5 Year budget, ouch £££

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jonjo

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I have been musing over the true cost of yacht ownership as the deadline draws closer for ordering a new AWB at a winter delivery discount.

Some figures published by a new commercial yacht syndicate operation, currently advertising in YM, have caused me to re-think my sailing plans.

Option A – Commercial syndicate.

£5,600 p/a for a 1/8th share of a new 33 foot AWB. Technically the “share” is a flexitime bareboat charter arrangement.

Option B – Private purchase of a more interesting to sail £80k 35 foot AWB.

Cost of capital at home mortgage rate = £4,400 p/a
Cost of berth = £ 4,000 p/a
Maintenance = £1000 p/a
Depreciation over 5 years including soft bits like the spray hood, sails and dinghy = £4k p/a

So the true cost of a Solent based yacht = £13,400 p/a ?

Who can afford this? For example let’s take a successful professional such as a 45 year old NHS surgeon or airline pilot. What do they get paid, wild guess = £80k = take home pay of say £4k per month.

Therefore yachting costs a successful professional 28% of take home pay. So its confirmed we are nuts.

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Years ago I had the good fortune to be in partnership with a Chartered accountant in ownership of a boat,at the year end he produced figures that showed the boat had cost £65 ph to run:Total cost/hours on boat.
Then it was more than his hourly rate(it was a long time ago!).
The boat was not lightly used in that year it did 1,500 miles.
Chartering when you can use the boat, is in financial terms, unless you are a live aboard the only sensible thing to do.
But then the joys of ownership are priceless and most boaters are by definition "nuts".

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Don\'t even go there...

Once you start to realistically analyse the cost of keeping a boat, you're doomed. I did it in the early 90s (1990s, not my age) and sold the boat. Then in the mid-90s I realised the error of my ways and bought another boat.

The only sensible advice I'd give is to buy the very best quality you can afford. This will minimise depreciation, maintenance and repairs. I bought a Hallberg-Rassy and I reckon it was a good decision.

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You'll see from my profile that I'm an accountant - and I've learned not to analyse the numbers. It's no good being wealthy and dead. Better a rich life's experience and poor.

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Try the same exercise with a boat that's a few years old.

Mine is worth more than I paid for it 15 years ago. So, no depreciation just the cost of capital on an already depreciated boat. Moorings cost in Brittany is < £1000 pa. Insurance = £250 pa. Maintenance : scrub and antifouling approx £100 pa (I have somebody who does it for me for €100 + cost of materials). Liferaft maintenance every other year £100. The rest on an as-needed basis.

I reckon about £2000 / year for a 31 footer. (With the occasional £3000 if significant equipment renewals like my b****y autopilot which lasted only two years for about 4 weeks actual use)

John

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Re:40 metre @ £250 k ?

this sounds a bit too cheap? maybe..

You need a crew of two minimum fulltime, better four really, which is about £9k a month plus food and drinks for self and crew so that's the first 150k gone. If you stay in manky places, berthing might be cheap but the crew wil leave - £50k should work in a reasonable place all in, bearing mind that the aircon will run all day and all night. Don't try st trop (£1000 a night high season). Insurances, another 30k. Crew incidentals (flights, replacing crew, courses, bit of casual work here and there) will be £20k, so that's £250k to stay still as the boat rots.

I wd hazard a guess at 200k for fuel med/carib and back with maintenance each year. So that's £400k all up.

Mind you, the crew wil get pissy if we don't do any charter (cos they get tips which are 10%) ...which will be win about £40k a week, ten weeks a year would haul it down to er, nothing! hurrah!


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This topic has come up before. However, I think most people tend to stick their head in the sand when it comes to the true cost of ownership. I cannot see how the average family could support a boat until at least the kids have left home. After that the boat becomes the new obsession. I have a Najad 390 and have to share it to make it affordable. What I don't do however is share the capital cost. Take a look at www.boat-share.com. The thing I dislike about commercial syndicates is that it ties you in, people fall out and it then becomes a nightmare. To not share a boat for me would mean downsizing and once I downsize it then becomes too much like camping on water and the rest of the family are no longer interested.

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If you go into boat ownership as a business and pay for everything to be done for you then everyone will be ready to fleece you and you will pay through the nose.
People who buy boats because they love sailing, cut the cloth to their requirements and suffer for the pleasure.


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The commercial syndicate I referred to is run by someone else, I was considering joining as a customer.

After meeting the owner of this new venture I decided that paying 35% of the running costs of a yacht for a 1/8th share was not reasonable.

While visiting Port Hamble to view the syndicate yacht I was struck by how few private yachts are based there compared to 15 years ago. It confirmed my theory that the 100% privately owned family yacht is getting priced out of the Solent.

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Re: My perfect syndicate

> Take a look at www.boat-share.com.

I just have, I like the syndicate policy of a succession of remote handovers during the peak summer period.

I think my perfect syndicate would be comprised of 10 co-owners sharing 3 yachts:

1 - Cornish Crabber based in the Solent for simple back to basics sail-camping over short week-ends.

2 - Cruiser/Racer AWB in St Malo for a few long week-end sails each year.

3 - Cruiser/Racer AWB in Corsica for a main summer cruise.


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Re: Don\'t even go there...

This is exactly what happened to us. With early retirement loomimg for us both, we sat down and did a true estimate of what our boat (a Sealine S37) was costing us. With the boat being fully paid, and valued at around £140K, we were losing around £6K pa in interest, should that £140K just be put into a high interest account. Then there were £5000 marina costs, £1250 for engine maintenance, £400 for antifouling/anodes etc, and £1500 for diesel. It came as a shock to find the TRUE cost was over £14000 per annum, (or £270 every week whether we used it or not) None of these costs included depreciation, other marina fees and all the other bits and bobs that you can never resist when visiting chandleries.

WE SOLD THE BOAT!!!

However, one year on after a holiday in Britanny surrounded by boats, we gave in to temptation and bought another one. This time however, there was much more attention paid to the financial burdens involved. We went for sail rather than power. Even so, it still costs a lot, but we are now at a level we are comfortable with:

Boat value - £70K (£3000 interest lost)
Engine service (annual) - £122
Marina - £5150
Antifoul - £300
Diesel - negligable

Owning a boat is still expensive, but now more justifiable in retirement (£8572 per annum) or around £165 per week, which could be reduced somewhat with a cheaper marina, but it's where we want to be. One final point, how do you place a value on the joy of actually owning your own boat, rather than sharing it with others?

Like I say, it doesn't really pay to delve too deeply into the REAL cost of boating!!

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