Shared ownership

A private syndicate, a boat club, or charter lease? Ben Lowings compares the options for reduced-cost boat ownership

- Ben Lowings

Many sailors dream of owning their own boat, with heady dreams of a seafaring life, but the mundane reality is that many yachts sit unused for the majority of the year, with a few weekends and weeks of cruising here and there. It can be difficult to justify the return on investment of money, as well as the time needed not only to go sailing but to maintain your pride and joy.

That's where shared ownership comes in. Get the details right, and you could have all the benefits of owning your own boat for a fraction of the cost and time of being sole custodian. It's satisfying to know the boat is getting properly used too, and maintenance will be shared out between a number of people. You may get lucky and even make some good friends along the way.

Approaching shared ownership needn't be daunting. There are different ways of owning a portion of a vessel. It's a question of discovering the most suitable one for you, according to price and circumstance. The concept of fractional ownership goes back to merchant shipping during the Industrial Revolution, when up to 64 individual shares could be held by investors in a single ship as a means of spreading risk. If you've ever bought a yacht, you'll know that ownership is still expressed in fractions of 64 on the standard bill of sale. If you're the only owner, you'll own 64/64ths. The UK small ships register theoretically imposes no limit but shares in yachts are usually far fewer.

FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP