Dockwa reviews ?

[TJM]

We stayed at a Marina a few weeks ago reserved thru Dockwa. Not a fan of the "service", I am not sure why we need a middle man just to add to the cost of dockage.
The marina staff was terrible and we wanted to post a review on Dockwa so people knew the info. Why do you have to have an "Account" with Marinas.com to post a review ?

For the record, the Marina "trainer" was teaching his peer how to plug in a shore power cord WRONG. The kid says "be sure the power switch is in the ON position on the pedestal prior to plugging in the customers (mine) shore power cord" I immediately corrected him explaining how that is incorrect and the power switch should be off to reduce a voltage spike and the voltage jumping the gap as he was plugging it in. He turned around and said "I have been doing it this way for a few years and never had any problems" I asked him to walk away from my boat before he causes more damage. Ugh

 

[timb]

i think you should sign up and leave the review . and tell the rest of us where it was . carbon from that type connection can lead to fire .

 

[TJM]

As I was typing this post I was getting more and more frustrated so I did sign up and leave the review. Lets see if anything come from it. Did I forget to mention that after that stay our Inverter is unable to work properly ? Hmmmmm
I might need a little convincing to post the name on here.

 

[CaptTom]

As I was typing this post I was getting more and more frustrated so I did sign up and leave the review. Lets see if anything come from it. Did I forget to mention that after that stay our Inverter is unable to work properly ?

There's still Active Captain, and Waterway Guide I think does reviews. And of course Yelp, Google Maps, etc. But if you're going to post negative reviews, be sure you also post positive ones when things go well.

Posting the name here won't reach nearly as many people, but you have whetted our curiosity now.

 

[TJM]

It was Montauk Marine Basin in Montauk, NY.
The sad part about it was that I was trying to educate the worker why it is a bad technique to plug a shore power cord into a "HOT" outlet. We have all seen the burned - charred receptacles from doing this same poor technique. And it was raining !

 

[magna 6882]

I saw that dock wa app and was puzzled why anyone would use it when they can just call the marina direct.

 

[High Wire]

I saw that dock wa app and was puzzled why anyone would use it when they can just call the marina direct.

Some marinas have turned all of their slip bookings over to Dockwa. There are things I like about it and some things I hate.

 

[Swfla]

We stayed at a Marina a few weeks ago reserved thru Dockwa. Not a fan of the "service", I am not sure why we need a middle man just to add to the cost of dockage.
The marina staff was terrible and we wanted to post a review on Dockwa so people knew the info. Why do you have to have an "Account" with Marinas.com to post a review ?

For the record, the Marina "trainer" was teaching his peer how to plug in a shore power cord WRONG. The kid says "be sure the power switch is in the ON position on the pedestal prior to plugging in the customers (mine) shore power cord" I immediately corrected him explaining how that is incorrect and the power switch should be off to reduce a voltage spike and the voltage jumping the gap as he was plugging it in. He turned around and said "I have been doing it this way for a few years and never had any problems" I asked him to walk away from my boat before he causes more damage. Ugh

I agree about the breaker being off. I'd like to offer a future solution for you. Always have your main breaker off and your selector switch (if you have one) to ship's power when docking. Hope this is helpful. It sounds like the dock hand was giving instruction to an underling. When you said what you did to him, he became defensive and likely embarrassed from being corrected in front of an underling. You had the best of intentions but that is likely how he felt. It's human nature. BTW, I just have the best of intentions here and am not intending to criticize you in any way.

 

[Porgy]

In the dockhand’s defense, he might have been taught the wrong way by his predecessor or even the marina manager. Why would he then believe a complete stranger correcting and trying to educate him? You could have said,” That’s not how we do it on my boat, thanks. I’ll take care of the power.” Then helpfully talk to the manager and post your review good, bad or otherwise based on that outcome.

 

[psneeld]

Look at how many boating myths are passed right here on TF....


Plus there is a big difference in seasonal dock hands and say full time workers at a big corporate operation or city dock.


Doesn't make it right though...


However, based on the skills level needed to get the job, and how many dockmasters I have had that can't cleat correctly or misuse lines when tying up or don't get that the captain s ultimately responsible for the safe docking....go figure....

 

[Shrew]

We stayed at a Marina a few weeks ago reserved thru Dockwa. Not a fan of the "service", I am not sure why we need a middle man just to add to the cost of dockage.

The alternative is to have the marina purchase, install and manage an online booking software system. They also need to staff to answer the phone an book transient slips during normal business hours. More and more people demand online, anytime service. Dockwa fills that need. To do so, they do collect a service fee for the convenience of both parties involved.

The marina staff was terrible and we wanted to post a review on Dockwa so people knew the info. Why do you have to have an "Account" with Marinas.com to post a review ?

Dockwa owns marinas.com. There is no point in dockwa (booking application) develop a Reviews functionality when their sister company (Marinas.com) already possess that functionality.

For the record, the Marina "trainer" was teaching his peer how to plug in a shore power cord WRONG. The kid says "be sure the power switch is in the ON position on the pedestal prior to plugging in the customers (mine) shore power cord" I immediately corrected him explaining how that is incorrect and the power switch should be off to reduce a voltage spike and the voltage jumping the gap as he was plugging it in. He turned around and said "I have been doing it this way for a few years and never had any problems" I asked him to walk away from my boat before he causes more damage. Ugh

This is a matter of opinion/perception. I thought the same as you. You don't shut down the circuit before you plug in a light, do you? Why would you AC breakers be on, on the boat before plugging into the stanchion?

Read Post #49:

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f14/connecting-and-disconnecting-shore-power-235043-4.html

 

[Porgy]

We’ve stayed at marinas that had no pedestals or breakers. Plug right in to a live 30A or 50A socket bolted to the dock. Not suggesting that just because “that’s the way it’s always been done so it must be ok” but, if it were such the hazard some think, I’d have thought the electrical police would be wading through piles of corpses on docks to shut them down by now.

 

[Choices]

A circuit breaker is designed for failure. A plug is not.

Simply put, would you rather have it fault in your hand as you plug it in, or behind the toggle and panel which is designed to protect you?

Always open your main boat breaker before connecting to utility power. No telling what might be happening with the dock power.

All connections should be made before breakers are closed. Anything else is a great way to thin the herd.

 

[rgano]

We’ve stayed at marinas that had no pedestals or breakers. Plug right in to a live 30A or 50A socket bolted to the dock. Not suggesting that just because “that’s the way it’s always been done so it must be ok” but, if it were such the hazard some think, I’d have thought the electrical police would be wading through piles of corpses on docks to shut them down by now.

When you are faced with a non-breakered electrical source like that (I have never seen one myself), you must ensure your shore power/generator transfer switch is set to "Off" or "Generator" and your power cord is plugged in at the BOAT end before plugging the shore end into the already live circuit on the dock.

What I VERY often find when I moor to marinas is that the breakers on the power pedestals was left on by the last transient which tells me that many people out there have no clue about how to properly DISCONNECT a boat from shore power. That probably means they have no clue about how to properly connect either.