More on moorings and so on

Oh how the mind boggles!

There's so much to discuss and plan what with the acquisition of the new boat, the "disposal" (horrible word) of the old boat, what the hell to call the new boat (with apologies and respects to her former owners, we're just not finding "Erbas" to our liking despite trying it out in every conversation for nearly a week now) ...

One decision I think we have managed to make today is on the matter of moorings

As the avoid, I'm sorry I'll type that again ... AVID reader will already know we've been considering a move to Tollesbury Marina or Tollesbury Saltings. Financially, the marina is out of reach of our pocket especially with the additional cost of financing the new boat so it would have been the saltings

The vision of gazing out over the saltings with a cold beer in hand and the steaks sizzling on the BBQ is an enticing one it has to be admitted but I fear the reality might not live up to the dream!

Access on and off the stagings, the almost certain lack of shore power and the tidal limitations all conspire to work against the dream.

But more than anything else, if we move the boat to our favourite spot (that we've found so far anyway) on the East Coast where will we go then when we want to head out?

So, for now at least, Tollesbury will remain our destination of choice for short trips and we'll remain at North Fambridge at least until next year

However, we are very taken with the idea of a "Summer Swing" package which will cost us somewhat more than an Annual swinging mooring (about £360 a year more) and means that from October to April we'll be on a very sheltered pontoon berth in the marina. It's still much cheaper than a permanent marina berth!

We can then choose if and when we come out of the water and we can use the boat as a floating cottage in virtually any weather (life on the river pontoon can be miserable in windy conditions especially if, as is often the case in winter particularly, the inside is occupied and we have to tie up on the outside). If we get a nice spell of pleasant weather we can easily nip off downriver to Burnham or a night at anchor

We might get away with a quick between tides scrub and anti-foul in the spring or a 24 hour lift and hold which would save some or all of the additional cost. Even if we still choose to come out for a while later in the year it'll be worth it if we get some extra weekends on board