Is it Timesahre?
Is this not just timeshare?
Is it just Timeshare?
In the true sense of the actual word “Timeshare” it could be argued that boat sharing is just timeshare. You share time on an item, be in a plane, caravan or, in this case, a boat.
However, boatsharing (in the UK at least*) is very different.
With Timeshare you see a block of apartments in say Spain and buy a lease on say 23rd September for the next X years. You then pay each year a charge to use the flat which covers, you hope, all the normal “running costs” such as rates, ground rent, cleaning, laundry, painting and decorating etc. If you also, by signing up, become members of R.C.I. you can “bank” your week in September and take a different week, as available, elsewhere in the world. Of course you pay extra normally to do this….
Now let’s look at boatshare. In the UK if you buy in to a boat sharing scheme what you buy is 12th of a boat. (for the sake of simplicity we will assume 12ths here as that is what more schemes are but you share can be as much as half or as little as one week). So you, along with your 11 co-owners are now the actual owners of the boat and have an agreement you have signed saying so. (Nominally with the Canal and River Trust one owner is the owner but that is just because somebody has to be a point of contact.) This is exactly the same whether you are in a private scheme run by a group of owners or a managed scheme run or your behalf by a management company, YOU as owners own the boat.
Let’s assume at this point you do NOT employ a management company. As a group of owners normally one would be appointed treasurer to hold the purse strings, another booking secretary and others may look after, say, a maintenance log etc. As a group of 12 you organise your weeks per an agreed system (usually the weeks can vary each year), organise where the boat is moored, which can change from time to time, organise repairs and renewal etc. Most groups have an annual meeting where collectively they decide on mooring location, repairs, replacements etc.
Each year the treasurer will set out a budget and this is then divided in to slices per what the agreement dictates per owner and each person is given a price to pay. Usually this is more or less the same year on year (apart from say inflation) but from time to time there may be bumps along the say when perhaps a new engine or a total repaint is organised.
If you employ the services of a management company then, for a fee, they will organise all of the above for you, but you as an owner still own the boat.
Unlike timeshare you cannot bank your week and use another boat (or apartment etc.) elsewhere and if for any reason your boat cannot be used then, sadly, you will not be going on holiday….
*There is a company called Canaltime who whilst on the face of it are a hire boat company operate as more of a Timeshare model being part of Club La Costa and members of R.C.I. so on the face of it ARE timeshare but it appears you can hire their boats without joining the timeshare model as such....perhaps!
In the true sense of the actual word “Timeshare” it could be argued that boat sharing is just timeshare. You share time on an item, be in a plane, caravan or, in this case, a boat.
However, boatsharing (in the UK at least*) is very different.
With Timeshare you see a block of apartments in say Spain and buy a lease on say 23rd September for the next X years. You then pay each year a charge to use the flat which covers, you hope, all the normal “running costs” such as rates, ground rent, cleaning, laundry, painting and decorating etc. If you also, by signing up, become members of R.C.I. you can “bank” your week in September and take a different week, as available, elsewhere in the world. Of course you pay extra normally to do this….
Now let’s look at boatshare. In the UK if you buy in to a boat sharing scheme what you buy is 12th of a boat. (for the sake of simplicity we will assume 12ths here as that is what more schemes are but you share can be as much as half or as little as one week). So you, along with your 11 co-owners are now the actual owners of the boat and have an agreement you have signed saying so. (Nominally with the Canal and River Trust one owner is the owner but that is just because somebody has to be a point of contact.) This is exactly the same whether you are in a private scheme run by a group of owners or a managed scheme run or your behalf by a management company, YOU as owners own the boat.
Let’s assume at this point you do NOT employ a management company. As a group of owners normally one would be appointed treasurer to hold the purse strings, another booking secretary and others may look after, say, a maintenance log etc. As a group of 12 you organise your weeks per an agreed system (usually the weeks can vary each year), organise where the boat is moored, which can change from time to time, organise repairs and renewal etc. Most groups have an annual meeting where collectively they decide on mooring location, repairs, replacements etc.
Each year the treasurer will set out a budget and this is then divided in to slices per what the agreement dictates per owner and each person is given a price to pay. Usually this is more or less the same year on year (apart from say inflation) but from time to time there may be bumps along the say when perhaps a new engine or a total repaint is organised.
If you employ the services of a management company then, for a fee, they will organise all of the above for you, but you as an owner still own the boat.
Unlike timeshare you cannot bank your week and use another boat (or apartment etc.) elsewhere and if for any reason your boat cannot be used then, sadly, you will not be going on holiday….
*There is a company called Canaltime who whilst on the face of it are a hire boat company operate as more of a Timeshare model being part of Club La Costa and members of R.C.I. so on the face of it ARE timeshare but it appears you can hire their boats without joining the timeshare model as such....perhaps!