Cost and Crew?

On bigger yachts, let´s say from 80 feet upwards, you can estimate a 10% running cost for normal use of a yacht that is in good condition. That is 10% per year of the boats new price, for fuel, insurance, crew, docking and maintenance.

The crew thing is depending on what you mean? To handle a yacht over 80 feet is more or less a full time job, or the boat will slowly go down, (not sink). For taking the boat out you can do it on two to three people up to 100-120 footers, and you can hire people for the maintenace in between. But yachts are today so complex things, that you need to have someone who knows your boat in detail, why a full time captain/engineer is to recommend if you are not skilled and want to spend time onboard every day.

A 40-footer is less job of course and a good size to start with and if you don´t like the idea of a crew, to stick with...

ownership costs

Fractional Ownership could be an option for the boater with insufficient experience, time, or funds to purchase his/her dream yacht. With professional management, maintenance, and crew, fractional shares turn the responsibility of ownership into the luxury of ownership. You, your family, your guests could enjoy numerous yearly vacations onboard a new 80 footer for less costs than the purchase of a similar used 40 footer and without the expenses of buying/selling and the learning curves.

I am a licensed yacht broker and my job is to successfully help clients find the right yacht; however, I am finding that sometimes Fractional Ownership is a realistic alternative to both chartering and for settling for a yacht that is a compromise based on finances or usage.

Ronny, my wife and I handle a 42 footer without any problems. It's a single screw with no bow thruster so if you get twins and all that it should be a lot easier.

Ronny, we've had this boat since February and had a lot of work done to her to get her blue water ready so this is not a typical year. I'd say we will have spent perhaps 25% of the boat's value (not purchase price) this year.

I'd say we'll be somewhere around 5% for the next few years until some of the newer systems begin to need more than light maintenance.

Ronny,

I have an Azimut 68 Plus (LOA 70') and almost all the time it's just me and my wife handling it. So if your wife can tie a line (when and where you want her to) speaking from my own experience a boat of this size doesn't require crew to operate.

I did spend about 40 hours with a training captain when I first got the boat and would definitely recommend this to anyone stepping up in size.

I'm pretty confident I could run a boat up to about 80' without crew. Larger doesn't necessarily mean harder to maneuver, I find my boat very forginving - I think the size/displacement works in your favor with regard to wind and current.

Whenever we're out on the boat I will just hose it off after each use. I have my marina come and give it a proper washing every other week and it gets waxed by the every other month.

As far as operating costs you should be able to figure on:

- Seasonal dockage
- Off season dockage (or winter storage)
- Transient dockage (ballpark how many trips you plan to take where you won't be living off the hook.
- Cleaning (if you don't do it yourself (they send a crew of four guys to clean my boat so not recommended or impractical as boats get bigger)
- Oil, oil flter and fuel filter changes for each engine and genset every 100 hours (I put 100 hours on my boat each summer). These are much more expensive than you might imagine.
- Oil change on transmissions every 100 hours.
- Miscellaneous maintenance (something always needs fixing now and again)
- Bottom paint approximately every 18-24 months
- zincs, diver cleaning hull, etc.
- Captain every now and then. Boat needs to be moved for maintenance, you want to hang with your guests underway, you want boat delivered where you are going to be or returned home, etc.
- Fuel consumption - I can easily go through 1,000 gallons of diesel on a long weekend. This one is somewhat of a wild card - speed vs fuel consumption. Best thing to do is look at your fuel capacity, the cruising range of the vessel at cruising speed and look at how/where you plan on using the boat - oh and the cost of diesel! Figure how many trips you want to take in a season and how far they are. Or keep your trips local and you won't be fueling up nearly as much.

You should be able to figure your operating costs by asking your marina for dockage and maintenance costs, calling transient locations for their fee schedules and getting some details from the dealer you might buy from. You'll have a good starting point.

Hope this is helpful,
John