It's time to leave Brewer's

cwiert

Active Member
May 7, 2008
560
Chester, CT
Boat Info
1998 400 Sedan Bridge
Engines
CAT 3116 - 350HP
For the last 3 years, I've been at Brewer's Pilot's Point Marina in Westbrook, CT. Beautiful marina. We loved it there and made great friends. However their prices are constantly going up. Last year I paid 7800 for my 50' slip. This year it was 8300. Just got the price for next season and it's 8900. Enough is enough. I'm out. I can move to a smaller slip (44'), in a less desirable section of the marina for 7200, but I still think that's high, so I think it's time to leave.

My leading candidate is Mystic River Marina. Any one have any experience with this marina? I visited it over the weekend and it looks nice. Fixed docks which I don't love, but that's really my only gripe. Views are great, nice pool for the kids and the price is right too - I'll save thousands!

Any other recommendations are welcome. A pool is a must with my 9 & 10 yr old kids.
 
Just talked to a buddy in greenwich bay.....since the sale/merger with clean harbors prices have been going up and service down......I was at mystic river marina for a few seasons - Jeff and his crew are great....they are a "well funded" family operation and they don't lie, cheat or neglect their property....There has been talk over the years of converting to floating docks - its a touchy issue as several slips were sold a docaminiums years ago and some see this as a way of "forcing" owners to sell back or shoulder part of the cost......There is not a ton of tidal variance in the river so fixed docks are not that big of a deal......again, the docks are well kept and all slips have poles between the two slips in each well and most have short finger piers. The pool and bathroom/showers are always clean. There are often small weddings (see several ceremonies over the summer) and parties at the "yacht club" building on site but parking is never a problem.....really short dinghy ride (or longish walk) to town....I can't recommend this place enough - and as you know Mystic is closer to Block, Newport, Napa Tree, MV, etc than you are now......PM me if you want more info....
 
Just talked to a buddy in greenwich bay.....since the sale/merger with clean harbors prices have been going up and service down......I was at mystic river marina for a few seasons - Jeff and his crew are great....they are a "well funded" family operation and they don't lie, cheat or neglect their property....There has been talk over the years of converting to floating docks - its a touchy issue as several slips were sold a docaminiums years ago and some see this as a way of "forcing" owners to sell back or shoulder part of the cost......There is not a ton of tidal variance in the river so fixed docks are not that big of a deal......again, the docks are well kept and all slips have poles between the two slips in each well and most have short finger piers. The pool and bathroom/showers are always clean. There are often small weddings (see several ceremonies over the summer) and parties at the "yacht club" building on site but parking is never a problem.....really short dinghy ride (or longish walk) to town....I can't recommend this place enough - and as you know Mystic is closer to Block, Newport, Napa Tree, MV, etc than you are now......PM me if you want more info....

Thanks. PM sent. Yeah, we noticed that things started to go downhill once Safe Harbor bought out Brewers. Less service. Less activities. More cost.
 
Prices at Brewers Sakonnet (now Safe Harbor) in RI have gone up this year too. 10% on winter storage and 7% summer docks. Time to start looking at other marinas.
 
Don't know how anyone can justify paying these outrageous rates. My yacht club costs for my 390 Express total less than $3400 including dues, assessments, slip fees and winter hauling and land storage. I can shrink wrap and bottom paint my own boat for next to nothing. If I had to pay those outrageous rates I'd own a sunfish. We have a 7000sg ft. clubhouse, plenty of on sight parking and huge inground pool with full time lifeguard.
 
For the last 3 years, I've been at Brewer's Pilot's Point Marina in Westbrook, CT. Beautiful marina. We loved it there and made great friends. However their prices are constantly going up. Last year I paid 7800 for my 50' slip. This year it was 8300. Just got the price for next season and it's 8900. Enough is enough. I'm out. I can move to a smaller slip (44'), in a less desirable section of the marina for 7200, but I still think that's high, so I think it's time to leave.

My leading candidate is Mystic River Marina. Any one have any experience with this marina? I visited it over the weekend and it looks nice. Fixed docks which I don't love, but that's really my only gripe. Views are great, nice pool for the kids and the price is right too - I'll save thousands!

Any other recommendations are welcome. A pool is a must with my 9 & 10 yr old kids.

I'm also at Pirate's Point - South Yard in a 44' slip. We received our contract for winter and next year yesterday, but haven't opened the envelope and now you've got me afraid to do so. FWIW, I didn't notice an increase from last year to this year. However, a quick survey of the slips revealed that they do have about 30-35% vacant rate so an increase was sort of expected.

I hope mine isn't as big as yours. I can take a little, but...

When we first got there 10 years ago, there were only two slips open in the whole of 850+ slips in the marina. We landed on a great dock, but lately attrition is taking its toll. Loss of good friends is even worse than the increases.

Gene
 
Don't know how anyone can justify paying these outrageous rates. My yacht club costs for my 390 Express total less than $3400 including dues, assessments, slip fees and winter hauling and land storage. I can shrink wrap and bottom paint my own boat for next to nothing. If I had to pay those outrageous rates I'd own a sunfish. We have a 7000sg ft. clubhouse, plenty of on sight parking and huge inground pool with full time lifeguard.
What "Yacht club" do you belong to... sounds very nice...
 
I'm also at Pirate's Point - South Yard in a 44' slip. We received our contract for winter and next year yesterday, but haven't opened the envelope and now you've got me afraid to do so. FWIW, I didn't notice an increase from last year to this year. However, a quick survey of the slips revealed that they do have about 30-35% vacant rate so an increase was sort of expected.

I hope mine isn't as big as yours. I can take a little, but...

When we first got there 10 years ago, there were only two slips open in the whole of 850+ slips in the marina. We landed on a great dock, but lately attrition is taking its toll. Loss of good friends is even worse than the increases.

Gene

Hey Gene. Yeah, you went up to about 7200. Winter went up too. I'm on D Dock, listed as a 50' slip. We were the only ones that went up last year. The smaller slips didn't go up. So my slip went up 1100 from last year to next year. Ridiculous.
 
Don't know how anyone can justify paying these outrageous rates. My yacht club costs for my 390 Express total less than $3400 including dues, assessments, slip fees and winter hauling and land storage. I can shrink wrap and bottom paint my own boat for next to nothing. If I had to pay those outrageous rates I'd own a sunfish. We have a 7000sg ft. clubhouse, plenty of on sight parking and huge inground pool with full time lifeguard.


I am guessing the yacht club you speak of is in Boston, not the cape. The cape marinas I know of start at 150/ft summer only.
 
I am guessing the yacht club you speak of is in Boston, not the cape. The cape marinas I know of start at 150/ft summer only.

My yacht club is on the South side of Boston Harbor. While the Cape is nice and the water a little warmer the location gives you an unlimited choice of destinations even if it's rough on the outside. Over the years I've traveled as far as Block Island to the South and Portsmouth, NH to the North.
 
I'm at brewers south (coweset)and love the docks and proximity to everything.i haven't noticed any changes since safe harbor has acquired brewers.parking lot is decent and pool,bathrooms and showers are clean.compriable marina in my area priime east Greenwich does not have enough to offer and more expensive.
 
Wow. that's insane. I'm looking at a 35' covered slip in the Sacramento delta, and it will be around $3600 (and that's without winter layups)
 
Wow!! $7200??? Ok, my boat is small by comparison, but my rate is $1200 a season. And they have clean bathrooms, good launch ramp, great service. And a COKE machine for $1!!! OK, ......I'm on a lake :)
 
i haven't noticed any changes since safe harbor has acquired brewers.

No? I just got an email from Safe Harbor last week. In it, they went over their new Loyalty Program. For seasonal customers, like me, they got rid of free transient nights at other Brewer's locations. For annual customers (winter and summer storage), they added blackout dates for Greenport, Mystic and Plymouth. No free nights at any of those marinas on weekend or Holidays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Gee, thanks.

Also, you can't get $.40/gal fuel discount on weekends anymore. Weekdays only.

Cost go up, perks and benefits go down. Not exactly the best business model for customer retention.
 
No? I just got an email from Safe Harbor last week. In it, they went over their new Loyalty Program. For seasonal customers, like me, they got rid of free transient nights at other Brewer's locations. For annual customers (winter and summer storage), they added blackout dates for Greenport, Mystic and Plymouth. No free nights at any of those marinas on weekend or Holidays from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Gee, thanks.

Also, you can't get $.40/gal fuel discount on weekends anymore. Weekdays only.

Cost go up, perks and benefits go down. Not exactly the best business model for customer retention.

I received the Loyalty Program information too. The blackout dates are crazy and the $.40/gal weekdays and $.20/gal weekends fuel discount seems ridiculous. In my area there is a neighboring marina that sells fuel at a lower price point than the Brewer's discount. So the fuel discount was always seen as a joke to us anyway. However, is was valuable when traveling away from home port.

I haven't see any positive benefits from the new Safe Harbor owners. Just higher costs and new demands like having a credit card on file with them.
 
Just one thing you guys might want to keep in mind is demand is higher right now. Last year we had four out of the 20 slips on my dock open, the other side of the main pier had even more and that's just on the 40+ foot section. This year it was full and were being told that for the first time in over a decade they are following the renewal dates (i.e. deposit by X date, Paid in full by Y or lose your slip) as they have waiting lists for every size.

That said - damn those rates are high! We pay $90/ft plus electric but it is a State owned/City run marina - summer only they don't do winter storage.

We did an overnight at Coweset - very nice marina and we would probably be there if we didn't have have grandparents to baby-sit our daughter 15 minutes from where we are now!
 
Demand is high for your marina.
The Brewer's that I was in is the "flagship" brewers (supposedly). Pilot's Point in Westbrook. They have 870 slips - BIG marina. This summer, I was told they were only 75% full. But that's because they charge an arm, leg and first born child to stay there. When the big guys like that are charging ridiculous rates, there's going to be a lot of defectors to smaller, more affordable marina's like yours. Supply & Demand.
 
Wow. The numbers here are mind blowing.

I pay $1200 per year, which includes water and 30 amp electric. I’d prefer 50 amp, but getting that done is apparently like pulling teeth.

Haul, set and store is a little under a grand.

I should add that all of the docks are the same price regardless of boat length.

The restroom/shower facilities are newer and well maintained, there’s a small ship’s store and play ground.

I’ve slipped there since 2008.
 
Soulshine your slip fees would be 4-5 times higher in a public marina around Boston. Your winter storage would be double.
 

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