Boat share ? Is anyone in a syndicate or is it frowned upon.

[thejonesey]

I absolutely agree with Pete. The thing is to establish what it is going to cost and what sort of additional spend is needed each year, set your budget and don’t worry about it.
While we have yet to use her, when we do it will be infinitely preferable to going to a hotel or villa as all I even want to do is go boating when the weather is good!

PS we (the Mrs!) had planned to downsize the UK boat when we joined Pete but Covid has put paid to that idea for now so there is an upside!!

 

[sails_02]

Curious to hear about how maintenance cost works out .

Example:
Search for Sail Boats and Yacht Shares | Yacht Fractions
- Boat with 1/6th share selling for £3500 ( £21000 implied value of boat)
- Total annual costs for each member are approx. £1800 (£10800 implied annual running costs)
(6*1800)/(6*3500) = ~50%

I'm curious to know why the annual costs are so high? I guess with 6 times 5weeks of use the maintenance can be quite high compared with "Rule of thumb is 10% of value of boat per annum for maintenance".

From what I've seen, it seems to be around 25-50% of value of boat on most of the listings

 

[petem]

Curious to hear about how maintenance cost works out .

Example:
Search for Sail Boats and Yacht Shares | Yacht Fractions
- Boat with 1/6th share selling for £3500 ( £21000 implied value of boat)
- Total annual costs for each member are approx. £1800 (£10800 implied annual running costs)
(6*1800)/(6*3500) = ~50%

I'm curious to know why the annual costs are so high? I guess with 6 times 5weeks of use the maintenance can be quite high compared with "Rule of thumb is 10% of value of boat per annum for maintenance".

From what I've seen, it seems to be around 25-50% of value of boat on most of the listings

The berth will be £7k a year or so. A few thousand for antifouling and engine servicing and you're up to £10k.

 

[julians]

Curious to hear about how maintenance cost works out .

Example:
Search for Sail Boats and Yacht Shares | Yacht Fractions
- Boat with 1/6th share selling for £3500 ( £21000 implied value of boat)
- Total annual costs for each member are approx. £1800 (£10800 implied annual running costs)
(6*1800)/(6*3500) = ~50%

I'm curious to know why the annual costs are so high? I guess with 6 times 5weeks of use the maintenance can be quite high compared with "Rule of thumb is 10% of value of boat per annum for maintenance".

From what I've seen, it seems to be around 25-50% of value of boat on most of the listings

As per petem, the mooring costs will be the majority of those maintenance charges, mallorca is an expensive place to keep a boat.

 

[sails_02]

Ah. Indeed. Thanks!

 

[ontheplane]

10% of purchase cost is rubbish! A 30’ boat will cost the same to moor whether it’s brand new and £300,000 or an old wreck of £3000....

Maintenance on an old boat will be dearer than a new one but purchase cost lower....

I don’t think it works as a rule of thumb anymore

 

[chrisgil]

I have a share in Mallorca and generally it works well, particularly with full time skipper. There are of course compromises, primarily you can’t use exactly when you would like. I have 8 weeks use which is almost as much I was on board when owned my own boat. On the other hand a share enables use of a boat at fraction of cost, both capital and annual. On a bigger boat, with a decent contract and vetted shareholders I think it works well.

 

[TwoHooter]

Chrisgil - how many people in your group?

 

[BoyBlue49]

I have seen adverts for "Borrow a Boat", "Lend a Boat" etc. It certainly does not appeal to me.
My boat is not for lending even to a friend let alone a stranger of unknown skill, it is very personal to me.
A friend with a light aircraft was asked if he ever hired his plane to others.

His to the point comment was - Would you lend your tooth brush to someone else ?

 

[ontheplane]

But most light aircraft are run on a shared ownership basis, so not a great comparison!

 

[jrudge]

Much is the same much is different.

You still own an expensive asset, you need to get on, you need to leave it as you found it, you need to pitch in when work needs doing, you need to respect collection and drop off times and pay your bills on time. Both need maintaining to a decent standard and fixing ASAP when they go wrong. You also need a similar mindset for both when it comes to upgrades and similar.

The big one is that a plane has little or no personal belongings. Money can solve this whereby the possessions of one owner are stored and the next owners stuff put on board. If that is not palatable or practical for whatever reason then there just needs to be an agreement that only x is left on the boat and all other tat taken home.

If you are an employee then boat share is a gift. You only get 4-6 weeks holiday and you will want some of that at xmas etc. If - like me - you are flexible and self employed finding a worthy partner is far harder.

 

[TwoHooter]

I have been a member of 2 aircraft groups and I have also owned my own single seat plane.
I got just as much satisfaction in the groups - they were nice people - as I did when flying solo.
I think group ownership of aircraft is relevant because the aircraft groups have developed schemes, accounting systems, and documentation which have a long history (at least 70 years) of working well. I cannot recall any reported litigation concerning group ownership of an aircraft. The aircraft schemes could be used as templates for boat groups.
Also, lots of people are happy to rent boats for holidays in the Med and the Caribbean, and don't mind the fact that they don't own the boats and have to remove their stuff at the end of the hire.
My view is that if your boat is a highly personal thing, like BoyBlue49 says his is, then it won't work for you.
If all you want is to be able to go boating at a reduced cost without the whole burden of management on your shoulders then group ownership is the way forward.
I am following this thread because the day might come when I will want to explore the possibility of shared ownership of our boat.

 

[GravyStain]

I'm still very much not against a boat share BUT - it has to be with the right people, and as has been pointed out on here - these people (other shareholders) can change during your share ownership...
You could start out with shareholders who can't stand being around children in summer holidays (perfect for me), but in 2 years (as shareholders change) end up with other like minded parents who will all scrabble for half / full term time on the boat.

It's a real circle that I haven't mentally squared yet.

There's a lovely Squaddie 58 in Cala Dor that is nearly perfect, and the owner seems a great guy...

If I could give any advice from a novice point of view - buy nothing less than a quarter share, or a third... The whole 4/6 weeks allocation from an 8th share seems frought with problems and very little flexibilty.

I'd love to find more like minded people to fraction with - trouble is they're mostly like me with kids...

 

[jrudge]

I believe I know the s58 you refer to ( it is not mine!).

I agree do it with 2-3 people. The thought of being allocated 8 random weeks - some of which will be in November - has little appeal.

 

[TwoHooter]

Would a group with (say) 4 boats and 12 members be able to afford to employ someone to look after the boats? I'm assuming a single base or perhaps two bases reasonably near each other.
Allocating time between users is easy with an app like Goboko.
There must be someone doing this already - surely?

 

[GravyStain]

Would a group with (say) 4 boats and 12 members be able to afford to employ someone to look after the boats? I'm assuming a single base or perhaps two bases reasonably near each other.
Allocating time between users is easy with an app like Goboko.
There must be someone doing this already - surely?

There is a chap who runs yacht-share.net and he has a set of 3 boats around the world which is available as a fractional option. It's not cheap, but it gives you access to cruising grounds all around the world. Not a bad idea.

Navetta 68 - 3 Yachts Syndicate - Yacht Share Western Med - The Yacht Share Network | Yacht Syndicates | Yacht Fractions

 

[GravyStain]

This seems too good to be true?

Zero monthly fees,
Fully skippered / staffed
80 day per annum...

Fairline Squadron 58 Power Boat Flybridge Charter Yacht Share For Sale | eBay

 

[GravyStain]

Hahaha -scratch that - I just dug a little deeper - you get 60 days over 5 years. 12 days per year.

More for your business parties etc rather than proper boating methinks...

 

[petem]

I believe I know the s58 you refer to ( it is not mine!).

I agree do it with 2-3 people. The thought of being allocated 8 random weeks - some of which will be in November - has little appeal.

With 2-3 people, time allocation can be far more relaxed. We each pencil in a few weeks at the start of the year and fill in the gaps as the year progresses. I suspect with large syndicates it's not just the dates that need to be fomally agreed but length of visits are probably more rigid.

 

[Muxey]

Thanks for all the views on the subject, and some good points raised I was thinking more a 50/50 kind of share, I just hate to see the hundreds of boats sat in marinas not bing used, not being used probably causes more problems than a boat that is ued more regularly,