Buy a boat and let it be used by charter company

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Gpolar

Thx all.
Alwaysforsail. Where do u suggest to buy used boat? Becoz traveling around the world to find a boat maybe more expensive than the boat


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Buy it close to home or - Move to where there are lots of boats and get rally cheapo accommodations until you find a boat.

i.e. When you are "ready" take your seabag and tools and move to Florida or a gulf state. Find a flop house to live in and then get a boat.

I really don't understand people finding the "perfect" boat but it is half way around the world. There are perfect boats everywhere. I think a lot of folks just have buyer's anxiety or something.

I guaranty no matter what you buy it is only a matter of (short) time before you are head down a$$ up in a locker or a bilge fixing stuff.

[ben373]

I currently have a charter yacht and use it ourselves. We make money from it but it would not cover depreciation. I purchased 6 years old and the boat was a bit tired. I do work myself as well as skippered charters and what I have finished up with is a free to run boat. Financially it does not work with a new boat and I would be upset with it getting knocked around.

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[rockDAWG]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I really don't understand people finding the "perfect" boat but it is half way around the world. There are perfect boats everywhere.

x100, unless boat has a value of a few million dollars

[OldFrog75]

Might help the OP if we knew where he lives or where he wants to sail.

[AlwaysFORSAIL]

Gpolar, there are many boats online for you to view. Florida is good year round (try floridamariner.com for a start). Brokers seem to think USA boats command higher prices than Caribbean boats but once you narrow your search you can limit ysur travel for your budget. If you choose a broker, they tend to focus on boats near them, you can discuss this. You can also use several brokers.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by rockDAWG

x100, unless boat has a value of a few million dollars

....or unless its in a venue where you want to cruise. I've considerd that and have friends who marketed and sold their boat that way.

[Gpolar]

I live in Vancouver canada now.
I plan to live on the boat for the first year than start travel circumnavigation.
So if I start from Med or Carribean is almost the same. Well Caribbean is a bit closer.
Some people said Panama has more good deal. But I dun see much on Internet.
Also one more question , how much price difference should I expect from the listed price on the Internet.



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[AlwaysFORSAIL]

Generally, you can expect 10% discount from the listed price but what someone will take is allover the map. When I sold my last boat I stated '$25,000 or $30,000 if you want to dicker'. Mostly it depends on how long the boat has been listed and how desperate the seller is. Check out the market, the number of boats for sale, the number of people expressing interest, and talk to the broker. Some brokers are honest some are not. I have seen stats (put out by brokers) that say boats sell faster and for more money when listed with a broker.

My feeling if that when you find the boat you want don't quibble over a few dollars. If you find a boat you think would be a good fit then $100 dollars one way or the other ain't gonna make a difference. $1,000 is another deal.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by AlwaysFORSAIL

Generally, you can expect 10% discount from the listed price but what someone will take is allover the map. When I sold my last boat I stated '$25,000 or $30,000 if you want to dicker'.

She better be worth it...

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

If it was profitable to buy new boats and put them in charter, why doesn't the charter company do it directly (banks would happily lend them the money if they didn't have enough cash on hand...assuming it was profitable).

That logic is pretty irrefutable, I have no interest in doing it, but had assumed that it must be from a tax write off perspective. Form a company that loses money, so you write off the loss, but you did get a "free" boat for the owners time.

Without doing something "slick" I just don't see how it makes sense


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[windtoys]

Thanks everyone for your posts...We are looking into buying a charter cat also, and all your views are helpful. I think we've addressed most of your concerns...any additional thoughts?
Here's our deal, We want to end up with a boat at the end of 5 years so we can start our cruising life and still do some charters on our own thru our connections with our customer base from 30 years in the Hobie world.
(lots of our customers do cat charters every year). We want to put the cat in charter with Dream Yacht Charters in the old Moorings base in La Paz Mexico (seems like the Sea of Cortez would offer less wear and tear on a boat than the Carribbean). Baja is close for us to get to (we could drive it if the world fell apart) - that way we can use and monitor the boat as much as possible, 5+ times a year +1-2 world wide charters that will cost more to get to but we would do them anyway.
Dream Yachts will let us customize our boat so at the end we have what we would of bought anyway.
Yes, for us in the catamaran business there is some tax breaks but we will put everything back towards the payoff. Our out of pocket costs will be closer to $275K- $300K and looking at the 5 year old charter cats of the same breed they run $150-$200K more than that...

[sailorboy1]

Has always seemed to me that if you are OK with a 5 year boat you should just get a 5 year boat. It probably has had only have 1 owner to mess it up. But if you buy a new boat and put it into charter for 5 years, what you end up with is still a 5 year boat. But it has had lots people on it to mess it up.

Just my 2 cents.

BTW - if it really was a money maker to go the charter route why wouldn't the charter companies just buy boats. Yes I've read the marketing arguments that make it sound just too good to pass up on. You know what they say about things that sound too good to be true.

[denverd0n]

My company does not own the building I work in. They lease it. The entire building. Lots and lots of companies, thousands in fact, do exactly the same.

One might argue that, if it was possible to make money off of owning real estate, then obviously all of these companies would own their own buildings rather than leasing them. Except of course, one would be laughed out of the room if you tried to make that argument. It is absurd on the face of it.

So, why is it that so many companies lease their office space? The answer is really not all that complicated. Figure it out, and you will have the answer to why a company that is in the business of chartering out boats might prefer not to own all of those boats.

[Lucky Larry]

We have had a total of four boats in charter over the last several years. No regrets. It all depends on the charter company, if they operate where you want to sail, and if they need the boat you want to own in their charter fleet.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

My company does not own the building I work in. They lease it. The entire building. Lots and lots of companies, thousands in fact, do exactly the same.

One might argue that, if it was possible to make money off of owning real estate, then obviously all of these companies would own their own buildings rather than leasing them. Except of course, one would be laughed out of the room if you tried to make that argument. It is absurd on the face of it.

So, why is it that so many companies lease their office space? The answer is really not all that complicated. Figure it out, and you will have the answer to why a company that is in the business of chartering out boats might prefer not to own all of those boats.

Two totally different animals...not a valid comparison. It is quite feasible to make significant profit from real estate...both cash flow and appreciation. And many companies/investors do own their own profitably. Not so for a typical mid sized charter boat.