Buying a yacht in Suffolk - Ipswich for Yacht Share, Good Idea ?

[alive]

My first post on ybw, hopefully applied to the right forum.

I'm looking to make my first boat purchase a yacht share, to make it affordable and ensure greater use and care of the lovely boat we hope to buy.

Keen to know peoples experience with finding and sharing with like minded people to share in a yacht ownership ?

Ipswich, like the Solent is an ideal place to own a yacht, for commutors from London, and the options are quite good for Holland and into Thames and Norfolk sailing trips.

Our current plan is to setup a 1/4 share setup, maybe later changing to 1/6, as a syndicate in a 32"-40" yacht, usable for family use and general crusing around the UK or to Europe from East Anglia.

The communities advise would be much appreciated

Thank you,

Chris B

 

[richardabeattie]

Welcome. Yes you are on the right forum. Yacht sharing even with people you think you know well needs careful management and a properly drafted contract. The RYA can advise.

 

[pvb]

The area is good, with lots of opportunities for trips in different weather conditions. But yacht sharing needs to be formally structured, exceptionally well, if it's not to end in tears. And even then, it can end in tears.

Have you looked at the alternative costing of chartering boats for a number of weeks a year? You can book what you want, where you want, when you want, rather than being tied to feeling you "have" to use a yacht share week.

 

[Tranona]

Yes, read the section on shared ownership on the RYA Site. Successful partnerships depend mainly on the relationship between the member's, and the more members you have the more difficult to find common ground. If the idea is to have individual usage on a time basis in the UK, then given the unreliable weather 6 people will not get much real use.

Arguably shared ownership works best when the boat is in a location where there is a long season with predictable weather like the Med, and where the syndicate can have professional management. This ensures members get equal use and removes one of the major causes of disagreement, which is sharing maintenance of the boat.

 

[Seajet]

alive,

Hi, well you've started with a question bound to raise opinions !

Personally I wouldn't dream of a boatshare in a million years, if it's a matter of budget get a smaller boat; she will probably be a lot handier and teach you more anyway and nothing beats rowing - or strolling on a pontoon - away fron your pride & joy.

I once went halves on a tatty old International 14 with my best friend who I had sailed thousands of miles with, for a bit of fun performance sailing.

It soon turned out he expected me to fund all paint and bits and pieces and to carry out all the work; he lived 5 minutes walk from the boat, it was a 90 mile round trip for me, but if I didn't want the boat to degenerate into a worthless heap I had to make the efforts and pay the money.

That was just a tatty dinghy but it convinced me never again.

Sharing ownership of a flat with someone I thought to be a friend until the bills rolled in, and his word proved a zero with the rim removed, confirmed what I should have known already, it takes an especially good person nowadays to value friendship and honour above even a few £.

The more people you don't know you introduce into the ownership, the more chance of a bad apple with short arms and deep pockets who expects to be carried by the rest.

Get your own boat !

 

[ghostlymoron]

No, its not a good idea.

 

[Habebty]

Whatever you are spending on your share, use it to buy your own smaller boat and enjoy the freedom and lack of potential for hassle.

 

[sailorman]

Whatever you are spending on your share, use it to buy your own smaller boat and enjoy the freedom and lack of potential for hassle.

100%

 

[emnick]

IMHO its a great way to get into sailing and boat ownership........provided you are in a good syndicate. We bought into a 1/4 share and stayed with it for 7 seasons until we bought our boat. We had an easy going syndicate, I was doing shift work at the time and if I was working my weekend and into my week others would adapt so I could use their mid week time as they were working anyway. I can honestly say it worked well.

On the down side you cant personalise the boat and cant leave your possessions aboard, we had a rule that the boat would be left no less than 3/4 full of diesel and full of water for the next user, also you cant ever leave the boat in a way you wouldn't like to find it. On the up side everything is 1/4 the cost. From insurance to mooring, repairs, I think we even had a small on board fund at £2/day to cover the cost of diesel used.

Many people buy a boat and still have busy lifestyles you often see boats that haven't moved for many weeks. So if you examine when you can actually get sailing this can help make your decision. If buying into a syndicate look at the people as much as looking at the boat. I have heard of some people being members of a yacht syndicate here in UK and also abroad... it works for some. Good luck with it. BTW Chris from Yacht fractions is very helpful

 

[Seajet]

alive,

this is an old but true tale, please excuse me those who have seen it mentioned before...
-----------------

A sailor takes his accountant chum for a trip on his boat.

After a few hours the accountant says " I see, you pay thousands for a boat you can at best use 2 days a week "

- " No, I use her 7 days a week "

- How so ? "

- " 2 days a week I sail her, the rest of the time I dream of her ".

-------------

I don't think you would get that feeling with a boat prostituted out to other people.

 

[sailorman]

28 yrs ago my accountant asked "where have all your savings gone" me " i bought another boat"

 

[Tranona]

alive,

this is an old but true tale, please excuse me those who have seen it mentioned before...
-----------------

A sailor takes his accountant chum for a trip on his boat.

After a few hours the accountant says " I see, you pay thousands for a boat you can at best use 2 days a week "

- " No, I use her 7 days a week "

- How so ? "

- " 2 days a week I sail her, the rest of the time I dream of her ".

-------------

I don't think you would get that feeling with a boat prostituted out to other people.

You just have to change your view of what your boat is for. Just because it fulfills one purpose for you does not mean it is the same for everybody. Never had any problems with my boat being used for the majority of its life by others through chartering - bought the boat specifically for that purpose. However it meant that firstly I could afford to buy it and secondly it was available to me for my use whenever I wnated it subject to booking in advance. Suited my situation perfectly.

As ever please recognise that others may have different objectives to you and are prepared to make different compromises to get what they are looking for.

 

[Seajet]

alive,

I can only express my feelings and opinions as I feel; I don't try to say how others should feel to be clones of myself.

I had a boat I chartered out a few times, and each time I was in a worried state until she returned safely unscathed.

I happen to have a romantic view about boats, which I happen to feel lets me get the best results, and enjoyment from and with them; if you feel a boat is just a machine made up of her component parts, you would get more out of chartering or shared ownership than I would.

That doesn't alter the fact that shared ownership is a serious bother and minefield just begging for problems - it's a matter of when not if you get serious hassle - and even if you think of boats cold-heartedly you should either get a Big Gun and let your co-owners know about it, or much better for your health just get your own boat !

 

[Tranona]

alive,

I can only express my feelings and opinions as I feel; I don't try to say how others should feel to be clones of myself.

I had a boat I chartered out a few times, and each time I was in a worried state until she returned safely unscathed.

I happen to have a romantic view about boats, which I happen to feel lets me get the best results, and enjoyment from and with them; if you feel a boat is just a machine made up of her component parts, you would get more out of chartering or shared ownership than I would.

That doesn't alter the fact that shared ownership is a serious bother and minefield just begging for problems - it's a matter of when not if you get serious hassle - and even if you think of boats cold-heartedly you should either get a Big Gun and let your co-owners know about it, or much better for your health just get your own boat !

Your last comment is simply not true. There are thousands of syndicated boats that are successful. You just don't,then hear about them because they are successful. You tend only to hear about the ones that go wrong.

So long as people are aware of the potential pitfalls and benefits to them there is no reason why such arrangements should not work. Not for everybody but for some it is an ideal way of going about boating.

 

[johnalison]

I have never shared a boat, but know of several shares that have worked well. There have been a few threads here reporting problems, but I'm sure these are the exception rather than the rule. The only thing you can't do is divide a registered boat into three equal parts.

 

[Seajet]

Tranona,

your eagerness to declare me wrong shines through despite logic, as ever.

I suggest it stands to reason that being a sole owner is a lot better than a part owner, especially with people one doesn't know.

Seeing as a large proportion of marriages end in bitter acrimony and divorce, that doesn't bode well for people who don't even tnink they love each other to start with !

Hopefully ' alive ' is bright enough to see the pro's and con's, only some of which have been mentioned on here so far;

a ' pro ' might be having regular crew available in the form of someone else from the syndicate,

a ' con ' may well be deciding who is skipper, where to go and how to go about getting there !

 

[Tranona]

Tranona,

your eagerness to declare me wrong shines through despite logic, as ever.

I suggest it stands to reason that being a sole owner is a lot better than a part owner, especially with people one doesn't know.

Seeing as a large proportion of marriages end in bitter acrimony and divorce, that doesn't bode well for people who don't even tnink they love each other to start with !

Hopefully ' alive ' is bright enough to see the pro's and con's, only some of which have been mentioned on here so far;

a ' pro ' might be having regular crew available in the form of someone else from the syndicate,

a ' con ' may well be deciding who is skipper, where to go and how to go about getting there !

Certainly not trying to declare you wrong. Just pointing out that you seem to have a very narrow view of the world that does not allow you to see the world through the eyes of others. There are millions of successful marriages, like mine 47 years and still going in just the same way as there are thousands of successful boat shares.

The OP asked if sharing was a good idea. Others have pointed out the pros and cons and some have shared their own experience. It is up to the individual to take note of all this advice and make up his own mind whether it is for him or not.

You, on the other hand totally dismiss anything that does not accord with your own narrow view. Not very helpful to the OP.

 

[Sticky Stuff]

Great to share and perfect for many but .... choose who you share with carefully... Everyone has different ideas about what they want or more commonly don't want to spend on upkeep.
people spent to much time checking the boat but I would recommend you spend more time checking if you like the other shareholders and if you are all singing from the same hymsheet.

 

[Seajet]

Certainly not trying to declare you wrong. Just pointing out that you seem to have a very narrow view of the world that does not allow you to see the world through the eyes of others. There are millions of successful marriages, like mine 47 years and still going in just the same way as there are thousands of successful boat shares.

The OP asked if sharing was a good idea. Others have pointed out the pros and cons and some have shared their own experience. It is up to the individual to take note of all this advice and make up his own mind whether it is for him or not.

You, on the other hand totally dismiss anything that does not accord with your own narrow view. Not very helpful to the OP.

Tranona,

try to be honest at least; it has been mentioned before that you try to rubbish anything I say.

I have recounted experiences to ' alive ' and explained my point of view,also mentioned pro's as well as cons.

I can only tell alive what I think, frankly it's not going to upset me whatever he decides, though I wish him well.

You are seeking to prove that your chartering your own boat is a good idea and seem a bit defensive about it, so as usual think - wrongly - that the best form of defence is attack.

Alive,

hope whatever you choose to do works out well; shared ownership can work, but be very very careful and get everything agreed to as in who does what right down to buying the tea bags, in writing !

 

[Tranona]

Tranona,

try to be honest at least; it has been mentioned before that you try to rubbish anything I say.

I have recounted experiences to ' alive ' and explained my point of view,also mentioned pro's as well as cons.

I can only tell alive what I think, frankly it's not going to upset me whatever he decides, though I wish him well.

You are seeking to prove that your chartering your own boat is a good idea and seem a bit defensive about it, so as usual think - wrongly - that the best form of defence is attack.

Alive,

hope whatever you choose to do works out well; shared ownership can work, but be very very careful and get everything agreed to as in who does what right down to buying the tea bags, in writing !

I do NOT rubbish everything that you say.

Your continued inability to see that your own experiences are not representative of what other people experience just limits the value of what you try to contribute.

This exchange is merely another example of your intransigence. Continuing to state that boat shares do not work in spite of all the evidence, two posts on this page alone, that they can work.

Open your eyes and stop seeing yourself as a victim. There is a big wide world out there that is very different from your narrow perspective.