Boat share company reviews sought

[CruisingRobin]

Does anyone on this forum own boat shares with Carefree Cruising?  How has your experience been with the company, their syndicates, and their boats?

 

I am attracted to this company's business model because of my perception that they provide (or can facilitate) a "full service" experience comparable to hire companies.  Their shares may cost  more to maintain than other share schemes, but as we are foreigners traveling in to the UK for canal holidays, having a one-stop-shop to help deal with details is worth it to us.  Penciling out the costs, they still look economically attractive compared to hires of comparably fitted boats. 

 

But I may not understand everything and words of direct experience would be welcome.

 

If it is in any way inappropriate to solicit such reviews on this forum, please let me know and I will abide.

[robtheplod]

Hi!

 

I dont have any experience of Carefree (although we do have one of their old boats!), but when we had a share it was with BCBM https://www.bcbm.co.uk/ and they were pretty good. It all hinges on who else is in the syndicate with you regardless of the company!

Edited December 11, 2023 by robtheplod

[Alway Swilby]

We had a share of a Carefree Cruising boat and after some teething problems when the boat was new everything was sorted. The boat was well managed and looked after. It would be best if you can attend the AGM where lots of decisions about the running of the boat and its location are made.

We sold our share in 2012 so our experience is 11 years out of date.

[Machpoint005]

1 minute ago, Alway Swilby said:

We had a share of a Carefree Cruising boat and after some teething problems when the boat was new everything was sorted. The boat was well managed and looked after. It would be best if you can attend the AGM where lots of decisions about the running of the boat and its location are made.

We sold our share in 2012 so our experience is 11 years out of date.

 

Which is all fine and dandy if you are happy to spend two hours discussing curtains.

 

 

 

 

[Alway Swilby]

1 minute ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Which is all fine and dandy if you are happy to spend two hours discussing curtains.

 

 

 

 

I don't think curtains were discussed once in the five years we had the share.

[CruisingRobin]

5 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Which is all fine and dandy if you are happy to spend two hours discussing curtains.

 

 

 

 

😂🤣You know, I go through the picture galleries of the shared boats, and the boats may be basically the same thing, but on some I go "Gawd, those curtains..."

[robtheplod]

On 14/12/2023 at 12:35, Machpoint005 said:

 

Which is all fine and dandy if you are happy to spend two hours discussing curtains.

 

 

 

 

We had a few on the syndicate who liked to spend their time varnishing everything in sight and then complaining about it...

[davem399]

2 hours ago, robtheplod said:

We had a few on the syndicate who liked to spend their time varnishing everything in sight and then complaining about it...

One of our previous owners had a share in our boat and also a share in another.  He used to enjoy our AGMs as we rattled through the agenda in good time, but then dreaded the other one as it used to get bogged down in the most trivial of items.

[RAB]

We're members! It all seems to work well for us. Yes sometimes syndicate members complain, about the management, but overall they do a very good job considering all the different views of a syndicate. AGM's seem 100% better now they are done via live meetings, and voting issues (such as paint or curtain colours!) seem to be resolved reasonably quickly via e-mail voting, at least for our syndicate. Also more syndicate members are present at the AGM's now which I think helps.

We been in two different syndicates and the range of members inputs varies considerably from those that are prepared to get their hands dirty to those that just want to turn up and have a pristine boat ready for them to use for four weeks,or even those that are happy just to go with the flow and contribute no real input. In my view thats one of the good points, lots of different views.

It is clearly more expensive than a privately managed syndicate, and some of the costs for doing minor work does wind some members up but overall we believe it's worth it and they do a good job.

[CruisingRobin]

2 hours ago, RAB said:

AGM's seem 100% better now they are done via live meetings, 

We would only be able to attend AGMs virtually, unless by some stroke of luck one  coincided with our holiday.  Do people Zoom into AGMs?

[howardang]

On 14/12/2023 at 12:38, Alway Swilby said:

I don't think curtains were discussed once in the five years we had the share.

I wouldn’t mind betting that pillows were. I have attended over 20 such AGM’s over the years and pillos and duvets wee always a main agenda ite taking up a significant portion of the time available. Even so, I think that  the annual get together/AGM is well worth attending if possible and gives you an opportunity to meet up with your fellow joint owners. I always found them very enjoyable.

 

Howard

[Grassman]

We had a 12th boat share for 4 years and employed BCBM to manage our syndicate because none of us wanted the hassle of self managing it. They were excellent, and another reason to consider having a syndicate managed is that they can act as an independent arbitrator in the event of any disputes or other issues within the syndicate. Andrew Barton was running BCBM in those days and now I believe his daughter Dee runs it.

 

Back then our annual meetings were held in central England at a hotel but I'd imagine these days there'd be a Zoom option for those who live far away.

[RAB]

14 hours ago, CruisingRobin said:

We would only be able to attend AGMs virtually, unless by some stroke of luck one  coincided with our holiday.  Do people Zoom into AGMs?

I believe all the Carefree AGM's are now via Zoom only.