45ft boat: £42.01/night ($68.15/night), £0.91/ft ($1.47/ft)

Bahamas:

9m boat: £38.38/night ($62.25/night), £4.50/m ($7.30/m)

30ft boat: £38.38/night ($62.25/night), £1.37/ft ($2.22/ft)

10m boat: £42.21/night ($68.48/night), £4.95/m ($8.03/m)

35ft boat: £44.77/night ($72.63/night), £1.60/ft ($2.59/ft)

12m boat: £51.17/night ($83.00/night), £6.00/m ($9.73/m)

40ft boat: £51.17/night ($83.00/night), £1.83/ft ($2.96/ft)

14m boat: £57.57/night ($93.38/night), £6.75/m ($10.95/m)

45ft boat: £58.84/night ($95.45/night), £2.10/ft ($3.41/ft)

USA:

9m boat: £30.43/night ($49.36/night), £3.57/m ($5.79/m)

30ft boat: £30.43/night ($49.36/night), £1.09/ft ($1.76/ft)

10m boat: £33.30/night ($54.01/night), £3.90/m ($6.33/m)

35ft boat: £35.65/night ($57.83/night), £1.27/ft ($2.07/ft)

12m boat: £40.50/night ($65.69/night), £4.75/m ($7.70/m)

40ft boat: £40.50/night ($65.69/night), £1.48/ft ($2.40/ft)

14m boat: £46.26/night ($75.01/night), £5.42/m ($8.79/m)

45ft boat: £45.29/night ($73.46/night), £1.62/ft ($2.62/ft)

Fiji:

9m boat: £4.81/night ($7.80/night), £0.56/m ($0.91/m)

30ft boat: 4.81/night ($7.80/night), £0.17/ft ($0.28/ft)

10m boat: £5.13/night ($8.32/night), £0.60/m ($0.97/m)

35ft boat: £5.40/night ($8.76/night), £0.19/ft ($0.31/ft)

12m boat: £5.82/night ($9.43/night), £0.68/m ($1.11/m)

40ft boat: £5.82/night ($9.43/night), £0.21/ft ($0.34/ft)

14m boat: £6.46/night ($10.47/night), £0.75/m ($1.22/m)

45ft boat: £6.41/night ($10.39/night), £0.23/ft ($0.37/ft)’

What drives a man to scribble random foolishness? 

I count the moments till we reach Bones, the best Vet in the galaxy, who has agreed to give the Can Opener a full, desperately needed check up.

–Captain Cat

(relayed per Skype and transcribed by the best Vet in the galaxy)

Next up – How Much Boat? – Annual Marina Fees vs Length, Part 3 (of 4)

N.B. Info on how the First Mate collected his data for this short survey can be found in ‘How Much Boat – Marina Rates vs Length’, Part 1 (of 4).

How Much Boat? – Marina Fees vs Length

 

Part 1 (of 4) of  How Much Boat? Boat Fees vs Length

 

Captains’ Log

Stardate: 201195

Far worse than I feared. My First Mate, Can Opener, persists in obdurate lunatic ravings against the draft of my three-storey starcruiser yacht design.

How long can this continue? I may soon be forced to admit that for him there is no hope and no antidote… has he really gone off the planetary deep end this time?

Cost effective? One-storey? Monohull? What mad science is this?

Here below, a sad excerpt from the Can Opener’s notes and calculations found only last night while I was searching for an informative book to snooze upon:

‘What is a cost effective length of boat?

Is there a ‘most cost effective length of boat’ when considering ongoing ‘running costs’, for example, marina costs? Obviously costs increase in general as boats get longer.

But I wonder –

is this a straight-line increase?

Or are there a step change increases around boat ‘length categories’ that mean a slightly longer boat at a marina could have the same approximate cost as a shorter boat?

If so, where (in what regions) is this true?

How was the sample done?

This is not intended to be a definitive last word analysis of worldwide marina fees. It was done relatively quickly with enough data to look for tendencies only.

I collected daily and annual marina base rates from a sample of 26 marinas across 5 popular cruising regions: England, the Mediterranean, the Bahamas, the US and Fiji. (I aimed for the cheaper Med countries: Portugal, Croatia, Greece. Also included Malta.)

Costs were estimated for boats of every length from approx. 8.5m to 14.5m (from 28 ft to 50 ft). Sales taxes were included in prices; electric, water charges etc were not.

Annual marina rates were also recorded – since the corollary to the above question is: what region would be most cost effective to do a year’s refitting in? Marina rates will be an important part of this answer as well.

This sampling covers relatively few marinas and regions and is only intended to identify a significant trend in pricing ‘step changes’, if any.

I only sampled marinas that have websites and that also post their rates online (not a given). Some good bargains at smaller marinas without websites were probably missed.  


I completely skipped the superyacht websites too. Of course.

Results

Only the Mediterranean marinas seemed to often price by length categories. These categories were usually: <10m (<33ft), 10-12m (33-39ft), 12-14m (40-45ft), 14-16m (46-52ft)… So a boat that is just under 12m (39 ft) would be charged the same as a boat just over 10m long (33 ft).

Some marinas in England and US have price/length categories, but most just offer a flat per metre (per foot) rate. In England if there were length categories, they tended to be ‘under 10m (30 ft)’ and ‘over 15m (50 ft)’ – but this was not consistently seen.

In the US if there were length categories, they tended to be ‘under 35 feet (10.5m)’ and ‘over 50 feet (15m)’ – this didn’t have too much impact on the daily rates, but showed up more in the annual marina fees (of this decidedly small sampling).

The Bahamas and Fiji seemed to consistently price a flat per length increment rate.

Is there a magical length of boat to optimise costs?

Maybe. I guess if we planned to just cruise in the Med, it might make sense to pick a boat just under 10m (eg. 32ft), just under 12m (eg. 39ft) or just under 14m (eg. 45ft) versus something slightly longer.

If we planned to primarily cruising along the US coasts, a 34ft (or 10m) or 49ft (or 15m) yacht might enjoy some relative gains that are greater than the joy of having one extra foot of length.

But we are heading for ‘destination anywhere and everywhere’.

Although the relative cost per metre/foot goes down as the boat gets longer, the total cost to stay at a marina dock per night keeps going up and up…  QED.

Note to self – further research?

Are there online databases or guidebooks with more comprehensive marina rate listings all in one place?

It was surprisingly difficult to find this information online… ‘

What further evidence of the Can Opener’s ongoing ravings will I find? Such is my concern for my dear First Mate that I have booked a vet appointment for him tomorrow.

He thinks he is taking me for a check up (heh heh), but once there I will perform a hasty switcheroo and have him spread-eagled on the stainless steel table for a quick once over before he knows what’s up.

Will a few good swigs of the vet’s fail-safe cod liver oil wonder drink end this madness? Only time will tell…

–Captain Cat

(relayed per Skype and transcribed by the best Vet in the galaxy)


Next up: How Much Boat? – Daily Marina Fees vs Length, Part 2 (of 4)