Talk to me about boats

[219]

Hmmm. Yeah. Interesting comments and kind of what everyone says. Presumably for good reason. It’s an itch I want to scratch but I’d do wonder if it’s madness and a one way ticket to financial pain. Renting is - I think - a good idea. I think I will explore that to begin with to get more of a feel for it. And do the yacht master course (as regardless of the outcome I’d like to do that).

If anyone does has any actual experience of the reality of the kind of thing I fancy, do let me know or PM me.

Cheers guys!

Another thing to consider is to form a syndicate with two or three like minded people and share the costs as well as the use of the craft - a friend had a half share in a yacht , which he said he could not have afforded on his own .

It is also quite a popular thing with light aircraft for a few people to club together to buy one .

 

[Benzowner]

I know a few people who have owned boats in the past and they all say the same. The best bit of owning a boat is when you sell it. Think long and hard

 

[D-18]

I think renting is the way to go if you have an itch to scratch regarding a boat. Many, many years ago, we used to hire a Broom 35 European to cruise the Scottish west coast and it provided an excellent holiday every time. The Broom was a semi-displacement hull so made a reasonable sea-boat and even in pretty grotty weather it behaved quite well. It only had twin 80hp engines, but when you are just dittering about on holiday rather than trying to impress anyone, the 7-9 knots it could manage was perfectly fine.

One year, we also tried a Fairline 40 with twin 265hp Caterpillars - that thing had a planing hull and could really shift, but the fuel consumption was horrendous - and red diesel was very cheap back then.

We rented the Broom several times and got quite friendly with the owner of the rental company who gradually upgraded us to his 'best' boat as he saw that we were not idiots when it came to boat handling. He also told us about some the eyewatering bills associated with running / maintaining a power boat.

If you find you really have the bug, then a syndicate would be a sensible way to go to share the cost. As an aside, I have a few friends who are quite serious sailors and have their own yachts. They would not touch a power boat because of the running costs. I'm no fan of yachts myself, but they do make a bit more financial sense I think.

BTW: None of the rental companies I mentioned still exist.

 

[del320]

I often wonder what it would be like if all the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of tubs, permanently moored in the thousands of marinas around Europe, the Med and farther afield, all took to the high seas at the same time?

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Advise given to me many years ago by a guy that owned several aircraft , boats (sea going yachts) and had, had about 5 wives and 12 kids....

If it flies, floats or F%^ks - rent it!

 

[Dryce]

Just trying to follow my dreams a bit and do it while the family can enjoy it.

Boats and motorhomes ...... it's all about utilisation and the value to you.

I would observe that most privately owned boats and motorhomes are not well utilised. And the value to the owner isn't perhaps as high as expected.

So I think you have to ask how much you (or family or friends) would actually use it and whether the novelty would be gone in a year and you'd sell it a few years down the line having hardly used (or benefitted) from it. Friends with a motorhome that is used by their extended family and gets about 10 weeks a year actual use works out at about £600 + fuel per week of actual use depending on fuel needed - they think that's OK because they really enjoy it.

 

[Ted]

Here’s a tip.
Go and stand under the cold shower whilst quickly ripping up lots of £10 notes.
You’ll have exactly the same experience and probably save a few quid.
All sorted

 

[Eddy77]

Some very helpful and amusing comments. So thank you all for inputting. I will continue to research, do my yacht master and find one to hire to see how much I take to it. That sounds like a sensible start. Didn’t realise syndicates existed for boats but that’s very interesting. A friend has a share of a light aircraft with a few others so the concept is familiar to me. Seems sensible.

My (fairly elderly) parents and also my sister have motor homes which hardly get used. So the under-utilisation point is valid. My in laws also have a narrow boat which never ever goes anywhere but presumably costs a fair bit in Mooring fees and maintenance. I’ve definitely got somethings to think about before I jump in. The more I think about it the more the doubts creep in. I’m very much swaying towards rental or possibly a syndicate.....

Thanks one and all!

 

[D-18]

To the OP – I generally find boats a bit dull, but you can certainly have your moments on them. The following anecdotes might serve to illustrate:

One of our Scottish west coast trips coincided with an annual NATO exercise – usually called ‘Operation Bloody Good Fun’ or something similar. This is where large chunks of Scottish airspace and sea are set aside for the military to practice / play.

We were pottering along up Loch Fyne on a perfect day - the loch surface was like glass and there was virtually no wind. Suddenly, we were ‘attacked’ by an American A10 Thunderbolt flying very close overhead. Military jets are almost inaudible when approaching, but are REALLY loud as they fly past. I had just managed to restart my heart, when his wingman or number two also flew past just overhead. I don’t mind saying that I came very close to producing my own number two as a result!

We then anchored offshore from Inveraray pier that night and because the weather was just superb, we upped anchor the next morning at early o’clock and headed back down the loch again. The Royal Navy had a torpedo test ship anchored further up the loch from us with several other smaller support vessels. One of them – a bit like an oil-rig support ship - then left at a great rate of knots judging by the bow-wave. I tried to alter course out of his way, but it followed us and soon a chap with a loud hailer was standing in the bow telling us to ‘Go close inshore, drop your anchor and stop your engines’

I was sure we hadn’t picked up any submarine cables or anything like that when we raised the anchor, so didn’t know what to expect. A hydraulic crane on the support ship lowered a RIB into the water and it scooted across to us in no time – the outboard motor on the back of the RIB was about the size of a young garden shed.

On reaching us, the sailor advised that they were about to test launch an acoustic homing torpedo and whilst there was no warhead, the guidance system would remain active after the propellant was used up and would then guide onto the sound of our engines as it floated up to the surface. He told us where to look after the torpedo was fired and sure enough a damn great cylindrical object leapt out of the water like a killer whale. It would have made a pretty big hole in the boat that’s for sure!

You may not have such an experience, but it certainly livens up the day

 

[Vintage Racer]

If you really want to lose that amount of money, I can let you have my bank details..........at least you could watch someone else enjoy it!

 

[MCFastybloke]

A good number of share boats on here i would imagine Boats for sale UK, used boats, new boat sales, free photo ads - Apollo Duck

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Some very helpful and amusing comments. So thank you all for inputting. I will continue to research, do my yacht master and find one to hire to see how much I take to it. That sounds like a sensible start. Didn’t realise syndicates existed for boats but that’s very interesting. A friend has a share of a light aircraft with a few others so the concept is familiar to me. Seems sensible.

My (fairly elderly) parents and also my sister have motor homes which hardly get used. So the under-utilisation point is valid. My in laws also have a narrow boat which never ever goes anywhere but presumably costs a fair bit in Mooring fees and maintenance. I’ve definitely got somethings to think about before I jump in. The more I think about it the more the doubts creep in. I’m very much swaying towards rental or possibly a syndicate.....

Thanks one and all!

Apparently it will cost you about 10%/annum of the value of the boat for "sundry" costs. Repairs, maintenance, mooring etc etc....

 

[clk320x]

Apparently it will cost you about 10%/annum of the value of the boat for "sundry" costs. Repairs, maintenance, mooring etc etc....

That doesn’t seem too bad?

A bit like a 60k car would cost you 6k a year in insurance, tax, maintenance, repairs, depreciation etc.

 

[Wolfie1]

I was going to buy a boat earlier this year before my health took a turn for the worse, i realised there was costs involved, but not that much! This is what i was going to buy, plan was to sail it to Malta and leave it there and then just book cheap flights across and holiday on it at every opportunity

 

[Darrell]

That doesn’t seem too bad?

A bit like a 60k car would cost you 6k a year in insurance, tax, maintenance, repairs, depreciation etc.

But the boat gets used on a handful of occasions whereas the car is a useful tool.

 

[Darrell]

Most of the Greeks we know have boats.

I suppose they had to get shot of all that cash somehow!! Most of them don’t see the water for the majority of the summer cos the owners are working 18hrs a day for 26 weeks. They’ll get a little bit of use pre and post season but then the sea is too cold and none of the beach tavernas are open so there’s not much point really.

We had a ski boat with a 225hp outboard which, in 2014, never got used.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Ultimately the closer someone lives to water then the more often they’ll use a boat. I dare say that plenty will go unused in 2020 as the season has been so short.

 

[artyman]

My brother had a sailing cruiser, he probably used it less than half a dozen times during the year, I used to get more actual hours on the water in my racing dinghy.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

Most of the Greeks we know have boats.

I suppose they had to get shot of all that cash somehow!! Most of them don’t see the water for the majority of the summer cos the owners are working 18hrs a day for 26 weeks. They’ll get a little bit of use pre and post season but then the sea is too cold and none of the beach tavernas are open so there’s not much point really.

We had a ski boat with a 225hp outboard which, in 2014, never got used.

Yep on a small scale I went down a similar route 2x Hobie 16s (different times) - after the initial excitement the usage dies down. I joined a sailing club (2nd Hobie) and competed for a while, had accomodation at the club with the boat being permanently rigged standing there and even that petered out.

Same with power boats, 2 friends of mine owned nice ski boats (and 2 of us had been competitive water skiers in our younger days) which spent most of their time under a tarpaulin in the garden.

People don't realise that it is not just a case of driving there, jumping in the boat, and playing (unless you can afford to pay people to have everything ready for you).

 

[Darrell]

Ultimately the closer someone lives to water then the more often they’ll use a boat. I dare say that plenty will go unused in 2020 as the season has been so short.

Very true. A family we know live near Eastbourne and they have 2 ski boats, a jet ski and a camper between them. They seem to be out using them almost every weekend....apart from this year.