Chartering vs Owning

[RIglehart]

I am new to "serious" sailing. I have done a few bareboat charters and it has been great. As I get closer to retirement I am considering purchasing a blue water capable cat or mono. I want to see other parts of the world from a boat. My current home is in midwest US about as far from the ocean as you can get.

Here is my question. Is it possible to get reasonable long term bareboat charters. Like 3 months in Mediterranean, 3 months in French Polynesia, 3 months in Caribbean, and have freedom to go anywhere you want. I know I can charter in all these places for $/week. With a bareboat charter you are always limited in sailing area. For example, if I charter in Florida I can't go to Bahamas. If I charter in USVI I can't go to BVI or anywhere else in the Caribbean. Plus, the $10K/week for a catamaran is doable for me for a week or 2 vacation. But 3 months isn't in the cards unless I win the lotto. I could do a lot of charters for the $500k a decent used cat would cost and not have to worry about maintenance/repair/insurance/etc....

I am trying to decide if I can get my sailing fix by chartering or long term leasing and forgo ownership and all the headaches that come with it. Or maybe there is something out there I don't know about that fits this lifestyle. I have seen fractional ownership, but those also are limited to sharing a boat in a slip somewhere, which is not what I am looking for. I have seen the charter company owner programs, which also seem one sided (for them) while you take all the risk.

Any ideas??

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by RIglehart

I am new to "serious" sailing. I have done a few bareboat charters and it has been great. As I get closer to retirement I am considering purchasing a blue water capable cat or mono. I want to see other parts of the world from a boat. My current home is in midwest US about as far from the ocean as you can get.

Here is my question. Is it possible to get reasonable long term bareboat charters. Like 3 months in Mediterranean, 3 months in French Polynesia, 3 months in Caribbean, and have freedom to go anywhere you want. I know I can charter in all these places for $/week. With a bareboat charter you are always limited in sailing area. For example, if I charter in Florida I can't go to Bahamas. If I charter in USVI I can't go to BVI or anywhere else in the Caribbean. Plus, the $10K/week for a catamaran is doable for me for a week or 2 vacation. But 3 months isn't in the cards unless I win the lotto. I could do a lot of charters for the $500k a decent used cat would cost and not have to worry about maintenance/repair/insurance/etc....

I am trying to decide if I can get my sailing fix by chartering or long term leasing and forgo ownership and all the headaches that come with it. Or maybe there is something out there I don't know about that fits this lifestyle. I have seen fractional ownership, but those also are limited to sharing a boat in a slip somewhere, which is not what I am looking for. I have seen the charter company owner programs, which also seem one sided (for them) while you take all the risk.

Any ideas??

This comes up every few years. It's the same question I myself asked at one point. But unless something has changed there are no viable options for long term leasing. You might find 10-15% off in a few places but at ~#$4000/week 3-4 weeks/year is about the most it makes sense to charter IMHO. Still, chartering has a lot of plusses vs ownership, most of which you already recognize.

For us, since we like to sail in the PNW and we had the opportunity for a year-long sabbatical it made sense to buy figuring we could stand a $20,000+ loss and still come out ahead of even chartering for a couple of months. Turns out we loved and decided not to sell but instead put her into charter with one of the many smaller local charter companies. So we now sail 3-4 weeks a year and, depending on ongoing maintenance costs, it generally costs way less than chartering even half that period.

Good luck in your investigations and let us know if you find the perfect package

[Wolfe10]

Check with the charter companies in the area you are interested in cruising for an OFF-CHARTER boat.


We did that in the Bahamas when we didn't have time to move our boat from Texas and wanted to spend 2 months in the Bahamas.


Yes, the manager of that particular fleet location knew us from previous visits on our boat.


At the end of a charter boat's "term" in the rental fleet (at least in our case), a charter boat owner can choose to do that.

[rockborn]

We have not found a bareboat company that will let you sail after dusk, which limits your daily distances significantly. We have rented in the USVI and gone to the BVIs, no problem.

[Wolfe10]

Originally Posted by rockborn

We have not found a bareboat company that will let you sail after dusk, which limits your daily distances significantly. We have rented in the USVI and gone to the BVIs, no problem.

Could certainly be the case.


But, the rules from Marsh Harbor were also restrictive-- not permitted north of/around Whale Kay. Totally waved for us.


Again rules for charter VS off-charter can be vastly different.


Worth an inquiry.


Now the negative-- after 5 years on our own boat (Crealock 37') in the same anchorages, we were not treated the same when on a "charter boat". When we met old friend on the laundromats/grocery stores-- only then were we OK.