Onwership Poll II

[roblanford]

Could that be a nymphomaniac blond nun? or is the nun another person?

[Limpet]

I find it fascinating that the vast majority, nearly 90%, must be the sole owner.
There are a lot of reasons to be the sole owner, and the most significant would be for true cruising. But if cruising is not on the agenda, and short sailing trips, 1, 2 weeks, is all that is foreseeable, then financially, buying a boat makes no sense. In this situation, owning is a luxury and it comes with real and significant costs.

Still, nearly 13% would go for fractional ownership if they could cruise for 3-4 consecutive weeks. However, this in absolute terms is only 7 total people

Even if say 4 willing parties could be found, I suspect finding consensus on selecting a given boat would be difficult. It would probably make more sense to get a boat and then look for those willing to share the load.

[jbinbi]

I looked at Sailtime very closely before purchasing my own boat, and looking back now, I am very glad I did. I don't cruise nearly as much as I want to, owning a small business , wife and teen kids doing other things over the summer, so you would think sailtime would work well.

However, as I tell my friends who ask about going sailing, good sailing = sun & wind. Not just sun.

The best daysails I usually get is when the wind forecast is good, to leave work at 2pm and go out for 4 hrs. I don't know more than a day or 2 ahead of time when that will happen. Sailtime makes that hard to do. Too many Sat or Suns has the wind at 8kts (to me, that means motoring), or no wind until 4 pm, etc. So having a boat that I own means that I can use it when I want to! For that freedom, I have to pay the full price however. If I was in FL and only wanted a boat for the summer, looking at working with a charter company would make a lot of economic sense...

[imagine2frolic]

Would you share your wife? Most of us look at our boats as our love, a second wife, and sometimes that makes the first one angry.....lol

My boats were before my wife, and she came into the relationship knowing the boats were first, she second, and I third. Sharing something so precious, and expensive for me is out of the question. The reasons are many.

[Limpet]

Originally Posted by imagine2frolic

Would you share your wife? Most of us look at our boats as our love, a second wife, and sometimes that makes the first one angry.....lol
My boats were before my wife, and she came into the relationship knowing the boats were first, she second, and I third. Sharing something so precious, and expensive for me is out of the question. The reasons are many.

I'm certainly the possessive type and hear ya....but there are lots of people that buy a boat and immediately put it into charter. Unlike fractional ownership, you have no idea who is on your boat and what their abilities are.
I was just sailing in Bora Bora and on our first snorkel we discovered that the leading edge of the keel was crushed such that you could put your hand inside the hole .....yes hole. The charter company did not mention a thing to us about it. When we returned it, they had a diver check the hull, and there were some tense moments when we thought they might blame us. But it turns out they knew about it. I could never see putting my boat in charter, but fractional ownership seems workable. Although I'm sure there will be instances where one or more owners piss you off for something they did or did not do. Hell, they might also be pissed off at you.

[imagine2frolic]

IMHO,

I would rather downsize than share. BEST WISHES in your attempt to pull it together. Hopefully everything will go smooth for you...........

[Limpet]

I find Sailtime to be interesting in that they manage to find sailors that seemingly are satisfied with sailing in one locality. To me sailing is about exploration and adventure. Its seems that sailing in the same place over and over would be down right boring. I rented a house boat on a lake a few years back. Once there we realized there was really no where to go and the boat just basically was a swim platform. We quickly became bored. People did a lot of mid-day sleeping on that trip. Had we rented some jet skies as well, the trip may have been different.

The more I consider buying a boat the more I'm convinced that buying a boat is completely financially unsound. Owning a boat is all about luxury, freedom and convenience. And this luxury comes at a high cost. Of course "high cost" is relative.

[DtM]

Interesting topic.

We are considering puchasing a boat for use over two northern summers in either the US (and cross to the Med) or in the Med.

If you assume that each summer the time on the boat will be 4 months a charter is an expensive option. Multiply it by two and the figure could well be over $100,000.

In that circumstance we think that buying a boat and trying to sell it 18 months later at a very realistic price might well be a reasonable option.

any thoughts?

daniel

[Limpet]

Originally Posted by DtM

Interesting topic.
In that circumstance we think that buying a boat and trying to sell it 18 months later at a very realistic price might well be a reasonable option.
any thoughts?

daniel

That's what I call the Winnebago option. You buy a near new used Winnebago, drive it across the states for several months, then turn around and sell it for hopefully what you paid for it.
This is a good option especially if you are planning on cruising for 4 months at a time.
One potential gotcha is when you go to sell....the market may continue to be soft with few real buyers

[DtM]

That is why I say "a very realistic price".

If you have "saved" $100K in charter fees then a large haircut on your buying price in 18 months might move it even in a soft market.

I also note that I would hope to buy very well in the present soft market.