turkish Gulets

[monarch]

I am planning to buy a turkish gulet to run as a charter in the med. I have read many general negative comments on these but was hoping to hear of some detailed information on what to look out for negatives and positives. I would be greatful to hear from anyone who has actually bought one of these and any advice they can give me. Many thanx in advance

 

[peteandthira]

I don't know anything of the formalities of running such a venture, but I had 2 gulet hols before i got my own boat. The general thing seems to be motoring. On both my hols no-one was interested in sailing, least of all the crew. However, it didn't detract from the holiday. The other thing that was slightly niggly was the lack of choice of where to go. This was a set itinerary and could only be made flexible if you booked the boat as a private party with a group of friends.

Have you been and spent any time on one?

One of ours smelt of toilet which would have put us off going on her again.
Good luck

pops

 

[Slow_boat]

Speaking to a flotilla skipper based in Bodrum this year I get the impression that some of the Gulets are cheaply built of poor quality soft woods and fitted out to look good. The life expextancy can be in single figures, at which point they're so rotten that they either get sold to forigners or scrapped. I'd suggest a damn good survey is a must.

Also, beware Turkish law regarding owning businesses, professional skippers etc.

I got the impression that a some owners,crews and skippers are very honest and professional, some less so.

Having said that, I've come across British owner/skippers who have made a go of it.

 

[MASH]

Buy one or have one built? Big diffrence I think. Duncan's advice is sound, these things can rot like vegetables!

Take the time to wander around as many boatyards and marinas as you can and look at the horrors you'll find there on gulets being mended. That should convince you to get one built, I reckon. They will build to your specs, and most local charter boats seem to be thrown together to look good but I have heard of foreign owned builds taking twice as long and using hardwoods throughout. You pays yer money...Most building yards seem happy for you to just wander around. The profligate use of tropical hardwoods suggests to me that it might be best not to be too touchy about ethical timber harvesting either, still, could be wrong there.

But if you do go down this route please please please:

Fit a holding tank and use it. The slick of filth that pollutes an anchorage within minutes of almost any gulet arriving is simply revolting. (they are "mandatory" but apparently optional for gulets, as are most rules and regs it seems)

Fit a silencer to both engine and generator! Turks seem to like gulets that sound like tanks and can be heard up to 10 miles away on a quiet day. Generators MUST be SILENT if you are not to destroy the peace of quiet anchorages.

Get a skipper who knows the rule of the road and has some idea of decent manners re not anchoring within 10 metres of the only other yacht within miles and then turning on the boom box to max. Most don't.

Try not to book parties of rowdy Germans, and if you do please take them to marinas where they belong, not quiet anchorages!

You'll gather I don't like Gulets. I hate them. Filthy, noisy, sewage spewing, rowdy, townie antisocial things that ruin almost every anchorage. Best place for them is Davy Jones'...

But if you must - be very careful of build quality.

/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sequena1]

Interesting the number of Gulets this autumn who seemed to have dicovered the joys of sailing. At one point I saw three of them apparently racing (homewards) under full canvas.
I wonder if its got anything to do with the price of diesel?

 

[Slow_boat]

Sailing??!!!!

Most of them don't have sails under those covers. They and the sticks are only there for show.

 

[jverges]

Last year I saw a 30 meter Turkish Gullet coming into port in Mataro close to Barcelona. The delivery skipper, I noticed was a friend of mine, so I stopped to say hi and was invited by my friend and the boat's new owner to hop on board. We sat around talking for a while. They were both very happy with the boat's performance (11 days from Turkey to Barcelona with one stop in Malta and another in Santorini), also going through a gale along the way. After some talk, the bottom line to these ships is that you have to spend a large amount of money for a decent one. Why? Here are the cost related issues the owner explained:
- There are a lot of cheap ones available, but labor in Turkey is so cheap, that most of the boats are made to a very low standard and have a very short life; they then build a new one (sometimes using the old engine). This seems to be the general situation. Gullets built to a higher standard are not that cheap.
- Even purchasing a higher priced, better built Gullet, the owner was planning on a full year of repairs and upgrading, which included sails and all rigging (they don't use stainless steel, but galvanized wire which has to be renewed every year.)
- 2 trips to turkey for searching and purchasing the boat.
- You have to pay the Turkish government a fee for decomissioning the Turkish flag on the boat and getting it out of the country.
- I order to have the boat legally with a Spanish flag, he has to get a naval architecht to draw out the blueprints (they are non existant in Turkey) and add a whole lot of items mandatory to comissioning it in Spain (I believe this would apply for all EEC countries).

In the end, adding up the numbers, it seemed a better idea to get another boat, but well...this guy's pocket seemed endless (I later knew he was a tax consultant).

Hope this helps.
Jose

 

[monarch]

many thanks for this information......

 

[robind]

Wooden boats are just so much firewood (who first said that) anyone know?

 

[craw4d2003]

we are currently looking to buy a boat and looked at a couple of Gulets for sale here in Ibiza. They were very expensive and needed so much work doing to them that it just wasn't viable, and since looking we have heard a lot of negative things about them. We have definately decided not to buy a wooden boat as the maintenance will be far to high. When we do buy a boat we will be going to the caribbean as there just isn't the demand for sailboat charters here in the balearics and the season is so short it just wouldn't be cost effective.

 

[monarch]

thanks for that....but still undeterred......anyone have any tips on what wood should ideally be used for the hull of these boats. Obviously i will be conducting a full survey before buying. Will be sailing in Sardinia and am passionate about protecting the environment ....will be installing or looking for a boat with holding tank, generatiors will also be carefully looked at.....would also appreciate any advice on the best generators available

 

[rigman]

If you are interested for chartering a gulet in med i would reccommend company GuletHoliday, I sailed with them last year and everything was perfect. Here is a link for their web page: Gulet charter in Croatia – Gulet cruising

That gullet sailed 15 years ago. Lol

 

[reefknot]

I am planning to buy a turkish gulet to run as a charter in the med. I have read many general negative comments on these but was hoping to hear of some detailed information on what to look out for negatives and positives. I would be greatful to hear from anyone who has actually bought one of these and any advice they can give me. Many thanx in advance

Don't buy a pine one, which most of them are. I remember seeing one or two teak ones. ( Ex yachtie who lived and chartered in Turkey) and they don't sail!