Want To Buy: Ovni, Garcia, aluminium mono hull for charity start up

[VetTails]

Hi everybody!

My husband and I are hoping to set up a travelling (cruising) veterinary charity!

First I would like to tell you what we want to do and achieve then I will get down to the nitty gritty about the boat! we are passionate about improving the standards of animal health and welfare. We would like to cruise while providing one of the following services (dependent on location)
- 6 week husbandry and veterinary skill work shop to local vets or animal sanctuaries (this is really important in SE Asia and South America etc where many new clinics and sanctuaries open with very little formal education on animal welfare and health. By providing education we can implement long lasting change)
- free veterinary services to local communities and volunteer run veterinary clinics
- additional/specialist diagnostics that are not available in rural areas
- veterinary advice for boaters!

So now that you know what we are about - obviously all of this is going to take a lot of money and of course a boat! We have our heart set on the aluminium mono hulls such as Ovni and Garcia, but are open to other suggestions or ideas. We need a boat that is comfortable for the two of us plus one or two volunteers, can carry veterinary supplies, is safe and practical! We have been looking in the 36-46ftt range.

But here comes the crunch - we can't afford anything too fancy but have to have something reliable to provide this services. If you want to help us achieve this and have a boat you are willing to negotiate over and can be sold for less than $70,000 please contact me You would for ever know your legacy will live on through the amazing work we hope to be doing!

If you want more info on our plans or have any advice for us you are also welcome to get into contact!

Sincerely, Sheridan and Joel
We also have a website about my veterinary career and pet care advice Vet Tails
We are currently based in China rescuing Bears from the awful bile farm industry

[Orion Jim]

Is this charitable organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service?

[VetTails]

Hi Jim,
We are not yet a registered charity and would be operating out of Australia, so no IRS. In Australia it is actually really difficult to become registered, especially for Tax Deductions. We will operate under an ABN as a veterinary business initially, but we would not be paid and would instead try to use startup and grants to assist our endeavours. Hopefully with time we would be able to then register as a proper NFP/charity. Doing this means we can can also run it as sole traders, where as to register as a charity we would need a board of directors and we have concerns that could mean it does not go in the direction we want to take it. Tax returns and the day to day running and reporting are much easier for a sole trader business unfortunately... But we would not be taking a cut of what we raise or grants - it would all go directly into funding the trips and patient care. Hope that helps answer!

[SM6WET]

Hello Sheridan and Joel,

I really like the idea of what your are about to do and hope for your success.

Before I give you my view and advice I just wonder why you are looking into an aluminium boat?
I have been leaning towards monohulls and multihulls back and forth as well as towards Garcia and other alu-boats as well. Reason I been looking at Alu-boats is that I plan on some polar adventures (both in northern and southern hemisphere), but your in Australia and plan to operate in SE Asia and South America. It is not so likely for your to encounter ice. What is the reason your looking for alu-boats?


I might be out of my league here but if I were you I would go about the media route and In particular social media.
There are many countries in this world with animal lovers but there are few countries who have possibilities to tax-deduct charities like they can in USA. Still people give charity in other countries too.
There are many things to give charity too. Cancer research, Children cancer, Children rights, greenpeace, Amnesty International and gizzilions more.
Many people are tired of some of these organizations who get a lot of charity and governmental aid (from our taxes) and tend to give their charity to something more close to their heart.
Lately social media has seen an increase in how pets and other animals in the 3rd, 2nd and even 1st world is suffering from not only lack of care but also from ignorant, stupid and even evil people.
This talks to many people’s hearts and this is how you can get help to help the animals.

I would.

• Setup:

• A common website/blog
• A common Youtube account with the name of your project and/or boat – name is something the same to make a “brand”.
• Both of you linkedIn accounts
• Both of you twitter accounts
• Both of you Facebook and more more more social media accounts.
• An paypal account and a paypal page where people who don’t have a paypal account still can donate using their debit/credit card.
• Organize an account on patreon.com where people can subscribe to donate some money everytime you release a youtube clip.
• Organize your youtube account for getting paid for ads.
  

• Create some #hashtags that is going something your alone with and that has something to do with the name of your project and also some that is to do with what you do. Examples: #Vetcharity #animalaid #vetsonboat #cruisingvets
  
• Whenever your write on your blog (do it nearly daily), write on facebook or do social media be sure to include your hashtags. This will help spread everything connected to your hashtags.

• Go about marketing your project. Join every animal rights, animal welfare, animal kindness and animal bla bla bla group you can on the social medias and present your project and your website and youtube channel. Ask for involvement.
  
• Search the google and whatnot search engines to find people, companies and organizations who is proud to donate to animal wellness projects
  
• Watch youtube blogs about whatnot and when you find those where you really like the color, the quality etc ask them what equipment they use in front of sourcing your filming gear.
  
• Buy camera gear for your youtube channel. Why youtube channel? Well, this is where your donors will see where their money is going…….. It is crucial in order to receive a steady income. You will need 1-3 better system camera for filming, you will need 2 or more gopro´s or similar for underwater as well as splashy moments, you will need a few tripods and something to clamp a camera to a mast or whatnot. You will need cameras that can handle external microphones (wind on boats can be a real problem with the internal mics). You will need backup batteries and you will need really high performance SD-cards. You must film at least in HD-quality (lowest is 1080p). Also you will want to have a dedicated movie/picture making computer and lots of external hard drives to save and backup your material.
  
• By loads of business cards and hand out whenever you meet people.
  
• Try to make newspapers, magazines, radio and tv-stations interested in your project – this makes new donors.
  
• Make some movies of your project, be sure to include some things you have done in the past. Like show them your bear work in China. Ask people on social media and wherever to subscribe to your youtube channel.
  

You will generate one time donations on your paypal, you will generate monthly income on how many people watch your youtube clips (ads) and patreon on a monthly basis. The money will be very small to start with but when you get up to 100 000 followers and a million or so viewers you may be up to around 2000 dollars worth a month which is at least going to cover your living costs. I know it don’t much money but if you have 300 people donor $1, 20 people donor $5 and 10 people donor $10 for each clip you make it is $500 for each clip and if you make 1 clip a week that is 4 clips a month times €500 making you $2000.

I wish you luck with your project

Magnus

[VetTails]

Wow Magnus that is some really awesome advice! We have already started the website, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. At the moment it is just a blog about my veterinary work and pet advice etc, but as our plans unfold all of what you have said is amazing advice to get us on the right track!
The main reason we liked the Garcia and Ovni was ability to essentially beach them. We felt his could be handy depending on the places we are going, if they are remote and we need to off load veterinary equipment etc. We would prefer a monohull only because that is what we are used to. But definitely open for other suggestions and in all honest we plan to invest everything we have into getting this started so the lower priced we can find a suitable and reliable boat the better equiped we can be. Great idea about the hash tags too! Thanks again!

[JPA Cate]

You know, on your other thread someone suggested you could join Veterinaires sans Frontieres, Veterinarians without Borders, Just like Doctors Without Borders. That seemed a reasonable suggestion to me.

There's never anything wrong with asking for your heart's desire, but expecting it is a little suss, to me, anyway. How about a Via 36, alloy (if that is important), not nearly as new as an Ovni or an Allures, but really, all you need is a boat that will give you freedom and get the job done.

So, buy yourself an older, $40,000 boat, fix it up (with the next $20,000, and keep the remaining $10k, for contingencies.) Owning and maintaining a sailboat can be a full time job. The ocean is unlike land based highways, seas get up, there's set and drift, it's basically a hostile environment for humans, no fins or gills, of course. You've mentioned nothing about your sailing experience, come on, how can you expect anyone with an IQ over their waist size to take you seriously? I apologize for being so plain spoken, but I really think you're not going about this in a do-able fashion.

FYI, most people who focus on the AluBoats have sea miles under their belts and keels, and/or are quite well off indeed.

Ann

[VetTails]

Sorry should have mentioned we have sailed, including the pacific crossing from San Diego to Hiva Oa, during which we encountered storms and the doldrums where we barely moved for days. We have mainly sailed off the coast of Australia and the Pacific other than this one crossing to help deliver a yacht (Baltic 42).

I know of veterinarians beyond borders, it is wonderful organisation but my focus is wildlife and it is where I am most experienced. Veterinarians Beyond Borders also only accepts people who are qualified DVM with an American recognised university. I went to university in rural Australia which means I would have to sit board exams and pay over $4500 to be able to be a recognised veterinarian in America. If I failed the exams, which not only test veterinary skills but also things learnt in school like physics exams etc, you lose all the money and have to wait a year to sit again. I really have done my research into this and although I do understand where you are coming from my intentions where to gain advice and not criticism . I have also approached already established charities (including vets beyond borders) with my idea but many already have their own programs to run and prefer to keep it that way. I am in contact with one organisation that may be interested in banding together. It is very much a work in progress and will be a huge undertaking.

I do agree about potentially buying an older boat, my husband is a qualified aquaculturist but has spent the last year working as a ship wright in North Queensland. So he would be able to help fix something up, but as you said boat upkeep is very costly and the boats we have found in our price range have needed a lot of work.

I did not start this forum to upset people, or have people feel they are getting taken advantage of. If people do not agree with what we are trying to do that is fine, and we certainly don't expect anything on a silver platter, purely throwing it out there into the cosmos as you never do know.

We do appreciate honest advice, but everyone try keep it nice

[SM6WET]

Never seen the Via 36 before, looks really nice for such a small boat. Good for people here in Sweden that is new to sailing but wants something a little bigger. This boat will with less than 12m length not require any coastal skipper or other certificate for a Swedish sailor.


I am also in favor of something beachable, not for the same reason as you but you don’t have to go the alu-way. There are lots of non alu-boats that has either retractable centerboard/keel or you could go for a catamaran or trimaran that either is a cat with low keels or retractable dagger boards or a trimaran with retractable centerboard.
There is some positives about alu-boat though.

• No osmosis problems.
• Leaking? Just weld on another plate over the hole or porosity and the problem is gone.
• Withstand bumping into stuff like floating containers or ice much better than plastic/glass. Alu has 10 times sheer strength of that of fiberglass.
• If it is never painted, don’t paint it and you don’t need to paint. Saves time, effort and money.
• If I am not mistaken 2nd hand market on alu is better then plastic/glass
• Tends to be cooler inside in hot climates.
• Awesome groundplane for your aerials (VHF SSB and if you’re a Ham).
• Stronger/Sturdier then same size plastic/glass boat.
• The alu-boat is slightly lighter in weight than a similar size fiberglass boat. This will use less power from your engine for the same results. It will also give you more load to carry.
• If you have a problem with the hull, unlike glassfiber boats, you can see it in order to correct it.
• Alu is more stiff than glassfiber, it will cause less leakage through through-hulls, under windows, gaskets for whatever is connected.
• Any repairs that needs to be made is easier to perform and hence takes less time and costs less mony.

There are some negatives as well.

• Difficulty to source parts as you should not connect any other metal than alu to the hull as it will cause galvanic currents and cause oxidation/rust.
• Hull can become very hot and very cold pending climate.

[SM6WET]

I don’t doubt your motives, Believe in yourself – I do.
And I think you should do it. Only thing is we need to get you going.
A good way to get funding is to show proof.

You can do that by what I told before…… Get up some evidence of your work on youtube.
Also, you need to quickly try to gain your subscribers on your yourtube channel as well as you Facebook fanpage.
If you can show potential investors (contributors) that your in serious business then it will will be easier for you.
Also present you project on youtube, ask openly for donations to get started and share your clips on social media and ask kindly for people to share .
Be specific, tell us about your plan, where are you going? SE asia is big, South America is big – be more specific, where do you want to go, what countries, what regions, what animals are your main objectives etc etc etc and why why why and how how how.

Cheers,
Magnus

[VetTails]

Thanks again Magnus. We were looking into cats too but I think since we both only have monohull experience were a bit nervous to take that route. the Via does look nice - we also hadn't seen one before but will give them a search!
Completely agree with you about the proof, think we need to just get it started. I think in our minds we felt like we needed the boat first since that was our travel plans, but perhaps we should get it going with out the boat first. And like you said we may get enough donations or subscribers etc that we can get the "ideal" boat if we wait s little longer.
Appreciate your help! Am copying all of your replies into my business plan document to help us figure more out.

[VetTails]

Hi all, thought I'd let you all know we bought the boat and have started volunteering! Not doing our own charity for now, instead I am just doing the VLOG about my volunteer work and the boat (currently have first episode out called Chuffed Adventures by Vet Tails). The boat is 37ft gamelin and so far have volunteered with a great group called spay panama and a zoo/rescue group as well. Has been great living aboard and being with the cool animals of panama!
Thank you all for your previous advice, we appreciate it [emoji4]