Operating a 50ft yacht around Italy, Spain or France: Reliable Estimations on Costs, Facts & Figures

[PlanB]

Not to mention upsetting the local charter businesses.

 

[prinex]

The Primatist (40 foot) was around 18K Euro a year, the Azi 55 was 25K something last year. Must be said we tend to travel 9/10 kn when doing longish stretches or when we dont do a quick trip with friends (usually 30 miles away). We cruised a lot in Croatia and all the way down to Greece so 500/600 miles - I think fuel bill was 4K ? or something like this.

Insurance 2K, Mooring fees / bertk 12K, repairs / oil change things etc another 3-4 but we do a lot ourselves. Also a lot of things you think you really want turns out to be not really needed (like would be nice to have a crane - turns out its 25K plus and no guarantee it will not destroy the flybridge - ok maybe we dont really want the crane). Or I want 8x solar panels plus 8 batteries and 6k inverter - at the end of the day just flip the genset switch when you need it and no stressing about battery 4 being 85% and battery 6 99% why is that, where to find place in engine room etc. Maybe add a 2nd 6Kw panda genset for safety or when you dont need the aircon.

In this terms is not much more than maintaing an apartment with 3 brs in a similar location (that is directly on the sea, very central like a marina should be) - between fix costs maintenance taxes cost of financing corporate duty etc. And even depreciation - not sure how many recent bought holiday flats appreciated in value in the last years.

What (in my 25+ years experience) is making a difference is the occasional engine that breaks something costly (heat exanger, risers, pods), where this is happening and how many nights you will spend in another port than yours - 200 Euro a night is not uncommon specially in the med and if you stay 3 weeks in Mallorca , 3 weeks in Porto Cervo etc - that is going to be a decent invoice. A repair in Sardinia will make you want to sell everything (beside waiting forever).

I would consider 30K (as it seems you want to travel a lot) + a "safety chest" of 40/50K ready to go when something happens. Stay away from IPS and things like "solar panel covered windows", make sure your engines / genset are decent, check the hull for blistering and sign of osmosis, prefer travelling 6 hours at 10kn instead of 2 at 30kn, try to pick decent places where you can anchor safely for a few days (easy to spot thats where a lot of boats are !). Make sure you have a capable tender and you will be fine.

If you want to help your budget by chartering - beside the Book of the Law (Swiss pleasure boats cannot be offered for charter for example), the relative needed license for passengers and insurances, changed safety requirements on boat - unless you plan to do it 4 months a year is not worth it. My berth neighbor in Croatia chartered out his 64 foot sunseeker - broke a riser (a tiny hole but enough to let the smoke alarm ring) - result boat stopped 3 weeks, 3 weeks revenue lost, crew hat to be paid, he had to arrange a 2nd boat (with captain and all) as replacement - just no. Another brand new Az55 in the same port was chartered exactly 2 days in July. And basically all the summer the boat what sitting there waiting for a customer instead of having a Spritz in Hvar.

Btw as Porto said - he sold his boat 50% - is not uncommon, same thing happened when I sold the primatist (30%+) and same thing happened with the 2 boats I had before. Just take care of the vessel and it will work out.

 

[Skipper Felice]

The Primatist (40 foot) was around 18K Euro a year, the Azi 55 was 25K something last year. Must be said we tend to travel 9/10 kn when doing longish stretches or when we dont do a quick trip with friends (usually 30 miles away). We cruised a lot in Croatia and all the way down to Greece so 500/600 miles - I think fuel bill was 4K ? or something like this.

Insurance 2K, Mooring fees / bertk 12K, repairs / oil change things etc another 3-4 but we do a lot ourselves. Also a lot of things you think you really want turns out to be not really needed (like would be nice to have a crane - turns out its 25K plus and no guarantee it will not destroy the flybridge - ok maybe we dont really want the crane). Or I want 8x solar panels plus 8 batteries and 6k inverter - at the end of the day just flip the genset switch when you need it and no stressing about battery 4 being 85% and battery 6 99% why is that, where to find place in engine room etc. Maybe add a 2nd 6Kw panda genset for safety or when you dont need the aircon.

In this terms is not much more than maintaing an apartment with 3 brs in a similar location (that is directly on the sea, very central like a marina should be) - between fix costs maintenance taxes cost of financing corporate duty etc. And even depreciation - not sure how many recent bought holiday flats appreciated in value in the last years.

What (in my 25+ years experience) is making a difference is the occasional engine that breaks something costly (heat exanger, risers, pods), where this is happening and how many nights you will spend in another port than yours - 200 Euro a night is not uncommon specially in the med and if you stay 3 weeks in Mallorca , 3 weeks in Porto Cervo etc - that is going to be a decent invoice. A repair in Sardinia will make you want to sell everything (beside waiting forever).

I would consider 30K (as it seems you want to travel a lot) + a "safety chest" of 40/50K ready to go when something happens. Stay away from IPS and things like "solar panel covered windows", make sure your engines / genset are decent, check the hull for blistering and sign of osmosis, prefer travelling 6 hours at 10kn instead of 2 at 30kn, try to pick decent places where you can anchor safely for a few days (easy to spot thats where a lot of boats are !). Make sure you have a capable tender and you will be fine.

If you want to help your budget by chartering - beside the Book of the Law (Swiss pleasure boats cannot be offered for charter for example), the relative needed license for passengers and insurances, changed safety requirements on boat - unless you plan to do it 4 months a year is not worth it. My berth neighbor in Croatia chartered out his 64 foot sunseeker - broke a riser (a tiny hole but enough to let the smoke alarm ring) - result boat stopped 3 weeks, 3 weeks revenue lost, crew hat to be paid, he had to arrange a 2nd boat (with captain and all) as replacement - just no. Another brand new Az55 in the same port was chartered exactly 2 days in July. And basically all the summer the boat what sitting there waiting for a customer instead of having a Spritz in Hvar.

Btw as Porto said - he sold his boat 50% - is not uncommon, same thing happened when I sold the primatist (30%+) and same thing happened with the 2 boats I had before. Just take care of the vessel and it will work out.

Thank you very much for your good considerations and facts and figures ))

 

[Dogone]

Of course you can do this if you want, but I personally see it as a bit of madness .

If you just get your cash flows correct, and have some fun along the way, that's all that matters and the analysis can stop there. All this "annualising of depreciation" and "opportunity cost of capital" might float some people's boats but it's all theoretical nonsense in my book.

I suggest people focus only on the reality of cash flows and stop there.

I think it depends a lot on age and how long you keep your old tub for. If you are 40 with 6 boat changes ahead of you then you need to think if you can afford to change up after a while and non-cash flow items will effect that. At the age of 70 it matters much less.

It’s the same if you buy a business. You can just look at EBITDA, especially if a quick flip is planned, but if you are in it for the long term then all the other add-on costs are extremely important.

 

[st599]

What do you think of taking some guests that pay for some vacation weeks and enjoy yachting lifestyle?

That you'd need to add to your estimate for annual coding evaluation, commercial insurance and CPD for your commercial endorsement.

 

[Alicatt]

At the age of 70 it matters much less.

We are at that stage... almost. We can afford it in a limited way, now getting more experience on our new boat and though we have had that boat for only a few months we still managed to put about 50 hours on her since we took her out of the brokers haven.

 

[Zkaliman]

We operated a 700 Hp 48 ft sports cruiser in Italy .Recently sold up *
Beth ( Loano ) about €9000 , insurance €1000 online craft insure . Sundries repairs / maintenance aggregate to approx €5000 , this includes covers / cushions, engine - lub filters service ( DIY ) etc .
Haul out annual for antifoul , polish , anodes + minor stuff better done on the hard Eg odd seacock etc €3500 .
That’s €17500 . Some yrs the maintenance/ repairs would be less so say it could be €10_12 K .inc the engines every yr of course .
Then there’s fuel now @1.90 ish last time I filled up .
That’s a how longs a piece of string Q .
We sometimes cruised @ D speed , but mostly at 80 % load burning 180-190 L/hr but just under 30 knots so could comfortably in this boat easily cover 100 miles in 3 hrs . Taking between 500-600 L out of the 2200 we set with .
So around €900 for 1/2 day .

I have to say we were at a different stage to you as had previously bombed about the big islands S , talking 19 yrs at it .
So in the later yrs because we figured out the Med sea, sand and sun are the same locally ( it’s takes few yrs for this lesson to hit home ) we did between 50-80 hrs / yr .

I think I I was planning on your itinerary and with time I would get a sail boat .

Most yrs all in I mentally thought it was around €15000- 20000 all in .Never did a spread sheet just knew i didn’t need one .

I choose wisely in the sense I sold it for 50 % more than I paid for it , had it 10 yrs .
A moot point on here the weather never really bothered it , nor our plans to use it .


* Other time commitments.

Love this quote “So in the later yrs because we figured out the Med sea, sand and sun are the same locally ( it’s takes few yrs for this lesson to hit home )” GREAT INSIGHT ! But even though this is told to us - I guess we still have to go cruise around a bit I suppose.