Southampton Tractor Launch

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Answers begin with bold font

Originally Posted by Dry Run

Hi,

Sounds like a good idea and I'm sure it will appeal to a lot of people. I think the problem will come with what you can charge.


Steve

Thanks for the reply Steve and for what is worth I think you offer an enviable service. re Price I was thinking about £30 all in under 5M and £35 over 5m I'll trial it at this for the first year and then review it.

Originally Posted by Dry Run

Hi,


From 15 years experience of running a launch and recovery service, I can tell you the following: -
1. Most leisure users will want to be out on the water between 10am and 12. At our Dry Stack, we are usually launching from 8am and leaving the boats on our holding pontoons ready for the client. Your problem is, the boat won't be there until someone requires a launch..

Steve

Understood and we have that Launching process running safely and slickly we can have you launched within 15 minutes of your arrival. Also this service will be fairly exclusive as we are not looking to offer more than 8 launches a day. So no backing up. lol

[QUOTE=Dry Run;743552]Hi,


2. People will return and want recovering when it suits them (not when it suits you). So if they want to be in the water at 10am and want to recover the boat and take it home at 8pm, how would that work? They won't want to leave it on a marina berth, drive home to Oxford and then come back the next day and get the boat. I don't think you could get away with telling people they must be back by 5pm.

Couldn't agree more" Any customer Driving down from Oxford to use our service would be cherished and certainly not inconvenienced. The thought of making somebody drive a 140 mile round trip because we can't be bothered to put the customer first is Anamethetical to me. The Marina berth is available for those that want to stay overnight in the area. If you want to go home at the end of the day no problems we will get you out. If you want to be recovered at a time outside our operating hours we can come to an arrangement.

Cherishing is a service only offered to people travelling 20 miles or more



The Tides return in a little over 12 hours so that would have to be the minimum working day . At the end of the day we are Ribbers and wouldn't want to offer a service which didn't enhance somebodies day, accordingly our hours will be flexible. We will work it out but it might be we offer a split shift day perhaps 7am to Noon for launching and 1600 to 21:00 for recovery.

Originally Posted by Dry Run

Hi,


3. You will know your costs and obviously that will dictate what you need to charge. However, if you think what you would charge today for someone who turned up and asked you to get your tractor hitch up their trailer and use your staff (under your insurance policy) to launch them, then flush their trailer and store it and their car for the day and then use your tractor and staff to recoevr them and then ask you to wait on while they unload their boat wash it strap it down and leave? I can't think you'ld want to do that for peanuts.

However, if you can adress all that, I still think it's a service people would want and I wish you luck

Steve

Ain't that the truth. What one would like to charge and what ones customers want to pay is usually separated by some distance. What I am not going to do is operate a service that doesn't make an allowance for wear and tear on the equipment. Thanks again for the reply its been helpful

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Originally Posted by Portholme

There are two operating this method in Brightlingsea where I am. Park and Ride, and Morgan Marine. I've used both and currently use Morgan because they have their own concrete slip.

Annual cost is about £1500, open every day except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Unlike the comments about users only wanting midday access we find that fisherman want to leave first thing and come back last thing. Boats are coming and going all day.

If you turn up needing launch and recovery Park and Ride will do it for £20 each way off the public hard. They run three or four tractors on a busy day as they launch fishing boats, rescue boats, local racing class BODs, as well as all the leisure boats.

The only downside is that it pays to have a trolley not a road legal trailer because it is difficult to rinse them properly day in day out.

PM me if you want to pick up any tips. There's loads of stuff I wouldn't want to say in public, and I've been using these services for seven years or so.

Small world. thanks for the reply

I was a boat driver on a Wind farm job out of Brighlinsea and used the service a few times, worked well as I recall. Morgan marina had a great almost old fashioned Chandlery as i recall. i,e you didn't have to fight your way through the Musto range to get to an eye bolt

We have a 1 ton and 4 ton trolley both with full length keel rollers and roller bunks and are more than willing to use our hoists to transfer peoples boats on to our trolleys but this takes time and would attract an extra charge.

this is a service aimed at trailer ribbers and we are not looking to store anybodies ribs


i certainly will PM you thanks

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Yeah I can't quite figure out how the business model works!

At a guess - it must take 5 minutes to hook up a trailer, push it down the slip, drop the boat, reverse backup and drop the trailer. That assumes the trailer park is close to the top of the slip.

So you could get through 12 launches an hour. But I bet with issues - boats not starting etc its more like 8.

It sounds like you have a driver, and a man in the water. Who backs up the tractor etc is there a third man to stop people being run over?

Minimum wage is £7.50, but by the time you've paid NI etc you will be at £10/hour.

So £30 in staff for 8 launches. Thats £3.75 per launch, £3.75 per recovery for your maximum efficiency... before you pay rates, fuel, water, insurance, (do you need to pay slip charges?).

BUT very rarely will you be operating at full efficiency.

If you are open 7 days there will be days the weather is rubbish, when no-one wants launched. But you have brought 3 staff in....

I'd have thought the opening hours is your big issue. On the busy busy days you can justify it. On the "dead days" you need something else to be making money and the 1 guy who needs launched can be done by someone who also does something else doing it...

£40 for a day sounds pricey to me as a customer. I know for some that would be nothing, as they are spending >£100 a day on fuel.

if I did the sums I would never have started the business up anyway. I'm self employed so minimum wage sounds rather nice. I must give myself a payrise..

We are a Rib and Trailer service and sales business and intentionally moved to a location very close to a large slipway. Google Earth postcode SO14 5GZ and have a walk around, i's be interested in your comments after your virtual tour

Seriously though we are not looking to do this as a full time business it's just a service which we think can dovetail into our day to day operation. The upside of this is that our launch customers might become our service customers and that would be very acceptable to us.

re the backing up of the tractor /trailer (Banksman) The Banksman can escort the tractor to the water. The Banksman is the only person who controls the operation and the tractor driver is his/her assistant and only do what the Banksman says. The service is insured and both of us are qualified and more importantly experienced Rigger/Banksmen so we know what we are doing regarding safe operations, secondary coupling and load securing and stopping people getting run over. etc.

Fortunately the Slip is free and we have access to a large private slipway adjacent to it if need be

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Originally Posted by Poly

Don't worry about Shiny, he's from the wastelands of the North, and has no appreciation for how willing Mr south coast will be to keep his company BMW away from the sea.

I wonder if you becoming a regular attraction might become problematic with the slip owner? If they think you are profiting more than them from the facility; if insurers or land owners like the idea of essentially paying passengers being onboard the trailer during transfer; if you are perceived to be clogging the slip for other customers; or if you will get frustrated when shiny brings his dinghy and rigs it at the bottom of the slip forgetting that it doesn't only take one minute to raise the mast etc...

Now, if you had storage too (perhaps even a mile or two away) that might change the value discussion, but as drystack says a pontoon is key for customer convenience (and Mrs BMW to walk aboard).

I wonder how many rib owners have boats that are too big for their car's or their personal launch capabilities but still able to tow them on the road, yet don't have the budget for dry stack convenience?

re the popularity causing problems. That's a problem I very much look forward to dealing with" We have several options available to us that normal slip users don't have the tractor will let us launch from the gravel channel part of the slipway so can jump the queues on the man slipway we also can use the private slipway next door if need be.

Your point about passengers riding down the road in the RIB is well made and will not be happening. Passengers will walk down the slipway and then use a set of steps to get on the boat just before the waters edge

re you last point about capacity and launching, we believe we can take a lot of grief out of that situation.

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Originally Posted by beamishken

I just checked our local marina Largs and their charges for launching are £12 each way for self launch
£27 for tractor launch up to 6m over 6m up to 8m it's £35
Recovery with tractor is £35 up to 6m over 6m up to 8m it's £43 for recovery
So not a cheap day out if you use the service
I don't think they actually do many to be honest, the tractor is kept busy with the dry berth launches in the season
I'd imagine if the cost started to get over £40ish per day then people would be reluctant to pay it

Nice marina I did my Yachtmasters exam out of Largs many years ago. if i remember correctly the bouyage gets a bit strange in the channel.

I love the fact that they charge more to get you out than to put you in. Is that what is called a captive market. and your correct that is very pricey. it might be cost effective for you to drive down here and use our service

for me the cost of the service has to be reasonable as I don't like overpaying for things myself and see no reason why my customers should

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

Chris at Ty Calch charges around £20 for launch/recovery/car park/smile/loo. He certainly launches more than 8/hr, probably due to his "can do" attitude rather than "can't do"

Can't get close to that price I'm afraid, But it sounds a bargain that should be cherished

[Crosshouse RIBS]

Originally Posted by Bucksribster

I'd use it if it was £20 for launch and recovery, but probably not if it was £40.

Thanks and that's good feedback as you are exactly the sort of Customer I am thinking about in terms of distance to travel and convenience to you etc. Please see Shiny shoes post for an explanation of why operating this service at twenty pounds won't work for me

[Dan Gurney]

Originally Posted by Crosshouse RIBS

Can't get close to that price I'm afraid, But it sounds a bargain that should be cherished

Chris is an effing gent. The 'added value' he provides is priceless specially for those running elderly ribs/outboards ( I speak from experience). Having said that one of the sales/service outfits at Pwllheli Marina quoted me 20 quid for launch/recovery/car and trailer parking. They couldn't match Chris' winning smile though. [emoji2]

[Dry Run]

HI,

Sounds like you could start this up on a "suck it and see" basis with very little set-up cost. On that basis, I think you have to give it a go. Hopefully the weather will be kind to you and present you with all sorts of opportunities to "fine tune" your offering (both service and price wise).

If/when you do start, perhaps you could drop ne a PM as (in our capacity as Agents for Portsmouth Commercial Port) we are often asked about alternative South Coast based launch sites and services and would be happy to recomend.

Best wishes

Steve

[gtflash]

Just like to add another thanks to Crosshouse trailers. Only ever done small business with the guys but they were kind enough to give me some parts for free.

Great guys to do business with.

[Simonh66]

Did this ever go anywhere?

[ribber]

Hi Crosshouse RIBS. I think I met you on the slip at the beginning of the season this year when launching my rib. Both of us watching a chap jack-knifing down the slipway about 40 times....well that is the fun of public slipways and being smug it wasn't us being watched...

What is seriously missing in Southampton is the ability to get the boat out and clean the underside. I leave the boat up the river on a pontoon and the green slime and barnacles get hold within two weeks. I have managed for 13 years, beaching over at Thorness bay and cleaning her there.

What would be a great service is being able to be towed out the water and having access to a power cleaner, something man enough to remove the crud.
Having cleaned her, then being dropped back into the water and away. It would be better if you supplied the right kind of trailer (unbraked) that did this, saving our own braked trailers the dreaded dunking.

I personally would be happy to spray the boat myself or if the pricing was right, have the whole job done by yourselves. I reckon this service would need to be done at least three times in my use of the boat/season - of three months, i.e. once a month. The main reason it's only three months is purely down to cleaning the underside There are many rib owners that aren't in drystack and would want this added convenience.

The advantages of this service is that you could book in advance a time suitable to yourself when manpower available, tide is right and room available in the yard.

I guess we then might be tempted to have the boat serviced/repaired whilst were're there.

Thanks for your post, I hope something comes of it.

[Dry Run]

Hi Ribber,

FYI, we offer a "lift out/pressure wash/ relaunch" service using our dry stack boat-lift for £82.50 inc vat. And you can sit in the pub next door and watch. You just have to take a trip to Portsmouth

Regards

Steve

[ribber]

Hi Dry Run Just seen your reply. Great to know and a good price, could do with that here in Southampton. Have already arranged a lift out over on the I of W and have use of their jet wash. Although sitting in the pub does sound tempting...

Thanks again.