Marina and boat yard operations don't happen at a desk. You're on the pontoon, in the yard, or walking the hard standing. When a boat owner wants to pay for a lift-out, a mooring extension, or a boat hire session — you need to take that payment there and then.
The Marina Payment Challenge
Traditional card machines don't work well in marine environments. Signal drops near the water. Saltwater corrodes hardware. And the person collecting the payment is rarely the person sitting next to the terminal in the office.
The result? Invoices that sit unpaid for weeks. "I'll pay when I'm next in" promises that never materialise. Cash payments with no paper trail. Revenue leaking through the gaps.
How MK Marina Takes Payment at the Quayside
Milton Keynes Marina on the Grand Union Canal runs two day boats — Mary Jane and Meadowlark — carrying up to 10 people each. Before switching to PayCamp, their boat hire payments were a headache: customers booked through a clunky ASP.NET system, then payment was handled separately, often in cash or by bank transfer with no automatic reconciliation.
Now, the entire flow happens on a single tablet at the quayside:
- Open Quick Pay from the PayCamp dashboard on any device
- Select the customer or enter a quick description
- Enter the amount and tap 'Take Card Payment'
- Show the QR code — the customer scans it with their phone
- Payment confirmed — both parties see the green tick instantly
For boat hire specifically, the Dockside flow handles this even more seamlessly — the customer selects their craft, picks a session, signs the safety waiver, and pays, all in one flow. The payment is linked to the booking automatically.
Tap a craft to view details · tap a status badge to cycle it
Real-World Use Cases
At the Quayside — Boat Hire Walk-Ins
A family turns up on a sunny Saturday wanting to take Mary Jane out for 2 hours. Staff open Dockside on the tablet, the family pick their session (£60 for 2 hours), sign the digital waiver, and pay — all before they've finished putting on life jackets. The old way? Check the desktop in the office, come back out, take cash, write it in the book. Meanwhile, half the queue has wandered off.
At the Pontoon — Mooring Payments
A visiting boat arrives for a weekend berth. You agree the rate, show the QR code, and payment is done before they've finished tying up. No paperwork, no "send me an invoice".
Chandlery and Services
Pump-out charges, chandlery sales, or diesel purchases — take payment immediately without leaving the quayside. Every transaction links to the customer record automatically.
Linked to Your Customer Records
Every payment taken via QR code or through Dockside is automatically linked to the customer's account in PayCamp. It appears in their payment history, contributes to their account balance, and shows up in your financial reports. No manual reconciliation needed.
At MK Marina, this means they can see at a glance: how much revenue Mary Jane generated this month, which customers are repeat hirers, and what their average booking value is. Information that was invisible when payments were cash-in-the-tin.
See Yard Manager in Action
Discover how marinas and boatyards streamline operations with PayCamp's purpose-built tools.
PayCamp Payments: The Easy Option
MK Marina uses PayCamp Payments — the built-in payment processing that requires no separate Stripe account. The rates are 5% + 50p per transaction, and setup takes under 30 seconds. For a site doing a handful of hire bookings a day, the simplicity is worth it: no API keys, no developer, no Stripe dashboard to manage.
For larger operations processing higher volumes, there's also the option to connect your own Stripe account at 2.8% + 25p — but for most smaller marinas and hire operations, PayCamp Payments is the path of least resistance.
Tap a craft to view details · tap a status badge to cycle it
Security and Compliance
Payments are processed through Stripe's PCI-compliant infrastructure. No card details touch your device or your servers. The QR code generates a unique, time-limited payment link — it can't be reused or intercepted.
For marina operators, this means you get enterprise-level payment security without enterprise-level complexity. Your staff don't need training on card machines. Your customers don't need to hand over their card. Everyone just uses the phone they already have in their pocket.
The Difference It Makes
Before mobile payments, MK Marina's boat hire revenue was a mix of cash, bank transfers, and occasional card payments taken in the office. Reconciling it all was a manual job. Now, every penny is tracked, every transaction is linked to a booking, and the revenue report updates in real time.
The team's verdict? "Night and day."
Milton Keynes Marina
Grand Union Canal · Open Year-Round
150+
Berths
15mi
Cruising
24/7
Security
Milton Keynes Marina
The Heart of the Waterways
Mooring Availability
3 places available for upto 62' WideBeam boats
2 places for Narrowboats upto 70'
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See Yard Manager in Action
Discover how marinas and boatyards streamline operations with PayCamp's purpose-built tools.