Poole for a week

[lakelandterrier]

Thinking about towing the boat to Poole for a week early summer with Mrs T and daughter -not boated there before.
Any recommendations on most suitable marinas to launch / keep the boat at, and holiday parks etc to stay at close by - don't want to be commuting to the boat daily!
Many thanks,
LT

[mickter]

Hi LT, there are only two public slips in Poole.
one is Harbourside slip (baiter), the other is at Rockley park, you can rent caravans there.

[paulbrown22]

For holiday parks/camping, the two usual options are Rockley Park (Hamworthy) and Redcliffe Farm (just up the River Frome towards Wareham), both of which have slipways. Failing that the Baiter Park slip is pretty central if you have e.g. an AirBnB in town.

Poole Quay Boat Haven also super central to berth a boat if you end up staying in town, but no generally accessible slipway and limited parking nearby.

Salterns Marina in Lilliput has both a slipway and marina berths, but comes at a price.

Various other potential options for launch and berthing at Parkstone YC, Parkstone Bay Marina, etc, but probably really depends on where you might be staying overnight.

[treerat]

Hi

I've found that Poole for a week can be limited and I end up in the Solent, and with places like Berthon / Limington having great parking, slipways and marinas I prefer to jump in there and run down to Poole / Durdle Door etc

Hurst View is a great place to stay and not that much further to tow initially.

If you do go with Poole we usually use the Port of Poole Marina - https://www.poolequayboathaven.co.uk/about-the-marina

[paulbrown22]

I guess I'm biased as a Poole local, but I think Poole itself is great! Depending on your boating preferences and length of passages you have lovely more local trips within Poole (Brownsea Island, Blood Alley, Arne, River Frome to Wareham, etc.), out to the west with Studland and Swanage, further west to Chapman's Pool, Durdle Door, Weymouth. Or go east and you're into the Solent/IoW within 30-45 mins.

[Steve509926]

Lymington takes a lot of beating for ease of launching, facilities, parking and places to boat too. Lymington itself is a little lovely little town, plenty of nice pubs and restaurants if that's your thing.
Not sure about holiday parks as we stayed up the road in Brockenhurst. You may be able to get a mooring for the week, the Lymington Harbour office was really helpful when I visited.

[lakelandterrier]

Thanks for the replies.

We've stayed round the Solent / IoW before so want a change.
Mrs T is not so keen on long passages, so our thinking is from Poole we can go left or right with lots to see / visit within an hour in either direction,and can explore Poole harbour too.

With Mrs T, adult daugher and an Airedale, we were looking at a caravan on a holdiay park. Rockley Park looks a possibility with Cobbs Quay quite close. As I am an MDL berth holder at Brixham I'll give them a call and check their facilities I think unless there is reason not to berth there.

We will need to launch / recover and store the trailer securely, all factors to consider.

LT

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

Thanks for the replies.

We've stayed round the Solent / IoW before so want a change.
Mrs T is not so keen on long passages, so our thinking is from Poole we can go left or right with lots to see / visit within an hour in either direction,and can explore Poole harbour too.

With Mrs T, adult daugher and an Airedale, we were looking at a caravan on a holdiay park. Rockley Park looks a possibility with Cobbs Quay quite close. As I am an MDL berth holder at Brixham I'll give them a call and check their facilities I think unless there is reason not to berth there.

We will need to launch / recover and store the trailer securely, all factors to consider.

LT

Cobbs has a decent slipway, plenty of berthing, great shoreside facilities, etc. so if you can use e.g. a Freedom pass should be perfect! Minor disadvantage being right up the top end of Holes Bay so ~10-15 mins into the harbour proper and ~35 mins overall to the harbour entrance, but assuming you have no great protrusions skywards then should be no issues getting a ~6m RIB under the twin bridges and no need to wait for lifts. If you have the option of free berthing (and/or launching) there as an MDL customer personally I'd be taking that! Rockley is pretty close by and a very short commute (on the right side of the road bridges with no need to queue to cross) if you do end up staying there.

Personally I love trips around Poole Harbour. There's amazing walks on Brownsea Island, a lovely trip up the River Frome to Wareham where you can stop alongside the stone quay and go ashore for lunch, beautiful areas behind the islands, over to Arne and the RSPB reserve, etc. And just outside the harbour Studland and Swanage are both great to visit.

Do you carry a tender onboard?

[scrambler]

Cobbs Quay has a drystack if that's of interest. I would happily spend a week based there and though it's a bit of a hike to the harbour proper there's plenty to gaze at on the way.
Incidentally your boat was featured on the YBW forum yesterday!
https://forums.ybw.com/threads/ribs-...-water.626176/

[Playtime]

We normally run from Mercury Marina up the hamble river, campsite right next door and now part of the marina complex which has slip and plenty of parking. Will be there at bank holiday weekend

[lakelandterrier]

Originally Posted by paulbrown22

Cobbs has a decent slipway, plenty of berthing, great shoreside facilities, etc. so if you can use e.g. a Freedom pass should be perfect! Minor disadvantage being right up the top end of Holes Bay so ~10-15 mins into the harbour proper and ~35 mins overall to the harbour entrance, but assuming you have no great protrusions skywards then should be no issues getting a ~6m RIB under the twin bridges and no need to wait for lifts. If you have the option of free berthing (and/or launching) there as an MDL customer personally I'd be taking that! Rockley is pretty close by and a very short commute (on the right side of the road bridges with no need to queue to cross) if you do end up staying there.

Personally I love trips around Poole Harbour. There's amazing walks on Brownsea Island, a lovely trip up the River Frome to Wareham where you can stop alongside the stone quay and go ashore for lunch, beautiful areas behind the islands, over to Arne and the RSPB reserve, etc. And just outside the harbour Studland and Swanage are both great to visit.

Do you carry a tender onboard?

Thanks Paul,
With A-Frame and radio antenna, water line to antenna tip is 2.65m so won't fit under the bridges.

May be I talk to Cobbs Quay anbout launching & trailer parking as an MDL customer, and see if I can berth at Port of Poole Marina to aviod the bridges.

Also thanks for the tips on areas to explore.

LT

[paulbrown22]

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

With A-Frame and radio antenna, water line to antenna tip is 2.65m so won't fit under the bridges.


LT

I think you should be fine at pretty much anything other than high tide - clearance under them at MHWS is something like 2.2m (Poole Bridge) and 2.5m (Twin Sails) from memory.

I was more careful in my 9m Ribtec with a big radar tower on top, but never have any issues with any other RIB's with A-frames.

[lakelandterrier]

Originally Posted by scrambler

Incidentally your boat was featured on the YBW forum yesterday!
https://forums.ybw.com/threads/ribs-...-water.626176/

I'm sure I should get a fee for that!