Moorings yacht ownership?

[ds797]

This is a genuine request for information! I am considering the above mentioned yacht ownership plan.

Anyone here done it? What are the catches? On paper it all looks good. I won't write it here in case people think I'm advertising, if you have done it you will know what they are offering.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Tranona]

Don't know the details of the current Moorings scheme, but bought a boat through a similar scheme with a big Greek operator.

The basic principles are the same - usually two types of scheme. The first you buy the boat outright with a contract (commonly 6 seasons) for the operator to charter and pay you a percentage of the purchase price each year. Second scheme you pay a percentage (often 50-60%) and receive no annual payments. In both cases the operator pays all running costs and you get a number of "free weeks" holiday each year which could be anywhere the operator has boats.

Whether it is attractive depends on your situation and expectations. The initial "bonus" is the free weeks, and if you use them every year as we did you are saving the cost of chartering. It can be a good way of getting your final boat in the place you want ready for retirement. Or if you are younger it can be a way of working up the size ladder by trading in at the end of each contract.

Big downside is that the boats are very difficult to sell at the end of the contract, particularly at the moment as there is a glut because fleets are shrinking. So you have to be clear about what you are going to be doing at the end of the contract.

Location and infrastructure varies and boats have an easier time in some locations, although the big operators have good maintenance and replacement programmes, so most boats survive well. You need to look carefully at the contract as in some cases you may not have good legal title to the boat and there may be tax implications - this can reflect local laws. Some contracts like mine have a "refit" clause which included new sails, but the handover at the end can be a bit fraught - ensuring the boat is as described in your contract. Can be worth having a surveyor if you don't feel confident to do it yourself.

Although I am broadly happy with our purchase, because it was right at the time (2001) and we got what we wanted, I am not sure I would do it now as the costs have shot up - partly because of the low value of £ - but charter rates have not risen so much because of overcapacity.

Hope this helps

 

[ds797]

Thanks very much, great info. The Moorings scheme I am looking at is very similar to the scheme you have described.

 

[RichardS]

The real value of these owners arrangements depends to a large extent on whether you can make full use of the free owners weeks.

As a family we have chartered a boat somewhere in the world for 2 weeks almost every year since 2002 so we were spending the money anyway.

Under the owners deal we have used the two free weeks every summer plus one of the weeks in low season (bear in mind that low season in the Med is like summer in the UK!). I reckon that over the six seasons we will have saved around £50k that we would otherwise have spent anyway.

You can even sell your unused weeks to sailing friends so, even if you can't use them, all is not lost if you get yourself organised.

Worst case, add that £50k to the up-front guaranteed return price if we decide that we don't want the boat at the end of the deal (either we've changed our minds or the boat is a wreck) and it matches the original sum we forked out.

I suppose the real worst case is that the Moorings goes bust but it is the largest company doing these deals so is probably a safer bet than the rest!

PS: I should add that we are on the second type of deal as explained by Tranona. The first type of deal would have a different structure but I think the conclusion would be the same.

Richard