sunsail ownership
- Thread starter Captmayhem
- Start date
There is no catch. Its the way ALL charter companies get new boats in their programs.
You buy a new boat. For the first 1-5 years, you make the payments; they operate and maintain it for you. And they charter it out. You can use it for say 12 weeks a year, or a sister ship worldwide. The revenue from chartering USUALLY makes your mortgage payment while the boat is in the program. Usually.
At the end of the program, its your boat exclusively. And your mortgage of course. You can keep the boat, sell it, or put it in a tier-two charter company that takes older used boats.
Charter companies like this because they get to use OPM (Other People's Money) to finance their fleets.
For owner/buyers, there can be tax advantages. Most end up liking having the first (say) 5 years of their 15 year mortgage mostly paid on a brand new boat. You still need the cash for the down payment, and you always own the mortgage. The usage model has to work for the prospective owner. And the boat gets used by people you do not know. It's not for everyone.
You buy a new boat. For the first 1-5 years, you make the payments; they operate and maintain it for you. And they charter it out. You can use it for say 12 weeks a year, or a sister ship worldwide. The revenue from chartering USUALLY makes your mortgage payment while the boat is in the program. Usually.
At the end of the program, its your boat exclusively. And your mortgage of course. You can keep the boat, sell it, or put it in a tier-two charter company that takes older used boats.
Charter companies like this because they get to use OPM (Other People's Money) to finance their fleets.
For owner/buyers, there can be tax advantages. Most end up liking having the first (say) 5 years of their 15 year mortgage mostly paid on a brand new boat. You still need the cash for the down payment, and you always own the mortgage. The usage model has to work for the prospective owner. And the boat gets used by people you do not know. It's not for everyone.
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If it actually made money without trashing the boat in the five year period, they wouldn't offer it to you, they would just make the money. If your looking for a tax write off and aren't really looking for a boat that captain mayhem might have chartered go for it. If you think someone else is going to pay your mortgage and your getting a new boat out of it, your going to need to watch a few videos. This could be your chartered boat.
An old business mentor taught me that complex business deals are like the huckster on the street playing the cup game or three-card monte. The faster the cups move, the more money you lose. As Jackdaw said, if it was such a good deal, charter companies would not invite you to 'participate' - they would borrow money from a bank and keep the profit. These deals were actually a tax dodge three decades ago when you could offset your earned income with passive losses like depreciation on a boat. Tax reform in the 1980's stopped passive loss offset, so unless you are managing the business, you are severely limited from using the losses to offset your income. Now the deals are just good to help you buy a five-year old, hard life boat. If you want one of these, you can still buy it today from a charter company.
Just got off a 6 y.o. Jeanneau originally commissioned into Sunsail. The engine had 4,600 hours and was covered in filth. The interior looked like it had recently been chartered by a Boy Scout Troop with baseball bats. The sails were beat and heavily patched. In general the boat was base level trim and showed it. The boat needed a complete refit at 6 years!