Group Ownership

[Bus_Driver]

Hi everyone,

Wondering if you guys could give me some advice?

We are a group of friends trying to get together to buy a yacht.

Does anyone have any advice as to what sort of rules a group should have to make it work well? We really don't want to have any fallings out should anything go wrong finically or if one of us is seen to be hogging the boat and I guess the best way to achieve that would be to have some group rules before we get started.

Thank you all in advance.

 

[paulrae]

Hi

You'll get mixed advice on this one. Many have tried, some have worked and others have fallen out completely.

I've been a member of a 4-way syndicate for the last three years and it has worked very well. Each syndicate member is allocated their 'weeks' for the season, with public holidays being shared equally (where possible). All costs are shared equally, so it's a very economical way of getting on the water regularly. It's vital that everyone is pretty easy-going, as it's easy to get wound up by small things that the other members do.

On the contractual side of things, the RYA have a standard agreement. We thought it was too legalistic, so drew up our own. I dare say a lawyer could rip it to pieces, but it was intended to ensure that each member signed up to a kind of 'statement of intent', rather than a contract. PM me and I'll forward you a copy if you like one.

I joined the syndicate as an experiment to see if I could get my wife into sailing. It worked very well and we now have our own boat, so the syndicate's being broken up and the boat's for sale. Two of the existing syndicate members are forming a new syndicate and buying a larger boat to cater for their changing personal circumstances, so the shared approach obviously works for them.

Do a forum search on sharing and you'll get a few hits. (Good luck with the search!).

Hope that it works out for you.

 

[William_H]

It seems to me that problems will come if one of you damage the boat...by stupidity.
Also if one or more are more capable or willing to do the maintenance then that person might feel hard done by. On the other hand if you leave it all to professionals it can get costly. I think I prefer a smaller boat to myself to do as I please with no concerns about offending any one else. olewill