TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Questions for Charter Boat Owners

My husband and I have had owner's privileges on my brother's Leopard 444 through Sunsail for the past 4.5 years. His boat is now about to come out of charter and we are thinking about buying our own boat to put in charter. We are about 5 years out from moving down to the USVI permanently. I would love to hear from those of you who have boats in charter.

Sunsail/Moorings is attractive to us because of the fact that we can charter at different places in the world. We are excited to be going in April using owner's time. I grew up in Grenada so we also love to take a trip every couple of years to the Windward Islands. But, my kids LOVE the BVI so we definitely spend most of our time there.

That being said, my brother's boat has taken a beating in charter through Sunsail and they don't always respond to issues we bring up when we return the boat (as in fix things that are broken). Granted it has been through a hurricane and survived, so there is that! I also don't love sailing about in a branded boat and the fact that through Sunsail/Moorings you literally have no control over your boat as in no extra upgrades, no special decorating, etc. The boats are all cookie cutter.

My husband and I really like the Leopard Catamarans. We love how Let's Play Two (by brother's boat) sails and she is very comfortable for our family.

Let me hear what you think about other options for us. We are just in the planning stages and open to all options. The only thing is that I do not what a Lagoon. Sorry Lagoon owners...we have chartered 2 Lagoons and I just don't like the way they sail. There are very comfortable but in my opinion they don't hold a candle to the Leopard when it comes to sailing and how they respond.

How about Voyage? We have loved all the boats we’ve chartered with them.

If you go with a company like Horizon or TMM, you can spec your own Leopard, with the toys and equipment you want. There is no guaranteed income, so all repairs get done at your expense, unless charterer expense. So generally the boats are in awesome condition. But with using those companies, you lose the option of sailing other locations unless you move the boat to their other bases.