Med-based mobo syndicate business idea?

[petem]

Fair - I get it is horses for courses on the fixed term.

In terms of the purchase mechanics, I don’t imagine it is impossible to have a 3-6 month marketing window to sell the shares with the boat lined up for taking on after that when it is ready out of production. I’d sign up now for a new boat ready for March from the factory with my money going into a client account along with other co-owners a few weeks ahead of delivery. I could be wrong of course.

Trust me, you really won't be able to sell 5 shares in a 3-6 month window. You would need to be prepared to purchase the boat outright and pay to maintain it until you manage to sell the other shares.

What would be your marketing strategy? Sell via a broker, adwords, social media? All of these will be expensive.

For your info, this is where we keep our Targa 34 - https://cnaltea.com/index/camara.php.

Our three way syndicate has worked really well for us and has been a cost effective way of running the boat (each share is worth around £35k and it costs us around £5k a per person per year to run the boat. We have great local tradespeople who we can rely on to maintain and clean the boat. Depreciation isn't a thing on older boats like ours.

 

[petem]

Also the more owners you have, the greater chance there is of one or more being a PITA!

Are you expecting your local "agent" to be oncall 24/7?

Imagine this scenario, it's six o'clock on a Saturday evening and one of your dopey co-owners is on board. He's at anchor and can't start the engines (as he's inadvertently forgot to put them in neutral). You're in the UK out for dinner with friends. Your local "agent" isn't answering his phone as it's a Spanish holiday. The VP dealers are all closed until Monday (it's even worse if he's in Ibiza and the boat is based on the mainland). Are you happy to have your night ruined trying to sort it out or will you tell him tough luck, he'll have to deal with it himself (which could incur a lot of cost / risk to the syndicate)?

Or his wife is crying because she's blocked the toilet and he doesn't know how to fix it?

Or the fridge is mouldy because the last person hadn't left the door open for it to air?

Or the last person didn't fill the fuel tank so you're going to be £50 out of pocket when you re-fill it at the end of your stay?

I can cope with the above as I've got two really great co-owners. But I can't think of anything worse than trying to manage three boats, each with six owners.

 

[ontheplane]

I had misunderstood the figures so apologies - £1250 for each week of use actually is pretty decent

 

[ontheplane]

However.. Once you have 6 shares in 3 boats you are living it - you would need to be based there and if you ever want a night truly "off" as opposed to "on standby" you'd need to employ people which ups costs etc

 

[Mileholm]

Also the more owners you have, the greater chance there is of one or more being a PITA!

Are you expecting your local "agent" to be oncall 24/7?

Imagine this scenario, it's six o'clock on a Saturday evening and one of your dopey co-owners is on board. He's at anchor and can't start the engines (as he's inadvertently forgot to put them in neutral). You're in the UK out for dinner with friends. Your local "agent" isn't answering his phone as it's a Spanish holiday. The VP dealers are all closed until Monday (it's even worse if he's in Ibiza and the boat is based on the mainland). Are you happy to have your night ruined trying to sort it out or will you tell him tough luck, he'll have to deal with it himself (which could incur a lot of cost / risk to the syndicate)?

Or his wife is crying because she's blocked the toilet and he doesn't know how to fix it?

Or the fridge is mouldy because the last person hadn't left the door open for it to air?

Or the last person didn't fill the fuel tank so you're going to be £50 out of pocket when you re-fill it at the end of your stay?

I can cope with the above as I've got two really great co-owners. But I can't think of anything worse than trying to manage three boats, each with six owners.

There’s maybe a reason no one does this

 

[Mileholm]

The original suggestion was £5k per annum. So 4 weeks use would work out as £1250 per week. An 8 weeks use would work out as £625 per week.

I was working off £10k annual costs between £5k running and £5k depreciation per share.

 

[petem]

There’s maybe a reason no one does this

The good news is that there's nothing to stop you finding a like minded person and buying something like this...

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2017-sealine-s330-9883701/ (you'll need to add A/C I think).

Buy it for £150k and sell the third share to someone you like for £50k. Choose a nice marina on the CdA.

It's new enough to give you relatively hassle free boating and it's done most of its depreciating.

Your annual cost will be £5k (per share), it won't get the punishing use that a six person syndicate would put on it, and you'll be able to have as many weeks on board as you like.

What's not to like!?

 

[Sticky Fingers]

The original suggestion was £5k per annum. So 4 weeks use would work out as £1250 per week. An 8 weeks use would work out as £625 per week.

Never was any good at sums. Only manmaths.

 

[petem]

Never was any good at sums. Only man maths.

Well, you couldn't even stay in some Premier Inns for under £100 a night so you're quids in with a boat!

 

[Mileholm]

The good news is that there's nothing to stop you finding a like minded person and buying something like this...

https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2017-sealine-s330-9883701/ (you'll need to add A/C I think).

Buy it for £150k and sell the third share to someone you like for £50k. Choose a nice marina on the CdA.

It's new enough to give you relatively hassle free boating and it's done most of its depreciating.

Your annual cost will be £5k (per share), it won't get the punishing use that a six person syndicate would put on it, and you'll be able to have as many weeks on board as you like.

What's not to like!?

I think you’ve convinced me. I don’t need a brand new boat and only sharing it with 2 (or 3) others does sound less potential hassle than with 5 co-owners. Just need to find a desirable marina for less than £10k+ per year to keep costs sensible.

 

[benjenbav]

As for the idea of making a business out of this, look at Sunsail or Moorings and see if you can match their offer.

For my own amusement I’ve done appraisals on buying a couple of boats and having them managed by Sunsail.

Spoiler alert: it’s not a way to make money but can make sense depending on how much you choose to value the time you get to use them whilst they are part of the Sunsail fleet.

Doing the actual management yourself for 12-18 punters sounds unattractive for the reasons mentioned by @petem. Reminiscent of renting out a HMO to students and getting daily calls to unblock the shower drain or change lightbulbs; and that’s without having to deal with the twin nightmares of the ones that won’t pay and the ones that won’t leave.

 

[Hurricane]

There's nothing like having YOUR own boat.
When you get there, all your STUFF is on board and ready to use.
I couldn't have a boat where I would have to share my underwear drawer.
One of our problems when we leave home is remembering if we have enough toothpaste on board!!
Our boat is an extension of our home - we don't share our home with anyone so we wouldn't want to share the boat either.

Not sure how the OP thinks this is a good business opportunity.

 

[Mileholm]

A 1/18th share of 3 boats actually seems an interesting idea.

So you would have 2 weeks on 3 different boats in a year (theoretically 144 weeks of use per year split between 18 owners - again giving 6 weeks each)? I guess you’re basically into chartering use then though and you’d never have an ownership feeling.

 

[Mileholm]

There's nothing like having YOUR own boat.
When you get there, all your STUFF is on board and ready to use.
I couldn't have a boat where I would have to share my underwear drawer.
One of our problems when we leave home is remembering if we have enough toothpaste on board!!
Our boat is an extension of our home - we don't share our home with anyone so we wouldn't want to share the boat either.

Not sure how the OP thinks this is a good business opportunity.

I am getting to seeing it might not be.

However, syndicated boat ownership clearly works for some people depending on their circumstances and preferences.

I have a sub-30ft US cruiser on Loch Lomond an hour from my home at present and I can sustain the cost of that given the 15-20 weekends I used it over summer. Until I retire (in 20 years), I won’t have the means or time for it to make sense to have 100% of a boat in the Med. I could buy myself a £50k boat and afford to keep it in Sant Carles, but it would be too small to be worthwhile holidaying on the 6-8 weeks per year I’d be able to use it.

Hence my interest in spending the same £50k capital outlay and maybe £5k annually on sharing one.

 

[ylop]

There's nothing like having YOUR own boat.
When you get there, all your STUFF is on board and ready to use.
I couldn't have a boat where I would have to share my underwear drawer.
One of our problems when we leave home is remembering if we have enough toothpaste on board!!
Our boat is an extension of our home - we don't share our home with anyone so we wouldn't want to share the boat either.

Not sure how the OP thinks this is a good business opportunity.

This is why we own not charter.
It also means we can look at the weather and decide to go, or indeed decide not to without any guilt that we’ve sacrificed our week.

 

[petem]

There's nothing like having YOUR own boat.
When you get there, all your STUFF is on board and ready to use.
I couldn't have a boat where I would have to share my underwear drawer.
One of our problems when we leave home is remembering if we have enough toothpaste on board!!
Our boat is an extension of our home - we don't share our home with anyone so we wouldn't want to share the boat either.

Not sure how the OP thinks this is a good business opportunity.

Some of us have to cut our suits according to our cloth.

Also, what's the point in owning a boat outright that you can only use 4 weeks in a year? IMO, that's also a recipe for an unreliable boat.

 

[petem]

Just need to find a desirable marina for less than £10k+ per year to keep costs sensible.

Shouldn't be too hard to find a good marina for under £10k for a 34ft boat. You'd probably even be able to get into Antibes or Portals for that money. Actually, availability is the challenge.

We pay £8500 in Spain for a marina with a pool, decent local cruising grounds, in a fabulous town and less than 50 mins from Alicante (with loads of cheap flights from the UK).

Where have you been looking?

 

[julians]

Shouldn't be too hard to find a good marina for under £10k for a 34ft boat. You'd probably even be able to get into Antibes or Portals for that money. Actually, availability is the challenge.

We pay £8500 in Spain for a marina with a pool, decent local cruising grounds, in a fabulous town and less than 50 mins from Alicante (with loads of cheap flights from the UK).

Where have you been looking?

I reckon any of the main/better marinas in majorca would be a bit higher than that for a 34 footer, maybe not much higher though. Availability is the issue.

 

[Mileholm]

There’s quite a waiting list for Portals for this size of boat so I’d thought about Alcudia to start. Similar thing on the cote d’azur, but places just across the border - like Aregai outside Sanremo - has plenty of space.

I hadn’t considered mainland Spain much as I don’t really know it. £8.5k sounds similar to Mallorca prices - but I appreciate Alicante might be just as nice.

 

[petem]

There’s quite a waiting list for Portals for this size of boat so I’d thought about Alcudia to start. Similar thing on the cote d’azur, but places just across the border - like Aregai outside Sanremo - has plenty of space.

I hadn’t considered mainland Spain much as I don’t really know it. £8.5k sounds similar to Mallorca prices - but I appreciate Alicante might be just as nice.

Cala D'Or will be >£10k. Not sure about Palma as I could never get anyone to respond to emails.

It used to be the case (maybe still is) that you could get a Targa 34 on a 10m berth at Portals, which is why is was oddly cheap. But most of the the restaurants in the marina are expensive IIRC.

One thing worth bearing in mind is that you'll pay twice as much (if not more) for maintenance in the SoF. Mallorca is also expensive, but not as bad as Ibiza. We pay €45 plus VAT an hour for maintenance on the mainland (and they're good / quick). We pay our lady €35 to wash the boat and around €30 to wash and change the bedding. You really don't want to be stung with €200-300 bills for the same service.

Also consider flights and winter vibe. The mainland where we are is busy all year round. Some of the Mallorca marinas are like ghost towns in the winter. As for flights, we live in between Birmingham and Bristol. I think there's one return flight a day to Nice from each airport. Compare that with Alicante where where's 15 or so (more if you include East Midlands).