Navigare Yachts: Any Owner/Investors out there?

[HabibiDah]

I am strongly thinking of investing with Navigare on a new boat. Yes, I know that I am getting the boat only after years of chartering. But I can't live on it right now, and effectively pre-paying for a boat a few years from now makes sense.

My question is: Is there anyone out there that invested with Navigare and now owns their boat? With the numbers that they should be going through, I'm surprised I can't find any direct mention of this on the forum.

So...If you have, or are, investing with Navigare, I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks!

[manusoc]

Hi HabibiDah,
I'm also thinking of investing with Navigate. Did you get any steer from existing investors, or have you gone ahead and pulled the trigger by now?
If so, i'd love to hear your insights.

[LeeV]

CAVEAT: I would never purchase a boat and put it in charter; I'd rather save the money I'd spend until I'm ready. There are countless threads about this online.



That said, if you really want to go that route I would certainly be hesitant to go with the "newest" or "smallest" outfit. I'd look into the largest and most successful charter companies out there; there are also ratings I've seen online. You'll just have to look.


I heard anecdotal negative information about Navigare that I won't share because I consider it gossip since it's only from one individual, and although I know them fairly well, I don't think it's appropriate to share. Nor would be it be fair to the company.


Just do your due diligence in researching; usually when something seems too good to be true, it most often is.



Good luck,

[yeloya]

I haven't put any boat there, actually running a charter company , we are their competitors. We had to deal in couple of occasions with them and I had the impression that they are better than most well known charter companies and take good care of their boats. For their charter program, I don't have any clue..


Cheers


Yeloya

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by yeloya

I haven't put any boat there, actually running a charter company , we are their competitors. We had to deal in couple of occasions with them and I had the impression that they are better than most well known charter companies and take good care of their boats. For their charter program, I don't have any clue..


Cheers


Yeloya

Always glad to hear your perspective, Yeloya, especially in light of only hearing one side of one story. Nice to hear they take good care of their boats.



Hope all's well with you over there!


Best regards,
~Lee

[HabibiDah]

Well, after doing a bunch of research, looking at contracts, talking to others, we decided to pull the trigger with Navigare and purchased a Saba 50 that will be put into service in the BVI until our children finish their school and we can move aboard. In the meantime, we are sailing every chance we get...

We did have the opportunity to charter a Saba in the Greek Islands just two weeks ago. The boat was clean, well maintained, and operated great. We were very impressed with both Navigare and the Saba itself. It confirmed that we made the right choice for us.

I know some people say they will never buy a boat that was chartered. I understand that sentiment. Personally, we look at it as we are pre-negotiating the price of a used boat, and know that we will spend another $50K-$100K to change/repair the boat for our personal use once it’s charter time is up. Still, with that in mind, the numbers seem to work.

In the Greek islands, the Saba had some outstanding maintenance items, but what boat doesn’t. The were all minor and were known by Navigare before hand. We didn’t find anything that needed repair during our week that wasn’t already known. The boat was spotlessly clean. In fact, if I had any critique, we didn’t get the boat turned over to us until later in the afternoon because of the cleaning crew being backed up. In total, there was an inside cleaning crew, an outside cleaning crew, and then a cleaning supervisor came through for an inspection, and cleaned a few minor areas that he wasn’t happy with (he opened up the sole compartments and didn’t like what he saw, so he got on his knees and scrubed them out until they were spotless), and then the management came by with final paperwork and a final boat walkthrough.

So far, we have been very happy with Navigare and hope that we retain that feeling forever. We’ll keep you informed. We are sailing in the BVI in November.

As I said above, we have ordered the Saba. Fountaine Pajot is behind on the Saba line and we are looking at delivery sometime in the autumn of 2020. The name of the boat will be “Habibi-Dah”.

“Habibi-Dah” means “The one that I love” in Egyptian Arabic. While waiting for the boat, we even created a logo that has the name both in English and in a stylized Arabic script. Here it is…

[Tupaia]

Good luck with the purchase, hope everything goes well for you.


A comment on the name, lovely but...... Have you tried saying it phonetically as you would over the radio in an emergency. Now put yourself in the position of a receiver of such a call. Names that are not obvious or easily pronoucable are often difficult to interpret and can lead to delays or confusion.

[svgoodvibration]

I have also purchased a Saba 50 for charter in BVI. NAVIGARE has had some turnover since I purchased my boat, so communication and attention to details has so far not been up to par. My boat will arrive end of November 2019 (soon!) and it already has 12 weeks booked for 2019-20 charter season. It is a 6 cabin version with every possible option ( air con, water maker, extra solar, hydraulic dinghy/swim platform, 75 hp Volvo’s, fore peaks fitted out etc.).

Navigare moved bases and it remains to be seen how quickly they build out a base that delivers a great customer experience. There was not a lot there when I visited in March. Going back November 29th to sail for a week. I will update you then.

Same as habibi, will charter for a few years and enjoy Navigare worldwide boat usage program (a huge plus for us) and timeshare like condo/villa usage in USA and Europe. The tax savings it has afforded us should keep up with depreciation, the charter revenue should be favorable as well.
In the end, we will have a great yacht for BVI vacations and ability to sail for almost nothing on boats worldwide. Really looking forward to it.

Sailing Good Vibrations

[HabibiDah]

We will probably see you there! We should grab a drink!

We are sailing in the BVI from 11/23-11/29. Couldn't get your boat, so we will be on a Lagoon with the family.

I haven't been to the new base yet. We were just in the Greek Islands four weeks ago. The base there was ok. Nothing to write home about, but it was as good as any other operator in Greece. Looking forward to seeing what they do in the BVI.

[svgoodvibration]

I should be in 28th evening, stop by for a drink and tour!

Bill@sailinggoodvibrations.com

[Stay Sea]

I am thinking about buying a Lagoon 46 and putting it with Navigare. Are you happy with your decision? Any and all insight most appreciated!

[Medea]

I purchased a Bavaria 46 through Dream Yacht Charter and picking it up next month. Price was good, program good, the cleaning and maintenance done each week of the season is very good and better than what many private owners would do
Collect the boat with what is considered “normal wear and tear”
Having it surveyed before handover

I have had many great sailing vacations on mono and cats with the Dream Yacht program and it suited my needs at the time

I negotiated with Navigare at the time of my purchase and price was the main decided to go with Dream Yacht (although Navigare have a different handover program with new upholstery, new navigation equipment and a recondition of the engine)

[Stay Sea]

Thank you for your reply. There are a lot of things to consider.

[MD7]

Originally Posted by HabibiDah

We will probably see you there! We should grab a drink!

We are sailing in the BVI from 11/23-11/29. Couldn't get your boat, so we will be on a Lagoon with the family.

I haven't been to the new base yet. We were just in the Greek Islands four weeks ago. The base there was ok. Nothing to write home about, but it was as good as any other operator in Greece. Looking forward to seeing what they do in the BVI.

We are thinking about going with Navigare as well but can’t find many others that have written about them. Can you update us with your findings and experience so far?

[HabibiDah]

So far, our use of the boats and communication with the company has been very good. Navigare's offices in both Greece and the BVI are...spartan. Compared to Moorings, they are downright primitive. Having said that, the boats we have been on have been very well maintained and the response to issues has been outstanding.

Examples: Our inverter didn't work the first evening we were out in the BVI. I phone call to Navigare on the cell phone they gave us got us to a tech in 5 minutes and he walked us through a reset and it was back to operational (when we were getting a brief at the pier it was accidentally turned off at the inverter behind a bulkhead. Three days later, our internet stopped working. Another quick call ended up them asking where we would anchor that night and a tech meeting us at the mooring with a new system that was swapped out in about 10 minutes. Absolutely fantastic response to any issue.

As far as an owner experience, I can't comment yet. Our hull was delayed by Fountaine Pajot. It was supposed to go into service last November and is now delayed 1-year until this November. Still, through this, Navigare continues to be helpful and communicative.

When in the BVI we saw SVGoodVibrations being readied for its maiden charter. There were 4 guy on board polishing, buffing, cleaning, and running it through every system. It looked good. Looking at other vessels they had on the pier, we didn't see any that looked like they needed repair or care.

So...so far, We're very happy with them. SVGoodVibration might be able to give you more input.