BUYING EX-CHARTER

[townquay]

I'm thinking of buying an ex-charter (flotilla?) Feeling which was based on the Med'. Can anybody advise as to the dangers of buying a boat with such usage? A lower price is being asked and, of course, I will have a full survey. Has anybody done this and can offer advice - or a lesson learnt ?
(P.S. I'm not really asking to read all the usual tirade about Sunsail customers)

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[Guest]

The engine should be your biggest concern. Charterers tend to motor, and the charter company staff don't half rev em and throw them in and out of reverse when manoeuvring. This is the thing a standard survey doesn't look at in much detail. It would be well worth having a seperate survey done of the engine if at all possible. On the up side - the sails should be in good nick!

Will

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[tcm]

Well, at the lowest level of cash, a charter boat should be okay. The most seriously dangerous problems seen on the forums are often caused by lack of use. Of course, it's not been anyone's pride and joy. But as a working tool, it gets serviced regularly like a company car. Oh, and of of course, you can make daft offers which could be acccepted because you aren't "insulting" anyone.



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[sailbadthesinner]

looked a this

discussed it with company and basically they dropped 15%on first haggle and offered to installautohelm and remove livery and put name on in a differnetstyle.

the engines on the boats for sale ( we were interested in) all had been overhauled.
boats were old but had been maintained. you can look at it they do an assett just well used. i could not afford new and you donot go through that awkward taking prisitneboat and watching it mark and scratch stage ( i am not convincing even myself as write this).

this was going to be a share but i got cold feet, to the sharing not the boat .

i have to say you get a lot of Ben for your buck if you go ex charter. and ofcourse if you donot want to get the boat to the med it makessense to buy one there.

cursory inspection pickedup knackered water pump ( these tend to get left on)and some dodgy connections on the lights. fridge was not acheiving correct temp( they admitted that) the rigging had been renewed replaced overhauled. winches had been oiled but i think were a bit knackereda s they get some use most days so it is a long life for them.


go for it i say.



<hr width=100% size=1><font color=red>Ok brain let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer</font color=red>

 

[jimi]

If its got teak decks they'll probably need replacing

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[david_e]

I went nearly all the way late last year with a Jeanneau. Spent a day choosing the best from the fleet, test sailed it. Came back & was with the surveyor when he did all checks including load test on keel. General clean bill of health, was about to complete when local Benny dealer threw out all the stops and got me into a new boat, cost more but differential was well worth it. (especially with hindsight)

General condition internal & external OK, grp touch up & wood touch up could be re-done by yard/french polisher. If you spent say, £1k on these, would have boat in pristine condition.

Things that potentially concerned me were;

Keel - load tested OK but it was clear that it had been grounded (they all had) and I was concerned about the potential long term damage to the integrity of the glass. (Poster Chris_Robb gave good advice on this)

Engine was fine but noisy and the engine mounts were knackered suggesting v heavy use.

Gearboxes need TLC - not abundant in charter fleets.

I think they need to be real bargains and you need to budget to spend quite a bit. If you are going to buy - bid low, very low. Think along the same lines as if you were buying a used Taxi.

Then you will have to sell it - and history will be a factor.

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[Sailfree]

How do yo do a keel load test?

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[Sybarite]

A charter boat may have had a variety of good or bad sailors. A privately owned boat may only have had a bad sailor. You never can tell. Get a survey done.

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[david_e]

Load test on keel

It might vary with different boats, but on this deep fin keel boat it went as follows.

Boat in slings with experienced operater. Surveyor gets block of wood and positions at the forwrad and then stern end of keel, lowering boat gently then lifting off each time. Takes visual/estimate of deflection, ie the amount the hull flexes under the load. Then surveyor gets inside boat and with block of wood in centre of keel does the same lift and lower a few times while checking around the cross members for residual cracking and then movement on th elift/lower, also checking for the amount of movement around the furniture, ie where the woodwork is internally, such as chart table and galley.

On this boat, there appeared to be quite a bit of movement externally but he explained that it was to be expected because of the keel design and relatively small area of attachement, had he seen the same amount of deflection on a boat where the keel attachment is long then would have been concerned, same with the deflection inside around furniture, small amount acceptable on this type of boat.

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[Chris_Robb]

Re: Load test on keel

Hi David - good description of how it should be done. I have 2 friends who wish that their surveyor had done this check!

Chris

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[jonjo]

Re: Load test on keel

Apparently an experienced eye can interpret a lot about the state of a hull by looking at movement during crane/cradle operations.

Last Tuesday my launch was delayed 90 minutes because the boat being hauled out ahead of me needed all sorts of extra support when lowered into a cradle. In the end the yard manager was called out to supervise operation and they concluded the boat had must have suffered from a severe osmosis peel or two without relamination.

Speaking to the crane driver later he pronounced my wine glass shaped Nich 38 completely solid!

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[Russell]

Get the diesel tank cleaned !

We picked an ex-charter boat from Majorca and because of flight deadlines we had 2 leave 4 mainland Spain during a gale. After a couple of hours motoring out of Palma into huge seas the engine died just as we were about 2 start sailing. We turned back and got a tow back into the marina 2 find all the diesel filters blocked.
We changed them all and set off again but it wasnt right until the tank was cleaned. I put this down 2 the fact that charter boats dont go out in bad weather, so all the crap lies in the bottom of the tank until it is disturbed.

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[snowleopard]

selling a charter boat..

from the perspective of a charter owner, we sold three very sound boats with everything working. quite a few people who phoned up immediately put the phone down on hearing the boats had been chartered.

there were quite a few dings in the hulls, especially the stem and ransom edges. these were purely cosmetic but of course meant a lower price. rigging was all a bit tired but totally serviceable. interiors were again tired but in full working order.

had i been buying one of these i would have been happy to get a sound working boat at around 80% of the going rate.

if you are the type who uses fender socks, forget ex-charter boats!

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