Marine feel good factor?

[petem]

Some of you with very long memories might remember that I used to have a boat. We loved our boat but sold it in 2001 and have been boatless since. This boatless state was largely due to finances (school fees, etc). However as we no longer have to pay for our sons school fees we could in theory buy another boat.

So why don't I? Here are the reasons.

1) Loss of Red diesel.

I've heard all of the arguments about how the increase in fuel costs are a small proportion of overall running costs. However, if you're 'on a budget' and have already paid for mooring fees, mortgage, insurance the money that is left over to pay for fuel is more painful to spend. Let me put this another way, if I had £100,000 in the bank then would be a lot easier to spend the first £1000 than the last £1000. Geddit?

2) Mooring Fees

Nuff said.

3) Running Costs

I've read so may horror stories on this board of £10,000+ engine repair bills. Sorry but if that happened to me I'd be stuffed.

4) Interest rate increases

Another cause of the spiralling cost of boat ownership.

5) The weather

If you're retired and can enjoy every sunny day this isn't a problem. A summer of shite Saturdays and Sundays is a real bummer.

6) Family commitments

With a wife and child there are always family commitments. You can bet that the day that your stuck at some party it's nice and sunny on the coast. In addition I can't see my son being very willing to go to the boat every week when all he wants to do is play with his mates.

To sum it all up, I can't say that owning a boat in the UK is a very appealing prospect. If I could buy a Targa 30 for £50,000, moor it for £2,500 p.a. and fill it up for 30p per litre then I might be interested.

If it's pissing down for SBS this year then I feel very afraid for the boat makers and dealers.

Pete

 

[Richard10002]

Where do you live?

Can you turn this on its' head and ask something like:

What could I buy for £50K

Where could I moor it for £2500K

What could I moor, and where, for £2,500K

and see what pops up

 

[petem]

Gloucestershire so a Sealine S23 moored in Portishead. See what I mean, hopeless.

Pete

 

[Nick_H]

Hmm, you're prepared to spend £50k on a boat, and £2,500 a year plus to run it? Lots of people have lots of fun on boats for a lot less than that.

 

[Sneds]

Try Bristol City Docks, even cheaper! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Apart from the mud, tides, weather whats wrong with Portishead?
Sealine s23? Nice boat IMO, guess We'd all like a 40 footer in the med but have to cut our cloth accordingly?
Surely better a small boat than no boat?

 

[petem]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, you're prepared to spend £50k on a boat, and £2,500 a year plus to run it? Lots of people have lots of fun on boats for a lot less than that.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dare say they do and that's really great. But when you live two hours from the nearest decent bit of coast I find it hard to imagine that I would enjot kipping on anything less than 30ft. Also, being crap at DIY and therefore I would not be willing to fix it myself, a comtemporary boat (i.e. less than 10 years old) would be essential.

But, if it was 30mins drive then to the coast then I would have no hesitation in buying a day boat and dry storing it.

Pete

 

[Whitelighter]

Thats the thing, I suspect very few people on here have unlimited disposable income, so it is all about your individual prioity.

Pete doesn't see the value in spunking £100k on a boat plus paying out thorugh the nose to run it. Fair enough. I have never seen the point in spunking upwards of £5,000 a year on a glitzy family holiday every year, yet plenty of folks still do it.

Nor have I ever bought a new car to loose 60% of its value in two year, but again many do.

I WANT to boat, so I have always made the money available. SOme will, some wont, some will think I and people like me are nuts. Interest rates are pretty low, and they haven't even got near doubling. A £72k marine mortgae has gone up by about £70 quid a month in the last 18, or around 12%. Fuel is a bummer, but then so is everything else.

 

[petem]

[ QUOTE ]
Try Bristol City Docks, even cheaper! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Apart from the mud, tides, weather whats wrong with Portishead?
Sealine s23? Nice boat IMO, guess We'd all like a 40 footer in the med but have to cut our cloth accordingly?
Surely better a small boat than no boat?

[/ QUOTE ]
A 1/3rd share in a 10 year old T37 parked in Palma could be tempting.

Pete

 

[jfm]

Pete, howsabout buying a smaller trailer boat? Loads of fun to be had on a 250hp £20k RIB.

Or do a boat share - buy a T34 in thirds, with 2 mates, say? I am not sharing currently but over the years I have done and it works fine if you get the right people together. Keep it in the med to get better weahter? Sure there will be bills to pay, but all x 1/3

 

[Sneds]

Palma's a hell of a drive from Glos /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[petem]

[ QUOTE ]
Or do a boat share - buy a T34 in thirds, with 2 mates, say?

[/ QUOTE ]

Great minds think alike, see my previous post.

Don't like big Ribs. Got competely put off them by that incident at SIBS a few years ago.

Pete

 

[Sneds]

What happened?

 

[petem]

[ QUOTE ]
Palma's a hell of a drive from Glos /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
But at least it's sunny. 5-6 hours from home to the boat?

Pete

 

[petem]

[ QUOTE ]
What happened?

[/ QUOTE ]
Some poor sod fell out whilst on a demo. Got run over by the RIB and killed.

Pete

 

[Sneds]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What happened?

[/ QUOTE ]
Some poor sod fell out whilst on a demo. Got run over by the RIB and killed.

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

Um, see why that may have put you off!

What about a 28' sports cruiser - £40k
Mooring at Portishead £2k
Fuel - 47p per litre (at the moment - have to save hard from next Nov!)
Makes a sizable hole in our budget but we love it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jfm]

Yup sharing is the way to go Pete. But with 3 sharers doing it privately, not through one of these syndicate companies, imho. I shared (in syndicate of 3) for 5 years or so and we never had any fall out or disagreement. Syndicate was put together thru an MBY classified. Everything ran perfectly smoothly. Choosed chilled-out sharers of course. What makes a syndicate work is not some blimmin contract (though there is standard stlye documentation you can use), it's the easy going nature of the sharers. Give it a go at least?

 

[Richard10002]

Have you thought about a sailing boat? Much lower fuel costs, even if you never put the sails up <g>

 

[silver_boy]

Just get a cheapish petrol boat!

1) Loss of Red diesel. - Its would be a petrol so diesel wouldn't matter or affect resale.

2) Mooring Fees - No solution unfortunately

3) Running Costs - Would burn more fuel but repair and maintenance would be cheaper and you could pretty much get a new engine for £10k

4) Interest rate increases - It would be cheaper to purchase in the first place so this wouldn't matter as much.

5) The weather / 6) Family commitments - Because of these you wouldn't be using the boat as much which is good for a petrol because you wouldn't have to burn as much fuel.

+ they can be faster so even more feel good factor.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[adey]

[ QUOTE ]
A 1/3rd share in a 10 year old T37 parked in Palma could be tempting.

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]
Sounds good! Count me in.
Just one more share to sell then /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[petem]

There's some cracking late 90's T37's available for around the £100k mark. With a bit of haggling that's around £30k per share which is £1700 per year in loan interest. Costs would therefore be.....

£1700 loan interest
£1500 mooring fees (£4500 / 3)
£500 servicing/antifouling (£1500 / 3)
£300 insurance (£900 / 3)
Total = £4000 per year.

Tempting isn't it!

Pete