Once you’ve joined the annual cost is very low.
How much? Example: 26.6 ft bilge keel sailing cruiser (pictured above):
- Club membership (£173 as an individual or £230 for a family – 2023)
- Club member annual boat registration fee £42 (includes any number of boats and dinghies you keep at the club)
- Mooring £172.20
- River license £75.50 (paid directly to the Crouch Harbour Authority) for smaller boats the river license is cheaper.
- End of season recovery £ nil *
- Over winter storage £ nil *
- Relaunching in spring £ nil *
- Insurance £200 (typical price of comprehensive cover) – all club members must insure their boats for at least third party risks
*For members of the Launch and Recovery Syndicate – a one off joining fee of £400 gives membership for life
Total: If you can afford to buy a sailing cruiser up to 30′ in length, you need to think in terms of spending £700 per year plus maintenance if you keep your boat at Up River Yacht Club.
Most importantly, the figures above include; full club membership, access to the Club’s sailing and social programme, and free use of Club equipment/water/power/parking and the clubhouse and it’s facilities. To make it realistic we’ve also included the cost of insurance and the compulsory Crouch Harbour Authority license. The only amount in addition to this is maintenance, which depends upon your boat and your DIY skills.
How Much? Comparison
The cost of a boat yard or local marina lifting your boat out, storing it over winter, and relaunching again in just one year would exceed the lifetime membership of the Up River Yacht Club Launch and Recovery Syndicate. For syndicate members these otherwise expensive annual services are absolutely free. Costs associated with maintaining the Club’s boat handling equipment are met from Club funds.
Up River Yacht Club is not a commercial enterprise. A marina or boat yard would charge you at least three to five times more per annum.
Keeping costs low
In exchange for the very low fees (and to keep fees low), members are expected to get involved and help-out taking part in at least one club work party and one launch and recovery syndicate work party each year. As a self help club, this makes the cost of boat ownership reasonable. It also enables a far wider range of people to own sailing cruisers and get out on the water.
In case you wondered… you would pay circa £1400 a year just for a swinging mooring alone to keep a 28ft boat at our nearest marina. They would also charge extra for all services including launch and recovery, use of electricity etc etc.
Your mooring
If you keep a boat in the River Crouch at Hullbridge, you install and maintain your own mooring. You’ll receive friendly advice regarding how to go about it (most new members take over an existing mooring which makes it easy to get started).
The Club will give you the mooring’s location and you’ll also get practical assistance from other members. However, you’ll have to accept that you will be responsible for your own mooring. Therefore, at least once a year, at low tide, you’ll need to put on your wellies and check over and maintain your mooring. For more information about moorings please click here.
I hope you find this breakdown of typical costs useful, please don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out more. Dennis Haggerty Commodore
How much does a sailing cruiser cost?
Check out this search on a well known yacht brokerage website: All of these boats are suitable to keep on a mooring on the River Crouch at Up River Yacht Club.
Don’t forget these are the asking prices, expect to pay 20 percent less, perhaps a lot less than that if you’re prepared to haggle. It’s a buyers market – use this to your advantage.