Charter vs Purchase: 4+ summers in Europe

[nbourbaki]

Greetings all,

Upcoming work flexibility will allow me and family (Americans) 2-3 months per year to spend in Europe, ideally sailing and exploring by boat (35-45’)

Preference would be to spend 1st summer in Baltic, ending close to Norway where we store til next summer, then a summer cruising western Norwegian coast, then UK, etc, one summer at a time.

What are your recommendations on charter vs purchase for an itinerary like this? If we did purchase, we would likely sell after these 5ish years, looking to buy a larger vessel for more full time travel if that works out.

My first instinct is to buy a solid, 10-15 year old boat recognizing cost of upkeep, repair, storage, etc will be significant, and resale will include some loss. This will let us include the travel between region to region as part of the trip, and not just a series of summer long loops.

Charter makes obvious sense if each trip was a shorter duration, and if we went charter route, we could consider that. What are your suggestions on longer term charters? Obviously this option is easier, less repair and upkeep time and cost, but probably much more expensive.

Thoughts?

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Originally Posted by nbourbaki

Greetings all,

Upcoming work flexibility will allow me and family (Americans) 2-3 months per year to spend in Europe, ideally sailing and exploring by boat (35-45’)

Thoughts?

Ok you have a normal holiday + a sick-free paid day in EU.now imagine if a European worker buy boat like you planning. if you find more 2-3 months total 6 months free off work or remote work buy boat