Fractional Ownership
What is fractional boat ownership? It is when there are multiple owners in a boat, or the equivalent of multiple owners. Similar to a time-share for a vacation condo, it provides a sharing of costs of maintenance, taxes, insurance, and other expenses, and usually also includes services such as check-in/check-out and boat cleaning.
Traditional ownership versus fractional ownership
The companies and groups that offer this type of ownership generally include point to these types of benefits:
- Lower annual costs, can be lower than the cost of docking/storing a boat
- Low or no maintenance, such as oil and cleaning costs
- Low or no repair costs, such as if an engine needs to be replaced
- Boat is made ready for you when you want to take it out
- May have more than one boat to choose from
- May have more than one location (dock) to choose from
- No need to deal with the hassle to buy or sell a boat, or boat financing
- Management of boat slips
- May have various time options, from one year, up to five or ten years
- Free or low-cost training (i.e. Navigation or water safety training)
The decision on owning a whole boat or owning a fraction of a boat is up to the desires and motivations of the person, and there are benefits for either type of ownership.
Here are some additional links that describe the concept:
- BoatUS message board post
- North Pole
- Pinnacle Yachts
- Suite 101
- Motor Boating article
- 2004 article on Bnet
- Boat Owners
There also is a separate list of fractional boat websites and boat clubs.