Boat Sharing Experience

[Audriusus]

Could you please tell about a good experience of sharing a sailboat or any advice, how to get into it.

[sailstoo]

Do y'wanna buy and own a boat with a partner(s) or do y'wanna get into one of those boat-sharing (like a time-share but a lot wetter) arrangements where you pay a monthly/annual fee then go sailing and not do any of the maintenance/boatie stuff?

[Audriusus]

I love sailing, but do not have much time for it, 5-6 weekends a year. I have a trailerable H240, and it meets my needs right now. I'm thinking about other options owning a boat, will definitely keep my Hunter though. Just want to find some people who will share there positive experience.

[Bash]

My boat partner and I will celebrate our 36th anniversary next month.

It works quite well except that I always seem to be the one to do the bright work and change joker valves.

[valhalla360]

They have the boat sharing thing at our marina and for a 1/8th share, it's $500/month for a 34'er.

1/8th share would suggest one weekend every other month, which seems kind of pricey to me but has the advantage of impartial management.

If you want to do it on your own, I would try to get ahold of the contract and rules they use and apply them as part of your agreement. Make sure to cover maintenance and cleaning rules and requirements.

Personally, I would stick with the 25'er if you only have 5-6wks per year.

[terminalcitygrl]

We found a number of different options, from co-ops to clubs to private. We chose a private arrangement. The owner of the boat owns it and we and one other person pay a yearly fee for use. Technically we each get 10 days a month but really we all just let each other know when we plan to use it and so far its been no problem. The owner pays all the expenses for moorage, maintenance, etc... We like the simplicity of this arrangement and the cost was comparable to 2 shares in the co-op, a little less that the cost of the club. Downside is the boat is not what we would choose. It's an old Catalina 27 with hank on sails and no equipment but the marina is close to where we live and for learning and just sailing around the bay it's great. We pay $2k for the year which is $170 a month. We'll probably not sail about 4-5 months though just because its cold and wet so that brings the cost up. But the co-op and club required a year commitment too so we'd be paying for months were not likely to use regardless.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Bash

My boat partner and I will celebrate our 36th anniversary next month.

It works quite well except that I always seem to be the one to do the bright work and change joker valves.

Congratulations...

[Teknav]

Hiya TCG! A different take...When renting an airplane, pilots can buy in advance block time of an airplane of their choosing (if available for rental); multiples of 10 hours block flight time. You then mark the open days, on the calendar, that suit you. You can switch them around with another pilot, if you agree to it and there's no time limit in using your block time. Block time is paid in advance and costs less than hourly rental; you don't have to take it all at once, either. You just need to bring the tanks FULL. No maintenance fees are levied, whatsoever.

Mauritz

[Audriusus]

Originally Posted by terminalcitygrl

We found a number of different options, from co-ops to clubs to private. We chose a private arrangement. The owner of the boat owns it and we and one other person pay a yearly fee for use. Technically we each get 10 days a month but really we all just let each other know when we plan to use it and so far its been no problem. The owner pays all the expenses for moorage, maintenance, etc... We like the simplicity of this arrangement and the cost was comparable to 2 shares in the co-op, a little less that the cost of the club. Downside is the boat is not what we would choose. It's an old Catalina 27 with hank on sails and no equipment but the marina is close to where we live and for learning and just sailing around the bay it's great. We pay $2k for the year which is $170 a month. We'll probably not sail about 4-5 months though just because its cold and wet so that brings the cost up. But the co-op and club required a year commitment too so we'd be paying for months were not likely to use regardless.

Thats sounds like a good idea, I like that it is only one owner.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Bash

My boat partner and I will celebrate our 36th anniversary next month.

It works quite well except that I always seem to be the one to do the bright work and change joker valves.

My hat is off to you sir