When building the marina / yacht club, it’s important to think about what’s needed today and an element of future proofing as things tend to get bigger and better, that’s if you have the right location and the right start for people to get comfortable and return.

I really only deal with the biggest boats in the industry generally above 80m in length so not really what you would see around Cape Coral, but to make a decent Yacht Club there’s a lot of common principals just the scale is different.

 

The main points to consider:

 

• The size of boats you want to accommodate - The bigger the boats, the more money the clients have and the higher spec the facilities must be.

• Security – All port facilities must have an eye on security and the bigger boats want to dock at ISPS compliant berths/marinas.

• Infrastructure – Facilities to supply the boats with essential services.

• Support services within the marina / club.

 

The size of boats you want to accommodate.

The size of berths to tie up to are one thing, but water depth and turning circles also determine if the bigger boats can safely get in and tie up.

So, once you know what sort of boats you can or want to accommodate you will have an idea of what type of facilities you need to attract the owners and their Captain’s.

After taking a look online, I think for Cape Coral you are talking up to the 20m size.

With that in mind you should be able to work out how many boats you can accommodate and in turn what sort of numbers you will be looking at during a busy season for the facilities.

Small boats up to 20m length with little or no crew living permanently onboard generally means you are catering for people with a bit of money but not billionaires and their large crews permanently in the marina.

 

Security

I have attached the ISPS code which was developed in the years after 911, don’t read it all as there’s lots of irrelevant stuff for you in there about ship security. However, it will give you an idea that port security is a big deal also.
Things to think about are the general tightness of the perimeter, access control with a security gate and security officer and monitoring of the whole area with CCTV.

Owners and crew would generally get a personal swipe card which they can use to get through the security gates and the system would register who is coming and going and tally how many people they have in the facilities. In case of an emergency, they would be able to tell the first responders how many people are inside.

 

Infrastructure

The jetties can be laid out and made in many different ways, the large berths are generally concrete with trenches to run cables and pipes suppling the services. They would normally have some sort of fender system generally made from rubber. Smaller jetties are normally wood either on stilts or can even be composite and floating on tanks. I would suggest you just google loads of examples to see what works in the space you have.

To supply the boats with essential services there needs to be thought given to the electrical and fresh water supply to each berth.

Being able to connect black and grey sewage discharge to a discharge manifold is a big plus but not many small marinas have this facility.

Marinas these days also offer high speed internet. A lot of places do this with wifi but the better ones will have a wired connection at the berths also.

Good lighting all around the marina is needed but especially near the water’s edge and all along the berths, at least at foot height.

Sometimes the layout of the marina means the boats berth ‘stern to’ (reverse park) to help with this it is a good idea to have ground lines fixed under the water which you can pull up at a buoy, where you tie a bow line to.

 

Support services within the marina / club

 

There’s a few must haves and the list of nice to haves is endless.

 

• Large enough Car park - generally number of spaces is proportional to the number of boats and the boat size, generally one or two per vessel and then a good amount more for guests and visitors.

• Security gates and hut for security office.

• Slip ways to launch and recover small boats on trailers.

• Club house with at least one restaurant and bar, would normally have a couple with one being more upmarket.

• Lounge with outdoor terrace and possibly an event room.

• Launderette.

• Managers and staff office space.

• Reception and Concierge Office.

• Maintenance office, workshop and stores.

• Shower block and toilets.

 

 

• Gymnasium.

• Internet café / library.

• Swimming Pool.

• Small convenience store selling essentials

• Ships Chandlery for everyday consumables and maintenance gear.

• Refuelling quay with petrol / Diesel pumps.

• Office / Conference space to rent out is a plus.

• Storage space for rent.

• Tennis / Squash Courts etc..

• Bicycle hire.

 

I have attached an annual report on Marinas by the Superyacht Group, there’s quite a bit in there which isn’t relevant but there’s also probably some good insight and data for you.

Due to the size, I will also send you another mail with a report on the American market which will give you an idea about the market in the states.

 

I am sure you have had a look at lots of websites but here’s just a few where you can get some ideas which you would probably need to scale down to Cape Coral.

 

Port Vell Barcelona - https://www.marinaportvell.com/services/

One of the best superyacht marinas in the world. This is high end but gives you an idea and some elements could give you some ideas.

 

Monaco yacht Club - https://yacht-club-monaco.mc/en/yacht-club-en/the-clubhouse/

The most prestigious yacht club in the world for the mega rich. Focus is on the fancy club house for socialising and networking between the UHNWI’s

 

West Palm Beach - https://shmarinas.com/locations/safe-harbor-rybovich/

This place is a favourite in Florida for the larger boat crews because they can get a lot of maintenance work done and the facilities are great for them to work and play.

It is now owned by a big outfit called Safe Habor who own many marinas and yacht clubs in the States. They also own a spot near Cape Coral: https://shmarinas.com/locations/safe-harbor-cape-harbour/