Everything you want to know about boat shares.

You buy real co-ownership of a boat, not a subscription. Your purchase is documented by the purchase contract and the handover record. That the seller is the owner is shown by the documents on the seller’s own acquisition; the seller hands these over to you, as far as they have them, and you check them before buying. With a quarter share, a quarter of the boat belongs to you, with all the rights and duties that go with it. You can sell your share at any time; the other co-owners can only reject your buyer for good cause relating to that person, or take over the share themselves.

No. In a boat membership scheme, you pay to use boats that do not belong to you. With buy-to-charter, you buy a boat that a charter company charters out. With PartABoat, you buy a share in a used boat and use it yourself with your co-owners. You can sell your share at any time.

PartABoat brings together buyers and sellers of shares in used boats, motor and sail. A good fit are boats whose running costs (berth, insurance, maintenance) are often too high for one person, but become quite manageable for two to four co-owners. There is no minimum boat value; what matters is the running costs, not the purchase price.

A small, permanent co-owner group of up to four co-owners. We drew this limit deliberately. With more than four owners, the weeks of use per person become too few, coordination becomes too complex, and the feeling of ownership is lost. Four is the limit up to which co-ownership still feels like ownership and not like charter.

Yes. The co-owner group does not have to consist of four people; halves and thirds are just as possible as quarters. If you want to share a boat with only one co-owner, state ½ as your preferred share. If a sole owner sells half of their boat, there will definitely be two of you; in a whole-boat sale, it emerges while the group is being put together whether one person buys the other half or two people buy a quarter each. You already know each other and want to buy together? Then your handshake still stands. The Living Contract (co-owner agreement) settles what nobody plans for at the handshake: what happens if one of you wants to leave, at what price the other can take over, and how things continue in the event of inheritance. You then both state ½, and in a whole-boat sale each of you counts individually, in the same order as everyone else.

It happens, yes. Whether it works depends on the people and on what has been settled in advance. Shared boats mostly fail over the same five things: cleanliness, the high season, damage, leaving and money. That is why you get to know each other before you buy and set down what applies to you, in the Living Contract or in writing among yourselves. What that means for each topic: Why shared boats fail.

Most damage has no culprit. The scratch from a marina elsewhere that only shows up when the boat is lifted out. The tap that starts to drip, the shower door that sticks. Not maliciously concealed, just never noticed, or simply wear. In our experience a typical minor damage costs €250–750 per incident, for the whole boat, before you split it. The Living Contract provides that you record damage and anything unusual in the logbook, which you keep after each use. Anyone who culpably causes damage is liable to the others for it; larger damage is covered by the hull insurance, depending on its terms, with an excess and limits like any insurance. And even if someone does not say anything for once: it makes no difference to the sums.

They go like this: as a quarter owner of a Bavaria Cruiser 41 (our sailing example) you save around €9,375 in running costs compared with sole ownership, every year. The sums also work for two: as a half owner of the same Bavaria you save around €6,250 in running costs, every year. Your share of unplanned repairs: as a quarter owner around €250–750 a year, as a half owner around €500–1,500. The saving remains many times any typical annoyance. Because scratches happen in sole ownership too, only there you pay for each one alone, along with all the running costs. Sole ownership is only cheaper if your share of such damage becomes greater than your saving from this calculation.

What to do when damage happens and who pays: Damage to the boat.

Our template of the Living Contract allocates the high-season weeks by share and rotates them every year; with July and August, each owner is entitled to at least 2 weeks under our template. You work out before buying whether your times fit together: we pass on the others’ planned times of use, roughly by holiday periods. Families from Bavaria (holidays from August) and families from Saxony (holidays from the end of June), for example, complement each other almost perfectly. Anyone without school-age children is especially flexible and takes pressure off the high season. Conflicts can never be avoided entirely, but the right mix greatly reduces them.

That can happen. Tidy means something different to everyone, and trouble starts when nobody has defined it beforehand. You set down in writing before buying what clean means, who cleans what and how the boat is handed over. After each use, the logbook records how the boat came back. More on this: Why shared boats fail: what to set down beforehand.

You never know for certain beforehand. That is why you get to know each other before you buy, out on the water, and you decide only after that. If it doesn’t fit, you don’t buy. Finding co-owners

That happens, above all when money is involved. That is why, under our template, you agree a budget every year and build up a reserve for maintenance and replacement. If you still cannot agree, you first talk to each other; after that, anyone can propose conciliation by a neutral third person. The route to the courts remains open.

That depends on the boat, its size, year of build and cruising area. Two worked examples:

A quarter share in a Bavaria Cruiser 41 (sailing boat, built 2015, Croatia): about €25,000 purchase price plus about €3,125 a year in running costs.

A quarter share in a Prestige 42 (motorboat, built 2010, Croatia): about €57,500 purchase price plus about €5,000 a year in running costs.

The exact figures are in each boat listing.

Berth, insurance, routine maintenance, split by share. As a rule of thumb for Croatia: about €1,000 a year per metre of boat length for sailing boats, about €1,500 a year per metre for motorboats. A quarter owner pays a quarter of that. Costs are always stated as an annual amount; we do not convert them to months, because co-ownership is not a subscription.

If you charter for several weeks every year, then yes, calculated over a few years. For a Bavaria Cruiser 41 (sailing boat), a week costs about €3,000–3,500, three weeks with additional costs €10,500–12,000 a year; a quarter costs about €25,000 plus about €3,125 a year, and break-even comes at about 3–3.5 years. For a Prestige 42 (motorboat), a week of bareboat charter in high season costs about €8,000–10,000. Three weeks of charter in one go cost €25,500–31,500 a year, including around €1,500 in additional costs for the one booking. A quarter share costs about €57,500 purchase price plus about €5,000 a year in running costs. After about 2–3 years you reach break-even; after that, every week on the boat is cheaper than charter. The calculation assumes three charter weeks a year, and your share loses value like any boat, as a rule of thumb 3–5% a year. And unlike renting, you build up ownership that you can sell or leave to your heirs.

The full calculation, including when charter is the better choice: Charter vs. share: when does buying pay off?

As the buyer of a share you pay a structuring fee, as payment for getting to know the co-owners, structuring the Living Contract and support through the process up to completion; anyone buying the whole boat alone pays none. The structuring fee is 1.5% of the value of the share (minimum €500, maximum €1,500), arises only on completion and is due 14 days after you receive the invoice. So you pay nothing to PartABoat until completion. The seller pays PartABoat a commission.

The structuring fee is a final price; any statutory VAT and other price components are contained in it.

The structuring fee does not include: individual legal or tax advice on your personal situation, a technical survey or valuation of the boat, liability for defects in the boat, or arranging boat finance. If needed, you can commission advice, a survey and finance arrangement separately from professionals of your choice.

The statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the PartABoat service agreement. You receive the withdrawal notice with the contract; you can withdraw online on the page Withdraw from a contract.

The seller pays a one-off commission: 5.5% of the value of the share, at least €350 per buyer, only on a successful sale and due only after completion, for a buyer without a service agreement with PartABoat after the purchase contract. No listing fee. Anyone who places a listing by 28 February 2027 pays no commission for that listing if the purchase contract is concluded by 31 December 2027 (terms of the offer). Anyone who buys a share as a buyer pays PartABoat the structuring fee.

The commission is a final price; any statutory VAT and other price components are contained in it.

Option fee: your price for the seller committing the boat to your group alone for 45 days. You owe it to the seller only if you do not buy in the end, and you then pay it when the option period ends.

It applies only to a whole-boat sale and is tiered by size of share:

At most, however, 10% of your share of the purchase price.

The option fee is a final price; any statutory VAT and other price components are contained in it.

You pay nothing before the handover, even when the group of buyers is complete and the seller has accepted your group. The option fee falls due only if you do not exercise your option: when the option period ends, directly to the seller and not to PartABoat. If you buy, you do not pay it.

If you have exercised your option and do not pay your share of the purchase price on the handover date, you get a new date within 7 days. If you do not pay then either, the seller can rescind your purchase; the purchases of the others remain in place. Under the option agreement you then owe the seller an amount equal to your option fee as compensation for the loss your non-payment causes them, but only if you are responsible for the non-payment; this also applies if you simply do not have the money. If you prove that you are not responsible for the non-payment, or that the seller has suffered no loss or a substantially lower loss, you owe nothing or only the lower amount. You pursue claims against the seller yourself, for example if the seller breaches their commitment.

No, and we would rather say so up front. We look at every new or edited listing before it goes live; we do not verify the details in it, nor the boat itself. You check the condition of the boat, the papers and whether the seller is the owner yourself, ideally with a surveyor you instruct. We also do not check whether your co-owners can carry the running costs or hold a licence. What to check is in the checklist for buying a boat; where our responsibility ends is on the safety page.

When you buy into an existing co-owner group, you decide: you get to know the other owners before you buy, by video call or in person. If the chemistry is not right, you step away, free of charge, with no reason needed. In a whole-boat sale, all buyers get to know each other before they commit. Once the purchase runs through PartABoat, PartABoat invites you to the first group meeting when two prospective buyers have a service agreement; you hear about further prospective buyers with the invitation. Who joins the group follows from the order in which you become ready to buy and from your shares; whether you buy is your own decision, because the group only becomes binding once the seller has confirmed it and everyone has accepted the seller’s offer. And if a co-owner later sells their share, the others can only reject the buyer for good cause relating to that person, or they take over the share themselves at the price the buyer would pay.

You transfer the purchase price only on the handover date, once all contracts are signed and keys and papers have been handed over, and never to PartABoat. In a whole-boat sale, the purchase contract comes about only when all buyers have exercised their option; in the purchase contract you then choose together whether everyone pays on the handover date after keys and papers have been handed over, or whether a notary holds the purchase price. If you want extra security, choose a notary.

PartABoat is just starting: listing and enquiries already work. Until PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you buy directly; you then organise getting to know each other and forming the group yourselves. How to secure the purchase price is explained in the information sheet.

An adaptable contract for the co-owner group, which PartABoat provides as a template. It settles the most important questions of owning a boat together: how costs are split, who is responsible for maintenance, decision rules, the procedure for reselling shares, insurance duties and the usage calendar, which you set together in it. It is part of every purchase of a share through PartABoat: with the purchase contract, every buyer of a share joins it. You shape the content yourselves as a co-owner group.

As long as the group of buyers is not yet complete, you as an interested party cannot “block” an offer; the seller remains free in principle.

By the same token, you are just as free as the seller: until the handover you pay nothing, you owe an option fee only if you do not buy in the end, and the seller is only bound once your group really stands. It becomes binding as soon as all shares are allocated, the seller has accepted your group and their offer has reached you.

From that moment the seller is bound to you: during the option period, as a rule 45 days, the seller may not sell to anyone else, and the purchase price is fixed.

You accept their offer within 5 working days; the 45 days count from acceptance by all. If one of you does not accept, the group dissolves, and that buyer loses their place, at no cost.

If they sell to someone else during the option period, the sale is valid, but they break their commitment. They then owe each of you a contractual penalty of 5% of your own share of the purchase price, without you having to prove any loss; if your loss is higher, you can claim that too. Nobody then owes an option fee. This is set out in the option agreement between you and the seller; each of you claims the contractual penalty yourselves.

With a quarter share it comes to 12 weeks a year on paper, not a guarantee of use; actual use depends on the cruising area and your circumstances. The PartABoat template of the Living Contract divides the high-season weeks by share and rotates the allocation every year; you decide together which weeks count as high season, and with July and August each owner is entitled to at least 2 weeks under our template. You also decide the rest of the allocation together; PartABoat supports you in your first season planning.

The co-owner group itself. For this, the Living Contract provides for a contact person from among you, for one year at a time, with the role rotating in turn: this person runs the group’s joint account, obtains quotes, prepares your resolutions and shows once a year that the insurance is in place. They decide alone only what you unanimously leave to them: you can agree that they may arrange day-to-day administrative spending alone, up to a set amount per measure. What counts as day-to-day administration you resolve by simple majority, everything else jointly; you change unanimously what the Living Contract expressly says must be changed that way, such as the usage plan and the cost allocation key. You settle everything else in the Living Contract.

In Croatia and the Mediterranean, the boat as a rule stays in the water all year round, with no winter storage needed. In Germany (inland, Baltic Sea, North Sea) the boat is winterised; you split the costs of this by share, like the other running costs.

PartABoat does not check licences; proof is a matter for each individual owner. Which licence is required depends on the cruising area and the boat; you clarify this before buying, in Germany as well as abroad. The co-owner group can agree in the Living Contract that all co-owners present proof of a particular licence; PartABoat recommends this but does not require it. What someone can do shows on board anyway, not in the licence.

Yes. You can sell your share, through PartABoat or privately. Notify the other co-owners of your wish to sell in text form: from receipt of the notice they have 30 calendar days to take over the share themselves, at the price your buyer would pay if the notice already names it, otherwise at your share of the market value of the whole boat. If they do not take this up, you sell to your buyer, or you place the share on PartABoat as a listing for an existing co-owner group. The existing group can only reject your buyer for good cause relating to that person, and only within 30 calendar days of the notice naming the buyer; after that, their consent is deemed given. How quickly that goes and what it brings in depends on the boat and the buyer; a single share often brings less on the market than its part of the whole boat. More on this: Selling your boat share.

The Living Contract covers this: if a co-owner does not pay their share of the running costs despite a reminder and a reasonable further period, the rest of you can step in and pay for them and demand reimbursement from them. That way the berth and insurance continue, and the amount remains their debt; you can demand payment as with any other claim. You yourself can sell your share at any time. If there are only two of you, you advance their part alone.

Sell your boat through PartABoat and buy a share in a bigger one. Sale and purchase run separately; you decide what happens when.

Until you are bound to a group of buyers, your boat stays your boat and you keep using it. If you list it after the season, the time it takes to sell falls in the winter. You buy the share in the larger boat when it suits you.

No, both routes run in parallel. In a whole-boat sale your listing runs on two tracks: it is open to a group of buyers and at the same time to a single buyer who takes over the whole boat. You do not have to commit in advance.

Your listing stays on two tracks until the group of buyers comes together with binding effect, that is: all shares allocated, you have confirmed as the seller and your offer has reached the buyers. Until that moment you remain free to sell to a single buyer; an individual buyer’s stated share does not yet bind you. Only once the group is bindingly in place is the route to a single buyer closed.

Then you sell nothing. You are bound only when the buyers’ shares together make up the whole boat, you have confirmed the group and your offer has reached the buyers. Until then you can also sell your boat to a single buyer. If, after the purchase contract, a single buyer drops out and nobody takes over their share, that share reverts to you for a limited period and you sell it on; the purchase contract sets this out.

That depends on the boat, price and cruising area; we do not yet have figures based on experience. Until you commit to a group of buyers, you carry on using your boat and may offer it elsewhere in parallel.

In a whole-boat sale to a group you conclude one purchase contract with all the buyers together. Once the purchase runs through PartABoat, PartABoat takes care of introductions, group meetings and deadlines.

Yes. They buy one or more shares, you remain an owner, have a say and choose them yourself.

When you sell your shares, only co-owners you get to know beforehand. If a co-owner sells later, you can refuse their buyer for good cause relating to that person or take over their share yourself.