Charter Schemes

[bstreep]

I'm going to jump in (again). Answers to "makes sense" vs. "makes NO sense" will likely depend upon the taxing entity. As the furniture leasing guy above notes, it's a huge business (as is computer, copier, cars and other leasing to businesses). It's a tax avoidance situation. BTW, here in Texas, you pay sales tax on the leased item, and then again on the payment - it makes leasing make less sense.
From the charter company's viewpoint, it makes sense to spread the risk, and offer up something in exchange for it. We have a friend on the pier on his 4th or 5 Moorings boat. It works for him. He's never kept the boat after the end of his agreement.

Other charter companies work differently. I keep using BVI Yacht Charters as an example, because 1) we love them and 2) their business model actually makes sense for SOME folks. It's very different than the rest of the models.

BTW, it is my understanding that Dream Yacht owns quite a few boats. They buy them in bulk, and then sell them to "investors". After our insanely bad experience with them in French Polynesia, I've had several "owners" contact me and tell me that the company regularly switched charterers to a company owned boat from theirs, when they arrived...