Time sharing Pros/Cons

[Shemlock]

Hello to all!!!
I'm a 55 year old newbie to sailing and would love anybody's experience in time sharing a sailboat.I have a O'Day 27, mooring and dinghy dock access.The boat is loaded with electronics incl. radar chart plotter depth wind recent dieseletc. What advice do you have, one way or the other?
Thanks in advance,
T

[PBzeer]

Insurance and liability is the first thing that comes to mind. Second, people (as a rule) do not take as good of care of other people's property as they do their own.

Unless you're going to make a business out of it, and not sail the boat yourself, in my opinion, it's more trouble than it's worth.

And welcome to Sailnet.

[DRFerron]

I agree with PBzeer. Also, if you're new to sailing, how will you know when something important to the structure or the mechanics is damaged and if not fixing it is going to put the next person in danger?

My impression of the timeshare experience is that it works best amongst a group of people who know each other and who equally (more or less) care about the boat. I know a few couples who share joint ownership of a boat with one or two other couples. It's not technically timesharing but I think it achieves the same purpose: boat ownership without the expense.

[CalebD]

Shemlock, I saw your post on that "SN is dying" thread and was hoping you would start your own thread on this subject.
I'll start out by offering that I have a partner in owning a Tartan 27' sailboat. It is not a partnership of equals but I have found that our differences can actually make us stronger. He likes to do boat wiring, engine work and all kinds of rigging stuff while I end up doing our bottom painting, epoxying and anything involving some kind of boat snot. I also work on our engine so our skill sets do overlap. What we have in common is that we enjoy sailing and having a functional boat. We almost always race together and use one other crew. We share the basic yearly expenses as well as the inevitable miscellaneous expenses that come up (50-50). Not a time share but a partnership.

I have another friend down Chessy-wise who has always had partners in his sailboats. He had a Hunter 25.5' but has moved up to an Endeavor 32'. They currently have 4 partners in the boat, a few of them have been long time boat partners of my friend. I'm not sure if they set up an LLC but I'd guess they did. My friend is the better sailor of the group but they all seem to enjoy their times on the boat. They divide up the sailing season by weeks at the beginning of the year and negotiate amongst themselves for use of the boat when the need arises. With that many partners they can afford to use a mechanic to work on their diesel engine as needed. It seems to work well for them. My friend does not tempt the other members by leaving the spinnaker on board when he is not there, for now.

This kind of arrangement is not for everyone but it can work and reduce your yearly costs. Finding the right partner(s) is the difficult part.

Good luck.