BLUEMOMENT

2 flat grey discs, hard to see until right on top of them. No pickups and shackle on top a bit on the small side to loop anything substantial through. Sited north of the pier, so taking up the anchoring place off the river. Could have been further in to give more shelter and preserve the existing anchoring area. Seems a bit noisy with traffic from the main road accelerating away from the lights at the single track bridge. Pier is ramshacle and fenced off so no landing there (I understand its privately owned). Vital Spark puffer currently on the pier. 2 more moorings planned off the gaol, presumably using up the other anchoring place. I like the community has given it a go, but it could be done a lot better. I might contact them with some suggestions for when they relay them next year.

Amused by Scottish Canal's mooring outside the sea lock at Ardrishaig, put in after they removed the waiting pontoon. Spherical plastic buoy with a big 'V'on it, no eye, no strop, only way to use it is to lassoo the riser. Been there since spring but no one has managed to use it yet.

Hi, I am a member of the Inveraray Community Council. We have been offered the opportunity to purchase the pier for the community, which we are raising funds for and applying to grants.

Our knowledge of boating is little to non existent and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to let me know what you would like to see at Inveraray Pier? Firstly for the stone section and secondly, stage 2 of the plan would be for the wooden extension. Any suggestions welcome, what would you pay, how would you like to book, are 4 moorrings enough, what are the difficulties etc?

I need to produce a business plan for a large grant we intend to apply for.

Many thanks in advance.

Many, many thanks for giving us an opportunity to feed into the process. I'll take a bit of time to distill my thoughts and come back to you, as I'm sure others will too.

One thing that might be useful for your project would be to research other similar setups, both the infrastructure and the legal structure and financials. Close to you, the strachur pontoon and moorings folks will be happy to share details. Oystercatcher at otter ferry, Loch Goil(Carrick castle, Loch Goil Cruisers and Lochgoilhead moorings) also have some good aspects and Loch Long have recently got a new facility. Further afield, Gigha, Loch Melfort and Rum are good examples. Download the free Welcome Anchorages brochure to get a feel for what's out there.

Overall, moorings shouldn't take up established anchoring areas, but should complement them by putting them where people wouldn't anchor, eg deeper water. Then folks have a choice of anchor or mooring. This is important for inverary since its a long way up there and there's the concern of what to do if all the moorings are taken. You might want more than 4. A good strop (the loop on top of the mooring that people hook onto their boat) is appreciated as is regular servicing. Rum have a QR code on thiers to make online payment easier, which probably increases the proportion who will pay. Carrick castle and Gigha have WiFi to the moorings, again makes it easier to pay online. On the pier, depends if you anticipate people coming ashore from yachts by dinghy in which case a small wooden pontoon with a ramp up to the pier is fine. If you want to get yachts alongside, something more substantial is needed, and you'd need to check how deep the water is at low tide. You might convince Antares or Clydeport to do a survey. For facilities, a water hose on the pier can be handy if yachts go alongside even if only at high water. A shower is a great bonus - what is in the public toilet block just now, and can you get one put in? I reckon £10 is the going rate for a mooring overnight around here. Given the facilities in the village (pub, shop, chippy etc) I think it would bea popular destination.

For bigger boats/mini cruise ships the best people to reach out to would be Majestic Line based in Holy Loch. There's also Argyll Cruising - the skipper is from Loch Fyne and I'm sure would help. These bigger boats have higher-end guests looking for interesting things ashore, like visiting Inverary Castle or the jail so I'm sure they would consider adding you onto one of their itineraries. Their mooring needs are a bit more substantial than what most folks on here are, so can help speccing out a beefed up wooden end for the pier.

Thank you very much for feedback, much appreciated and has given me direction.

Phase 1 will be concentrating on the stone pier, the wooden park is a bigger project and we had considered floating pontoons. I had thought of an honesty box for payments, but the suggestion of a QR code is far better.

We are also considering purchasing the toilets and offering better facilities, its exciting times.

Any more suggestions please let me know.

The QR code is all well and good but I have rarely managed to get my phone to recognize one, and I am not alone. At Lochranza the moorings have notices with bank details (sort code and account number) instead of an honesty box, as payment can be made without going ashore. That idea is good but an improvement would be to make the characters larger so that they can be read from the deck of the boat, ie. At least 9ft away. Payment may not be immediate as some of us are too mean to use mobile internet but at least we'll probably pay by BACS when we get to a wifi connection.

On cruise ships, the larger ones will be expected to anchor and the big cruise lines ships are all too big to get as far as Inverary. I have seen several small cruise ships around but in general they are not from UK lines, but German French and Italian lines. Since they scrapped Boudica and Black Watch I doubt whether Fred Olsen has anything small enough to get past Otter Ferry. I don't think that the small-ship lines like Majestic need customs and immigration controls for their limited number of passengers.

Good luck with the project.