Who has bought a boat and included it in a charter fleet?

[wanda1]

I’m considering buying a newish boat and including it in a charter fleet to help offset the cost of ownership. I was hoping to get some info from people who have experience with this.

If anyone who has done this can speak to the economics and logistics of it, I’m interested. I have done some research and am aware of the obvious issues. Wondering about stuff that might not be obvious, as well as what we’re the circumstances that led you to do this.

[psk125]

It is usually the charter companies that offer the boats up for sale. They select the design they like and arrange for you buy it. They then charter it out to help offset the owner's costs. They usually set it up so you get to use it some too. You picking out the boat first might be a hard sell to the charter outfit. It might not suit their customers or might cause problems with their maintenance crew not being familiar with it.

[donradcliffe]

I am delivering a Catalina 36 this month for a woman who bought if used and put it in the local charter program. There is a 20 year waiting list for slips, and the charter program had a slip for the boat. It was used for sailing classes, charters, and she could use it herself.

This month she has decided to quit the charter program and put the boat in another harbor 100 sea miles away. She has given up on the local slip and the charter program because there was too much wear and tear on the boat when it was being used by others.

[Marathon1150]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

She has given up on the local slip and the charter program because there was too much wear and tear on the boat when it was being used by others.

We bought our current boat when it was in a charter fleet managed and operated by the broker selling the boat. At the time, we had not yet sold our previous boat, and finding local dock space was very challenging because the new boat was bigger than the old boat. Advantages included:
1. dock space in a very good marina in a place that we enjoyed visiting
2. the revenue from chartering was enough to offset the dock fees where we purchased the boat - i.e. the charter company/brokerage firm, did not cover moorage costs, insurance etc.
3. they did keep the boat very clean and when things broke or were lost, they were quick to remedy the problem.

Downside:

1. Peak charter season was also peak sailing season, so we could really only use the boat in the shoulder season in order to maintain the revenue stream;
2. there was always something broken or lost after a charter and we had to pay for it.

We moved the boat as soon as local moorage was available - about a year after we purchased the boat. I would not put my boat into a charter fleet again.

But I took an advanced sailing course from an instructor who owned a large Bavaria and he could not imagine owning a boat that didn't help pay for itself by being in a charter fleet (he normally did not use his boat for teaching).

I'm sure that there are many opinions on this matter. Good luck with the decision.

[Macblaze]

It would be good to know where (regionally speaking) you are thinking of putting it in charter. AFAIK know PNW is nothing like the east coast which in turn are quite different from the bigger companies in the Med or the Caribbean.

As said above the major issue with the west coast is that peak charter is peak desirability time but if you are interested in sailing the shoulder you can do ok. But be warned its like renting your house. Don't be emotionally invested in it or your will continually be frustrated.

[GordMay]

A couple of good articles, from Nestor, at ‘Blue Budda Adventures’:

“Does charter ownership work? Creating a financial model.”
➥ https://bluebuddhaadventures.com/doe...nancial-model/

“Buying a Sailboat for Charter: We bought a boat!”
➥ https://bluebuddhaadventures.com/buy...bought-a-boat/

[wanda1]

Originally Posted by Marathon1150

I'm sure that there are many opinions on this matter. Good luck with the decision.

Thanks. The “it’s a horrible idea, your boat gets trashed,” opinion is well represented, as expected. I was hoping to get more opinions from people like the instructor you describe. All I can really gather from the comments is that the people who frequent sailing forums have a unified opinion on this matter.

In regards to the other part of your comment, in what scenario would peak charter season not align with peak sailing season.

[wanda1]

Originally Posted by GordMay

A couple of good articles, from Nestor, at ‘Blue Budda Adventures’:

“Does charter ownership work? Creating a financial model.”
➥ https://bluebuddhaadventures.com/doe...nancial-model/

“Buying a Sailboat for Charter: We bought a boat!”
➥ https://bluebuddhaadventures.com/buy...bought-a-boat/

Fantastic. Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[desodave]

Originally Posted by wanda1

I’m considering buying a newish boat and including it in a charter fleet to help offset the cost of ownership. I was hoping to get some info from people who have experience with this.

If anyone who has done this can speak to the economics and logistics of it, I’m interested. I have done some research and am aware of the obvious issues. Wondering about stuff that might not be obvious, as well as what we’re the circumstances that led you to do this.

We bought a new boat 19 years ago and put it in charter. We were looking at my retirement in about 5 years and it gave us moorage in the community where we were moving to, ongoing maintenance until retirement and we thought it would provide a financial benefit. We would never do it again. MacBlaze's caveat is relevant here ... we reside on the BC coast.
It did allow us to familiarize with the local area and find permanent moorage for the boat in another marina. We did get the boat looked after and maintained while I finished my worklife in another city ... at a cost.
But the boat was grounded twice, the second time costing us business ... the first was on the last charter of the season. Insurance paid for the damages but the lost income was lost period. We realized the the charter company never lost money but we sure did, especially when demand slowed.
We were restricted to shorter periods using the boat and always deferred our usage around charters. Shoulder season is actually better cruising in our part of the world so that wasn't a real problem but availability of the boat didn't always match ours. The constant loading/unloading of our stuff got to be a hassle that we enjoy now not having. It's not your boat at this point, it's just a charter on something you own.
We wanted the boat for enjoyment in our retirement. However it was old beyond its age by the time I retired with a few obvious scars. Not what we anticipated ... perhaps a bit naively in retrospect. Most people who charter boats just don't treat them with care and respect imo. Plan for a lot of additional deprecation if you charter it. And it will be discounted when you come to sell it.

[Marathon1150]

Originally Posted by wanda1

In regards to the other part of your comment, in what scenario would peak charter season not align with peak sailing season.

We had this same boat in Mexico for 10 years and it is quite possible to sail year round there but it is a bit warm in the summer and the hurricane risk is increased, but sailing is and was still possible. The last marina we were in in La Paz had a number of charter fleets in it, and those boats were out 12 months of the year. Further, a boat mechanic that did some work for us here in BC, planned to move his boat to Mexico so that he could sail in Mexico during the "off season" here in the PNW. He did do that but I'm not sure how well it worked out.

Regarding the instructor who kept his boat in a charter fleet, he was on one occasion surprised to see an article in a local sailing magazine that featured his boat aground. The charter company did not tell him about the incident possibly because the customer neglected to report it. When our boat was in charter, we had the option, which we used, of a post charter underwater inspection to try to capture this kind of problem.