New 80' Yacht Purchase

A crew of 3 is ideal which includes a stewardess. 5% of the yacht's value is a ballpark figure of the annual operating expenses which includes the cost of standard annual service regimes, crew salaries and overheads and mooring fees.

I've generally heard 10% here in the states, wonder if your estimate is lower because some things are cheaper there?

#1 Boats are expensive.
#2 Have you ever owned a boat in this size range?
#3 How old is the boat. Older boats cost more sometimes. 5 year old, 90 ft boat blew an engine, $300,000 to repair and no boat for 2 months.
#4 Forget about chartering the boat in the Bahamas. Too much competition. Do you know, if you charter the boat and bad weather or mechanical problems force a cancellation, not your fault, you still have to pay the broker fee, $5,000 or more OUT of your pocket!!
Monthly: South Florida:
Dockage $2500
Electric $500
More in the Bahamas and you pay for water.
Crew: Captain, cook/stew, deckhand $12,000 to $13,000 per month.
Food for crew:
Housing for crew if they do not live on the boat:
Bonus and Xmas money for crew.
Are you going to tow a tender? Need a better quality deckhand.
Fuel - how much does it burn and how much are you going to use it?
Insurance: $2,000 per month or more depending on value of boat.

Maintenance - Do not believe what anyone says. NO ONE. I am an engineer with multiple degrees. It is impossible to predict. Everything on a boat cost double or triple. Do you need a new stove? How much to fit it into the galley? Stove a few thousand but maybe $5,000 to take apart the boat to get it to fit.
Does the boat have a soft patch? If not, when you need to remove big parts, if really gets labor intensive.
If something breaks you need to fix it. Can not wait until later.
Things always break in the worst place. You will be in the Bahamas, having a great time. Small problem with your transmission on one engine. It now is a big expensive problem.

I do not want to scare you away from owning a boat. I have an 80 ft motor yacht for the last 6 years. We cruise extensively. Just came back from 4 great months in New England. After 6 weeks we blew a clutch on one of the engines. Everyone in the area was busy. Flew in my mechanic from Florida. He had his men drive up their truck with the parts. Fixed in 10 days. Want to guess the cost?

Buy a boat if you have lots of spare change. It is great fun but expensive. Did I say it is expensive?

Good Luck
Owner operator 80 ft boat where the owner , "I will also be getting my captains license"
Really?
Operating an 80 ft boat?
Never had a captain license?
Love to know the name of the insurance company.
I will no longer join in this discussion.

A crew of 3 would be around $200-250k a year when you factor in benefits and expenses etc. A 80' can be easily run with a crew of 2, if you're not looking for mega yacht service on the interior figure $200k a year.

From what I heard, this is somewhat accurate. The new one might be more so when it arrives.

https://luxyachts.com/management/operatingcostcalculator

Wow. I like this site.
rc

I beg to differ. Key West is a great stop if you like good food and a lot of land based activities (civilization). Very few places in the Bahamas offer much to do on land that's worthwhile. Harbor Island and some islands in the Abacos and Atlantis. Plus it's easy, no customs to clear, provisioning is normal etc.

While the calculator is by no means perfect and is more accurate on larger boats, it's still a very good tool. One reason I like it is that it forces you to figure in the major maintenance, allocating a portion of the jobs you'll do every three or five or seven years to each year. I too often see people talking about their annual costs but they don't have a paint job or an engine rebuild anywhere in the calculations. They also have excellent job descriptions and salary guidelines, showing a wide range of what they've found on salaries.

Salaries:

https://www.luxyachts.com/Assets/docs/SalaryGuidelines.pdf

Job descriptions:

https://www.luxyachts.com/crewpositions

There is a huge difference as you go from 60 to 80' in cost, in required crew. You're doing right by looking at annual costs up front. Don't get a boat you can't afford to really enjoy. If the annual costs create a budget you find challenging, back down a size. You will find some smaller boats that come very near the capabilities you have associated with an 80'. As an example, look at a Sunseeker Manhattan 66. Four staterooms plus crew cabin for 2. Compare to a Sunseeker 86 Yacht. Four staterooms plus crew cabin for 4. The point is that both have flybridges, are similar in many respects, but the 86 will cost double the 66, will cost 50-60% more for everything from docking to bottom cleaning to painting. Will require at least double the crew. Most would run the 66 with one full time crew person, some would have two. Most are going to have at least two on the 86, maybe three. The 86 does have one major advantage. Carries much more fuel so much more range.

Ultimately, although not my recommendation, if you have a yacht maintenance company, you might well develop the skills to owner/operate the 66', depending on the skills of your spouse or partner. While it's possible to do so on the 80'+, it's not likely or recommended. It's just too much boat.

A huge key to fitting a boat in your "comfort budget" is size. You haven't mentioned so far any type boating that requires an 80' versus a 60-66'.

They have been plugging an update for a while on it which will hopefully help increase accuracy.

One thing that I am interested in that hasn’t been brought up is the quality of the builder in comparison to operating costs. Looking at a brand new yacht, I’m not sure how accurate the 10% rule is or if that’s more of an average over the life of the yacht but an example that I am thinking of is in the 100’ segment.

If we were to look at a ~100’ Hargrave or Johnson, it would be about 35-50% cheaper than a 100’ Hatteras. If they are the same class of yacht, there’s no way that the 10% rule would apply evenly here.

I appologize to Douglas Filo. I did not mean to insult you. Just, IMHO, 80' boat is way too large for an owner/operator.
Good luck with your new boat!!

As Germany said, quality of builder is very important. The 10% rule always sounded nice but with a quality builder you will not run that high. Our budgets on boats in that size range were about 8% of the new cost of the boat and that included a very generous allowance for future rebuilds, for future painting, plus satellite internet and phone and television. Plus that was done at a higher fuel cost than we have and us running mostly at cruising not an economical speed. Use the tool on luxyachts mentioned earlier. Just pick a boat and go with it and it will at least give you a good idea of all the factors and considerations.

Another word for a 60-65' boat is that if you think you'd might want to do the great loop, then it's possible. Not in an 80'. We just did it in one of the larger boats I've seen it done, a Sunseeker Manhattan 65, which is 69'4" LOA. We had a boat that big only because we normally have 6 to 8 people aboard. Now, the biggest factor on the loop on a boat like that is air draft which must stay under 19'1".

I'd suggest chartering something for a week in the size range you're thinking of.

As to boats, you might want to consider a 60' or even 70' Hatteras. My only major criticism of them is no lower helm. 60' Hatteras with hydraulic arch is a good option.

Think also in more detail of how you intend to use the boat. How many will be aboard. How long will you be away from land and marinas and groceries. What range you must have. For instance, if you're talking two people and the Keys and the Bahamas, and coastal cruising and loop then a 60' boat is perfect. If you're talking a crossing from Key West to Cancun or from Fort Lauderdale to the DR non-stop, then you need more range than many 60' boats have.

A little reference here. A 65-66' Sunseeker is going to have range of around 275 nm at a 26 knot cruise, 345 nm at 19 knots, 475 nm at 12 knots, 900 nm at 10 knots. A 60' Hatteras has range of 279 nm at a 25 knot cruise, 358 at 16 knots, 775 at 12 knots.

The goal is to get the boat most tailored to your use and your budget.

I've run a few 80' , both modern and swift, and for us oldies, big solid old steel brutes.

All of them are pretty unique, so it's very much down to the buy and how you want to use the vessel. Until you've nailed that down, it's pretty much just a guessing game.