Total Newbie buying a share - Perils and Pitfalls?!

[Expo]

I know of some syndicates where there is a rule which says if you have a pet you have to pay for a professional valeting.

 

Some more interesting points here. I have seen shares advertised where a "deep clean" is required if a sharer has a dog. I don't understand, however, what constitutes such a cleaning effort. What can a valet do that I can't do myself? and what constitutes a deep clean?

 

I would expect, at the end of a period of use, to go through the boat end to end cleaning everything thoroughly, vacuuming floors and upholstery if necessary, cleaning all surfaces, ensuring the bathroom and kitchen were spotless and generally making sure the place was immaculate for the next user.

 

The boats we are looking at are 1/12 shares giving us 4 weeks usage each year. We hope this will give us enough of a feel for life on the waterways to decide if we want to go on to purchasing our own boat in due course. If we encounter any "silliness" amongst the group then we will withdraw from the arrangement. Life's too short to get embroiled in other people's pettiness ...

 

Thank you again for all the pointers ...

[Jerra]

 

Some more interesting points here. I have seen shares advertised where a "deep clean" is required if a sharer has a dog. I don't understand, however, what constitutes such a cleaning effort. What can a valet do that I can't do myself? and what constitutes a deep clean?

I have no idea what a professional can do that a boater, can't apart from the fact they have a set aside time between one owner vacating and the next picking up, rather than a boater doing it when they may rush (because they want to enjoy their time on the boat rather than clean) and not do a thorough job.

 

I was just reporting what one self managed syndicate I know of has as a rule.

[ditchcrawler]

I have no idea what a professional can do that a boater, can't apart from the fact they have a set aside time between one owner vacating and the next picking up, rather than a boater doing it when they may rush (because they want to enjoy their time on the boat rather than clean) and not do a thorough job.

 

I was just reporting what one self managed syndicate I know of has as a rule.

That is why I said check the contract and make sure you are happy with everything in it. We went self managed in the end and halved the running cost

[Grassman]

I know of some syndicates where there is a rule which says if you have a pet you have to pay for a professional valeting.

 

The syndicate rules on our 'dog friendly' boat had no stipulation about having a professional valet done but the marinas we were based at had cleaners and we felt it was worth paying them so that if the next owners on board weren't happy with the cleanliness we wouldn't be blamed, and if it wasn't done properly the syndicate as a whole could take the issue up with the marina.

 

A 'pet friendly' boat should of course be left as clean as one which isn't, but if somebody is really concerned about this then they should buy a share in a boat which has a no pets rule. The boat we had a share in had a 'no cats' rule because one of the owners was allergic to cat fur and anybody interested in buying a share was made aware of this.

[adam1uk]

 

Some more interesting points here. I have seen shares advertised where a "deep clean" is required if a sharer has a dog. I don't understand, however, what constitutes such a cleaning effort. What can a valet do that I can't do myself? and what constitutes a deep clean?

 

They can do it to the same standard every time -- while different owners might have different ideas about what's acceptable.

[frahkn]

We had shares in two boats, one from 1992 to 2001 and the other from 2002 until 2013. Before that we hired for 19 years and after that we bought our own boat because I had retired and it was possible to justify the cost.

 

In that time many people left and joined the schemes ano there was not a single instance of any daggers coming out.

 

In both cases our share sold within a short time.

 

The one thing we did notice with the first bost, was as as the share price became lower as the boat got older, the newer co-owners treated the boat more like a hire bost. Less "skin in the game" I suppose. However this did not happen with the second boat, so I guess it's luck of the draw regarding fellow co-owners.

 

It proved to be an excellent "apprenticeship" for boat owning and enabled us to cover the vast majority of the inland waterways system.

 

We had shares in two boats, one from 1992 to 2001 and the other from 2002 until 2013. Before that we hired for 19 years and after that we bought our own boat because I had retired and it was possible to justify the cost.

 

In that time many people left and joined the schemes ano there was not a single instance of any daggers coming out.

 

In both cases our share sold within a short time.

 

The one thing we did notice with the first bost, was as as the share price became lower as the boat got older, the newer co-owners treated the boat more like a hire bost. Less "skin in the game" I suppose. However this did not happen with the second boat, so I guess it's luck of the draw regarding fellow co-owners.

 

It proved to be an excellent "apprenticeship" for boat owning and enabled us to cover the vast majority of the inland waterways system.

I had a similar experience to this.

 

My fellow owners must have been ok since there was no objection to my never once turning up to an owners meeting during the 11 years of my ownership! Certainly there were no arguments (of course I don't know what was said in my absence).

 

I can't comment about selling my share as I just gave it to the other owners - after 11 years I felt that I had had my equity in the boat and did not want the fuss of selling it.

[Top cat]

When I sold our share in our syndicate after 10 years I got approximately what I paid for it when the boat was new. We had absolutely no problems when either we or other owners sold out.

 

Top Cat

[Just Heaven]

Yep! That's us!

Us too.

We had a share for 6 years, best money we ever spent.

 

Steve

[Richard T]

We had shares in a private syndicate for 10 years before buying our own. I found it a great way to learn about boats and how they are put together. The owners met once a year to fix the cruising area costs etc. Originally there were just 5 shares but when some were sold they were split into two so there are now 10. Having recently been on board we were told that managing the bigger group was proving more difficult than the smaller one.

We never regretted buying our shares nor do we regret selling and buying our own boat. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the boat share. Go for it!!

[Horace42]

Someone said earlier don't treat it as an investment. Good advice! Write it off as an on-going cost and compare it to casual hiring for the same period of time. There might be a residual value when you sell up - which is a bonus.

Also stated is the need to read the contract. Who actually owns the boat? Who deals with the admin? Who is the Treasurer? Fees, license, BSS, insurance etc ?? - breakages??

 

I own my own boat. I bought an ex-hire boat (cheapish) with the idea of selling it if we did not take to all the problems of owning a boat. But we did like it and still have it after 30 years.

Made possible and practical with an EOG mooring and tools and elecro-mechanical skill I can do all my own maintenance - which for an old boat is mostly painting and fighting rust nowadays.

Our friends (all pensioners) who boated with us for many years decided on a time-share boat. They enjoyed every minute of it.. Regretfully he died and his wife who lost interest and couldn't cope single handed sold up.

 

The only problems, irritating to my mind, were the restrictions on the freedom to personalise their boat. Any addition or alteration had to be proposed and agreed by the owners at the AGM. Major things like a new engine, or a full repaint, fine, but trivia like a bread-bin - or a hook-rack for kitchen utensils - no way. But yes! that's boat share for you. Great if you like it - but it's not for me.

But as I said, our friends had a good time.and agreed to extend their contract until fate struck a cruel blow.

.