Yacht option plans?

mpk · #1 (**permalink**) 06-26-2003

Hello all. We are looking into a yacht option plan for a Fountaine Pajot. Has anyone had experience in this kind of program? I''m a little leary of the whole thing- but it sounds like a great way to get a new catamran with the specs you want without wrecking the bank. Any pros/cons would be great..
Thanks
mp

paulk · #2 (**permalink**) 06-27-2003

Is this one of the "you own it" charter programs, where you get a time allotment each year and after x years the boat is yours? If so, I have a shipmate who''s gone that route. He''s never sailed his "trophy" cuiser into the club, however, so IMHO that the boat must have gotten pretty beat up. If the program works on the money side, you have to bet that the boats are worked pretty hard. If it doesn''t work monetarily... you may get the boat - and payments - early. Definitely go in with open eyes and have a lawyer who likes you and who knows sailing and boats read the contract first.

mpk · #3 (**permalink**) 06-28-2003

Thanks for the info. I must admit that there is that fear that people are going to trash your boat and it''s not so new after 5 years or so. With this program you can supposedlly use your boat "whenever you want" - hmmm... Who knows, we might not be able to wait and just buck up and get out of dodge in 1 yr instead of 5.

joub · #4 (**permalink**) 06-28-2003

I went into a similar arrangement with a motorhome. My plan was to rent out the MH through a MH rental agency (much like a charter company) , take a write off on the MH as a business, and use the income to pay for it. It worked for me.

We had the use of the MH for vacations. I expected the MH to be trashed after a few years....it wasn''t, but sold it as planned, and bought a new MH for our retirement.

The revenue/write off from the rental arrangement allowed me to get into a bigger MH than I could have originally. When I went shopping for the new MH, I was much more knowledgeable, knew what I really wanted, and was better informed about motorhomes in general.

I believe the key to these deals is how much revenue will they REALLY generate, and how much is the maintenance/insurance going to cost? I''d try to contact someone already in the deal and find out if they are happy with the arrangement.