Boating Law Facts

Since the dawn of luxury yachts, Americans have been dreaming up ways to grab a slice of the pie, even if they don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy. It is easy to subscribe to the fact that private yacht charters and big marine toys are for the extremely wealthy demographic, that the rest of us plebs must settle with paying to ride on these fancy ships. However, cunning business professionals have found that they could advertise fractional yachts for sale, just as fractional real estate or car leasing allows people to up their standard of living for a fraction of the cost and hassle.

All fractional yachts for sale do not necessarily have the same arrangements. For instance, SeaNet is a straight fractional, which gives four owners a 53 Sunseeker Manhattan for five weeks each year at $315,000 each (plus $37,000/year in maintenance fees). On the other hand, The Yacht Share offers fractional leases, which gives owners seven weeks for $60,000 down and $2,400/month in maintenance, allowing the owner the ability to renew the lease or walk away at the end of the year. Then, of course, there is traditional fractional ownership at companies like Breeze Easy, which can transform any new or used boat into a fractional possession.

Fractional yachts for sale are ideal for customers who envision themselves in luxury yacht charters. They will probably only spend 28 days each year on the water, so it would not make sense to pay for luxury yachts the other 337 days. Yet the need to own fractional sailing yachts goes far beyond price, many fractional owners say. The fractional broker insures the boat, maintains it and provides a crew. Barton & Gray says that individual ownership could total more than $1 million for marina fees, maintenance and purchase price over a five year time span, whereas fractional ownership costs just $225,000, allowing owners use of a 36-foot Hinckley Picnic boat, a 44-foot Talaria or a 70-foot Wally one day each week and half a day each weekend.

There are many places to find fractional yachts for sale. Barton & Gray Mariners club (www.bartonandgray.com) offers Hinckley Picnic and Talaria cruisers in New England and Florida during both summer and winter. Breeze Easy (www.breezeeasy.com) has sail boats and powerboats available on the West Coast and Florida coastlines. Dreamboat (www.thedreamboat.com) leases fractions of 55-74-foot Azimut luxury yachts. Eusamarine (www.eusamarine.com) offers Azimut and Benetti super-yachts in the Mediterranean, North America, Dubai, the Caribbean and the Bahamas. One4Yachts Fractions is client-recommended and offers Bavaria 42 sailboats, Westcoast 46 motor yachts and Westbay Sonship 54 motor yachts in the Pacific Northwest. SeaNet (www.seanetco.com) offers Sunseekers nationwide. Other notable businesses include Shared Yachts (www.sharedyachts.com), Yacht Smart (www.yachtpartners.com), Synergy Yachting Partnerships (www.synergyyachting.com), Virgin Traders (www.virgintraders.com) and The Yacht Share (www.theyachtshare.com).

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