Sep 22 2008
How to Go Sailing in a Tough Economic Time
Since 2004, there has been a clear cut advantage to sailboat ownership emerging on the waters of North America and the UK in particular. Fractional Sailing is a good idea, period. But in tough economic times, when you need to make every buck work for you, it could be the difference between sailing and not sailing.
A family heads out of Channel Islands Harbor on a SailTime Hunter 36 sailboat
Lets compare what it would cost to own your own new Hunter 36 versus having a membership on a new SailTime Hunter 36:
Prices vary according to location but a membership on a new Hunter 36 at the Channel Islands (CA) SailTime base runs $650 per month. There is also an initial outlay of a $2500 deposit.Â
If you bought a new Hunter 36 sailboat you would have an initial outlay of a down payment, somewhere around $40,000 and your loan would be at least $1500 a month for a 10 year note. Now add the monthly costs of ownership; insurance $125, slip $500Â (here), and the proverbial “boat buck” that is spent every time you visit West Marine. A boat buck on a 36 foot boat is $100. You never will spend less than that every visit you make to West and you will visit probably 90% of the time you make it down to your boat. Engine and boat maintenance is going to probably run no less than $100 a month as well. This tags your monthly sailing costs after down payment at easily $2000+ a month and probably closer to $2500+.Â
In five years time, your total cost with a SailTime membership (here) would be less than $40,000. Your total outlay if you owned the same sailboat for five years would be roughly $175,000. And, well…we are talking about a depreciating asset here. So, its quite probable the $650 a month spent on enjoying sailing in a completely hassle free, no strings attached kind of way would be far less of an “expense” than outright ownership.
What about a used sailboat ? Unless you buy a new one, its hard to get a reasonable loan. So, while you may find a way to overcome the monthly loan amount, by purchasing a boat for less than a down payment on a new one, the other costs will quickly eat up whatever perceived savings you might have had. Not to mention the inherent “things” that go along with owning an older used boat. Suffice to say, you better enjoy tinkering with broken stuff more than you enjoy sailing… some people do.Â
Ownership aside, it’s even a lot cheaper than renting. Using Marina Sailing’s rental rates, I figured it would cost me roughly $2K/month to sail as much as I do at Sailtime. Plus, I’m told that with one or two exceptions, the condition of their fleet is rather underwhelming.
RB