exclusive atmosphere. Higher ground that overlooks the harbor from a nearby viewpoint 

 often makes a good yacht club site. A variation is a yacht club with its own separate basin. 



b. Space-Allocation. The total area available to the harbor development often places a 

 restriction on the number of boats that the harbor can accommodate and on the size and 

 scope of the ancillary activity it can support. Several general relationships, found valid for 

 most harbors, may help the planner to make tentative allocations of space, which can later 

 be adjusted to definite dimensions in the final planning stages. Such allocations are 

 important in making adequate allowance for future expansion (Fig. 43). 



The average harbor with all -slip moorage can berth about 15 to 20 boats per acre of 

 navigable water area, including main interior channel, fairways, and slip areas, but not the 

 entrance channel. This general rule applies only when the average boat length is 30 to 35 

 feet and where good basin geometry can be obtained. Because of the wider fingers needed 

 for two-boat slips, they will occupy almost the same area as that required for single-boat 

 slips. When bow-and-stern moorings are used in Ueu of slips, about 2 to 4 times as much 

 water area (depending on the water depth) will be required, exclusive of fairways and 

 channels. Single-point moorings require about 6 times the area occupied by the same 

 number of bow-and-stern moorings if full-circle clearance is provided. 



For the normal distribution of boats, a minimum of three vehicle spaces in the parking 

 lot will be required for every four boats in the berthing area. About 90 cars can be parked in 

 an acre, so that roughly one-sixth of an acre of parking lot is required for each acre of water 

 area in the harbor. Where the average size of the berthed craft is large— and many are used 

 for social occasions and multi-family cruising— the ratio may have to be increased to a 

 maximum of about three spaces per berth. 



An average launching ramp or hoist will launch and retrieve about 50 trailered boats on a 

 peak day, and because of staggered usage, car-trailer parking spaces will be required for only 

 80 percent of the peak-day ramp or hoist traffic. About 30 car -trailer units can be parked in 

 an acre if puUthrough parking at 45° is provided. This works out to 1.33 acres of parking lot 

 per ramp lane or hoist. 



Land area required for harbor service facilities, ancillary facilities, and roads varies from 

 one harbor to another. The minimum requirement is an area roughly equal to the parking 

 area required for berths and operational launchings. This will generally provide enough space 

 only for harbor support faciUties and roads. To obtain a good revenue versus cost balance it 

 is usually necessary to supplement slip rentals with leaseholds for ancillary facilities; with 

 the additional parking area required, the minimum leasehold and supplemental parking area 

 needed for the extra services that convert a simple smaU-craft harbor into a complete marina 

 is about twice the area needed for boatowner parking alone. Thus, once the parking area 

 requirement for slips and launching has been determined, it should be multiplied by 4 to 

 obtain the total minimum land area required for a complete marina. Any additional land 

 that can be obtained may be put to beneficial use later, as a good marina will upgrade its 

 surroundings and attract more revenue-producing ancillary development. 



84 



