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Old 02-12-2015, 10:46   #31
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

Ok, very good. Thanks everyone for the input...it is as I suspected.

I am 100% a free-market capitalism guy who has had small businesses all my life and I fully support an individual/companies right to set their own policies. I also agree..."vote with your boat" or your feet as it were. In addition, I feel that brining it to their attention is a MUST or they have no option of keeping our business.

This used to be a locally owned business that originally was focused on small power boats and servicing them...they have a storage barn and a marina as well. They have recently sold to a larger company with numerous locations and I suspect this is a hold-over policy from the days of it being a privately owned/run business. I further suspect that they may reexamine this policy if/when it's brought to the attention of the main office. They likely left it in place figuring they'd deal with it if it proved to be an issue...they have already changed the slip fee policy from boat length to slip length which for me on a 42' cat in a 50' slip wasn't advantageous. Another point which I will bring up in my communications with them.

Our situation is a bit unique in that we have two boys in local schools and not many other options for liveaboard marinas where they can stay in their current schools...ARRG!

When this is all said and done I may have to just make other arrangements when services are needed, or do the work myself. Which is really where this should be leading anyway!! : o)

Be well all...thanks again for the feedback/confirmation.
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Old 02-12-2015, 11:04   #32
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

Sometimes I have been known to work on " friends" boats in upscale marinas
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Old 02-12-2015, 12:06   #33
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

Man that's nuts, never heard of such a thing in any NC marinas, I would be looking for another marina.
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Old 02-12-2015, 14:48   #34
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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Originally Posted by chrtucke View Post
My question to the group is...is this an industry standard practice or and am I just being an ass or is this NOT something done by most marinas and these guys are nickel and diming me, on top of premium slip fees!
Never heard of that up here in Canada.

I stay at a municipal marina which has found that special combination of high prices and bad service to eliminate the wait list and ensure lots of available docks.

On the hard, you can only hire "approved" companies (from their list)...which they call a "workplace passport" or something like that. Its mostly to ensure that everyone is insured for liability, but you still deal with, and pay, the guy you hire.

Unfortunately, "Yacht owners" are viewed by most as deep pockets, and everyone grabs as much as they can, although seeing my boat should convince them otherwise.
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Old 02-12-2015, 16:25   #35
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

Brunswick ga marina charges venders 25% of their total bill for working there. Also, they have no techs of their own that I know of because of abuse and poor pay or so I( am told. I( needed to have some electronics installed and had to leave the slip I was paying for and tie up next to the bank so a tech could come aboard. I have not been back.
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Old 02-12-2015, 18:20   #36
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

I would have imagined that ethically if you are already paying for space or time on the hard what work you do there is your own business.
But of course the devil is in the contract. If the agreement you signed states you can only use "approved on site contractors" then you can only use approved on site contractors.

I was recently bullied into a far more unethical practise. I wanted to buy and install some electronics but I did not feel competent enough to install it myself. I got a quote from the only local contractor capable of doing the job. It was at the very high end due to the price he was charging for the equipment. I could have bought it for half the price on eBay. So I planned to buy it separately until I was told he might refuse to install it if I did not also purchase it through him. Hmm!!
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Old 02-12-2015, 20:09   #37
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

common guaging: I always thought a tach, temperature and voltmeter were all that were needed, but your saying I need something to measure marina fees?
Gauging | Define Gauging at Dictionary.com
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Old 02-12-2015, 20:21   #38
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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common guaging: I always thought a tach, temperature and voltmeter were all that were needed, but your saying I need something to measure marina fees?
Gauging | Define Gauging at Dictionary.com
The OP obviously meant gouging

And Muphry's Law strikes again it's "gauge", not "guage"
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Old 02-12-2015, 20:28   #39
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

Usually they charge the service provider but you are paying this at most marinas wether you know it or not.

It's perfectly reasonable. If the service provider had to provide a work area on the water, thier services would increase dramatically. The marina provided the work area, so they can expect to be paid for it.
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Old 02-12-2015, 21:31   #40
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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It's perfectly reasonable. If the service provider had to provide a work area on the water, thier services would increase dramatically. The marina provided the work area, so they can expect to be paid for it.
What utter bullsh*t. The service provider is providing value added for the marina and the tenant. The tenant doesn't have to take his boat elsewhere (like a competing marina) and continues to run up electricity usage etc. at his home marina. Since the boat is going to be there, whether it is serviced or not, the marina provides nothing that it is not already being paid for by the tenant. Especially if the service provider is required to name the marina as an additional insured (which is often the case.)
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Old 02-12-2015, 21:49   #41
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

There ARE marinas in California that don't allow boats to be worked on in their slips. Even little things. Most just don't care though, that's true. We took advantage of a having a cheap slip for about 3 months because the owner rented two slips--one at a hotel marina in San Diego, the other at Driscoll Mission Bay (a boatyard + marina). We got his Driscoll slip while he was at the hotel marina across the water. It was good for us and good for him.

I'm not sure who it was that said marinas and boatyards had to be separate businesses in CA--many (if not most) boatyards in California do have marinas attached and while "technically" they're different businesses on paper, they're co-mingled by having the same owners and managers. The boatyards that have independent service providers working in their yards typically charge an overhead of about 20% it seems--so that marina may be working with those "norms" in mind as well. I wouldn't want to pay the extra overhead, but we DIY so it's a moot point for us.
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Old 02-12-2015, 21:57   #42
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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I'm not sure who it was that said marinas and boatyards had to be separate businesses in CA--many (if not most) boatyards in California do have marinas attached and while "technically" they're different businesses on paper, they're co-mingled by having the same owners and managers.
It was me, and the great majority of marinas in California DO NOT have boatyards attached, and only those few that are "grandfathered-in" are related, business-wise. This is the law (not my opinion) and and as someone who has earned his living working in them for several decades (as opposed to someone from out of state who merely temporarily kept his boat in one), I assure you it is the case.
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Old 02-12-2015, 21:59   #43
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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Originally Posted by valhalla360 View Post
Usually they charge the service provider but you are paying this at most marinas wether you know it or not.

It's perfectly reasonable. If the service provider had to provide a work area on the water, thier services would increase dramatically. The marina provided the work area, so they can expect to be paid for it.
Shouldn't they already be getting paid for it through marina fees? It's not as though the cost of that work area increases through use by the service providers. If they are charging the boat owner a daily fee for occupying the work area, that should cover the cost of the work area regardless of who is doing the work in it.
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Old 02-12-2015, 22:04   #44
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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Originally Posted by chrtucke View Post
Hello all,

I was surprised not to find this covered previously but here goes.

I am currently in a nice marina in SW FL and have a logic-check question for the group. These guys require that all services be billed through them - like yards sometimes do - and they add an "access fee" which is about 25% from what I can tell to the bill. Now, I understand the requirement for service providers to be licensed and insured and check in with the office etc and I would not have a problem paying such a fee IF the service needed is provided by an "in house" tech here at the marina but I choose to go outside their staff and bring in my own guy...OK, no problem. However, if they do NOT provide the service "in house" and I go outside to get my needs met I don't feel like I should pay an "access fee" when I already pay for access to the docks via my slip fee.

My question to the group is...is this an industry standard practice or and am I just being an ass or is this NOT something done by most marinas and these guys are nickel and diming me, on top of premium slip fees!

Thanks,
Very common here in Florida but 25% seems steep even by their standards.

You quickly learn what absolutely needs to be done on-the-hard in a yard and what does not. You haul only to complete those items as fast as possible. You make sure you have all your parts and everything on hand so you can start the minute you haul.

You plan on doing ALL (or the majority) of the work yourself and you bring in a cruising friend to help you. If you depend on the yard for any work you pester everyone in the yard every day until something gets done. I especially like just hanging out in the managers office until he agrees and begs me to leave.

After all that, when a big boy boat shows up they will drop your work faster than a hot potato. So what can you do about that? Don't go to yards that can haul the big boys - "right size" your boat to the yard.

Do noot EVER leave your boat in a yard in Florida with instructions for the yard to do work while you are gone... it will never be done and they will lie to you while you are gone... telling you "yeah sure its done" only for you to show up and not a thing has been started. Then they try charging you yard storage fees for all that time PLUS the time now needed to get the work done. Some are worse than others.

Some yards have great reputations here though. For example - Oasis boat yard here in St. Augustine strongly encourages you to get back in the water as fast as possible by using their in-house staff. They do this by adding 50% to the cost of the yard days after 30 days. In turn, almost as fast as you can say "I want x done" there is someone at your boat working on the job. I would add that Oasis does charge a bit more for their services BUT they are very good.
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Old 03-12-2015, 00:38   #45
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Re: Marina fees, common or gauging?

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What utter bullsh*t. The service provider is providing value added for the marina and the tenant. The tenant doesn't have to take his boat elsewhere (like a competing marina) and continues to run up electricity usage etc. at his home marina. Since the boat is going to be there, whether it is serviced or not, the marina provides nothing that it is not already being paid for by the tenant. Especially if the service provider is required to name the marina as an additional insured (which is often the case.)
You are looking at it from the wrong perspective. The service provider gains a huge benefit from being able to set up shop in the marina. If the service provider had to buy thier own waterfront site with parking, building and slips, it could easily run into the millions.

Also, there is also the issue of association. If there is a problem with a provider, the marina often gets drug into it. If they will be taking the risk of having thier reputation damaged and the hassle of keeping track of who's in the yard, there is a cost.

Why should the service provider EXPECT to get access to a lucrative customer base for free?

The only slightly unusual thing here is the client is expected to pay commission directly. Most of the time, the service provider pays it and then burries it in the bill.
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