Can we charter out our cat for Christmas?

[davedindubai]

Hi all,

We have a 2017 Lagoon 450S that we launched in June this year and will be heading across to St Lucia by mid December.

We have decided (purely for financial reasons) that we want to charter the boat out for xmas and new year.

We’ve no idea if it’s even possible to arrange a short term let, if we can get insurance to cover us, will a broker be interested in marketing our boat and handling the transactions. Plus a tonne of other questions and issues we need to answer.

Can anyone help with and of the issues we might face?

We are thinking of leaving the boat with a company for the xmas period and returning to the UK. We would also need to empty the boat of all our belongings as we live aboard.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you

[Palarran]

While charter companies are pretty desperate for nice cats like yours, I'd guess it will be hard to find one to charter for that short period. I'm crossing also at the same time and we both know that something can come up that will require a repair upon arrival. So if someone was to commit in the next two weeks, they are really at risk that the boat won't be available. And I guess my opinion is that if you have enough cheese to buy a new boat, the small amount you will get for two weeks of charter really isn't going to make a difference in your lifestyle.

[davedindubai]

The problem is, I didn’t have enough cheese to buy the boat and now need to try and make sure we can keep it.
Christmas and new year on a cat in the Caribbean can fetch $15k a week which would keep us afloat until I can get back to work so I’m really serious about the charter if anyone has any contacts?

[donradcliffe]

Normally I would say its not likely, but I saw another story here about a delivery captain who had just delivered a cat out of Caribbean charter to Puget Sound, and was told to turn around and take it back again, because the charter companies are desperate for replacement boats.

I'd Google 'Caribbean yacht charter brokers' and talk to some of them.

[bvimatelot]

Talk to Horizon Charters or Seth at Barefoot St Vincent. You'll have to google them. St Martin and Tortola are the main areas which got trashed so the smaller companies there like TMM, Conch Charters, BVI Bareboats - sorry you're going to have to google for them!

I myself was delivering from the Caribbean to South Africa at the time so missed the hurricanes, only to find on arrival at Cape Town that house and business had been blown away - so I find myself camping with family in Blighty until the crystal ball clarifies!! Tony

[Moontide]

I'll bet Sunsail/Moorings would cut a deal. There probably going to be desparate for boats in the BVI's and St Martin areas.

No downside in asking. If they will play I'm sure they can take care of getting insurance, and other formalities, in place for the short period.
Bill

[Dave22q]

if you find a charter service to handle this for you it still leaves the insurance issue. your carrier is not likely to be interested in covering commercial use and I doubt that any charter service's carrier would cover a leased boat. When you get your boat back I would expect your carrier to demand a new survey. Of course if you do not inform your carrier you might be uninsured if they find out.

[LLizzard]

PM sent

[Paramotorgreg]

Is your boat coded for charter? In the UK there are quite stringent regulations regarding the equipment and safety features that are required for commercial charter.

Although you will be in the Caribbean rather than the UK I suspect that companies such as Sunsail, Moorings and Dream Charter will be guided to a least a certain extent at by these regulations. Most leisure vessels, although very safe for private use will require some work and expenditure to bring them up to commercial standard.

I considered this for my boat but my estimate of the cost required was over £2,000 and I decided it wasn't worth it for a few short charters to allow randoms to abuse my pride and joy...

Here is a link you may find useful....http://solasv.mcga.gov.uk/codes/ndp_...code_final.pdf

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by Dave22q

if you find a charter service to handle this for you it still leaves the insurance issue. your carrier is not likely to be interested in covering commercial use and I doubt that any charter service's carrier would cover a leased boat. When you get your boat back I would expect your carrier to demand a new survey. Of course if you do not inform your carrier you might be uninsured if they find out.

Where did you get this opinion? My last two insurance companies have had a line option for charter coverage which only cost $750.00. And it's a brand new boat, why would an insurance carrier need a new survey after a charter period?

To the OP,
I still think that there will be a problem with risk of delivery and the time frame from now until the holidays. They would have to list the boat and book it in such a short time, with the risk that the boat doesn't show up, or shows up with a problem. IMO it's a huge longshot. One thing that might work though is go for a full month or two in March and April in the Bahamas. At least those islands are not wrecked and it's easy sailing. Maybe Cruise Abaco