Rent/Lease a sailboat for one year in Caribbean

[Jcody2121]

Anyone ever heard of someone renting/leasing a sailboat for a one year trip in the Caribbean. Why sink a ton of money into a boat when you are not even sure the lifestyle will work for you or you may not want to do anything more than a one year trip. Buying the boat you are now stuck with it or end up selling it at a significant loss?

If you think about it, it seems to make a lot more sense to rent a boat from a private owner (whose boat is on the hard or not really being used). Of course there would be a lot of details to work out such as insurance, who pays for repairs etc. but seems like to me you could do something like.

Offer to pay 6 mos rent up front or maybe even the whole year, renter is responsible for repairs along the way but boat may need some initial work to get it ready and if so the owner pays for this? Again a lot of things to work out...

Just a thought, anyone know of anyone who has done something like this?

[Snore]

This idea comes up from time to time and I have not responded in the past.

My thoughts about leasing my older boat?

As an owner, I take care of my boat. Unless racing someone, I do not push her too hard. If I am going to motor for long periods, I check the oil every few hours. Lessees are unlikely to do so.

How do I know if there is some hidden damage? A hard grounding? A slightly bent shaft from snagging a crab pot?

How are adjustments made for gashes from bouncing off a dock?

Because of the above, I would lease my boat for the purchase price of $28k. If I owned a newer Tartan worth $100-150,000 my price would be $50-70. As a boat owner, there are too many ways to get burned in this transaction. Therefore, the returned must be risk adjusted.

Not to mention, I purchased a boat because I enjoy the experience of ownership and would be on the beach for a year!

[Jcody2121]

All good points Snore but as I see it there are large number of boats out there that are really not being used and some owner might want to offset the payment for a year. Certainly any damage to the boat would have to be accounted for just like it would if you lease a beach home, or car, plane or anything else.

[accomplice]

In my experience, owning and maintaining a boat is rather unlike owning and maintaining a home or car, and leasing them out would be fundamentally different.

A home may have systems and components that periodically need replacing, but with a (3%) maintenance/repair budget, most properties will more or less hold its value or even appreciate slightly over the long term. The similarly priced boat will typically require a maintenance/repair budget at least twice as large (7%+), and will still lose a significant fraction of its value every year, at least for the first decade. This data simply points to a higher price, though, and need not mean it is infeasable.

Most of the damage that someone could do to a home is visible, and more easily repaired. The damage that can be done to a sailboat can be less visible and can be much more costly to remedy.

Since boats require a lot more maintenance and repair than homes, many of us do much of the work ourselves. As such, we become intimately familiar with the systems, their operation and idiosyncrasies, and come to learn how to use them to maximal performance with minimal damage and wear. Even the best-intentioned charterer would not have such knowledge, and I suspect the charterer would be less likely to put vessel and systems longevity as a primary concern.

Many people who aren't boat owners would make very poor long-term charterers. The expectation when you lease a house is that everything works -- all systems and appliances. In my experience, such an expectation would be unreasonable on a cruising boat. There are *always* things that don't work or don't work right. (And I've taken her to big-name boatyards and written 6 figure checks, and still the list persists). The prudent cruiser doesn't aim to zero out that list, rather to prioritize it intelligently on the basis of intended use, and also balance upgrades/improvements with maintenance.

I guess it comes down to a few things. First, the amount of security deposit would need to be a large fraction of the replacement price for the boat. Second, there is practically no way to know at the end of the charter the true damage to the boat.

I have no knowledge of private airplane ownership or charter, but I believe is a very different thing to lease a vacation home or car than to charter a boat.

I looked into chartering out our boat, and even setup and structured a business to enable this. However, the economics ultimately proved not viable.

[Jcody2121]

Again thanks for the response, yes I agree with a lot of what you said, just so you know I have owned a sailboat before and agree with many of the things listed here.

It is really just "Thinking out load" and I am really wanting someone to respond who may have actually heard of someone doing this before, or actually done it themselves. If so, can respond about the details of how this was worked out for both parties
__________________________________________________ _______________

If not, maybe someone should think about doing it? If you are a boat owner and you are not really using your boat then you are paying money every month for something you do not use. If you have it paid for and are not using it (whatever the reason) then you have a lot of money locked up in something that will most likely continue to depreciate over time. Let's face it... "a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into". Selling them is not easy either. So I can see reasons why someone would consider this.

Now flip to the other side of the equation. I have wanted to go sailing for a lot of years. I am no rookie to sailing, but I have not exactly sailed around the word either. So my choices would be the traditional route of - wait for retirement or quit my job and go, find enough money to both buy the boat out right or make payments along the way.

A great place to start is always the Caribbean for East coasters like me. I have sailed there and it is "typically" great sailing and relatively easy considering your experience level etc. etc. So why not head to the islands for a year to see how you like the life style. Maybe everything will be great and you love it and you can afford to continue to do it or maybe you will say that was GREAT but I am ready to move on. If you decide the latter then you have a boat that locked up a lot of money and is hard to sell.

The leasing option simply gives one the flexibility to try before buying. Of course you have to take care of anything you lease and of course the owner has to have protection from this with deposit or upfront cost and legal agreement etc. So if all that can be done, I can see how something like this would benefit BOTH parties.

Maybe this has never been done in a big way or maybe not at all, but I was simply interested in seeing if anyone had heard of someone doing this or had done it themselves and if so would share the details of how it was done?

Happy Sailing!

[Snore]

Jcody

My offer is legit! $25k and you lease my boat for a year. You pay all insurance and have liability for damage.


Sent from my iPhone- please forgive autocorrect errors.

[Jcody2121]

Thanks for the attempt at humor Snore, I am sure you would rent your boat for one year for basically what you paid for it!

I am actually being serious and I will be surprised if no one has actually done this or at least thought about it. It make a lot of sense if done right.

[Greenhand]

In my experience, few folks hold on to a boat thinking "I'm not going to use it this year." You forget that for many, the boat represents a dream of using it.

As others have said, we here of people wanting to be the renter all the time. I have yet to see anyone say that they want to rent out their boat for a year.

If, however, you are serious, check out boatbound.co and start contacting owners. Perhaps you will find one that is happy to not have to piecework together renters.

[Triumphant]

Buy a cheap boat one in the Caribbean $20K and sell it when you have finished

Who knows you may like it and keep it

[Jolly Roger]

There is no comparison chartering a boat long term, to anything else which is normally ‘rented’.
A house doesn’t move and can’t vanish over the horizon.
A vehicle is readily identifiable and not normally taken overseas.
Nothing else is vulnerable to the sea or weather—with the possible exception of an airplane.
Insurance would be ‘complicated’.
There would only be two conditions under which I would enter into such an agreement, A, I was flat broke and couldn’t sell my boat, or B, I didn’t want the boat any more.
I would just insist on a simple no risk to me condition, and I wouldn’t even need a lawyer. In fact, I wouldn’t even need the boat insured.
The full resale value of the boat to be deposited in my bank beforehand.
I’m fairly sure this would ensure the charterer also looked after the boat.
If it was returned at the end of the period in the same condition it went out, the residue from the cost of the charter would be refunded.
If it was not in the same condition, or damaged it would be repaired from the deposit.
If it never came back, I’ve made a sale.

[C-man77]

Originally Posted by Triumphant

Buy a cheap boat one in the Caribbean $20K and sell it when you have finished

Who knows you may like it and keep it

good Idea, small cheap boats usually end up being more fun with less worry

[jeepbluetj]

Got a friend that's thinking about going to the carib, buying a 4ksb and kicking around for 3-4 months on it. At the end sell it or give it away. It'd sure be a cheap way to do it. Maybe not safe or luxurious, but cheap.

[Stu Jackson]

This is the same reason boat swaps aren't as popular as house exchanges.

In the 17 years we've owned our boat, there are only two gentlemen I would even consider let borrow my boat, and I know quite a few folks.

[a64pilot]

There really are so many people that come here and post about renting boats, that I'm surprised no one has seized upon it as a Business opportunity.
Maybe most are dreamers and when it comes time to actually lay out some money, you find out there isn't any?

[sfischel]

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