TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Buying a boat and putting in Charter

Hi,
We are seriously considering buying a catamaran and putting in charter service. We've had positive experiences renting from both BVI Yacht and TMM and like the smaller companies. Any advice? Does make more sense if we always fly into STT to have in St. Thomas vs. BVI?
Thanks!

We have a cat with TMM and we couldn't be more pleased. This is our second. The first, a sloop, was with Sunsail and then BVI Yacht Charters. So, we have a pretty good understanding of the market.
While there are advantages to St Thomas, we have picked the BVI twice simply because that is where the majority of charters go. It's worked so far.
Why TMM? They gave us the best price on the boat and we know how well they maintain their boats, based on ten plus years of sailing with them.
Go for it.

Ask to join the CharterBoatOwners group on Yahoo, then ask a lot of questions about the good, bad and ugly, to make sure you go into it with your eyes clearly open. Some owners come away with great experiences, others not so much.

How often would you use it and for how many days? There's a break-even point at which chartering makes more sense. Generally speaking, if you can't take sailing vacations at least 3 times/year for a week or more, I would suggest staying with chartering. However, if you want to sail there a lot, then it can be more advantageous financially to own. But when I say "financially", I just mean the cost of sailing in paradise. It's not a good investment in the sense of getting a return. Your "return" is sailing time vs. cost.

One advantage of TMM and Horizon is you can use boats in their fleets in other islands (I think, but not certain).

We did what you're considering in 2012. If you want to send me a PM, I can give you more background.

Thanks Mike! TMM has been great to Charter from. We've been on Dawn Star and Parrot Play recently and were very pleased with both. Have you been happy with the amount of times/weeks per year your boat has been chartered out?

When you run the numbers make sure you can live with 45% of the purchase price on the boat for resale. Used charter boats are a commodity and after commissions netting only 45% is a realistic number.
The make or break part of ownership can be selling unused owners time. Push for 3 weeks a year that can be sold with as few restrictions as possible.
One last point, if your not going to use the boat 3 to 4,weeks a year minimum don't even think about buying! Rent!
George

Yes, if you're buying a new boat to place in charter and plan to sell it in 5 years. The other way to go is pay 45-55% for someone's 5 year old boat. Then you're on the favorable side of the depreciation curve. These can still be placed into charter with the smaller outfits you're considering, especially if you buy it from one of their owners.

Thanks you! Currently, we are chartering 3-4 weeks per year so I guess it is worth looking into. Your advice has been helpful.

TMM has been great in securing bookings. Almost too good. We have to pick our times a year in advance or we can get shut out. We are booked nearly solid throught May and already have a number of Fall bookings. I think a lot has to do with the bost you pick. We have stuck with two cabin models because they aren't suited to be party boats and therefore get less wear and tear. They are also well suited to sailing with a two person crew.
It is also easier to sell a 40' mono or a 36' cat than a 50' sloop with four cabins.

If you are flexible about when you go, I'd suggest looking at Moorings/Sunsail. The options for taking out other boats is very good. We own a Moorings 43.3 monohull, but have only used our own boat once, another 43.3 twice and Cats all the other times with over a dozen charters completed now.

We are keeping the 43.3 after its contract is up so that helps, but we are also getting tremendous value by upgrading to cats while we can.

This is a site you may want to check out. It was very helpful to us when considering taking this step. There's free info there and some premium analysis for a small cost.

https://www.sailonline.com/boat-ownership

Genie, sent you a PM.
G

Putting a boat in charter is the cheapest way to tell your friends you have a yacht in the islands, No mistake about it. Bareboat ownership is a cost not an investment.