Dry Berthing In Portsmouth

Alan Priddy · 09 July 2003, 16:09

Ken Brown boats is now offering a superb dry berthing facilty down at the Camber Docks in Old Portsmouth. Competivly priced and central for all your boating needs. If anyone is interested give him a call on 02392 814246.

thewavehumper · 09 July 2003, 21:07

Cant get much closer to the sea or the Pubs than Camber docks, might be worth a look for all you not lucky enough to be in Southampton. ( I can think of at least two people who will be looking for Berths soon) I'll pass it on

thorper · 10 July 2003, 17:12

Slightly off thread, but we went to use the slip at camber dock on tuesday only to find a huge fishing boat beached at the top of the slip and making it impossible to get a large rib past it into the water. On complaining to the person in the Ken Brown office, we were told that the slip being clear isnt guaranteed, so tough luck. However, this boat was obviously pulled out for major repairs / cleaning up, rather than just there for a few hours. This isnt the first time this has happened, and on previous occascions we got the impression that the fisherman was being done a favour and getting his boat out on the cheap. Has this happened to anyone else?

Ricky

Chris Murray · 10 July 2003, 18:00

Alan,

I tried the number, only to be put through to "BT call minder".

Could you give us a little more info please, such as:

Is it a racking system. If not ...
Must the boat be on a trailer? - If "no", how is it stored?
How is it launched?
Are there shower facilities?
Chandlers on site?
Yamaha engineer on site?
Security?
Security?
Security? (repeats are intentional!)

In view of my telephone experience, does this mean that the company is just "one man and his dog" and was the dog left to man ("dog"?) the phone?

On the subject of racking systems, Cobbs Quay says that it will not put a RIB on the top shelf as it could get "blown about" and that A-frames cause a problem on inner shelves. This is a pity, as I am keen to have quite a high A-frame on my next boat, to support radar.

Hamble Yacht Services (Port Hamble) don't seem too keen on RIBs either. When I called recently, they said that they don't really like lifting a RIB off a trailer, in view of the large number of runners they have to negotiate and time taken. They did offer a "DIY" facility though, but at pretty much the same price as you would expect for someone else to launch and retrieve the boat.

My new RIB is still some way off (2006 season), but I like to plan these things!

Aries II (which I have owned for 14 years and completed the sale today) took 2 years to plan!

Thank you for any light you can shine on the issue of boat storage in Portsmouth or elsewhere in the Central Solent.

Regards,

Chris.

Alan Priddy · 11 July 2003, 07:59

Chris.

Definatly not a one man band. Ken Brown has been trading at the Camber for longer than I can remember and has recently invested a lot of money in security fencing around the yard.
Plans for next year are to bring in one of the huge fork lift trucks and American style racking so your new boat should not be a problem. If you have every seen an Amercian Dry storage system in oporation you will see how the British companies continualy fail to get it right. Toilets, showers and all facilities are within easy walking distance from the slip. You can store your boat on its own trailer or on the racking. At present the boats are launched with a crane but I have already explained how it is going to work next year.

As for the BT Call minder, did you leave a message?
You must remember that this is summer and boat yards are working flat out to service their customers needs. I think you will find that once you become a customer you will get a different telephone number.
Alan P

Dirk Diggler · 11 July 2003, 08:29

Alan, couldn't agree more. Dry berthing is a concept that for some reason really hasn't caught on here. The original yard in Poole is still going strong, but the proposed new bridge will force them to close as it's planned to go through the middle of their yard. (not good news for Mark Wildley)

Even though the yard has been in it's present location for 12+ years, the facilities are still truly awful. They don't even seem able to keep the vending machine full.

The new location at Cobbs is quite impressive, although being an MDL site is does suffer from the usual staff problems such as tea breaks, and the "sucking in of breath through teeth" whilst telling you it can't be done today!

The site does have nice toilets, shop, bar etc. The only real problem is again the proposed bridge, it will make the trip out of the harbour truly horrendous.

John Kennett · 11 July 2003, 08:43

Chris

If you are even considering dry berthing at a site that uses a crane, get proper lifting eyes built into your new boat.

This way craning on and off a trailer is very quick and easy, and less likely to damage either boat or trailer. The crane crew will thank you for it too!

John

Chris Murray · 11 July 2003, 22:01

Alan,

This sounds like it could be a possibility. Do they put the boat in the water onto a pontoon or at the bottom of the slip? I am not familiar with this location.

Is the boat put in and taken out the same day or say in on Friday and out on Monday, for the weekend?

Re. your question - no, I didn't leave a message. Afraid I have got used to someone always being there (and providing a first class service) at Port Hamble. Yes Dirk, an MDL marina!

John,

Thank you for your suggestion about lifting points. I had assumed that this only applied to lightweight tenders. I shall bear this in mind, when I order the boat.

Best wishes,

Chris.

Alan Priddy · 12 July 2003, 09:36

Hi Chris

Best thing is to call them in the week for the complete low down on how they oporate the system just in case I get it wrong.

Cheers

Alan

Pete7 · 13 July 2003, 09:47

Stu your not thinking of that 'orrible black thing (apparently called a sib but could easily have an RCD code for ocean cruising given its size) that has taken up residence in front of your house ? and does Jelly ever intend to collect it or will the missus post it to him in little pieces

Pete

Spud · 13 July 2003, 10:43

Having towed down to the Solent from Gloucestershire many times in this my first season of Ribbing i have now come to the conclusion that keeping the Rib down nearer the water is my preferred choice. The reasons are many but mainly due to the time towing and the strain on my aging Espace. However an incident on Friday really made my mind up.
Having left home at 4.30am heading for Poole we made good time until 10mls out from Poole the bypass was blocked by the Police and all vehicles were diverted through a trading estate, due we found out later to a car on fire. Up to this point we had been pottering along at a steady 50mph or so. Then within 200yds of entering the estate travelling at about 5mls an hour i felt a stange knocking coming from the trailer. I got out to see what it was and could'nt believe it but the trailer wheel had two nuts left on it and they were just about to come off!!
Turns out on the trip before after a blow out and a wheel change my brother had tightened wheel nuts whilst jacked and failed to tighten further when dropped off jack. Suffice to say we were the next blockage on that stetch of bypass except for that cars misfortune!!!!

Spud · 13 July 2003, 10:57

Anyway the wheel was totally gone with the nut bolt holes worn away and the studs a write off. Now theres me thinking how unlucky can a man be when i am told by a few guys in an engineering shop next to us that there is a trailer center 200mts up the road. We managed with the help of a few washers provided by those guys to hobble there and wait for opening time. The guys there did a great job stipping down the hub and sorting everything out for us so that we were actually on the water by 10.30am. It was at this point that i realised i was'nt an unlucky Ribster but actually the luckiest one alive. A car fire, an engineering shop and a Trailer center, somebody up there wanted me on the water that day

Thats the background to my reasons for now wanting a berth or storage down nearer the Solent, but now the hard part, finding one at a reasonable price. I was quoted £775 at Lymington marina for 2 months is this going to be the region im looking at, i hope not! Any advice would be much appreciated, im looking to leave the Rib down there until end of September middle of October time!
Thanks Spud

Dirk Diggler · 13 July 2003, 11:39

The cheapest and simplest solution is to keep the boat at Drivers Wharf on the Itchen River, Southampton. You pay a nominal monthly storage fee, and then pay to have it craned in. It's starting to become a real haven for Rib owners.

www.driverswharf.com tel: 02380 233302

Richard B · 13 July 2003, 17:12

I sent John Kennett some info on storage and dry berthing a little while ago with a view to setting up a section in the RIBnet Directory....

John, do you check your email?

thewavehumper · 18 July 2003, 09:57

Quote:

Originally posted by Pete7
Stu your not thinking of that 'orrible black thing (apparently called a sib but could easily have an RCD code for ocean cruising given its size) that has taken up residence in front of your house ? and does Jelly ever intend to collect it or will the missus post it to him in little pieces

Pete

It's not a big problem to me Pete, and I offered to look after it for Jelly, while he was moving house, which he has now done. But yes his boat was one of the ones I though would be suitable for Berthing at Ken Brown.

You have seen the state of my House, we got way too much stuff, it's spread everywhere and it looks like a tip. The inflatable adds a bit of class in my opinion

Regarding my lovely wife, Her main concern was to put us on a stronger negotiating platform with MDL

Gotta Go Grinch is coming to stay with us and we have to tidy up, a bit