Bareboat Charter for extended period in U.K. Advice please.

E

eise

Active Member
Joined
20 May 2004
Messages
65
Location
Home Somerset, Sailing, South Devon.
alancoombs.co.uk
BACKGROUND
As per my previous posts, my ultimate aim is to do South Devon - Barcelona return voyage. Have no boat at present so was faced with dilema,what boat? Have been away from sailing for a couple of years, had Konsort, have been x-Channel many times and also been beyond the Bishop Rock Lighthouse, just.

I thought about buying small ,cheap boat for this year, but Daughter and Son in Law suggested chartering for 4-6 months and using the time to "Road Test" various boats before making my final choice. I.E. changing models every 2 weeks or month. In this year, trips to S. Britanny and S.Ireland in planned itinerary.

So, has anyone undertaken such a Charter, if so with which company/individuals? Preference is for Devon/Cornwall area as that is my Home Base.

Thanks.
 
Not sure it is a good idea. Most charter boats are 32ft plus - usually bigger because they need to be big enough for 4 punters to share the cost. You are looking at at least £1500 a week, although you may find individuals charging less or offering smaller boats. However the cost of coding, insurance and all that limits the number of people who want the hassle. There are a couple of forum members who run charter boats and will no doubt be along with more detailed advice.

Cheapest way to get a years sailing is to buy a popular sub £10k boat that you can keep on a swinging mooring and take the gamble you will be able to sell it on. Won't help with your other objective though.

You don't say what your budget is for your dream boat, nor what types you are looking at, but most charter boats are modern AWBs.
 
Of course - but according to many in here there is a wonderful choice of "Proper yachts" for under 10k!
 
Extended charter in my opinion is not cost effective no matter how much you are worth! You would have bought a boat with the cost of the charter. Plenty of cheap bargain deals at the moment with the global downturn so use it to your advantage. Ive heard of boats being sold for half the asking price!
If you found a cheap charter for about 1000p/w then multiply that by 4 weeks and 4 months thats £16000 there are many nice boats for sale with that price tag. Spend your money on a charter for several weeks, but not months it makes more sense to buy and sell again if you need to...
 
£1000p/w for a sub 30 footer?? You line the punters up, I'll supply the boats.

Not sure how well you would get on finding a charter boat for long periods of time; lots of weekends/weeks throughout a seasson yes and you should be able to negotiate a good rate. (We do this with our boat)

Whilst in the long run it wont be cheaper, but at least you wont be out in January slapping on several hundreds quids worth of antifouling in the freezing rain.
 
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