Horn Harbor Marina: Port Haywood, VA ?

[ILikeRust]

So, does anybody know anything about Horn Harbor Marina in Port Haywood, VA?

It seems they have an old marine railway there, but it also seems it's currently out of commission. I believe the marina and boatyard have been in operation for something like 70 years or more.

Just wondering what anyone might know about the place or its reputation.

Thanks,

[Hud3]

I've sailed past it a number of times while heading up and down the Bay. It's always peaked my curiosity, because it's in a very convenient location if you want to break up a trip from Fleet's Bay, where we used to live, down to Hampton Roads or back. But those 5' and 6' depth readings on the chart always made me a bit leery of trying it.

PBlais sails that part of the Bay out of Sarah's Creek on the York. Maybe he can shed some light on the place.

From NOAA Chart 12238...

[islandguy5]

Originally Posted by ILikeRust

So, does anybody know anything about Horn Harbor Marina in Port Haywood, VA?

It seems they have an old marine railway there, but it also seems it's currently out of commission. I believe the marina and boatyard have been in operation for something like 70 years or more.

Just wondering what anyone might know about the place or its reputation.

Thanks,

I see this is an older post but I left my cat there last summer. If you still need info let me know.

[ILikeRust]

I was pretty much just trying to gauge public perception of the place.

[AllAboutMe]

I had to be towed in last year. It's a really winding entry, and you don't want to get off the channel.
The folks there were nice enough,and there were a couple of boat's from Canada on the hard their owners were working on,if I remember correctly. Its an old style boatyard, the yard manager a wood boat guy. Unless you have a car, nothing nearby as far as shopping goes.
I was told the marine railway was undercut and would be ungodly expensive to restore. If you're thinking of buying it, it would be a nice place to live, but tough to make a living.

[islandguy5]

Not wanting to bring my boat to Maine last summer I found Horn Harbor Marine on the internet and left my boat there.
Before the economy went south the boat yard was making money. It had found a niche in the market where people would store there boat in the water there and had nice amenities available.
They did limited repairs because there equipment was old and broken.
The railway, as noted, needed repair. Estimate to repair around 30k.
The grounds and buildings need renovation.
The real estate is nice and quite beautiful. but as noted the entrance is shallow.
Mathews is a very nice small town and Gloucester is about 20 minutes away.
Public perception is at the moment is not good. It looks like a business in decline which is to bad.

[ILikeRust]

Yes -

I was in fact exploring the possibility of buying the place, after I discovered last year that it was for sale. After I posted my original message above, I contacted the owner (or actually, one of the owners, who kind of runs the place) and met her down there. I can't really say much because I agreed to keep the information she gave me confidential, but suffice to say it would be difficult to make it work based on certain financial considerations.

It's too bad, because I think it really could be a really cool boatyard and marina and could be a good little business. And a neat place to live, to boot. But I and a buddy of mine who knows about everything there is to know about financing real estate decided there really wasn't a good way to make the purchase work, at least given what the circumstances were back in November/December. For all I know, things have changed by now.

Thanks!