New to Forum

[nautical62]

Hello - just thought I'd say hello. I'm new to this Forum. I've been a part-time cruiser for a bit over 10 years. After keeping a boat in Florida for some time, I now have a boat in charter with the Moorings. Most of my sailing has been on Lake Superior, SE Florida, the Bahamas, British, U.S. & Spanish VIs.

The name is my boat is AURORA in memory of the mostly forgotten boat and brave men who were on the second boat of Shackelton's famous adventure, many of whom died, trying to set caches for an expedition that never was.

[Little Otter]

Well nautical62 allow me to be the first to welcome you aboard the forum and just say HI. You said you have a boat in charter, I am hoping to get a boat soon and was thinking of doing just that I think you could help me seeings how you already do and I was wondering about how much you make off of it and the maintnence I have a thread about it in the Multi section titled hi guys need some help or somthing to that effect and you could post info on or you could post it here, by the way I was looking at charter rates the other day and saw pictures of your boat it's very nice, once again welcome to the forum and have fun.

[Sunspot Baby]

Welcome aboard!

George

[Hud3]

Welcome! Where is you boat in charter? Do you get in an "owner's sail" every now and then?

[buster014]

Hey just to introduce myself my husband and I started sailing lessons this summer and don't know why we waited so long. The last kid leaves home this fall and we plan on retiring full time to a sailboat. So are learning all we can.
We have worked in the camping field for 30 years so moving around and living without some amenities is a way of life. We thought about an RV but couldn't imagine being stuck in a seat belt for hours at time. So we hope to learn alot in the next 2 - 3 years and then explore.

[nautical62]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. The following is mostly in response to Little Otter's questions about how the the Moorings charter management program works, or at least what the terms where when I bought into it about 2 years ago.

Based on demand and what boats are retiring, they decide what boats they will need at each location and they go ahead and order them. These boats are then available for purchase prior to ever actually being in the program. I decided on their smallest boat which is a 32.2 located in Tortola BVI. The owner buys the boat, either outright or with a loan. My boat will be in the Moorings program for 4.5 years which is typical and over that time I get monthly payments from the Moorings which will end up totaling about 45% of the price of the boat over the course of the contract period. That's fixed income and I will get that regardless of how often the boat is chartered out. In addition, the Moorings pays for all ongoing maintenance, dockage and insurance.

As an owner, I can use that boat or trade time for other boats in the program. Each Moorings base has high and low seasons and I can use the boat for either 2 weeks high and 2 weeks low or 6 weeks low. In addition, I can book another 3 weeks short notice on my own boat if its available. Trade time is limited to 2 weeks per location per year.

While I don't have to pay a charter fee to for my own boat or trade time, I do pay an "owner's fee" for each use which is about US$300/week for me. (For the boat, not per person) This covers all the fuel, water and ice I want in addition to all the accessories which are not actually mine like use of a dingy, a linen service pots, silverware, propane, etc.

At the end of the contract, I basically have 3 choices: I can take the boat, it's mine. I can take a guaranteed trade in of about 50% of initial purchase price towards another boat or I can keep it in charter an additional 3 years through Footloose.

What many owner's do is put down about 20% on a 15 year loan even thought the contract is for 5 years. At the end of the contract period, they use the money from the sale of the boat plus their guaranteed income to pay off the loan. In otherwords, for say a $120K boat, for an end cost of about about $6,000/year they were able to "charter" for 4-9 weeks per year which is similar to a 2-week charter for a similar boat. I actually structured my loan for so that I'll own the boat at the end of the contract

Realize, the boats get much more use and abuse than other boats do, so if one's goal is to buy a newer boat with less money down, you may be disappointed. Even though I'm buying a boat, I look at it more as buying into charter program that allows me to "charter" for a fraction of the cost of a real charter. I should say however, I feel my boat has been maintained well after 2 years. Since they are charging customers a fair bit for a week's charter, they can't let the boats just go. What I really like is the boat is always ready to go and I'm already in my end destination without having to slog down the ICW and across the gulf stream like I used to do. I also like that the boats are equipped up front with the end use in mind, so things are not retro-fitted. (Build in autopilot for example).

I guess how good a deal it is depends on a number of factors such as your cruising needs. Obviously for someone who likes to go out every weekend or cruises all winter, every winter, this is not a good option. As with purchasing any boat, how good a deal it is also depends on what you are able to sell the boat for in the end and the opportunity cost of your money.

[Little Otter]

Thanks I also heard that they do a contract where the owner gets a percentage of what they make during the season depending on the high and low times if you know anything about this information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[nautical62]

Little Otter, I wasn't aware of that with the Moorings, though I know Sunsail had that as one of their options when I looked into them. It's possible the Moorings does and I just don't know about it. I've considered asking them that as I'd love to be able to sail my boat more than the alloted time one year.

The one concern I'd have with going with that option if available, is that most of the boats are not contracted under those terms, but rather give a guaranteed income regardless of charter. If you had a boat that paid a percentage of charter income, their incentive would always be to charter out one of their other boats whenever possible. (since they are paying out on it anyways) It's quite possible you'd be paying dockage, insurance, etc and not having much charter income. I like that a guaranteed income removes most of the politics and uncertainties of what boats get chartered out and which don't.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Nautical,
Welcome aboard! Your explanation of Moorings is quite interesting. What is the make of the boat you purchased with them?
Kind regards,
JohnL

[nautical62]

Thanks for the welcome skiprjohn,

My boat is a Beneteau, currently referred to by the Moorings as a Moorings 32.2

I wrote more about the program under a thread started by another forum user at:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ngs-17020.html