Would You Buy a Chartered Boat, if . . .

[cla6665]

Would you buy a chartered boat if surveyed and comes back in great shape?
I see many chartered boats for sale in the Caribbeans at good prices.

[bvimatelot]

Originally Posted by cla6665

Would you buy a chartered boat if surveyed and comes back in great shape?
I see many chartered boats for sale in the Caribbeans at good prices.

Two Schools of thought here:

1. Yes - good price, good maintenance history (so the charter companies would have you believe).

2. No - worn out with high engine hours, will need $$$ for necessary cruising upgrades.

As always, it all depends on what you're looking for. Although most charter boats are productioon runs from the likes of Beneteau and Bavaria, there are others around with slightly more upmarket names.

If you go down that route, try top get involved in the charter company phase out stage. This will involve a survey in and out of the water from which the owner gets a "hit list". Its important to ensure that as much as poosivble gets onto this list and that this list is successfully completed by the charter company. This does involve keeping on their backs.

You can appreciate that the boat is no longer making any money for the charter company and that they dont want to spend any on it either!

I've seen many,many phase-outs here in bvi and the success of them is directly related to how much time and effort the owner (or potential buyer) puts into it.

This of course can become pricey as visits to the bvi are required. (which is where I come in!! I supervise phase-outs and carry out the subsequent deliveries for a living!)

Hope this helps!! Tony

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by cla6665

Would you buy a chartered boat

Would you buy an ex rent-a-car?

if surveyed and comes back in great shape?

Depends who did the survey and what they know about multi's
Ever heard of dodgy road-worthies for cars?

I see many chartered boats for sale in the Caribbeans at good prices.

What does that tell you?


I still remember sailing through the shitsundays and hearing on radio and seeing the daily groundings and general disrespect of the charter boats by the charterers.

[cla6665]

Very very nice to know bvi matelot.
We'll be living on the boat and my intention is to charter here and there to make some money at least to pay for boat maintenance.
My question is; are these boats US flagged. I know that the boat must the US flagged to be able to charter in US waters and Caribbeans. If they are built overseas and not US flagged I can't do that

[David M]

I think its difficult to blanket label all ex charter boats as bargains or horrible buys. I would imagine it runs the entire spectrum.

[imagine2frolic]

I use to charter with groups of people out of Miami. I have probably done 20 charters. I have never been on a charter where some abuse was not taken by the boat. Not every boat was abused, but at least one of them was. We would charter up to 4 boats at a time.

I think cat man do's comparison to a rental is pretty spot on, maybe not 100%. People are on vacation, and usually liquor is involved, and then the mistakes come about. There are a couple of owners here with ex-charters. They have had good fortune to get a good boat.......i2f

[bvimatelot]

Originally Posted by cla6665

Very very nice to know bvi matelot.
We'll be living on the boat and my intention is to charter here and there to make some money at least to pay for boat maintenance.
My question is; are these boats US flagged. I know that the boat must the US flagged to be able to charter in US waters and Caribbeans. If they are built overseas and not US flagged I can't do that

Pretty much all charter yachts are owned by individuals. The charter companies very rarely own their own boats. So, certainly in the bvi's, most boats are US flagged but you'll see many French and British and a few other flags as well.

Its not true to say that they must be US flagged to charter in the Caribbean. In US waters, I believe that yes, they must be (Jones Act?). I think it was also true that to charter in US waters they had to be built in the US but I believe that that is not now the case, as long as the boat is US flagged.

Having said all that, it shouldnt stop you looking at non-US flagged boats as you will probably have to re-register to the US and get Coastguard documentation. Indeed, I dont think one is allowed to keep a foreign flag but must de-register from the original state and put it into your own.

You mention the occasional charter to offset maintenance costs. Ah!! Here we have a potential Can of Worms! You can probably do it in US waters but most Caribbean islands require you to have a work permit and/or Trade Licence to operate charters in their waters and some require you to have their Captain's Licence. It really is a brutal trade!!!

Anyway, slowly slowly catchee monkey.....you've gotta actually get a boat first!

Other posters' comments about abuse are indeed very true. However, the charter companies mend what gets broken - otherwise they couldnt send the boat back out on charter - then neither they or the owner would get any money.

The fact that there are a great deal of ex charter yachts on the market is because after 4 to 5 years, the "A" companies end their contract with the owner. Many of these boats then go into "B" fleets - and there's nothing wrong with that - given reasonable maintenance there's lots of life left in 'em. Some of them go back to the owner for him/her to use in their own sailing area and of course, many of them go on the market. Some good, some bad - like used cars, I suppose. T

[maxingout]

I would consider purchasing a charter boat as long as it passes muster, and the price is right.

I would do my own survey (plus the insurance survey), and I would add up the cost of fixing everything on the ex-charter yacht. The biggest disadvantage of a charter yacht is the lack of cruising gear. You will likely spend lots of cash in making the yacht ready for going cruising.

If you find a good well-equipped yacht coming off a major cruise, the cruising gear on the yacht could save you lots of money if it is in good condition.

I can't see that it makes much difference whether the yacht is coming out of charter or is from a private seller. For me it all comes down to survey, price, and how much money it will take to get it ready for going cruising.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by maxingout

I can't see that it makes much difference whether the yacht is coming out of charter or is from a private seller. For me it all comes down to survey, price, and how much money it will take to get it ready for going cruising.

I think this would kind of sum it up for me as well. As long as you can depend on the survey(s) to sort out the condition of the major, big ticket items ... hull, deck, sails, engine, rig ... then why not? Our next boat is likely to be a cat and I have kind of assumed we will look at charter boats simply because a lot of the used cats suitable for cruising are in the charter fleets. But if I were looking for another mono I probably would not consider a charter boat because there are too many non-charter cruising boats available.

[Zanshin]

Originally Posted by David M

I think its difficult to blanket label all ex charter boats as bargains or horrible buys. I would imagine it runs the entire spectrum.

I inspected 30 boats (almost all of them around 5 years old at the time and almost exclusively ex-charter) in the BVI and there were some that had taken a lot of abuse which was not reflected in the price and others where the price was appropriate. I bought an old SunSail boat and, overall, felt that I got all I paid for and then a bit more. I was willing to put up with cosmetic problems which I could fix or address myself and accepted the high engine hours as part of the price reduction but I knew that the engine had at least been given oil changes and inspections according to specs - something that is not necessarily the case with private vessels.

I have since gone to another boat, but given an opportunity would buy an ex-charter vessel again.

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by cla6665

Would you buy a chartered boat if surveyed and comes back in great shape?
I see many chartered boats for sale in the Caribbeans at good prices.

It depends on the boat, the surveyor, and my own impressions of it. Since there really isn't any standard for surveyor qualification, and a lot of business can get done in the Carib for a few bucks, I'd take a report with a large grain of salt.