Rent / Buy for Occasional Weekend Use

[outdoor]

Similar to some of the other posts on renting or buying.

I have never owned my own sailboat, but have always wanted to. I have now come to the point where enough is enough. I want to get into it more.

I have my White Sail III and have sailed with my friend in his Ericsen 27 a bit.

Sailed Albacore dinghy throughout 1 summer. Sailed Laser II when I was a kid a couple of times.

Windsurfed for 15 years. Used Power boats for 25 years (small fishing boats, 21 ft Pontoon boats, 18 foot 235 hp ski boats)

So my sailing experience is limited.

So I was considering spending about $20k on a boat maybe 26-29ft (100% financed) depending on whats out there in the Toronto - Kingston, Ontario Market.

When I start to investigate and determine what it would cost to moor, storage, launch etc....

It appears it would cost roughly $2,600 per year just to moor, store for winter, Haul in and out each spring/fall.

Have no idea of the annual Repair costs, but could not afford the mooring, financing and then come up with any significant $$ for repairs

Since I only plan to use weekends and say couple of weeks holidays per year.

I could probably charter one for $4,000 for 2 weeks and 3 long weekends, which is a good part of the summer anyway.

Perhaps that might be a better option for now until maybe I retire and have more time on my hands?

[s/v Moondancer]

Unless you use the boat a great deal it is cheaper to charter. I did not buy a boat until my use approached 50 days/year. This would really apply in the frozen north.

5-10% of value is reasonable for maintenance.

However, in Miami boats have been going for 30-50% on the $ for the last 18 months. A nice Pearson of about 27 ft went for $5,000 at our sailing Club.

Phil

[outdoor]

I wonder how much it would cost to have a boat shipped up to Canada for those prices

Assuming that is in sail able condition

[Starbuck]

1. Find a sailing school that will let successful students rent out of their fleet for daysails, & weekends. If a couple of $75 afternoons and a couple of $200 weekends per year is all you want…
2. Tell your Ericson-owning friend of your heightend interest, and see if you can begin sailing more with him. He may want to get out on the water more himself, or move from daysailing to weekend cruising, and would, if he only had someone to enjoy the experience with. This would give you some great experience with a seasoned hand onboard. One hand washes the other.
3. Or, maybe you can make an arrangement with your friend to rent his Ericson on occasion, once you become a trusted crewman and he becomes secure in your ability to keep his yacht safe from harm/damage.
4. Maybe you can offer to buy into a fractional ownership agreement with him & split the costs of slippage/maintenance. You might even convince him to let you make monthly payments to him directly, rather than securing a bank loan to buy your 50% of the boat (he may agree to let you amortize your buy-in over time). Of course, you'd have to add your agree-to monthly operational costs to that.
   
   Fractional ownership has the same perils of any joint-ownership: who uses what, when; what level of upkeep is desired; who pays for what. But if you can hammer that out…

[Arch Stanton]

Originally Posted by CaptainJeff

1. Find a sailing school that will let successful students rent out of their fleet for daysails, & weekends. If a couple of $75 afternoons and a couple of $200 weekends per year is all you want…

This is what I've been doing and I've been really happy with it. With an ASA certification, for $150 a month I have almost unlimited use of Island Sailing Club's boats, and I don't have to worry about any maintenance at all. I usually end up going out 8 - 10 times a month during the good months.

It's cheaper than a free boat!

[outdoor]

Unfortunately my friend no longer has his Ericson.

I would be most likely interested in say 3 long weekend cruises and 2 weeks of cruising during summer holidays.

Total of about 23 days of Sailing I figure at roughly $200 per day. So say it cost me $4000.

I'm not paying $2,000-$2,600 per year for mooring fees

Might be the way to go

I'll have to look into schools. I would like to take a course.