Syndicate advice needed

[Carreraboy]

Newby here and after some advice on buying into a syndicate (looking into 1/5th share in the Ionian).

Are there any potential banana skins I should be looking out for? Any good/bad experiences with this type of ownership.

Thanks guys

 

[NickiCrutchfield]

Hi,
I had a boat for years co-owned with a friend. we worked hard to make sure we were deeply respectful of each other and remain friends. We were successful, but even then when we bought a bigger boat and my friend had more money in it than me, a tendancy developed for him to be more dominant. It was OK, but eventually I sold my share to him. We are still friends.
My point in the above is that syndicates can be fraught with difficulties. If the syndicate you join has stood for a decent length of time without too many changes, they are rigid about money (monthly deposits into a boat account are best) and you all have the same share there is no reason why you can't have a very successful time. The up side is of course that you get a bigger/better boat somewhere nice with the sometimes onerous responsibility of ownership shared.
In conclusion, if you can, I would go for a smaller boat and own her outright. You can do what you want, when you want and if you cock up you only answer to yourself.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Nicki

 

[ytd]

I have owned boats thru various syndicates for 30 years. Great way to share ownership, Generally a ready made compatible crew. Most important thing is to get down on paper what the syndicate pays for and what individual owners pay for.

 

[paulrae]

I have a quarter share in our boat. It was a brand new syndicate, set up among four 'strangers' from an ad on Boatsandoutboards. We've been very fortunate that all four sets of partners have a similar outlook on the use of the boat and sharing costs.

The RYA have a proforma contract that you can use, but we developed our own: PM me if you'd like a copy. In the contract we deal with:
Who are the partners
Where the boat will be kept
Who'll be responsible for boat admin
Costs included/excluded and annual budget preparation (shopping list for maintenance and shiny new things)
Boat state on handover (clean, fuelled, watered)
Minimum sailing competency of partners (eg RYA dayskipper)
Lending (not permitted in our syndicate)
Periods of non-availability (eg due to extended breakdown)
How to get out of partnership
Termination of syndicate and sale of yacht - ours is for 5 years

We have two meetings a year - one just before launching and a laying up supper. At the laying up supper we chat about sailing plans for next year, jobs that need to be done over the winter and our shopping list. In our case we moved Mystic up the west cost of Scotland for a couple of months during the summer. The syndicate covered mooring costs between handovers, but members were responsible for costs when on board.

Close to the beginning of each season one of the partners is allocated the task of coming up with the sailing calendar. Everyone advises when they're definitely not available and a calendar is developed to suit. We do swaps as necessary. We tend not to sail together regularly.

The things that I have to keep reminding myself are:
I couldn't/wouldn't afford the boat if I didn't share, so I have to accept the minor (very minor) habits of the others that annoy me, and
Taking the above into account compromise is essential

Hope this helps, but of there's anything else that you'd like to ask please feel free to PM me.

Good luck

Paul