Question for fractional boat owners.

[msl]

Are any Sailnet readers also fractional sail boat owners/members? If so, would you care to comment about your experiences so far?
Thanks,
Mark.

[SwanseaJack]

I am not in a share anymore but I once was a fifth shareholder in a Gibsea 372 in Greece. The scheme was originally set up by Yacht Fractions in the UK

The forum wont let me post the link but if you google yacht fractions uk you can find it

I did not know any of the people involved however it was a very tight contract which spelt out exactly how the boat would be operated. From memory I paid around £6000 for my share and sold it for around £7000. The expenses where paid by a regular monthly payment of £100 and I used to use her for about three or four weeks a year (I could have had lots more of course if I had the time available). We used to have an annual meeting to discuss the boat and the maintenance and we took it in turns to be the manager for a year.

The experience worked well for me and I recommend Yacht Fractions if you are in the UK. I think the important factors where the very clear contract, the fact that we did not know each other so friendships did not cloud the situation and a sound financial base to pay for maintenance.

I had a further experience later when I simply shared the operating cost of a friends boat, which was not a sucessfull

[msl]

Thank you for your encouraging reply.

I am in the US. There is a fractional company offering new 33 to 38 foot boats for under $500. per month. Although I'm not a huge fan of their brand of boat, it is an interesting idea at an affordable cost.

The idea being to enjoy sailing and time on the water for those of us who do not live near enough to the water and lack the precious time needed to maintain a 38 foot sailboat.

Their plan allows one owner and seven members (per boat) who share time and have access to sailcraft at other base locations, too - perhaps not a true fractional ownership plan - but it may offer an economical alternative to the hassles of finding dockage, maintenance, etc. etc.
An owner is locked in but a share "member" apparently, can opt out with a three month notice.

Thank again for your response.

Mark L.

[merlin2375]

Is this Sail locally at a fraction of the cost with SailTime fractional sailing ?

I haven't had any experience but belong to a club which has a fleet of boats. In a sense it's a fractional membership but not exactly. The real question is how often will you get out to use it? $500 can be a steal of deal to not a deal at all depending on how much you're able to use it.

If you're going to use it a relatively low number of times, perhaps you can essentially rent a boat for a few days here or there and come out a lot better.

[geobone]

This is George Bonelli...SailTime Founder. Our members rarely complain about whether they get enough time on our boats.