Short(ish) term boat ownership?

[kennyh]

Hi all

I’m planning my escape for a future retirement and while I have a nice 30ft’er in Scotland I’m wondering if I could live the jetset lifestyle, for at least a year or so, and then go back to normal life.

Do you think it would be feasible to buy say a used 40ft’er in the Med for 12 months of ownership and then dispose off (sell) again without loosing a kidney in the process?

I don’t think I’d need a permanent berth as I’d spend the time touring round the med.

Is that possible or would it be too cost prohibitive or too risky?

Has anyone tried this and succeeded or failed?

 

[jrudge]

Yes but. ....Bear in mind boats take time to sell and you have brokers fees.

If you choose a popular brand of boat and buy it right it is possible.

The med season is from May to October. Outside of that you will need a berth.

Someone like boats.co.uk might do a 6 month deal with a gteed buy back. I doubt the price would be generous but it would give you a gteed out.

 

[jfm]

If you were prepared to live on a nice 30 footer you could do this for a guaranteed £10k, being 2x trucking fees. (I have no idea how that compares with the current value of a kidney!)

 

[petem]

Regarding the provision of a boat, buy something mainstream (Fairline/Princess) at a good price, make sure it's all working, is well presented and sensibly priced and it should sell quickly. Brokerage fees will be around 10% including VAT.

But to me that's not the main issue with your plan. I wonder if you are seeing "med touring" through rose coloured glasses. Firstly, Med marinas can be pretty brutal, particularly in the peak summer months. In my experience (Spain) there is no way that you can forward book a berth. As best, if they even bother answering your enquiry they will tell you to phone up on the day or at best a couple of days in advance. If the weather turns bad and they're full then you're stuffed. Remember that Med weather can be still be bad (stormy) in the summer. Also, if you're genuinely touring, then you will be at the mercy of the local boat repairers when your boat goes wrong (and it will if you're putting miles on it). At best those boat repairers will charge you a fortune, at worst they'll be flat out fixing their regular customer's boats and won't help you.

 

[jrudge]

Regarding the provision of a boat, buy something mainstream (Fairline/Princess) at a good price, make sure it's all working, is well presented and sensibly priced and it should sell quickly. Brokerage fees will be around 10% including VAT.

But to me that's not the main issue with your plan. I wonder if you are seeing "med touring" through rose coloured glasses. Firstly, Med marinas can be pretty brutal, particularly in the peak summer months. In my experience (Spain) there is no way that you can forward book a berth. As best, if they even bother answering your enquiry they will tell you to phone up on the day or at best a couple of days in advance. If the weather turns bad and they're full then you're stuffed. Remember that Med weather can be still be bad (stormy) in the summer. Also, if you're genuinely touring, then you will be at the mercy of the local boat repairers when your boat goes wrong (and it will if you're putting miles on it). At best those boat repairers will charge you a fortune, at worst they'll be flat out fixing their regular customer's boats and won't help you.

I have reported this post. )

To suggest that med boating is anything other the smartly dressed people getting off a perfectly clean boat is I am afraid contrary to all forum rules. The weather is of course always perfect and flat calm.

Any suggestions that med boats have mechanical issues, AC failure, blocked toilets etc is similarly not allowed I am afraid!

Happy days ---

Whitelighter did suggest this summer publishing and alternative boating brochure !

 

[Boatbore]

Hi all

I’m planning my escape for a future retirement and while I have a nice 30ft’er in Scotland I’m wondering if I could live the jetset lifestyle, for at least a year or so, and then go back to normal life.

Do you think it would be feasible to buy say a used 40ft’er in the Med for 12 months of ownership and then dispose off (sell) again without loosing a kidney in the process?

I don’t think I’d need a permanent berth as I’d spend the time touring round the med.

Is that possible or would it be too cost prohibitive or too risky?

Has anyone tried this and succeeded or failed?

Anything is possible. You haven't really defined what cost prohibitive is. Lets assume you buy a decent 40 footer for £200k to £250k (this will provoke a stream of disagreement no doubt), you will then have approx. £50k of running costs.... (including fuel (5 litres a mile and euro 1.40 per litre - assume 3000 miles cruising in a year), insurance, servicing, repairs (there will be some !), moorings etc etc) but excluding flights home, lavish living in expensive places (a meal in St Tropez is £100 a head and that's the good value places!) . Then you have to sell the boat at the end of it...... if you paid £250k, then you will sell it quickly at £200k or maybe a little better...... So back of an envelope ..... £100k for a year of boating including buying and selling the boat which sounds a lot to me ! You can cut a load of corners and reduce that number (buy a very old displacement boat, eat very little etc etc) ...but you wont get much below £50 to £60k if you want to "live the dream"..... at least not in my opinion !

 

[Portofino]

£100K write off is what I was thinking .for a 12/12 experience.
As long you know that before just go ahead and enjoy .
If there’s any change that’s a bonus at the end .

 

[kashurst]

To avoid selling body parts it would be worth roughing out a possible route and finding out about marina mooring fees. Med mooring in the high season in the most popular places is unbelievable. Short stop overs are the most expensive. Most places can squeeze a 10m or 12m boat in an emergency. Getting water can be difficult as well in some places.
Once you have a rough route you can estimate fuel costs for your journey depending on using your existing boat (good idea - with a few hotels or air-bnbs along the way to diminish any cabin fever) and/or for a 40'.
However out of the main July/August/September period everything gets a lot more realistic. The med weather is mostly very good all year around but you could be stuck for a few weeks if a proper storm develops. So some research around route/mooring/weather/most expensive locations will save a lot of money and hopefully avoid a nasty surprise.

Is it worth getting a bigger boat - possibly. Do the proper maths carefully.(not the man maths) More fees, more fuel, but quite a lot more space. Buying is easy -it could take quite a while to find a good boat depending on your budget. If you are good with the spanners you will hopefully avoid any serious mechanical issues/delays, otherwise you could be stuck waiting for repairs. It could take up to a year to sell when you have had enough so factor that in to the finances. Brokers fees vary from 5% to 10% depending where you are when you come to sell.

Can you sail? - sail boats go just as well on the engine as a motor boat and do great mpg. It just takes a while. Sail boats have loads of room inside, and when the wind is right (not as often as you would hope in my experience) sailing is great fun. They are also a lot better at anchor for overnights.

 

[petem]

Anything is possible. You haven't really defined what cost prohibitive is. Lets assume you buy a decent 40 footer for £200k to £250k (this will provoke a stream of disagreement no doubt), you will then have approx. £50k of running costs.... (including fuel (5 litres a mile and euro 1.40 per litre - assume 3000 miles cruising in a year), insurance, servicing, repairs (there will be some !), moorings etc etc) but excluding flights home, lavish living in expensive places (a meal in St Tropez is £100 a head and that's the good value places!) . Then you have to sell the boat at the end of it...... if you paid £250k, then you will sell it quickly at £200k or maybe a little better...... So back of an envelope ..... £100k for a year of boating including buying and selling the boat which sounds a lot to me ! You can cut a load of corners and reduce that number (buy a very old displacement boat, eat very little etc etc) ...but you wont get much below £50 to £60k if you want to "live the dream"..... at least not in my opinion !

Indeed (I hadn't even mentioned fuel). Don't forget mooring costs (if not included above). For a 40 footer these could range from €75 to €500 a night.

 

[petem]

Can you sail? - sail boats go just as well on the engine as a motor boat and do great mpg. It just takes a while. Sail boats have loads of room inside, and when the wind is right (not as often as you would hope in my experience) sailing is great fun. They are also a lot better at anchor for overnights.

Yup, that would be my suggestion.

 

[oldgit]

Just to twist the knife a little bit......the main thing folks go down there for is that wonderful reliable warm weather.
It can get blisteringly hot down there and after a while the prospect of yet another 14 hours of constant oppressive heat can get to be bit more like hell than heaven..
Fine if your 80ft Sunseeker has 3 A/C units, two icemakers and a 10KV genny to power them , but a rusty old B&Q fan matched with an iffy Peltier coolbox in a cramped 30ft glassfibre oven.... aint.
The prospect of some honest UK summer rain suddenly seems a wonderful idea.

 

[superheat6k]

For some reason I've never been particularly attracted to Mediterranean boating, now I understand why. Apart of course from the P&O / Royal Caribbean method, which after all offers an all expenses included option.

£100k would buy ~10 decently appointed two week cruises, so that's 5 months of reasonable comfort, and no nasty surprises, apart from the pick pockets in Rome, of course.

 

[kennyh]

Thanks all - some interesting points to consider.

Re moving to sail power. That could be an alternative; I’ve down a bit of sailing (brother has a 12m yacht) but to be honest I don't like the general lack of outdoor living space on a yacht (sweeping statement I know).

I’ll get the calculator out and see how shocked I’ll be, but the main question was around the availability of decent boats to buy and the ability to offload it a year (or so) down the line.

I am good with my hands / mechanics and thus would have no problem with a generally mechanically sound but tatty boat, with the plan of improving it during ownership.

 

[Bouba]

Ok, how about using the £100k to buy a lovely, fully appointed, luxury motor home towing a small (say 18 ft) rib with at least forty hp on the back (90 would be better). Your year of jet setting would begin from your front door (not the airport) and you could tour the Med and boat to your hearts content
Ps. It doesn’t have to end after one year. You will have a holiday machine that you could use for years

 

[pumpsmynads]

DO NOT buy an aluminium boat for use in the Med unless you want to be judged!

 

[Bouba]

DO NOT buy an aluminium boat for use in the Med unless you want to be judged!

I think my life here has just finished

 

[jrudge]

If I was doing this I would either do a seasonal charter ( not easy to find I accept but marinas are full of boats that never move ) or as before do a deal with boats.co.uk or someone else for a gteed buy back of a stock boat.

 

[pumpsmynads]

I think my life here has just finished

 

[kennyh]

Ok, how about using the £100k to buy a lovely, fully appointed, luxury motor home towing a small (say 18 ft) rib with at least forty hp on the back (90 would be better). Your year of jet setting would begin from your front door (not the airport) and you could tour the Med and boat to your hearts content
Ps. It doesn’t have to end after one year. You will have a holiday machine that you could use for years

Funny enough, I bought a Motorhome last year and plan on touring Europe in that soon too (I’d need to fit a towbar though).