Boat Partnerships

finding41 · Oct 8, 2012

More headache than its worth. Why not sell the boat and join a boat leasing club. It would work much better. May still have to fight for the prime weekends.
Or get a trailer sailor. There's no shame owning a trailer sailor. Really.

Chris Patterson · Oct 8, 2012

jGo, I'm going to give the same advice to you, that was given to me many years ago by a friend, prior to purchasing a mobile-home park.
"When you get home tonight, get down on your knees, and pray very hard to God, for forgiveness for even having that thought".
He was right then, and I contend that I may be now. I have not done this, personally,(mercifully), but I know well people that have. Without going into a lot of detail, I can think of 10 at least, and very firm reasons not to consider this. Some bad......some worse. I wouldn't do it if the other "partner" were paying 90% of the cost. And if it is a friend, you can kiss that relationship goodbye. And like said, a 27' can't be that much upkeep to warrant a partner. And if it is, really man, I say this sincerely, I would sail a day boat, Hobie, Sunnyfish, etc. before I did that...

(And before the hate mail ensues again, I have had an ever loving ball on little wet boats, love 'em).

gfrazzle · Oct 8, 2012

Partners

Run away run away!

A good way to turn your best friend into an acquaintance or an acquaintance into an enemy is to become partners.

You will most likely find that:

the times you want to use the boat, so does your partner
you want to fix/ upgrade something but your partner doesn't or vice versa
your partner's (or your ) self help abilities are less than stellar and one or the other regrets an attempted improvement/ repair.
money becomes a major issue

There are exceptions to this but the rule that you never want to lend money/ become partners with a friend is usually sound advice. Partnering with other than a friend is worse- you can't rely on the friendship to solve disagreements.

If the expense is too great to do it yourself, sell the boat you have and find something smaller you feel comfortable with or do as above and rent (which is much cheaper in the long run anyway.

Good luck

Steve Dion · Oct 8, 2012

Jgo: No Go!

LuzSD · Oct 8, 2012

Experience: yes,terrible.
Advise: do not do it.

John R · Oct 9, 2012

This has come up before. I've had several boat partners, and it's always worked great for me. I retain majority ownership, make all decisions, partner gets agreed-upon days of use per month. Partner has paid a buy-in fee for minority ownership (refundable) plus monthly "dues". Rarely been a conflict.

On the other hand, a friend of mine is in a more traditional partnership (each owns 50%) and he complains a lot about his partner. Says he wouldn't do it again.

Stu Jackson · Oct 9, 2012

I have a friend in a partnership. He wanted bells & whistles and liked to work on the boat, maintenance & improvements (autopilot, newer sails, inverter, etc.). His partner only wanted to sail. He did all the work, his partner gained all the benefits. H eventually bought him out, but ended up essentially paying twice what his partner did over the years. Not always such a great idea.

Best partnership I eve had? A great friend, and we sailed every Friday, EVERY Friday for five years. First thing he always said every Wednesday when we planned our Fridays: "Any work we have to do before we head out?" We just fixed stuff together. He once said: "The only reason we use the boat so much is to figure out what to fix next!"

Finances f-k-up relationships. You can most likely Google "boat partner contracts" and see how simple or convoluted they can be.

John R's deals seem to be the best, he essentially rents out his boat and takes care of the fixes himself.

John R · Oct 9, 2012

Just one thing to clarify: I do not "rent" out my boat. If I did, the boat would be considered a charter boat by the insurance company and the insurance would go up some five times over. So the partner is legally and financially a part owner. This means that if there is ever an insurance claim, the check is made out to all owners. It also means that if I ever want to sell the boat, the same thing would apply. So a certain amount of trust is necessary. But I figure that if you can't trust your boat partner not to screw you on this, then you shouldn't have them as a partner in the first place.

I should add: My experience is that most sailors are pretty decent people as far as their attitude towards all things related to boats. There was one guy who applied to be a partner, but I just didn't like him -- too big headed. I just didn't have a good feeling about him, so I passed. All the others, it just felt right, and so far so good. The only problem I've had so far is that no partner has stayed more than a year. Some moved on to get a boat of their own, one hooked up with a girl friend who didn't like sailing... that sort of thing. Maybe some incentive for longer term would be a good idea.

bffatcat · Oct 9, 2012

partners!

Dont do it. Too many things can cause problems. If your having difficulty get a smaller boat or Trailer sailer

jrowan · Oct 9, 2012

I would move my boat to a cheaper marina & save money on slip fees before I brought ina partner. Storage of a boat that is older & paid for is usually the biggest annual expense. Most people I know that have gone in on partnerships have usually gone south sooner or later. Besides, if U already own it then why would you want to share a stake in it now? More chance to loose then gain. Also, if your "partner" wrecks you boat during an accident, then who is responsible for the repairs? Make sure you ahve an agreement in writing.

arf145 · Oct 9, 2012

My wife and I originally owned our boat in partnership with my brother and his wife. 50-50. We bought him out after 2 years or so, and I suspect there are some lingering wounds. I misjudged how much I would get into it and how much my brother wouldn't. With one enthusiastic partner doing all the work on the 20-year-old boat and increasingly seeing that it actually all *needed* to be done, and another who thought this was all overkill and that I was fixing things that weren't broken, well, we diverged.

I think something well documented that keeps the majority in one person's control, like John Rs, sounds good. And of course two like-minded partners, especially if they have already been boat owners before, can have a wonderful setup.

centerline · Oct 9, 2012

if you can work a deal like JohnR has, it should all work out fine for you. But.... if you were the one on the other side of that deal it may not work out so well. if both "partners" arent happy with the deal they are getting, it will be a miserable partnership at best.
For me, I would never sacrifice MY freedom with MY boat, for the trouble and headache a partnership would cause. and for what?.... a bit of extra help with the boat by someone who doesnt understand or care about the quality of workmanship needed to keep the boat clean, tidy and in shape? I have a few friends that are willing to help me out with this stuff for a day or two of sailing, and I dont have the burden of a partner to contend with the rest of the time.....

centerline · Oct 9, 2012

if you can work a deal like JohnR has, it should all work out fine for you. But.... if you were the one on the other side of that deal it may not work out so well. if both "partners" arent happy with the deal they are getting, it will be a miserable partnership at best.
For me, I would never sacrifice MY freedom with MY boat, for the trouble and headache a partnership would cause. and for what?.... a bit of extra help with the boat by someone who doesnt understand or care about the quality of workmanship needed to keep the boat clean, tidy and in shape? I have a few friends that are willing to help me out with this stuff for a day or two of sailing, and I dont have the burden of a partner to contend with the rest of the time.....

Barnacle Bill · Oct 10, 2012

Me too. Bad experience. Had a partner who paid for half the boat when we bought it, but that is all he did. I did all the annual maintenance and paid for it. He didn't lift a finger and never opened his wallet. I eventually bought him out. We were starting to hate each other, but now we are friends again, so that is good.
Other problems to think about is you might schedule ahead who gets which weekend (if you don't sail together). Well, your weekends might be the rainy ones and the other's are the sunny ones. You have to make arrangements in advance as to how you are going to deal with damage. Say the other person runs the boat into the rocks. Who pays for it? Insurance, but then there is the deductible. The other guy wants to reupholster the cushions mauve and you want Navy Blue. You want to buy new sails and he is happy with the rags you have. You have to look at all the possibilites and discuss them and it makes sense to put them down on paper so you can refer back. The only time I can remember a partnership working is with two couples who like to sail with each other. Eventually one of the couples gets out and buys their own boat too, perhaps.

MrBill_FLL · Oct 10, 2012

I crew on a boat that is co-owned, for last 5 years. seems to work for them. one is in his 50's and loves to race. the other is in his 70's wealthy, and likes to sail, cruise, but rarely uses the boat. the older guy like to be rail meat or navigate on our races, so it works... plus he can afford it. but normally, its good way to loose a friend.

LuzSD · Oct 10, 2012

arf145 said:
My wife and I originally owned our boat in partnership with my brother and his wife. 50-50. We bought him out after 2 years or so, and I suspect there are some lingering wounds. I misjudged how much I would get into it and how much my brother wouldn't. With one enthusiastic partner doing all the work on the 20-year-old boat and increasingly seeing that it actually all *needed* to be done, and another who thought this was all overkill and that I was fixing things that weren't broken, well, we diverged.

I think something well documented that keeps the majority in one person's control, like John Rs, sounds good. And of course two like-minded partners, especially if they have already been boat owners before, can have a wonderful setup.

I could have written this myself,EXACTLY!! We went on to getting our own and the poor little shared boat has sat basically taking up space and not being loved since 2006. Some people like the idea of being a sailor much better than actually sailing.

AbbySedge · Oct 10, 2012

jGo said:
Hey all,

I am thinking of bringing on a partner so there is someone else to share the operation and maintenance cost with.

Please share your experiences with and opinions on partnerships, both good and bad.

Also if there are resources for legal agreements, etc, please let me know.

Thanks
Jeffrey

Don't do it! Ever! Or you will surely get burned!

PaulK · Oct 10, 2012

Minority opinion?

We bought our boat in a partnership in 1997. It was a really good deal, the right boat, and we had the right partners. Since then one of the partners had a major economic reversal, so we bought her out, and have shared the boat 50/50 with the other couple since then. None of us has enough free time to use the boat as much as we might like, so splitting the weekends and holidays is not a big deal. If we don't get July 4th this year, we'll have it next year. If we want to cruise to Maine, our partners are game. If we need new sails, maybe we don't need the most expensive carbon to still beat the guys who spend more in a week than we have over five years. We share the costs, the sanding, the painting, the refurbishing, and share the enjoyment of both the boat and our partner's company. They can invite us when it's "their" weekend, we can invite them when it's ours - but we don't have to. We wrote up an agreement that we all signed about how we split costs and how we would handle partners wanting out (which we followed when that happened with the one partner). We get together whenever we need to to even up the tabs. It works well for us. We would not have been able to afford as nice or as large a boat if we didn't have partners. We still use it pretty much as much as we like, and it is big enough and tough enough to get us places (and back from them) in sufficient style and comfort so we don't get bored going 'round in little circles outside of the harbor. Many people seem to find the wrong partners or the wrong boat. Knowing your partners and what kind of sailing you want to do is key to making it all work.