Greetings,
I was contacted through my website today by someone with a business proposition that involves my boat... to charter Clock Work, my Nordic Tug 42.. in the north in the summer and the south in the winter, and to make the transit each way some kind of "adventure" thing. This is actually the second time I've fielded such an idea... a friend of mine with a captain's license also suggested something similar a few years ago also using Clock Work. My reply then was that that's a complication to my life I can't afford and in any case, I don't like the idea of going in to business with a friend.
To the present.. while I have some awareness there are guys out there on the lookout for good deals, a couple of recent contacts that have come in though my web portal feel a whole bunch like that Robert Allen/Nothing Down wannabe deal-maker craze from the 80's... flipper mentality (pass). So perhaps the caliber of the leads for a straight sale is shifting and my mindset should shift with it. Perhaps.
As to this proposal, I'll say the initial idea is not immediately compelling on the surface.. it's nothing like any of my last 40 years business experience, but I'd like to rule out at least it's not one of those opportunities I should examine more closely before I move on. There's a tiny number of details that were discussed this afternoon and a huge number (insurance, commercial vs recreational, maintenance standards, safety, passenger selection, etc) that still need to be which is one more time sink I don't need. But I'm curious if anyone here has ever undertaken something like this. I suppose chartering is the right word though I really thought that was a sailboats-only thing.
The guy with the idea states he's got a 100T license. He'd conduct the charters and oversee maintenance (to my standards)... a third of the fee would go to expenses, a third to me and a third to him. I'm not deeply in love with the idea of someone else running/maintaining my boat. Service providers cutting corners are why I do 100% of all maintenance myself and a healthy slice of diagnosis and repairs on everything I own. It'd have to be worth it, of course, and I do believe a well-maintained/optioned low-hours fully mechanical engine that's not getting any older will always have a market. They aren't making any new ones.
If anyone has any experience with anything like this idea that they'd be willing to share, please do let me know. Observation... writing this down did not do my enthusiasm for the idea any favors... asymmetric skin in the game. Thanks in advance.
--
Miguel
clockwork-usa.com
I was contacted through my website today by someone with a business proposition that involves my boat... to charter Clock Work, my Nordic Tug 42.. in the north in the summer and the south in the winter, and to make the transit each way some kind of "adventure" thing. This is actually the second time I've fielded such an idea... a friend of mine with a captain's license also suggested something similar a few years ago also using Clock Work. My reply then was that that's a complication to my life I can't afford and in any case, I don't like the idea of going in to business with a friend.
To the present.. while I have some awareness there are guys out there on the lookout for good deals, a couple of recent contacts that have come in though my web portal feel a whole bunch like that Robert Allen/Nothing Down wannabe deal-maker craze from the 80's... flipper mentality (pass). So perhaps the caliber of the leads for a straight sale is shifting and my mindset should shift with it. Perhaps.
As to this proposal, I'll say the initial idea is not immediately compelling on the surface.. it's nothing like any of my last 40 years business experience, but I'd like to rule out at least it's not one of those opportunities I should examine more closely before I move on. There's a tiny number of details that were discussed this afternoon and a huge number (insurance, commercial vs recreational, maintenance standards, safety, passenger selection, etc) that still need to be which is one more time sink I don't need. But I'm curious if anyone here has ever undertaken something like this. I suppose chartering is the right word though I really thought that was a sailboats-only thing.
The guy with the idea states he's got a 100T license. He'd conduct the charters and oversee maintenance (to my standards)... a third of the fee would go to expenses, a third to me and a third to him. I'm not deeply in love with the idea of someone else running/maintaining my boat. Service providers cutting corners are why I do 100% of all maintenance myself and a healthy slice of diagnosis and repairs on everything I own. It'd have to be worth it, of course, and I do believe a well-maintained/optioned low-hours fully mechanical engine that's not getting any older will always have a market. They aren't making any new ones.
If anyone has any experience with anything like this idea that they'd be willing to share, please do let me know. Observation... writing this down did not do my enthusiasm for the idea any favors... asymmetric skin in the game. Thanks in advance.
--
Miguel
clockwork-usa.com
