Lending your boat to the kids

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masterofnone

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Mate of mine has a rinker 27 he let his children (mid 20's) borrow. Mercruiser with duo prop on the leg, unfortunately they found some shallows, 3.5 months to sort out, just a tad shy of £4k out of the insurance co.
I have a sailey boat my kids use as a party venue tied to the side, but they aint taking it out on their own till they know what there on with.
 
I had this dilemma a short while back. The straight answer was 'not a chance!' I rest my case. I dont even let them NEAR it never mind step foot on it with their mates!!
 
I wouldn't loan my boat to anyone without supervision whether they're family or not!:eek:

I've lived on boats since 1989, 3 years later Dad let me take the helm in his 13ft Fishing boat 'Seaduck' (she was similar to an Orkney long liner... and that feeling of freedom has stuck with me ever since) I was 8 and supervised of course.

I'm 28 now and I've been on the water as much as possible ever since, would he loan me his boat to go out solo now... I doubt it :D

Neal
 
What a bunch of miserable baskets; if your offspring are not capable of being responsible for their behaviour and looking after a vessel, is it not as much a reflection of your parenting skills as it is their lack of moral fibre?
 
I've told my daughter ( 21) she can use our boat (8.1m Sportsboat with 320 HP) if she does the PB2 course. She says she'll do it before next Summer; we'll see !!!
 
When I was 18 my parents trusted me with their Princess and to be totally honest, I think I looked after it more than them.

As far as boat handling went, my parents made me helmsman at the age of 11 as that way they always knew where I was on the boat..... which meant I was safe. In the end, my dad would phone me up when I was at work and ask me how to do XYZ with the boat as he'd be buggered if he could get it where he wanted it!!

I guess it all comes down to the individual.
 
penfold said:
What a bunch of miserable baskets; if your offspring are not capable of being responsible for their behaviour and looking after a vessel, is it not as much a reflection of your parenting skills as it is their lack of moral fibre?
Click to expand...

I think my parenting skills have been awesome and my lads are great but then again, i'm not gonna risk 180k worth of boat to find out i was rubbish after all :D
L
 
masterofnone said:
Mate of mine has a rinker 27 he let his children (mid 20's) borrow. Mercruiser with duo prop on the leg, unfortunately they found some shallows, 3.5 months to sort out, just a tad shy of £4k out of the insurance co.
I have a sailey boat my kids use as a party venue tied to the side, but they aint taking it out on their own till they know what there on with.
Click to expand...

I have a client with a 78 foot boat. He bought it for his family to use as a base for them and their friends to have fun. He sees it as a floating holiday home (it's in the Med) and the kids have been down on their own.

As to taking it out? Well I will be heading out next year to work with them. Nice Dad!
 
Both kids (23 and 25, not sure why I call them kids) have been on and around power and sailing boats since they were 6 and 8. They did their Day Skipper on a T52. When on the boat son does all the helming and handles the boat better than I do.

Would I let them loose? Nope.

Reason No1: Beyond doing their courses they've not shown any interest in weather and navigation.

Reason No.2: They wouldn't use the boat together. They'd want to use it with their friends. Do I trust their friends? Nope. Not that they're bad kids, far from it, but one of them would put a ciggie down on the BBQ cover, fully intending to move it, then forget when he heard a whoop from the foredeck and oops... or they'd forget they were told not to leave ropes in the water, or the girls would forget the rather embarrassing talk about what can't go down the loo...

Not worth the stress and anyway, they've never asked.
 
penfold said:
What a bunch of miserable baskets; if your offspring are not capable of being responsible for their behaviour and looking after a vessel, is it not as much a reflection of your parenting skills as it is their lack of moral fibre?
Click to expand...

Might i suggest a bunch of sensible baskets. I havent seen any offspring at my marina going off for the day in their folks 35'-45' Fairlines, Princess and Sealines.
Nothing to do with not being responsible for their behaviour nor parenting skills - just plain bloody common sense.
 
I really believe you should treat your kids as you would want to be treated yourself. My dad used to drop my brother and I off in the lakes with a 15ft Fletcher and a tank of juice while he went to work, not bad since we were only 12 and 14 at the time.

I'm happy to treat my kids the same and so far they have fully repaid that trust. My brother even let my 17yr old daughter use his sticky boat as a holiday apartment last month, no damage no problems.

The kids are not angels, but they have been around boats since they were babies and I trust them to make the right decisions when it matters.

However my 14 yr old son has just suggested that he has a few friends onboard for a weekend, I can promise you, thats never going to happen :eek:
 
Like I said Dad took me out when I was 8... showed me how to use the outboard, taught me to row and then I was supervised until I was able and strong enough to use the pull start on the Johnson Seahorse. Then ever since I was 11, I've been soloing a boat of my own. That's an 11th birthday present I won't forget :D BUT he still won't let me borrow his boat

Neal
 
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I was driving a Humber Inflatable with a Chrysler 15hp on the back single-handed from about the age of 11 onwards.

Not sure that PB2 had been invented back then.
 
If my dad hadn't let me take his Sealine out solo I wouldn't have learned how to do gel coat repairs.... He never spotted the repair and I didn't tell him!
 
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