Most sailors at some point come up with the idea of buying their own vessel. Is such a solution more profitable than charter? How much does a yacht cost and which one is worth choosing at the beginning? How high are the maintenance costs of such a unit? In this article, we will try to answer all these questions.
Most sailors at some point come up with the idea of buying their own vessel. Is such a solution more profitable than charter? How much does a yacht cost and which one is worth choosing at the beginning? How high are the maintenance costs of such a unit? In this article, we will try to answer all these questions.
Where to start?
Both buying a yacht and chartering a boat can turn out to be profitable. Which option is better in a particular case is an individual matter. So before making any decisions, you should honestly answer a few questions. Here are the most important of them:
- Why do I need this yacht? Is it supposed to be a dream come true, a toy, a status symbol?
- How often do I feel like and able to swim in it?
- How much time and money am I going to spend servicing it?
- Do I want and can I hire a crew or will I do everything myself?
The analysis of the above issues will determine the legitimacy of plans to buy a yacht. However, this is not the end - to make a rational decision, you need to know the details of each of the available options.
Charter vs own yacht
If you want to estimate how much it costs to rent a yacht , just check the offers on the shipowners' websites. Of course, the charter price depends on many factors, such as the season, characteristics of the vessel, location, etc. Estimates, however, are relatively easy to obtain.
It is a bit more difficult to determine how much money you need to buy a boat, because the prices of yachts vary greatly: new ones are expensive, of course, but older, worn-out vessels can be purchased quite cheaply, although you have to factor in renovation costs. It should also be remembered that the cost of a yacht is not only the price of its purchase and refreshment. The boat needs to be maintained, winterized and serviced, and this also requires money.
Yacht charter - how much does it cost?
As we already know, the cost of renting a yacht depends on many factors. However, there are several ways to minimize the costs incurred for this purpose, for example:
- first minute. Early booking allows you to cut costs, and at the same time leaves plenty of time to take care of such elements as access, accommodation on the way, etc.,
- last minute. Here the choice of yachts is limited and decisions have to be made quickly, but if you're lucky you can find bargains,
- obtaining discounts for booking during the fair,
- tracking offers on social media.
All this requires some flexibility on our part. Having your own boat, you can sail as much as you want and you don't have to worry about how much a yacht charter costs at different times of the season.
Buying your own yacht - why not?
Many people think that a boat is a bottomless piggy bank. Despite this, there are still people willing to purchase vessels, which allows us to conclude that this solution has some advantages. The most important of them include:
- Comfort: having our own yacht, we know its technical condition, we don't have to worry that the previous crews broke something and we will now be struggling with the consequences of the failure.
- Availability - we can sail on our own boat whenever we want, also in the absolute peak of the season.
- Opportunity to gain an additional source of income. When you charter a boat, you can make money on it, which, however, affects points 1 and 2 to some extent.
Which yacht to start with ?
Let's assume that we plan to buy our own yacht. What should it be like? First of all, not older than 5 years and slimmed down with frills. It is also not worth buying the largest unit we can afford.
How much does a small yacht cost ? It varies, but usually a small, well-maintained boat can be purchased for as little as 100,000. euro. It is important not to overdo it with investing: you should treat this purchase as an attempt and in case of failure you should be able to minimize your losses.
When planning to buy a yacht, you also need to estimate the amount you have to spend, and then reduce it by about 30 percent. This reserve will be needed for any renovations, amenities and running costs.
Yacht - maintenance costs
An important expense is the expenditure incurred on the maintenance of the vessel: wintering, slipping, servicing, etc. The expenditure on maintaining the yacht depends to a large extent on how much we can do on our own and how far from the water we live. The greater the range of "manual work" we perform, the better.
Of course, the costs of maintaining a motor yacht are different than those of sailboats. While old, tired sails will still serve us, engine faults must be removed on a regular basis and usually a specialist must take care of it. Another element that should be taken into account is the water body on which we intend to sail. The costs of maintaining a sea yacht are usually much higher than those of an inland vessel.
In short, the only reasonable answer to the question "own or chartered?" sounds like it depends. We hope that thanks to the above analysis you will easily assess the benefits and find the right solution for you.
