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Buy and charter my new yacht.

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by dix4life, Jun 15, 2018.

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  1. dix4life

    dix4life New Member

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    Good day!

    I'm Martin from the Netherlands living in Spain. I have my own business that im going to sell soon. I want to reserve 200k to 500k Euro for my dream of my own yacht. I was thinking Sunseeker / Princess around 20m long. I'm also going to invest in properties. There will be a place for me to sleep or i can live in the yacht (temporarily). I don't like spending money, i like investing money. My idea was to charter the yacht. But i will be the captain myself and a good friend of mine i will hire as host (if necessarily). Location wise i was thinking about Marbella or Mallorca / Ibiza. This are my favorite destination and also a place where i want to life. I think going to an charter company you will spent most profit on the charter company. That is not what i want. Since i have no job anymore when i sold my company i like to spent my time doing business with the yacht and the property i will buy. I would like to know from people on this forum tips, do's and dont's, is this a doable and profitable without a charter company. Any predictions or whatever might be useful information. I thank you all in advance.

    Best regards,

    Martin
  2. Lenny

    Lenny Member

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    I am in Ibiza now on my boat, private, no charter. It is a beautiful Saturday. Town is full of people. There are so many boats with "For Charter" signs and just sitting at the dock. Very unscientific observation but seems difficult to charter, too much competition.
  3. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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  4. dix4life

    dix4life New Member

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    That sounds really good. I love to go to Mallorca / Ibiza and specially Formentera by boat. Enjoy the saturday night! I am at the moment in my penthouse in Valencia overlooking the city of art and science. Also not a bad saturday but i really love being on a boat. The feeling of loosing all stress and connection with the mainland! The fact that all boats are still in the harbor with those signs is not a good thing... Maybe indeed to much competition.. But renting a yacht for only a couple days a month should be good for 10k income right? Compare to for example the penthouse i'm living in. Investing 500k and maximum holiday rent is 5k a month! That's if you rent out every day. If you just do long rental you only can ask 1500 to 2000 Euro maybe.. And then you can't even use the penthouse your self. Then investing in a yacht seems to make a lot more income for the investment you have to do. Correct me if i'm wrong.
  5. dix4life

    dix4life New Member

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  6. Lenny

    Lenny Member

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    Boats are very expensive to maintain. I do not think anyone makes money on charter. Perhaps pay a few expenses. Start to add up, maintenance, insurance, crew, dockage. Also there are all the unknowns, like blowing an engine perhaps, maybe a few hundred thousand dollars or Euros. Bad weather, crew does not show up. Charters trash the boat, hit a rock, run aground, list goes on and on. Let's not forget depreciation. Apartment might appreciate boats depreciate. Don't get me wrong, I love boats and boating BUT it is very expensive and a money loosing hobby. Boats are a terrible investment.
  7. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Worth repeating.
  8. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Boats are toys. They are not an investment, terrible or otherwise.

    With a good setup you can get charters to pay the expenses and get some tax benefits. With a good crew charterers don't trash the boat and the boat doesn't end up on the rocks. We re not talking bareboat here. 10+ years of chartering and i have never had to call the owner and explain the boat was trashed. :).

    That said I am not familiar with the med market so take the above with a grain of salt
  9. Lenny

    Lenny Member

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    If he charters the boat out of Ibiza. They will run for the day to Formentera, about 12 miles. We were anchored off a few days ago. All the day boats in that size, had 8 to 12 people, 99% were drunk, smoking, drinking, throwing bottles in the water for the crew to fetch. The crews were not having fun. Hard to believe, that this owner is going to be happy with these day people. It can get quite a roll in this anchorage from the massive amount of ferries. One day boat about 50 yards from us, had many seasick people making a mess of the boat. Think hard before going ahead. Just my 2 cents and I could be 100% wrong.
  10. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Boating is our recreation and pleasure. Many easy ways to ruin that. One of those is getting into the charter business. Suddenly, boating is a business, a job. Same reason we don't own boating related businesses like marinas and, unlike chartering, they can actually make money. We don't want to contaminate our boating.
  11. Ken Bracewell

    Ken Bracewell Senior Member

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    Worth repeating again
  12. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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    I have repeatedly made money on boats. Two to be exact. Made $20k on a 480 Sedan Bridge and made a whopping 30% return on a 33' Powerplay after using it for 3 years. I have lost money on everything else!
    Octobriana likes this.
  13. ranger58sb

    ranger58sb Senior member

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    Martin, just mentioning there are various marine and business licensing issues associated with chartering. If you don't hold the correct licenses, you'll have to look into hiring a captain (for instance) who does. Crew persons need certifications, and so forth, too.

    And then you (and your crew) needs the kind of personality compatible with entertaining some nice folks... and some bozos...

    -Chris
  14. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Sometimes we get lucky. The market improves on a vertical market or we got a deal when we purchased it or both.
    It's a bad poker hand.

    Pascal said it well; Boats are toys. They are not an investment, terrible or otherwise.

    I do lean towards Terrible. However, our old ship has done well. It's still a working toy.
    We would be smarter to of live on land these last 15 years.
  15. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I differ. Boats are not toys. Boats are an AGREED UPON EXPENSE. Whether you use them or not, the expense is constant and 99% of the time a lot of depreciation as well.
  16. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    There is nothing agreeable with a sudden engine replacement or running gear causality.
    But that is a poor poker hand.
  17. dix4life

    dix4life New Member

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    Well, Thank you all for answering my question. I see its not that easy then it maybe looks. I don't want drunken people. I want descend people looking for an trip they never forget.