cazou34 said..
Hi,

I'm Gael, new to the forum, 25yr old, with a really bad english...

I plan to buy a 24ft sailboat (rego is ready to sign) and to find a swing mooring in port hacking (Burraner, Dolans,... bays). As I am new to this, the mooring system is not really clear to me.
On the rms website, it says that there is no applicant for some places (Burraner bay, fisherman bay...).
In addition to the license fee, do I need the service of a mooring contractor to instal a new buoy (What is the cost?) or does it mean that there are some buoys available?

Thanks

Gael, hi and welcome to the forum.
The mooring situation in Port Hacking is such that for some areas you have to place your name on a waiting list for a position to become available.
With the mooring apparatus you have to purchase it and have it installed in the allocated location, service it annually and pay the RMS fee applicable.
The cost to have it done is usually around a thousand dollars.
All the best and enjoy.

A private mooring will be your cheapest option.
There are two contractors working down there that I know of McKay marine and the other is GMW SERVICES talk cash may help alot . Pm me if you want contact numbers

Thanks for your responses

last question:
If there is no applicant on the waiting list, does it mean that the availability will be immediate once I put my name on the list?

I'm just a bit scared, the previous owner of the boat give me two months before moving and I don't want to have to rent an other mooring before receiving my private license.

great, thks

I will probably post a lot of other messages as I am a real newbie...

By the way, for those who know port hacking, what are the best places there?

I have a 26' yacht on a swing mooring in Port Hacking (Yowie Bay) and can offer at least some local advice. I pay about $220/annum for the mooring. I live on the waterfront and see the Maritime boats (they still have that on the side of their Sharkcats despite the name change to RMS) daily.

While there are some areas with waiting lists and a few others where no new moorings are allowed, there are still quite a range of areas where you can arrange for immediate mooring space - and even with a view of moving later as a better spot becomes available. Mooring contractors do this regularly. Availability is better the further into Port Hacking you choose.

I would differ from an earlier post suggesting RMS Rozelle and would deal only with the local RMS people - who I have found to be surprisingly helpful. They are now administratively centralised within a State Government office (in Miranda) but the two boats that they use daily within Port Hacking are based at the Burraneer Bay Marina. The woman in charge on the water, with the strange title of Riverkeeper/Boating Services Officer, is Fiona Thomson (0417243654) and she is very switched on and helpful - and would be my first point of contact. No doubt there will be a need for subsequent form filling/money exchange in an office somewhere but if you have some idea of where you want your mooring (presumably close to where you want to/can store your dingy which is as important - the local council are fairly strict about this) then she would probably agree to meet you and suggest locations.

Regarding mooring contractors there are a few operating locally (and while I will not use this forum to bad-mouth the one who did not secure a shackle pin resulting in my boat breaking free and then telling me he could not come and attend to it for a week because he was busy!) I have found Southern Cross Moorings (Hayden Copas) to be reliable and reasonably priced. They are based at Caringbah and have a website. Annual mooring service costs about $275 (they pick up the whole thing with a crane barge and inspect it all and drop it back if nothing needs replacement) and I do not recall the original cost of the block/ground tackle but I would have thought that some earlier post estimates of $1000 would easily cover it for a new setup and there may be a chance the RMS or mooring contractor can get you on to a second-hand block - or Gumtree as another has suggested. (I kayak in Port Hacking regularly and often see RMS notices on apparently abandoned mooring buoys indicating that there is a requirement to remove the block/gear before a certain date beyond which the RMS will arrange to have it moved).

There are no club moorings that I am aware of and you will not find a cheaper way of parking your boat than an RMS mooring - at a couple of hundred dollars per year I reckon it is a bargain - about what it costs to park your car at the airport for a couple of days!

I hope this helps.

Icepick said..
I have a 26' yacht on a swing mooring in Port Hacking (Yowie Bay) and can offer at least some local advice. I pay about $220/annum for the mooring. I live on the waterfront and see the Maritime boats (they still have that on the side of their Sharkcats despite the name change to RMS) daily.

While there are some areas with waiting lists and a few others where no new moorings are allowed, there are still quite a range of areas where you can arrange for immediate mooring space - and even with a view of moving later as a better spot becomes available. Mooring contractors do this regularly. Availability is better the further into Port Hacking you choose.

I would differ from an earlier post suggesting RMS Rozelle and would deal only with the local RMS people - who I have found to be surprisingly helpful. They are now administratively centralised within a State Government office (in Miranda) but the two boats that they use daily within Port Hacking are based at the Burraneer Bay Marina. The woman in charge on the water, with the strange title of Riverkeeper/Boating Services Officer, is Fiona Thomson (0417243654) and she is very switched on and helpful - and would be my first point of contact. No doubt there will be a need for subsequent form filling/money exchange in an office somewhere but if you have some idea of where you want your mooring (presumably close to where you want to/can store your dingy which is as important - the local council are fairly strict about this) then she would probably agree to meet you and suggest locations.

Regarding mooring contractors there are a few operating locally (and while I will not use this forum to bad-mouth the one who did not secure a shackle pin resulting in my boat breaking free and then telling me he could not come and attend to it for a week because he was busy!) I have found Southern Cross Moorings (Hayden Copas) to be reliable and reasonably priced. They are based at Caringbah and have a website. Annual mooring service costs about $275 (they pick up the whole thing with a crane barge and inspect it all and drop it back if nothing needs replacement) and I do not recall the original cost of the block/ground tackle but I would have thought that some earlier post estimates of $1000 would easily cover it for a new setup and there may be a chance the RMS or mooring contractor can get you on to a second-hand block - or Gumtree as another has suggested. (I kayak in Port Hacking regularly and often see RMS notices on apparently abandoned mooring buoys indicating that there is a requirement to remove the block/gear before a certain date beyond which the RMS will arrange to have it moved).

There are no club moorings that I am aware of and you will not find a cheaper way of parking your boat than an RMS mooring - at a couple of hundred dollars per year I reckon it is a bargain - about what it costs to park your car at the airport for a couple of days!

I hope this helps.

Is it 275 for annual mooring service??? For what size boat? I pay 160 per service with jubilee in Greenwich/woodford bay. Amazing how different prices are. It's $100 bucks difference!

Gee - you guys are touchy about RMS Rozelle. I did not dispute that they are any good - I merely pointed out that the local RMS people (or the one person I and neighbours have dealt with) are also particularly knowledgeable, helpful and obliging - and I can see little point in the OP traipsing halfway across Sydney to deal with a Harbour based office when she was seeking local Port Hacking advice.

Re the mooring service cost - I thought $250 + GST was OK (I just checked my last account. My boat is 26' but my neighbour has a 40' Riviera flybridge cruiser and he pays the same as we have them done together) but $160 sounds better! I presume that the mooring is lifted for that. I used to pay less for a guy who dived to check the mooring (leaving his dog in charge of the air compressor on the barge!) but prefer the security (and option to come out to the barge and watch or he will take photos) of having it lifted.

To the original poster - I meant to mention that there are at least four Port Hacking marinas (Cronulla, Burraneer Bay, Dolans Bay, Yowie Bay) which have rental moorings (and marina berths at much greater cost) if you need a mooring urgently (or for an extended period) with cost depending on location and dingy storage, courtesy dinghy, or tender service. The RMS mooring will always be much cheaper.

cazou34 said...
Thanks for your responses

last question:
If there is no applicant on the waiting list, does it mean that the availability will be immediate once I put my name on the list?

I'm just a bit scared, the previous owner of the boat give me two months before moving and I don't want to have to rent an other mooring before receiving my private license.

If you need to hire a Comercial mooring the cheapest in the area would be Endeavour Marine but they are in Kogarah bay

twodogs1969 said..

cazou34 said...
Thanks for your responses

last question:
If there is no applicant on the waiting list, does it mean that the availability will be immediate once I put my name on the list?

I'm just a bit scared, the previous owner of the boat give me two months before moving and I don't want to have to rent an other mooring before receiving my private license.

If you need to hire a Comercial mooring the cheapest in the area would be Endeavour Marine but they are in Kogarah bay

Another plus is that Botany Bay and the lower Georges river is good to fine tune your sailing skills without parking on a sandbar