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Sharing ownership/partnership


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Anyone had any experience of this, good advice etc?

Herbert has just put up Bayswater marina prices yet again, in my case over 15%. It's getting real  expensive to keep up with my wee Lotus 9.2.

I'd go back onto a mooring, but I was broken into twice then, and also there is the problem of insurance. May be I could keep on sailing for a few more years [ bloody old age doesn't help[!], if I could share costs.

I did a calculation the other day, added up the usual haulage; maintenance and berthage costs, and I'm not that far short of chartering. However, I do use the boat for more days than I would get from chartering- although the last two or three years with Covid and lousy summer weather haven't helped.

Any real snags to avoid before I look around for suitable partners?

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From what I have observed, it can be an excellent way to own a boat or a complete nightmare. The most successful partnerships are when one partner uses the boat rarely but happy to keep paying, so that when they do wish to go out the boat is available. 

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50/50 may work we you both use the boat at the same time.  The 2 issues I see are. Breakages not being reported.(yeah it was fine when left it)

Maintaince  Who does what or pays for what.

50% boat ownership is easy its have they got the funds for maintaince?

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Hi AB, I've been in a 3 way (no pun intended) partnership of a yacht for almost 2 years. It's working really well. Didn't know the other two guys before the partnership. The key is to have like minded people - how to use the boat, how much maintenance you'll do, whether that maintenance will be bought or you'll do it yourselves etc. And esp. like minded on tidiness and cleanliness of boat after use.

We had signed agreements on usage, cleanliness, maintenance etc. All agreements signed up BEFORE money changed hands. We also have signed agreements on what happens when someone wants to sell their share. Agreements include what is deemed individuals cost to fix or repair eg dropped outboard overboard is that guys issue to replace it.

Boat must be cleaned after EVERY use, user must fill diesel and water and notify next user of anything appropriate - eg need toilet paper out of dish wash etc.

Plus we use an on-line booking system for boat usage - similar to the charter boats however you can modify to suit yourself. Takes any and ALL arguments out of who uses boat when etc (we all use the boat separately from each other).

But wait, there's more - we also have a fund for on going maintenance and insurance. We each contribute by auto payment into a 'Yacht' account. We agree via 6 monthly meetings what we'll spend the money on - as there's 3 of us, any 2 can agree and motion carried.

Sounds complicated but it's not really, mostly common sense - just written down and signed.

I love not being totally responsible for everything - we share the load and fortunately we have different skill sets which helps.

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I've been in 3 syndicates and in my 4th.

With careful thought, good knowledge of each other and clear rules it works great. 

Our ones have been successful because we have each stated at the start what we want from the ownership and everyone knew up front what to expect from the others. 

I think that they don't work when the expectations are that everyone has same motives, inputs and usage. 

I'd do it again and am working on being part of another one now.

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Currently in a partnership in a 9m yacht. 2 owners, one does all the maintenance, the other pays 1/2 the bills but rarely uses the boat. Currently considering a change of boat to something bigger but would want both owners to do equal maintenance going forward. Can be trying at times but generally works pretty well

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Partners found me! They advertised on trade me in 'yachts for sale' section for a partner in a yet to be purchased yacht.

They 'interviewed' me and we signed all the agreements then went looking for a boat to buy.

I had a Keeler for 11 years (trailer sailer for 10 years before that) and tried to talk mates who had their own yachts into partnerships but everyone wanted to be 'master & commander' (despite them all moaning (as I did) about the costs, maintenance etc). So I sold my boat and thought I'd have a year off and think about whether I'd buy another one - then I saw the partnership ad.

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Getting the right person is the trick and it has 100% more chance of success if that persons  partner is on board with the idea otherwise it quickly leads to resentment with predictable outcomes . All of the comments from others correct, finding like minded people is key but don't expect the partnership to be equal somebody will do more hands on maintenance than another but might use the boat more and so on but usually everyone brings something unique to the arrangement . Paying a fraction of the outgoings sure puts a smile on the dial and suddenly upgrades that would otherwise be too expensive become possible.

 

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On 27/04/2023 at 10:45 PM, alibaba said:

And how did you all find your good partners? Word of mouth? advertising - if so where?

They were friends/ sailing buddies from the start. Having an after race drink and thought it'd be worth a try. Lots of years later still happy. 

I'm not so sure about strangers though. 

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1 hour ago, Addem said:

They were friends/ sailing buddies from the start. Having an after race drink and thought it'd be worth a try. Lots of years later still happy. 

I'm not so sure about strangers though. 

Work your friends,relatives,workmates, fellow club members  and other sailing contacts, certainly easier if you know the person.

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On 27/04/2023 at 12:02 PM, alibaba said:

I'd go back onto a mooring, but I was broken into twice then, and also there is the problem of insurance. May be I could keep on sailing for a few more years [ bloody old age doesn't help[!], if I could share costs.

I'd suggest the poles at Westhaven for the security and insurance etc with less of the cost, but they are trying to kick us out and wont take new bookings.

There's some new poles out clevedon way (Brooklands boating club) that are very well priced, but it's tidally limited.

Weiti/Stillwater have poles and are very affordable, but theres a years long wait list.

But Westhaven insists there isn't demand for poles (while they ramp up the prices and refuse new bookings), but say they have growing demand for (14m+) berths! (willfully ignoring the 2013 plan feedback to provide "affordable" options when they ripped out the historic swing moorings, and now there's less total berthage in the marina than before they started ripping up poles for the new piers.)

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