Seeking advice before purchasing a superyacht

Aye Jediah, nobody here will stand in your way of greatness and if you indeed are smart and clever enough to skip the Captain and Crew part and drive your Superyacht around the world on your own, go for it and my hat off to you Sir.

Perhaps the authorities and insurance companies may have a tiny little problem with letting the crazy man be the Captain of his Superyacht but again, go for it and let us know how it works out for you..

Thanks, I will indeed consider that and ask for help as needed.

Welcome Yaser,

This thread has a lot of good insights (and the discussion concerned yachts around your target price - especially the last post on page 2 ;o))

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/g...ion/15706-new-yachting;-13-million-spend.html

Enjoy!

Rod

Boy Howdy.

Now that's the quote of the day...

Hi,

I meant charter a boat for a week or so to feel how things really are, how big or small, what efforts and details there are in.

No law against living aboard, finding a marina for your boat size that accepts living aboard is the issue, running cost as well.

I think you are starting at the wrong foot here, where do you want to be on the water? A river? A lake? Sea? Ocean? Within the same continent? Around the world? Cross oceans? Near shore? This will define the general type of boat you want to look at, then you think what you "need" and what you "want" on a boat in terms of space and facilities, this will narrow the type and size search a bit further, then you go deep in build material, age of boat, technical, legal and other requirements. While this grows you will automatically know your price range and capabilities more close to the reality that Norsman was talking about.

Your dream can come true if you "program" it the right way.

good luck,

Alf

Glad you like it! Hope you find it true!

Cheers,
Alf

Now there is an interesting question - "What percentage of a 60m yacht's cost is in the hull, engines and operational systems (i.e., the stuff that makes it sea-worthy, safe and livable) versus the decorative items? (i.e., the fancy wood, carpet, marble, furniture, etc.)"

It depends on where you are. For instance here in Fort Lauderdale, the yachting capital of the world, there are many neighborhoods where you can dock your yacht but cannot live aboard it due to sewage discharge unless you install a pump out station at your dock. You might want to check with the local authorities where you plan to dock your yacht or drop anchor to find out if any regulations will affect your plans.

I dream of living on a yacht too and circumnavigating the world until I have seen it all from my fantail!!! Welcome to the club!

Nice reference and the charter breakdown is laid out very well.

Cheers,

Alf

Yachts

I remember a story many years ago of a Pakistani gentleman traveling to the south of England to buy a yacht, money no object, so he buys a 40 foot "cabin cruiser and asks the salesman how long it will take him to sail it back to Pakistan. The salesman advises him to have it shipped back home but the buyer tells him he had completed a course on seamanship and it was his dream to sail around the world. Again the salesman advised him other wise. But the gentleman insisted he would do it himself.

When the buyer asked for the best route, he was told to head south, hang a right, then a left (into the med) then keep going before another right.

The poor guy was rescued twice after going around the Isle of Wight TWICE before the UK authorities seized his boat as a danger to navigation.

The moral to the story, most of those replying to your questions are professionals and when they say you need a "dose of reality" they are being very polite. Yes man has been to the moon etc. etc. but at the same time ships & yachts have been sailing around for many years so what you are proposing is nothing new, many of us have been on the sea for many years and I suspect many like myself have gotten into deep trouble and if not for very good (and many years) training the consequences could have been very bad not just to yourself but to anybody else on board.

A quick example, a few years ago a large barge was at 17th street bridge during the construction of the new bridge, a German family rented a small boat for the day, got to close to the barge as they had no idea about the tide ripping and they were pulled under that barge, I believe there were about 5 or 6 people who lost their lives that day. Hundreds of professionals passed that barge during the time it was there but all it took was one in-experienced operator and their day on the water ended in a disaster.

While taking your yacht masters license I would also suggest you take a 5 year marine engineering course, then a four year apprenticeship for each of the following: marine electrics, electronics, air conditioning and plumbing unless your intelligent computer can change a water pump on the main engine, fix the diodes on a generator, check gas levels in the air conditioning and lastly clear a blocked toilet.

That is the reality of yachting that a lot of people do not realize and is the reason those with money & brains hire "professionals" to make their live on board both pleasurable and SAFE.

Charter a yacht first to see if you like it then size your yacht to your needs but most importantly to your budget so you can pay for a crew.

...and welcome to "pleasure boating"

Well, truth be known 170 footers are beyond my realm of experience. Probably not in this lifetime either. Even still, I appreciate you pithy comment; I could only imagine how complex such a boat would be. I have nothing but the utmost admiration and respect for those who run and manage such.

To illustrate the complexity, just consider my humble 42 GB. All the systems not withstanding simply consider all the pumps on this little ship: bilge pumps, fuel lift pumps, raw water pumps, fuel injector pumps, March pumps, pump out pump, sump pumps (shower stalls), head pumps and the list goes on. Certainly there is enough to keep me busy. There is always something to fix.

I don't know what size boat brings the complexity to a point where a team is needed as the resources of any one person simply cant keep up, but I suspect that it is far smaller than 170 feet.

Great story, but i think it is a crock of **** myself

I'm with you K1W1.

Can't believe this passes the YachtForums BullS**t test.

People, seriously?

Finally some sanity has come to analyzing this OP. Can't afford $16m for new, but has $12 m for a restore..... I think K1W1 may have been talking about the Pakistan who made a left at the Med story, though

Bs

I thought that as well, so I phoned my buddy this morning who lives on the Isle of Wight and he laughed at my version, over the years and many beers it must have been exaggerated (many times). It was a pakistani but the real version was he never made it out of the Solent.

Agam Yasser, you took it too personal and I think you did not understand the moral of the story, the focus was not the nationality if the human piloting the boat, it was his rush to do something the wrong way despite professional advice.
I don't know how you got to religion and politics involved but you are wrong, and you got your self to say things that are not right especially in the measure of values of your religion.

Good luck to you and your family anyway.

I just remembered I need to pump out my holding tank.