Med owners- time on board

[Steruth1]

Ok, I finally have a berth, getting quoted on shipping so we are off soon I hope to sunnier climes.

My question to the guys already out there is:
have you used your boat more or less since moving from the uk,and
has it lived up to your dream or do you wish you had stayed in the uk.

Thanks


I

 

[mcanderson]

Lifestyle changing. I used to keep our boat 15 mins from our place. We went every weekend. However the weather in Edinburgh was usually carp and we ended up sitting below having a cup of tea. In the SofF we come for 3 X 2 week breaks a year, live on board. Have become part of the local community and also come one long weekend a month from May to Sep.

Best boating move we have ever made.

Any questions?

 

[jrudge]

I use the boat allot - we are in Cala Dor.

I dont do weekends as Cala Dor is an hour away and I need to hire a car. I adds just the little to each end that I dont bother. I would prefer Palma but I can't get a berth! Proximity to the airport is in my view vital

How much you use it will I depend I suspect on whether you are self employed sort not, which enables you to be more flexible with long weekends etc.

To us and most on here it is a floating house. I arrive with no baggage etc and fly home likewise which eliminates another layer of hassle.

Bear in mind that the weather in season is about 90% guaranteed. The biggest enemy in the med in summer is wind / swell - but if it is bad ( not that frequent) then just head to the beach for the day - the sun is probably out.

You get a true holidays. Hey kids I have great news. Whats that dad? Well we are all going to Southampton for our holidays. Stunned silence would follow ....

You also swim half the day and the Cava is dirt cheap.

Enjoy

 

[jfm]

More, almost every weekend
Has lived up to the dream.
I moved to the med in 2001 and could have come back anytime since then but haven't.
It does depend on exactly where in the Med and how easily you make the air travel, imho

 

[Truro Ex Pat]

Why would you want to boat in the Uk! went on a sea trial last week and God it was freezing why would you put yourself through that been in the med for the last 10 years around Spain and love it, we do 4 weeks a year and the occasional weekends.Airports are main issue as we live in Cornwall and usually have 3 hours to get to Bristol to fly anywhere!

 

[julians]

I don't think I'd have the motivation for boating if it wasnt almost always guaranteed to be warm and sunny.

I did my icc test in the UK,and have done the odd sea trial in the UK,and its not nice having to wrap up with multiple layers and waterproofs. I think on the warm sunny days in the UK it's probably great,but there just don't appear to be that many of those.

I don't know how those in the UK manage to convince their other half's to go with them that's for sure.

 

[BruceK]

As a counterpoint, I think a lot depends on where you do your boating in the UK. Up in North Wales where I am there is Anglesey, The Lleyn peninsula and Liverpool bay. You can invariably find sheltered waters somewhere with that choice and I know I use the boat much more than if it was in the Med consequently. I concede the point about guaranteed sunshine and predictability, but I've also got to say, having the boat on the doorstep 15 minutes away also means when the opportunity is favourable, I don't miss out. Horses for courses really. Depends what you want to get out of the boat. Certainly we haven't dived off the swim platform in bathing trunks to cool off and frolic in the water yet

 

[Medskipper]

I spent over twenty years boating in the UK, always visited the boat every weekend although not always using it because of poor weather, I was working at that time in my life.
Now retired the boat has been in the Med around 8 years and I only visit every 4-6 weeks, however as the weather is far better (not always great!) I get to enjoy the boat so much more. I must add if I hadn't moved to the Med I would not be a boat owner anymore because of our poor climate.

 

[NormanB]

Apologies for thread drift, how many boats owners who have their boat in the Med only get 4-6 weeks a year have considered the total cost of ownership per week of use? Surely you could charter better for cheaper and without the attendant ownership responsibilities.

Now 3-5 months use that is more viable.

Of course everyone has the freedom to spend their money how they wish.

 

[Andy Bav]

For us it's less about amount of time on board more about quality of time on board. In the UK "quick trips" to the boat invariably entailed cleaning and fighting mould on the canopies and a "perfect" day on board was the exception rather than the norm. The end of the day usually ended up with the heating on, canopies shut and fleeces.

In Spain we will visit about 6 - 8 times ranging from long weekends to 2 week stints, and even when it's cloudy it does have a holiday feel about it... And mould has not surfaced once. Add to that my boys will also be using it as well, so as a family asset (?) it ticks many boxes.

We have spent more time poring over a decision for new kitchen tiles than deciding to move to Spain and we agree it was the bast decision we ever made.

That said, good weather weekends in the UK still stick in my mind and I have always said that if you could guarantee the weather in the UK, as a holiday destination, it would be hard to beat.

 

[julians]

Apologies for thread drift, how many boats owners who have their boat in the Med only get 4-6 weeks a year have considered the total cost of ownership per week of use? Surely you could charter better for cheaper and without the attendant ownership responsibilities.

Thats difficult to assess as you need to know your depreciation,which you only know for certain when you have sold your boat.

I'm in mallorca for ~30 days per year. from a very quick look on the website of a charter company that operates out of the marina where I keep the boat, to charter a similar size/style/age of boat as mine for those 30 days would cost ~£10000-£12000 (at the current euro exchange rate) per year plus fuel.

My boat costs approx £4000-£5000 per year in mooring/maintenance/insurance charges plus fuel and whatever it depreciates by. So depending on the cost of depreciation, chartering could work out about evens with what I spend, but in theory without the chance of a surprise big bill.

 

[mcanderson]

Apologies for thread drift, how many boats owners who have their boat in the Med only get 4-6 weeks a year have considered the total cost of ownership per week of use? Surely you could charter better for cheaper and without the attendant ownership responsibilities.

Now 3-5 months use that is more viable.

Of course everyone has the freedom to spend their money how they wish.

I can sort of see what you are saying, but we own our boat, with our stuff on it. I know the boat back to front, we leave all sorts of stuff on board. So chartering is not even close to being an option. We have small and perfectly formed cruising apartment.

 

[Hurricane]

Definitely used it more in the Med.
Had boat in the UK and this is now the 8th year in the Med.
I was retired before the move but spend more in the Med than I did when the boat was in the Hamble.
Last year I spent a continuous 5 months on board - this year it will probably be only 3 months continuously but I have already done 6 weeks so far this year plus a couple of weeks planned for this month.

We moved house to Devon (Torquay) at the same time that we moved our boating to the Med.
The thought was to have a boat in Devon as well as one in the Med.
The Devon boat hasn't (yet) materialised - that "kind of" speaks for itself.

 

[Nick_H]

Agree with other comments, we get a lot more use in the med. We also get higher quality use in my opinion, in that we spend a lot more time at anchor, swimming is a pleasure not a Bear Grylls style personal challenge, and evenings are spent outside rather than inside or under canopies.

It does help to have some flexibility around work times though, and/or be close to an airport with flights to wherever your boat is. If you have neither of these, then it may be difficult to make it work.

 

[Nick_H]

Agree with other comments, we get a lot more use in the med. We also get higher quality use in my opinion, in that we spend a lot more time at anchor, swimming is a pleasure not a Bear Grylls style personal challenge, and evenings are spent outside rather than inside or under canopies.

It does help to have some flexibility around work times though, and/or be close to an airport with flights to wherever your boat is. If you have neither of these, then it may be difficult to make it work.

 

[Cheery]

It's alright Nick, I'm sold, I don't need repetition for emphasis.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I can sort of see what you are saying, but we own our boat, with our stuff on it. I know the boat back to front, we leave all sorts of stuff on board. So chartering is not even close to being an option. We have small and perfectly formed cruising apartment.

This is exactly right.

To the original question, my use in the Med is hugely more than when I kept the boat 15 mins away from where I live. I think I worked out that for the first three years I had the boat in SoF I was averaging about 70 nights pa on board. Last year a bit less because of the refit in the UK. I've been down there five times so far this year, and the season has only just started.

 

[Whitelighter]

I found that when we boated in the uk unless the weather was perfect then there was 'always next weekend'
Now the boat is a flight away we book in advance and we are going, regardless.

We perhaps use our boat differently to other med owners as we are both still working as employees, but my time off is fairly flexible. Since buying the boat last September one or other of us have been out 3 times and have another 4 trips booked up until September - including 3 1/2 weeks in August.

This year will likely be 50 nights on board, which is much higher than when we had a uk based boat

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Ok, I finally have a berth, getting quoted on shipping so we are off soon I hope to sunnier climes.

My question to the guys already out there is:
have you used your boat more or less since moving from the uk,and
has it lived up to your dream or do you wish you had stayed in the uk.

Thanks


I

More.
Yes.
No.

......... but I live here now. (oh and 10 metre berth for sale or rent)

 

[BruceK]

My apologies to the OP because I already have put a counterpoint in. Not sure what you want out of the question but if it's to get a balanced view it's fundamentally flawed to get a positive, the Med is great answer, by targeting an audience that for them this is the obvious preference. I am following this thread with interest as a future potential but it would be interesting to hear more about how you actually use your boats in the Med because to be honest the times quoted in nights on board, canopy down etc do not actually vary much from my own use, and hence that of my peers too. Granted the weather is more predictable and undeniably better, but is that all there is to it? Does it just boil down to weather? As I said previously the only bar we have to weather is making trip plans in advance. i.e. we often chose a destination three days in advance of leaving based on (in)accuracy of the weather forecasts, but seldom abandon a outing altogether. Conceded, plunging into the water and sunbathing on the decks is a rarity here, and if that is the ideal then the Med makes sense, otherwise I'm struggling with it. It would be interesting to hear more about the cosmopolitan side, cruise destinations, island hopping etc. Or do the boats largely venture out from and return to a home port much like the UK use?
Apologies to OP once again for a thread hijack.