Costs

[Iota]

A long time ago I fell in love with a classic motor yacht of some 55 feet. I became friendly with the owner and over the years have stayed in touch. He rang me on Sunday to say that he was having to sell her because his 'distinctly better half' was no longer mobile and he wanted the boat to be used....and not as a floating apartment. I have not seen the boat for a couple of years.

Emotion tells to sell my plastic yacht and go for it but reason says

My nervousness is in 2 parts
1. what sort of annual costs, apart from berthing, could I be walking into. My friend is retired and does everything, I still have 9 years to go.

2. How to I pursuade my wife that this is something we should do.

any thoughts would be gratefully received

Iota /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Mirelle]

A very good question.

It really breaks down into three parts:

1. Running costs, including mooring, insurance and fuel

2. Annual maintenance costs, including surveys every 4 or 5 years for insurance, annual painting and varnishing, antifouling, consumable spares like oil filters, odd bits of rope, and so on.

3. repair and refit costs, including replacement of canvas covers every few years.

The most expensive item of the lot is "presents that you buy the boat".
Cut those out and you are already halfway there.

You will be able to form quite an accurate picture of the first two items. I will assume that you will do the routine maintenance yourself, and will pass on a tip - take a week off in summer to do it - the boatyards are empty, pleased to see you, and therefore cheap, and you get far more done in warm weather and long hours of daylight. The cost of paint for a 55 footer is a significant item, incidentally.

The best way to approach item 3 is to budget for it, just as owners of merchant ships do. Almost nothing needs doing immediately; everything needs looking at sooner or later. Establish a programme of doing one part of the boat each year.

Owners tend to put off doing things until the insurance surveyor requires them - at which point they all have to be done at once. this is not really the best plan, and most surveyors will be happy to point to things that need doing over the next few years rather than immediately.

The only particular thing about large wooden motor yachts that I can think of is that because their deck joinerwork is very complex, as compared to a sailing boat, they are prone to odd deck leaks which can cause quite expensive little pockets of rot in places like wheelhouse windows and so on. I've known a couple of boats throw surprises in this area.

I hope this helps a bit.

 

[Peterduck]

I can't improve on Mirelle's reply re the boat itself. The more difficult question is how to convince the wife that this is a good idea! You might try to appeal to her normal feminine desire to be envied by her social group. "Swanning around" with a glass in hand is so much easier on a 55ft classic power cruiser than a plastic sailboat. Paint a picture of her inviting her friends [not all at once, though!] for a gentle trip up the Thames or somewhere similar. Best of luck!
Peter.