Used Charter Company Boats

[Glacial erratic]

Does anyone have an opinion or experience with purchasing a used cruiser from any of the major charter companies? Good values or dollar sink holes?


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[Hoofsmit]

Hi
No doubt there will be lots of opinions expressed, on the pros and cons, but as a start I think it's comes down to what you plan to do with your purchase, I think it would be foolish to say buy a second tier 10 year old craft from say the BVI's and take it across to the med without some serious costs for upgrades/ renewals, but if you are going to use it for popping between the islands , then she might well do so for some time without major refit.
The other major factor that I took into the pricing/ value equation was , can I Diy the majority of the work/ upgrades and get a vessel that would be out of my price range.
I think its really ........ How long is a piece of string


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[maytrix]

For the discounts you can get one them, I think they are worth it. They are set up for charter, but a comparable boat that was privately owned will fetch a higher price. So all things equal, for major cruising you'd be doing upgrades anyway.

Best way to get it would probably be to get one just before it comes out of contract from a company like moorings or sunsail and then be involved in the phase out.

[Glacial erratic]

It appears the larger outfits sell after about five years. We don't aspire to trans-Oceanids, but rather coastal cruising in the gulf. Perhaps as far as Panama.


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[Curmudgeon]

Obviously some of these boats have been heavily used, and many of them have been chopped up to create a s many cabins and as many heads as possible.

But the real issue is the inherent quality of the boat, and its condition. If it's a good boat in good condition, why not?

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Glacial erratic

Does anyone have an opinion or experience with purchasing a used cruiser from any of the major charter companies? Good values or dollar sink holes?


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My buddy bought a used Jeaneau 36 out of Sunsail charter in Thailand. Great boat, well maintained and other than "normal" 5 year old boat stuff has been very reliable.

They bent over backwards to sell the boat - they put a new engine in it and gave him an extremely nice RIB.

All the drama about charterer abuse is a red herring. It's still a used boat and you have to know what you are buying. The good news on charter boats is there is a standard level of maintenance that must be maintained, unlike privately owned boats.

I would be "more" wary of the secondary charter market. Smaller companies that buy/'contract used boats to go into charter. I suspect these come out of charter worse for wear.

Like any boat you will have to prep and upgrade depending on your intended use of the boat. i.e. passage making.

The fact is you won't likely find any "big cabin" owners layouts. That's not the charter game.

[bvimatelot]

Absolutely agree with Dan on this one. Particularly nowadays, in the competitive market place that charter companies operate in, "A" fleet boats are very often a good deal. Sure, its said that one year charter service is equivalent to five year's private use but so what? At least you will have a service and maintenance record, which, for many private boats, won't happen and provided you get a reliable survey, you'll "get what you pays for"....Tony

[JPA Cate]

The big problem here is abuse. If a charterer abuses a boat (know of one situation in which a keel was torn off), say, by running it aground, and doesn't fess up to what was done, you need to be educated enough that you can spot that kind of damage. There was a lot of hyperbole earlier in the year relative to the loss of the Cheeki Rafiki, a Beneteau charter boat, that the keel fell off of. Don't know if you're thinking catamaran or mono, but both can be used gently or harshly, and IMO, you want a sound boat for cruising even the Gulf of Mexico. Where you want to cruise definitely influences what you can safely consider.

Ann

[Glacial erratic]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

The big problem here is abuse. If a charterer abuses a boat (know of one situation in which a keel was torn off), say, by running it aground, and doesn't fess up to what was done, you need to be educated enough that you can spot that kind of damage. There was a lot of hyperbole earlier in the year relative to the loss of the Cheeki Rafiki, a Beneteau charter boat, that the keel fell off of. Don't know if you're thinking catamaran or mono, but both can be used gently or harshly, and IMO, you want a sound boat for cruising even the Gulf of Mexico. Where you want to cruise definitely influences what you can safely consider.

Ann

Thanks, Ann. Yes, sort of like how we sometimes treat rental cars. My Pearson 303 had a minor keel problem after over the road transport when I purchased. I think a prior collision or grounding which stressed the forward keel/hull interface ( encapsulated lead keel) and the travel over Maine roads I think resulted in an actual crack and water seepage into the bilge. Not a major repair next fall when the boat was hauled but annoying.


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[denverd0n]

I think the comparison to rental cars is very good. Lots of people out there will warn you to never--NEVER!--buy a rental car. Because they get abused. People don't take care of them.

True, the renters don't take care of them, but the rental car companies do. I have bought a couple of retired rental cars over the years and they have been very good values. Remember that rental cars get washed (mostly) every week and waxed every couple of weeks. They get their oil and other fluids checked (again, mostly) every week. Their tire pressure is regularly checked. The oil gets changed on a strict schedule. How many car owners take that good of care of their cars? I take way better care of my cars than most people I know, and even I don't stick to the kind of strict maintenance schedule that rental car companies do.

Charter boats may not get cared for very well by the charterers, but they get much better care from the charter-boat companies than most owners give their boats. Would you rather buy a boat that has been sitting neglected for the last 8 years, or one that was worked hard every week but also got routine maintenance performed every week? I'd take the latter boat any day of the week, and twice on Sunday!

As with any used boat, you need to check it out thoroughly and get an independent survey done. But I definitely would not shy away from a boat just because it had seen charter service.

Good luck.

[Ex-Calif]

The charter companies I have used in the past couple of years had specific grounding and keel damage disclosure statements. i.e. I am responsible to disclose groundings.

The first time I was alarmed enough to free dive on the keel and have a look, not wanting to be responsible for damage I didn't' cause. I told the company what I did and as a repeat customer they told me not to bother as they "trusted" me considering the effort I made.

But it is still a bit of a dilemma for me.

However groundings and "covered up" repairs would never be isolated to charter companies. You have that exposure with any used boat.

In regards to the rental car analogy - I too bought a retired rental car. Current year 25k on the clock. About 50% of a new car price. Drove that Pontiac into the ground and sold it with about 130k on it.

[nwguys]

We did our first charter in the BVI last November, on a 43' beneteau. I did a lot of diving on that trip, and inspected the bottom of the beneteau, as well as checking out a few others.

The rudder was missing the bottom few inches, and completely flooded. The bottom of the keel had also taken a lot of abuse. This wasn't uncommon on others.

As other have mentioned, the boat was clearly designed for chartering. The blackwater, and electrical configurations where interesting, and understandable for chartering. But not something you'd want on your personal boat.

I would recommend looking hard at any charter boat before purchasing. And just be expecting a project boat, going in.

[Glacial erratic]

I appreciate all your opinions. Retirement is a year away so I'll have some time to work with issues that I ultimately find acceptable in a new used boat. Interestingly there are two candidates for sale right in our own condo complex at Gulf Shores AL. We have a mini marina there as each of the 180 or so units has an assigned slip.


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[annsni]

We purchased a former Sunsail Catalina 42 in Florida and got a SCREAMING deal on it because the guy who owned it never used the money he was getting to pay down the note. It was also a deep fin keel and didn't do well in Florida so it was for sale for a year and a half. The poor guy needed to get out of that loan so actually had to come to the closing with a check for the balance. I think 11 years later, the boat is finally worth what we paid for it up here in NY. It was worth well more than what we paid all these years - including adding in the multiple flights to Florida to see the boat, work on the boat, sail the boat through part of Florida and then hiring a captain to sail it home!! I would do this again in a heartbeat.

[Glacial erratic]

Sounds like you had a great experience with it! Do you recall if you had any post-purchase surprises? Did you opt for a survey first?


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