Grand Med tour, how practical?

[Byff]

I'm planning my future boating strategy for how I think i'll use a boat.

A little bit about my past:
When my kids were small, we had a touring caravan which we loved. Turn up to a field, kick the kids out and relax. The kids have now grown up and we no longer want to sit in a field. I don't like being in one area for too long, hence the tourer and not a static caravan. Whenever we go on holiday now, we almost always spend time in marinas looking at boats, occasionally renting them out for a few hours, always thinking "one day".

I'm now thinking buying a boat is a very real possibility. The house is almost paid off, retirement is about 10yrs away so I'm thinking "one day" is very nearly upon us.

Found a nice boat I'd like, it's running costs stack up ok so then moved onto how I plan on using it.

As I don't like being in the same place too long, I was thinking of berthing it in (for example) Palma. Fly in/out and use it as a hotel room for about 2=3 months. Move the boat to Ibiza, fly in/out stay for a few months, rinse and repeat for Barcelona, Cannes, Monaco, round Italy etc etc...

The problem I have is how easy is it to find a berth for a few months and how much I'll get shafted for a short stay as opposed to long term discounts. Is my idea great on paper but a nightmare in reality?

 

[Heckler]

I'm planning my future boating strategy for how I think i'll use a boat.

A little bit about my past:
When my kids were small, we had a touring caravan which we loved. Turn up to a field, kick the kids out and relax. The kids have now grown up and we no longer want to sit in a field. I don't like being in one area for too long, hence the tourer and not a static caravan. Whenever we go on holiday now, we almost always spend time in marinas looking at boats, occasionally renting them out for a few hours, always thinking "one day".

I'm now thinking buying a boat is a very real possibility. The house is almost paid off, retirement is about 10yrs away so I'm thinking "one day" is very nearly upon us.

Found a nice boat I'd like, it's running coasts stack up ok so then moved onto how I plan on using it.

As I don't like being in the same place too long, I was thinking of berthing it in (for example) Palma. Fly in/out and use it as a hotel room for about 2=3 months. Move the boat to Ibiza, fly in/out stay for a few months, rinse and repeat for Barcelona, Cannes, Monaco, round Italy etc etc...

The problem I have is how easy is it to find a berth for a few months and how much I'll get shafted for a short stay as opposed to long term discounts. Is my idea great on paper but a nightmare in reality?

We have done it, BUT the reality is that it will cost a few shillings to berth short term. The best deals are the annual ones. However we took four weeks to get to Faro, stayed the first winter on the hard at Bruces (Google is your friend) Then splashed it and did Albufeira for 18 months, 5200 euros for a year. Then went to La Linea 4200 for a year (38ft) If you do nightly elsewhere its 38 ish euros a night. We would have stayed around Gib but Monarch went pop so the flights were less frequent and more expensive to Manchester. So think on about where to base the boat, close to a major airport with lots of competing flights is the key. It is a good idea, we sail and also call it nour mobile sailing holiday home. do it sooner rather than ;later, my health issues are starting to impinge on our little adventures.

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum

As Stu says it is costly to do this in the western Med but much more feasible in the east, particularly Greece although the facilities are much more basic and it is less accessible from the UK.

There are many ways of using a boat in the Med, and getting there. One thing they all have in common is the need to prepare yourself well. So as he says start now. First read the blogs, books and magazine articles you can on how people have done it in the past. Then try sailing by doing a course either here or in the Med. There are plenty of options. Then charter a decent size boat so you get an idea what it is like to live on a boat in hot climates, as well of course learning more about handling and managing a boat.

THEN decide on what sort of boat would suit. The Med is a very different place from the UK and in general many UK boats are less than suitable, and if you don't plan to have the trip out there as part of your adventure it is probably better to buy one there. Either way you will need to equip it well for living there, although of course a Med based boat is likely to be equipped anyway.

That is sort of the route I went as I bought a boat about 7 years before I retired and chartered it out to essentially pay up to half the cost, using it 2 or 3 times a year for holidays. Then on retirement used it more, although because of a change in circumstances not for as long as we hoped.

Suggest you visit the liveaboard forum as most of the members there are Med based, or have been. You will find your question asked many times so scroll down, read a few threads and pick up on the references to sources of reading material. There is a dedicated thread on blogs for example.

Hope this helps and gives you some ideas. Feel free to ask any further questions.

 

[Irish Rover]

If you fancy spending time in the Aegean Sea there’s an interesting promotion available from Setur Marinas. They have 10 marinas in Turkey and one in Greece and if you have an annual contract in one of their marinas you can spend up to 30 days during the year in each of the others ten marinas.

 

[Byff]

If you fancy spending time in the Aegean Sea there’s an interesting promotion available from Setur Marinas. They have 10 marinas in Turkey and one in Greece and if you have an annual contract in one of their marinas you can spend up to 30 days during the year in each of the others ten marinas.

Interesting thought, thanks for that.

 

[Byff]

There are many ways of using a boat in the Med, and getting there. One thing they all have in common is the need to prepare yourself well. So as he says start now. First read the blogs, books and magazine articles you can on how people have done it in the past. Then try sailing by doing a course either here or in the Med. There are plenty of options. Then charter a decent size boat so you get an idea what it is like to live on a boat in hot climates, as well of course learning more about handling and managing a boat.

Thanks for the advice, that is the plan I was thinking. We're off to Palma at the end of the month and we've booked to do our RYA Powerboat level 2 to get us started.

I'm also very aware of how health can affect plans, part of the reason why I'm thinking powerboats as opposed to sail.

 

[coopec]

I'd love to do a grand tour of the Mediterranean but as I have never been to Europe I am not at all sure what sort of seas to expect. I'm just wondering whether this clip would be an indication of what to expect?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByGSMmenPDM

Clive

 

[Tranona]

Thanks for the advice, that is the plan I was thinking. We're off to Palma at the end of the month and we've booked to do our RYA Powerboat level 2 to get us started.

I'm also very aware of how health can affect plans, part of the reason why I'm thinking powerboats as opposed to sail.

Powerboats make poor liveaboards and cruisers. They are designed mainly for "weekend" use although bigger ones make good marina based seaside cottages.

However, many people do use them in the way you intend (you will find some of them posting on the MOBO forum) but it is a very expensive activity. Fuel if you want to go anywhere serious is a big cost and maintenance, particularly in hot climates is very costly, and much of it beyond DIY. So, unless you have very deep pockets, think very carefully before going that way.

PS it would have been helpful if you had said upfront what sort of boat you were considering as that changes the advice significantly and much of what I said earlier is not really relevant - although going through the process may well lead to a change in plans when you find out what is really involved in running a 20 year old 55 footer in the Med!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

^ What's the point of posting a video of a fishing boat in New Zealand, on a thread about Med cruising / liveaboard?

 

[Tranona]

I'd love to do a grand tour of the Mediterranean but as I have never been to Europe I am not at all sure what sort of seas to expect. I'm just wondering whether this clip would be an indication of what to expect?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByGSMmenPDM

Clive

The Med is nothing like Greymouth (I have been there and it looks scary even in ordinary conditions).

Most of the med is benign, particularly in the summer months and for sailing the biggest problem is lack of wind and the related seastate. There can be periods of heavy weather, particularly spring and winter but much is related to predictable winds blowing off the land mass.

You can move around for years without encountering bad weather, either because there is none, or you stay in port. In the 13 years I sailed out there, I only got caught out twice and both in localised heavy thunder storms that lasted no more than a couple of uncomfortable hours.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Just connected the dots here, the OP byff is looking at a sizeable power boat (Sunseeker Camargue 55 / similar), thread on the Mobo forum here:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?501388

 

[Byff]

Just connected the dots here, the OP byff is looking at a sizeable power boat (Sunseeker Camargue 55 / similar), thread on the Mobo forum here:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?501388

Haha, yes it might have been helpful to include the type of boat I'm thinking of. I think a 55ft Camargue will be plenty comfortable for a few weeks, it's bigger than when I was caravaning with two kids in tow.

Obviously, fuel is horrendous and makes my 13mpg TVR look like a hypermiler. But I'm used to forking out for fuel and I don't mind it because I love engines, the bigger the better.

 

[Tranona]

Haha, yes it might have been helpful to include the type of boat I'm thinking of. I think a 55ft Camargue will be plenty comfortable for a few weeks, it's bigger than when I was caravaning with two kids in tow.

Obviously, fuel is horrendous and makes my 13mpg TVR look like a hypermiler. But I'm used to forking out for fuel and I don't mind it because I love engines, the bigger the better.

Rather like your TVR, it is not the fuel that is the concern as doubt you will not do many hours in a year. Your biggest single cost will be berthing followed by maintenance followed by replacement and upgrading if you don't want the fabric to fall apart. A 20 year old boat that was a money pit from day one is an even bigger one now. That is why they are so cheap relative to a new one of similar size and type.

 

[Byff]

The boat itself, it's running, maintenance and repairs is pretty much sorted in my head, I just can't get my head around what to do with the boat when I'm not on it.

a 55ft'er is unpractical to lift out every time so a marina is probably the only place to put it. However, i'll not be on it, so I don't need all the marina facilities other than the security. Do marinas have such a thing as just a parking spot.

 

[Uricanejack]

Hard to say you are at the opposite end of the spectrum to me.
There are a quite a few people who inhabit your end of the spectrum on the motor boat forum who keep those kind of boats out in the Med.

What to do with it? always the big question. Particularly if you cant just pop down to check on it. A secure marina seams to be the only logical option. Unless you were prepared to put it into a charter fleet? Cant say I know of any power boat charter fleets but there must be some. Eliminates the ability to move though unless they have several bases.

I don't know the Med. Cost of a berth here sky rockets over 40 ft. Also harder to find. Might not be an issue in the med where Stern to Med mooring is the norm rather than our typical finger pontoons.

Having started out as a motor boater. Just my opinion. The running costs of a displacement hull doing 8 knots compared to the costs of a semi displacement hull with legs doing 16 knots is considerable.