UK Circumnavigation - Yacht Charter

J

jon_bailey

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I plan to sail around the British Isles next May, June and July. This will be done with various friends, so I am looking for a mid-30s yacht that is easy to sail, comfortable, relaible and safe. Speed is not really a requirement.

I believe that if any money changes hand, the boat needs to be coded, so working on the assumption that no-one will lend me their yacht for 3 months, do you know of anyone, company or individual, that will charter me a suitable vessel? If you also have any idea of cost this would also be appreciated?

Unfortunately, I have a family that do not enjoy sailing, so there are inherent risks involved in buying a boat and then reselling, so at the moment the charter looks like the best route.

Any other advice much appreciated.

Jon Bailey
 
Think of the economics

Jon

Buy a decent 30 footer for say £10k. Add bits and pieces for £2k, so a total of £12k. Sail her and the sell her, worst case say you only get £4k. Net cost £8k. If the price is that low, you either bought a bag of s..t, or sailed/managed her like she was.

Compare that to even heavily discounted chartering at peak 'weekend only' cost of say £1200, mid- week peak season costs of say £600, and they are cheap prices. For a 3 month period that means you will be paying upwards of £12k for chartering, and will still risk the loss of deposit.

Another alternative is to do a boat share, on the understanding that the circumnavigation is your objective - you may even get additional people to do the trip with you.

Finally, don't be scared by coding - from my experience (for a boat that is reasonable) you are talking about £2k. That can be taken into account in the commercial discussions.

P
 
Well, it can be done, since I met someone in Kirkwall, Orkneys who was doing just that. It was this summer and he was six weeks in. If I remember rightly he had chartered from somewhere on the east coast (? lowestoft) and it was a Beneteau. Unfortunately it was a toilet block chat so I dont know much more. At least its possible......
 
clear your inbox!

Jon - your have either been inundated with offers of charters for your trip or you are **** at Inbox management, as I can't PM you ....
 
jon_bailey said:
Unfortunately, I have a family that do not enjoy sailing, so there are inherent risks involved in buying a boat and then reselling, so at the moment the charter looks like the best route.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why that influences your financing decisions. They probably aren't going to care how you paid for the boat if they don't enjoy sailing.
 
Any decent size Category A coded charter boat is going to cost minimum £1200 a week - opportunity cost of not having it available for charter elsewhere. 12 weeks approx £15k.

Plenty of choice of suitable SH boats in £20-30k range - and you would have to be really stupid to lose £15k on resale.
 
If you shop around you will find an independent private owner with a 35ft coded boat priced at £1000 per week. Such owners typically only expect an income of £4000 to £6000 per year so a 13 week block booking could be of particular interest if 2011 coincides with the year the family visit great aunt Flo in Oz instead of sailing. I would offer a £8000 or £9000 rental for a charter boat no longer in its first flush of youth = £1000 per person per month for a once in a lifetime adventure.

Forget the idea of doing up a fixer, a £20k 35ft yacht would take 2 winters and a short trial season to get up to scratch and you would blow another £10k during that period.

Your best bet would be to find a convivial retired old codger with an underused 38 footer who would want to join in as the 4th crew member.
 
Jonjo5

Sound advice. I cannot see how anyone can expect weekly charter rates for a 3 month charter and for a boat not in its first flush depreciation should not be significant over a 3 month period.

I agree about 'a fixer', and to get a boat up to the type of standard I would want to spend 3 months on, could well cost more than £10,000.

Just wish I had a rich uncle!
 
peter2407 said:
Jon

Buy a decent 30 footer for say £10k. Add bits and pieces for £2k, so a total of £12k. Sail her and the sell her, worst case say you only get £4k. Net cost £8k. If the price is that low, you either bought a bag of s..t, or sailed/managed her like she was.

P
Click to expand...

Any ideas for a £10,000 boat that only requires £2,000 to be spent on it to provide a safe, reliable, comfortable and safe vessel? I am struggling to find anything even close so would welcome some ideas.
 
jon_bailey said:
Jonjo5

Sound advice. I cannot see how anyone can expect weekly charter rates for a 3 month charter and for a boat not in its first flush depreciation should not be significant over a 3 month period.
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Erm, yes and no. I agree that you can expect a discount on the weekly rate for a 3 month charter, because the owner has less hassle and does not have to factor in idle weeks.

But:
  1. the three months in question are the best part of the seasons sailing, and so accounts for a major proportion of annual depreciation;
  2. the opportunity cost (or capital charge, or cost of the mortgage, or what the owner might get if he invested the capital in the boat elswhere) is also significant, is unaltered by long versus short hire periods, and the three-month hire period again accounts for a major part of it;
  3. wear and tear could well be a major cost to the owner - while marine equipment needs replacing periodically even if it is not used, replacement intervals are shorter when it is in constant use - and this cost is often underestimated, (even by boat owners, to judge by the amount of teeth-sucking that goes on beside chandlery tills).
.
 
You should get a decent Renown for 15k, or 20k if fully loaded & ready to go. If you couldn't resell at the end of the season for 12-15k you aren't trying! That's 5k cost + keep, fuel & breakages. Biggest extra cost might then be marina berths - say 30 nights if you anchor off or sail on most nights.
 
What you need to do is find someone who is taking their boat out of charter or has just done so, so has a coded boat and may be tempted with a final burst of income.

I used to charter quite regularly from a firm on the south coast that chartered out privately-owned boats and I reckon they'd have something like a 10% to 20% p.a. turnover. I think it was a mixture of boats becoming just a bit too old for their market, people deciding they weren't getting enough income, and a few who thought they'd make more money going it alone.

One of those sort of boats would very likely suit you.
 
jon_bailey said:
Any ideas for a £10,000 boat that only requires £2,000 to be spent on it to provide a safe, reliable, comfortable and safe vessel? I am struggling to find anything even close so would welcome some ideas.
Click to expand...

I'd cross oceans in a 10k boat! How on earth can't you find anything to go round Blighty in?

Good luck anyway.
 
nathanlee said:
I'd cross oceans in a 10k boat! How on earth can't you find anything to go round Blighty in?

Good luck anyway.
Click to expand...

Perhaps I'm just getting old, but I want a bit of comfort if I am going to spend three months on a yacht with friends. So I am still looking for something mid 30s with 3 cabins. A trip like this is never going to be inexpensive and I have never said that I want to do it at minimal cost, so I am still looking for options and typical costs.

Thanks for all of the helpful advice and pms so far.
 
jon_bailey said:
Perhaps I'm just getting old, but I want a bit of comfort if I am going to spend three months on a yacht with friends. So I am still looking for something mid 30s with 3 cabins. A trip like this is never going to be inexpensive and I have never said that I want to do it at minimal cost, so I am still looking for options and typical costs.
Click to expand...

FWIW I like your plan.

There's no way you'd buy a newish 3x foot boat and equip it with all the goodies that come with a coded boat for under 15k. Plus this way someone else does the (perhaps) tedious preperation for you and if things wear out on the way round someone else picks up the bill. When you get back you hand a well used, worn boat back to the owner and walk away.

As a wise man once said. If it floats, flies or f**ks, you're better off hiring it.

The only downside I can think of might be that some hire firms may be very reluctant to take on the problem of 'supporting' a boat so far away from base. (If the engine goes bang in Campbelltown are they going to have to spend a fortune sorting it with a tradesman they don't know???) I doubt that's unsurmountable.

My 2p worth.
 
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