Long term charters

Poking around on the old Interweb, drinking a cocktail. Searched for long term charters wondering if that might be a better way to boat instead of ownership.

I figure I spend about $1000 per month for slip rental, maintenance, insurance, etc before I even go anywhere. Add in little trips and repairs and opportunity costs on the money I have tied up in the boat and I'm looking at at least $2000 per month.

First sight I landed on Seabbatical Long Term Bareboat Yacht Charter - BVI Bareboat Charters and I see I can charter a nice Lagoon cat in the BVI for about $12000 for a month. Hmmmm. I could take a couple of nice 1 month charters in interesting locations (Caribbean, Med) for about the same money I'm currently spending on my boat (and not really going anywhere). Ok, ok, I would have to pay for the flight and some other schit but still, not too bad.

Has anyone else looked into long term charters in lieu of owing a boat? Thinking If I could get 3-4 good months of charters for what I'm currently spending that seems like a decent trade off.

Thoughts? Is my cocktail too strong?

?


Edit

Just looked on Latesail. 28 day charter in the Caribbean on a cat 8-10k. Turkey for 28 days 8k.

Close!

We all have different levels of comfort we ask for on a boat. Most charters are pretty bare boned to save on maintenance costs. We have several friends whose boats were in charter and when the boat was taken of charter they loaded up on those items a live aboard would want. Watermaker, solar, wind generator, back up anchor, SSB radio, hand helds, washer dryer, etc. These items make for a pleasant live aboard situation. Don't think you will find these on a charter.

In addition the layout of most charters favors multiple couples with few personal possessions. Think four staterooms on a 40 ft cat. A couple there for a month would not enjoy the cramped stateroom.

If it flies, floats or ..........

You are not off base. Many people have come to that conclusion. Use the boat for a month and when you're done, hand the keys to the charter company and walk away.

I managed a charter company for 25 years and we had many repeat customers that did just that.

Of course you have to be willing to allow for the fact that the boat is not personalized to your exact specs. But that never seemed to bother our customers.

And if it did, they bought a boat of their own and sometimes put it in charter.

Part of my problem, I realize, is I don't use my boat enough. If I was a liveaboard or looper this comparison wouldn't make any sense at all. However, I would bet that many folks don't use their boat all that much so maybe this will strike a chord with others.

The original plan was for the wife and I to sail off into the wild blue yonder when the kids were off on their own making their own way, but one kid is stumbling and needing extra support now, so I'm questioning the original plan. Plus, it was really more my plan and not as much the wife's I'm realizing now, so that plays into my new outlook.

Life is like a box of chocolates...

My brother enjoys their annual week long charter of something typically in the 70-90' range. He thought I was silly for owning a boat when he just showed up, let the deckie stow their bags, pour a drink and sit on the air conditioned aft deck and let the crew do their thing. A week or two later he leaves with a tan and nice memories and not one clue how his frickin iPod got charged aside from plugging it in the wall.

This was in today's Craig's List for Seattle
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/5582788562.html

Russell Clifton said:

This was in today's Craig's List for Seattle

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/5582788562.html

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That's interesting! Not sure my wife would go for the cockpit shower but I wouldn't mind.

Charters make a lot of sense for many boaters. We've seen the huge increase in boat rentals and organizations like Freedom Boat Clubs on lakes. In South Florida there are actually similar clubs. Then add to that the possibility of ownership of a charter boat through companies like Moorings and partial ownership of yachts, which is much like the hated timeshare condo but may well have it's place. We did a lot of chartering in 2013 and people were dismayed at the cost, but ultimately it was no more than ownership of similar boats. Ultimately we wanted to own but had nothing to do with financial logic. It was the sense of ownership, the ability to do as we want, the ability to leave our stuff on the boat and personalize it and to not have to re-provision every time we used it. Also, the ability to leave the boat somewhere other than where we started, let it sit, then return to it, and not pay a charter fee for the interim period.

Still, looking strictly from a financial point of view, if you use a boat less than 12 weeks a year then ownership makes no sense.

Of course we all know boating isn't a financial decision to start with or none of us would do it. So it's really a poor financial decision vs a worse one if you look at it like that. We prefer to look at the pleasure derived.

Think chartering makes a great deal of sense if where you want to cruise isn't near where you live. Certainly nice to be able to change coasts for a month with only a plane ticket.

Ted

O C Diver said:

Think chartering makes a great deal of sense if where you want to cruise isn't near where you live. Certainly nice to be able to change coasts for a month with only a plane ticket.

Ted

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Maybe people get scared when they see the charter cost. It hits all at once vs. owning gets you every month of the year.

BandB said:

Maybe people get scared when they see the charter cost. It hits all at once vs. owning gets you every month of the year.

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That's probably true.

There is also the feeling that money spent on your own boat is an investment, where chartering may feel a total loss.

Many probably feel more comfortable at home (their own boat) cruising than chartering. I'm sure I fall in that category. The longer the time on the water, the more I want it on my boat whether running charters or cruising.

Ted

O C Diver said:

That's probably true.

There is also the feeling that money spent on your own boat is an investment, where chartering may feel a total loss.

Many probably feel more comfortable at home (their own boat) cruising than chartering. I'm sure I fall in that category. The longer the time on the water, the more I want it on my boat whether running charters or cruising.

Ted

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We want it our own but we also recognize the fact we could have fewer boats and charter some and save money.

cardude01 said:

Has anyone else looked into long term charters in lieu of owing a boat? Thinking If I could get 3-4 good months of charters for what I'm currently spending that seems like a decent trade off.

Thoughts? Is my cocktail too strong?

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You might look into the emerging "boat ownership clubs" (whatever they're called) and the probably slightly "less-institutional" fractional ownership approach.

We find it's just easier having our -- own, preferred -- "stuff" on board almost all the time... and we don't have to worry about taking the current cat (or previous cats and/or previous dogs) on board with us... and so forth...

-Chris

BandB said:

...Of course we all know boating isn't a financial decision to start with or none of us would do it. So it's really a poor financial decision vs a worse one if you look at it like that. We prefer to look at the pleasure derived.

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That's so true. We own and we charter once a year for about 7-10 days with another couple. This year it's going to be a 50-footer (sail) out of Nanaimo Yacht Charters. The key is splitting the charter cost with two or three couples, then it becomes reasonable. Of course you have to find couples or others whose close company you can enjoy for a week in a boat. We got lucky.

It's sort of the best of both worlds for us. All the convenience of ownership close to home, but we still get to spend a week a year on big, different boats (usually much bigger and nicer than we could afford to buy) and we get to sail in beautiful locations all over the continent. The split charter cost this year will be less than we pay for pulling and winterization of the boat at our home marina.

Personally I learned very early on that unless I used the boat year around, all the time, it made no sense to own one, mentally and monetarily. That's why we went almost 40 years between owning boats and rented/chartered dozens of boats in the meantime, all over the country.