Long term charter

[txgirllana]

Semi retired couple looking for 32 - 40 (monohull)
Ft boat to charter for a month or longer in the bvi or Belize. What's the best way to go? Buy or lease? My
Husband is experienced sailor.

[hellosailor]

Sailboats are generally not leased. And if you buy and sell one, either you'll pay for two brokers and still hope it resells within 3-6 months, or you'll spend that long paying yard bills and showing people the boat.

So the winner is, call a charter company and see if any will give you a break for chartering a boat for four weeks in a row. Or, do two two-week charters back to back. And the charter company will ask for proof of your sailing credentials or experience.

Otherwise you won't find much choice, it just isn't normally done that way.

[aquadreams]

You might try Seabbatical Long Term Charters out of BVI. They do multi-week / monthly charters supposedly at a discount.

Seabbatical Long Term Bareboat Yacht Charter - BVI Bareboat Charters

"Why charter for 1 or 2 weeks when you can pay a similar price for 4 weeks"

I have no experience with them but have been keeping them on my radar for when I have time for a longer charter. They've been gradually adding to their fleet and are now up to 20 yachts. had only 4 when I first started following them a few years ago. Not sure how they've fared with Irma.

Joe

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by txgirllana

Semi retired couple looking for 32 - 40 (monohull)
Ft boat to charter for a month or longer in the bvi or Belize. What's the best way to go? Buy or lease? My
Husband is experienced sailor.

It's the "or longer" that you have to think about. Lets say a charter boat costs you ~$3000/week (you may find something cheaper, but then you will also get what you pay for). That's $12000/month. For one month you are probably going to want to charter. For two months it's still mostly in favour of chartering ... but mostly, it starts to seem like a huge money pit.

But if you are chartering or 3 months at $30,000+, that's a whole hell of a lot of depreciation and maintenance towards your own boat which gives you infinitely more flexibility in terms of location, equipment and boat choice.

We did the math when we were looking to fill 6 months or so and ended up buying the boat and living aboard for a full year. (And then we kept it, but that's another story). The theory was we could take a $30,000 hit and still be miles ahead.

Your mileage may vary.

[aquadreams]

Originally Posted by Macblaze

Lets say a charter boat costs you ~$3000/week (you may find something cheaper, but then you will also get what you pay for). That's $12000/month.

Seabbatical posted this just 3 days ago:
"From Nov 1 - Nov 30 you can have the trip of a lifetime for only $5500. The Beneteau Cyclades 43 comfortably fits 6, making it as little as $33.00 per person per day."


I didn't check to see what the actual cost will be once you add in the extras - like I said I'm just keeping them on my radar for the future.

They use older boats than most charter companies (the one above is a 2006) but they seem to keep them in good shape.

Their website has an FAQ that speaks to additional costs and I don't see anything huge.
What are the additional costs?
The fully refundable security deposit for catamarans is $5000 and can be reduced to $1000 with an additional $500 payment. The fully refundable security deposit for monohulls is $3000 and can be reduced to $1000 with an additional $300 payment. BVI Cruising Tax: $2 per person per day (High season 12/1-4/30) $.75 per person per day (low season 5/1-11/30. National Parks Permit: $25 per week up to 4 persons $5 per week for each additional person. Airport Departure Tax: $20 per person.

Website: Seabbatical Long Term Bareboat Yacht Charter - BVI Bareboat Charters
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Seabbatical/

Like I said, I have no experience with them and can't make any recommendation.

Joe

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by aquadreams

Seabbatical posted this just 3 days ago:
"From Nov 1 - Nov 30 you can have the trip of a lifetime for only $5500. The Beneteau Cyclades 43 comfortably fits 6, making it as little as $33.00 per person per day."

...

Like I said, I have no experience with them and can't make any recommendation.

Joe
[/FONT]

It's not a bad deal. but that is the low season rate — look at the current weather down there :-) — so the regular rate is closer to $9000/month which takes you back to my theory on 1 month being a reasonable deal and 3 months being too much.

I do wonder how far they will let you go. I couldn't find anything on the site when we checked it out a few years back. Are you restricted to the Virgin Islands? Maybe we should encourage the OP to go a head with Seabattical and report back — some first hand info would be nice.