Offered loan of boat

[Scillypete]

Some friends of mine, a liveaboard couple, have offered me the use of their catamaran from next spring until around autumn time 2006.

Now as I am at this time looking for a suitable catamaran to buy this could be a stopgap for a couple of years while I save more towards the eventual budget for the next boat; or it could end up being a lot of effort for little gain.

The vessel offered is currently in Portugal, so for me to be able to keep a proper eye on it I would have to bring it back home, I have a mooring already available.
When they want it back I would then have to take it back to Portugal. Neither of these are a particular hardship on the contrary it would be an opportunity for a good cruise, but it is going to be difficult to escape from my self-employed daily grind to fit this in.

The vessel in question will also be fairly well loaded with all their worldly goods and possesions save for what they take with them on their other travels in the meantime. They have lived aboard for ten years plus so far so it is a fair amount of stuff.

The owner has intimated that he may eventually sell her but is still not committed to the idea. If indeed he puts her on the market whilst I am caretaking for him and she sells where the hell do I put all their stuff!!

I am in a bit of a quandry over this, one part of me says yeah go for it and my other brain cell says hang on what exactly are you going to get yourself into here.

There are no doubt a lot of things to sort out with the owner if I do go for it but does anyone out there have any thoughts to add, I'm sure someone will have.

BTW the cat is 31ft. and reasonably comfy and sails well.



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[hlb]

Sounds like a plan for disaster, or someone getting upset. An excelent way of loosing friends.

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

 

[snowleopard]

doesn't sound like a difficult decision.

if you don't have a boat but would like one it's a good opportunity to sail without committing capital.

a 31 ft boat, even a cat, is pretty small to store 10 years accumulation of junk. if nothing else she's bound to be heavy. if you have room to store their posessions on shore then i would do so as soon as you get home, regardless of whether they eventually sell.

you say the boat sails well but what type is it? to get back from portugal you'd need to go well out into the atlantic or spend a long time waiting for weather windows. i know long passages have been made in small cats but 31ft is pretty small for ocean passages in my book. when deciding which boat to go for i set a lower limit of 35ft.

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[john_morris_uk]

Don't understand the problem over their posessions. I can see that there might be a problem with what you do with your things if they leave the boat so full of theirs. As to their selling the boat, assuming you don't enter into a contract to return the boat at short notice to some specified port or place, (and you agree your cruising area - one assumes that they wouldn't care to see their boat disappear off to the Pacific!) then if they sell the boat, how they regain their posessions is their problem.

The more like problem will be weight as Snowleopard points out. Nothing kills the handling and speed of a cat like a little extra weight.

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