Owning a boat a long way away

sighmoon

sighmoon

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 Feb 2006
Messages
4,114
Location
West Coast
Visit site
For my next boat, I'll be living on it a couple of months of the year, but pretty much won't be able to get to it for the remaining 10 months.

I'd be interested to hear from anybody with any experience of doing this, and whether it really could work out. Can I pay the yard to check on her periodically?
 
sighmoon said:
For my next boat, I'll be living on it a couple of months of the year, but pretty much won't be able to get to it for the remaining 10 months.

I'd be interested to hear from anybody with any experience of doing this, and whether it really could work out. Can I pay the yard to check on her periodically?
Click to expand...

Rival Spirit lived in Norway for 18 months and from August to June, she lived in a YC marina. The members kept an eye on her and we went out for the odd long weekend. This arrangement worked for us.

Oh, the overseeing cost us a bottle of Scotch.

Where is your craft, if in the UK, I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find someone / some company to have lookee in every now and then.
 
It's something I've been doing for 15 yrs + and have worked our way round coasts of France, Spain and Portugal and the Baltic over that time and owned 3 different boats whilst doing it. Never had a problem finding somewhere to leave it and a bit of forward planning sorts out overwintering. PM me if you want more info.
 
Depends on where you are I have no problem in Corfu. I pay somebody because they do more than just look at her, but you can often find a local liveaboard willing to observe or do a bit more for beer tokens.
 
This is an idea that has been taxing me aswell.I live in Spain but can be in Stanstead at 1300 hrs .leaving the house about 0700.The plan is to buy asmall bilge keeler and toodle about southern uk then in stages move the boat back to Spain.The wife thinks the plan has possibilities especially as she like sailing and the uk.One of my doubts is finding a boat that does not need excessive work and whether I would find it frustrating having aboat but could only visit ts or go sailing maybe three times ayear,including amonths hols,then there is athe problem of transport ,repairs etc along way from base .Still pondering!
 
It rests entirely where the boat lies. You need a safe (sheltered) marina, preferably not near a city (crime) but near enough (train station/airport). An interesting, local cruising potential, unless your time aboard is in long periods when you have time to cruise far. The marina has to have reliable personnel checking moorings regularly and effective security.

I'm not a fan of relying on a local liveaboard watching over your pride and joy. I gave my keys to an itinerant Brit one year to keep an eye on everything and to charge my batteries by occasionally connecting to shore power.

I arrived in the spring to find my boat filthy, all my tinned food gone and my drinks cabinet emptied (one empty gin bottle was still in the bunk he had slept in). A hardly-legible note was left (at least) apologising, quoting hard times, loss of boat, no money. Seems he just moved in when he lost his own accommodation.

However, that was the only incident in 30 years in my present Italian, Adriatic marina that ticks all the above boxes. Never lost anything from theft nor any damage - other than a fresh-water foot pump that froze up one winter and needed replacing.
 
i do think when i see all the many boats that rarely leave their moorings - what a shame. it strikes me there must be a better way to manage all these excess vessels. i share a property with my family in montenegro and whilst we use it as much as possible we rent it out the rest of the time. i wonder if there is a way you could do this with your boat?

or maybe there could be some sort of a swap scheme whereby you exchanged sailing time on boats closer to home (with trusted individuals) for time on your boat. this means someone would be looking in on her more often.
 
Why not just save your money and the worry and charter for a couple of months a year if thats all the use you will get.

Tim
 
Thanks all, for your reassurance and anecdotes.

ninky, that's a good idea, but it wouldn't suit me, as cruising here (Middle East) is limited, and dinghies are cheap enough to hire.

Actually living on the boat for 2 months is about the same as using the boat for a 2 week holiday, and every weekend for May - September. So my conscience is clear that I'm not wasting a good boat.

I'd certainly be up for sharing, but as I want all of July and August, it may be hard to find someone. If anyone wants to share on those terms though, please do PM me.
 
Tim, I did look at chartering, but for 2 summer months it would cost more than owning one, plus they normally insist on two competent people, and it'll be just me and my (then) 5 year old.
 
sighmoon said:
For my next boat, I'll be living on it a couple of months of the year, but pretty much won't be able to get to it for the remaining 10 months.

I'd be interested to hear from anybody with any experience of doing this, and whether it really could work out. Can I pay the yard to check on her periodically?
Click to expand...

I had experience of it and I can say that most yards will not agree to keep a check on the boat.

Yards do not like to agree to checking - as that then puts responsibility on them for any problems. I can give good example of it as well.

My boat was moored at a Solent location and used for about 2 - 3 weeks maximum a year. I would call yard and ask them to lift or launch boat at ends of year, if I deemed necessary.
Boat sat on a pontoon nicely and dried out with tides. If I had a permament float mooring - I would have been reluctant to do similar. Drying out meant that no matter what happened - she would never sink out of sight !!

Anyway ... one year I asked for launch of boat. Duly done. I arrived back in UK and on way to my summer res. stopped at boat to find her lower in water, extremely tender when stepped on. Opened hatch to find her half-full of water. I went immediately to yard office and asked what had happened. Yard reply was that they do not open boats or use boats equipment in launch / lift as that puts responsibility on them for condition. They use a workboat alongside and carry out owners request to lift / launch only. They were sorry that once boat was launched it was apparent there was a problem - so they tied her up to nearest berth as safely as possible. Knowing I was due to arrive very soon - they waited my arrival.

Now above sounds unfair - but when looked at properly - you can understand and accept yards position. May sound strange considering that my boat was half full of water, it resulted in siezed engine, waterlogged bottoms to bulkheads etc. But the cause was not Yards fault - it was leaves clogging up the cockpit drains over winter and water seeping into bilges ..

The yard in fact came up trumps later with help to replace engine ...

So in answer to OP - there's no problem with leaving a boat for extendeed periods - I did it on swinging mooring and then later on the above marina pontoon. Boat was left for majority of year for approx. 6 yrs like that. The engine incident was a single incident in all that time.

Sort the boat, make sure you have stern-seals, bilges, sea-cocks sorted ... lines set so minimum chafe, batterys on timed charge system or trickle / solar system, ventilation set so that boat 'breathes' ... sensible precautions.

I used to leave much of the gear on-board including sleeping bags etc. Never had an real issues with it.
 
If you are using it solidly for 2 months then consider the arrangement we are using this year (after hearing positive feedback from others). Dry Sail. We have our boat (Bavaria 37) in a yard in Corfu that costs about 2k euros a year including one launch and out. Extra launch is 200 Euros. Pay 50 Euros a month for guardinage which includes arranging launch and taking to marina ready for boarding.

Safe, and half the price of in water.
 
I kept a boat in a Spanish yard and they had been asked to keep an eye on a boat left for the winter,charge batts etc.The absentee owner was most distress by the bill he recieved,Checking the batts involve getting a ladder,undooning a winter cover ete etc and putting ladder back,the yard showed me the letter and asked why should they work for nothing!
 
sighmoon said:
Tanona, that sounds perfect.

Does anyone know of anywhere in the UK offering it?
Click to expand...

Anywhere with a serious racing fleet will offer it.

I've never understood why more cruisers with your usage patterns don't use it. Just pick the area you want to be, and start calling marinas.
 
sighmoon said:
Tanona, that sounds perfect.

Does anyone know of anywhere in the UK offering it?
Click to expand...

I would think any marina with hard standing and its own crane or hoist would do it. There is no need to go for a "posh" marina as the actual services there and location are unlikely to be of interest. Biggest issue is finding somebody reliable to look after it and get it ready for when you need it to maximise your time on the boat rather than doing the maintenance, antifouling, cleaning etc (an unused boat gets pretty dirty in 10 months on the hard).

It is eaier to find these services in a place like Corfu because the charter fleets provide a basic income for some and looking after an extra individual boat is no big deal and useful extra income.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

Sea Change
AEC 1 & 2 courses?
Replies
10
Views
392
colind3782
colind3782
S
Sailing to the USA. Do I need a special visa?
2 3
Replies
50
Views
2K
Roberto
Roberto
cyberkryten
We finally bought a boat - Merry Fisher 895s2
2
Replies
21
Views
516
Anibal
Anibal

Share this page

Top