Out on the water more often.
In your own boat.
Two weeks in summer. A long weekend in May. October, when the bays are empty. For that, you buy a share in a used boat, with one to three co-owners.
Check first, then decide. You view the boat, get to know your co-owners and pay the purchase price only when all contracts are signed.
Boat shares available now.
Every listing states the share, its price and what it costs you per year.
Airon Marine 325
- 12 weeks a year on paper
- Annual running costs, your share, approx. €3,750, estimated
Bertram 25 Express Cruiser
- 12 weeks a year on paper
- Annual running costs, your share, approx. €2,000, estimated
Envision 2900 Concept XS
- 12 weeks a year on paper
- Annual running costs, your share, approx. €2,000, estimated
View all boats Already have a boat and want to move up to a bigger one? →
The calculation over 5 years.
Example: sailing yacht Bavaria Cruiser 41 · built 2015 · Croatia · market value approx. €100,000
| 5 years | Chartering | Sole ownership | PartABoat, ¼ share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront costs | €0 | €100,000 | €25,000 |
| Costs per year | €10,500–12,000 | approx. €12,500 | €3,125 |
| Ongoing costs over 5 years | €52,500–60,000 | approx. €62,500 | €15,625 |
| Total costs over 5 years | €52,500–60,000 | approx. €162,500 | €40,625 |
| Access to the boat | 3 weeks (booked) | Available at any time (in practice 4–6 weeks) | 12 weeks on paper |
| Ownership at the end | Nothing | Yes (with depreciation) | ¼ share (residual value) |
If you charter for three weeks a year, a quarter of a Bavaria Cruiser 41 becomes the cheaper option after around 3 to 3.5 years, not counting major repairs, and at the end you are left with the residual value of your share. Residual value means: your share has a resale value. How much you get depends on the boat and the buyer; a single share often fetches less on the market than its portion of the whole boat.
All figures are guide values. Basis: approx. €1,000/m/year running costs (sailing boat, Croatia, from market research). Charter: 3 weeks at €3,000–3,500 each (high season July/Aug, built 2015), with around €1,500 additional costs per booking. Upfront costs without the structuring fee to PartABoat.
The charter weeks are calculated at high-season prices. With a quarter, you are entitled to at least 2 weeks under our template in July and August; the rest of your 12 weeks on paper fall in the shoulder seasons.
How a co-owner group for a sailing boat comes together →
With a motorboat
Example: motorboat Prestige 42 · built 2010 · Croatia · market value approx. €230,000
| 5 years | Chartering | Sole ownership | PartABoat, ¼ share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront costs | €0 | €230,000 | €57,500 |
| Costs per year | €25,500–31,500 | approx. €19,500 | €5,000 |
| Ongoing costs over 5 years | €127,500–157,500 | approx. €97,500 | €25,000 |
| Total costs over 5 years | €127,500–157,500 | approx. €327,500 | €82,500 |
| Access to the boat | 3 weeks (booked) | Available at any time (in practice 4–6 weeks) | 12 weeks on paper |
| Ownership at the end | Nothing | Yes (with depreciation) | ¼ share (residual value) |
If you charter for three weeks a year, a quarter of a Prestige 42 becomes the cheaper option after around 2 to 3 years, not counting major repairs, and at the end you are left with the residual value of your share. Do the sums yourself: calculator
All figures are guide values. Basis: approx. €1,500/m/year running costs (motorboat, Croatia). Charter: 3 weeks at €8,000–10,000 each (high season July/Aug, 42 ft, built 2010; newer models from €9,500 per week), with around €1,500 additional costs per booking. Upfront costs without the structuring fee to PartABoat. What it really costs you depends on the boat, year of build, cruising area and condition.
The charter weeks are calculated at high-season prices. With a quarter, you are entitled to at least 2 weeks under our template in July and August; the rest of your 12 weeks on paper fall in the shoulder seasons.
View all boats The full calculation, including when charter is the better choice: Charter vs. share
Did it go wrong for people you know?
It happens, yes. Whether it works depends on the people and on what has been settled in advance. That is why you get to know each other before you buy and set down what applies to you, in the Living Contract (co-owner agreement) or in writing among yourselves.
And who pays for the scratch?
Most damage has no culprit, and in our experience a typical minor damage costs €250–750 per incident, for the whole boat, before you split it. 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. Damage to the boat
And who does the cleaning?
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 it came back.
And if everyone wants the boat in August?
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: families from Bavaria (holidays from August) and from Saxony (holidays from the end of June), for example, complement each other almost perfectly.
How do I know they are right for me?
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
Does PartABoat check the boat?
No. The details in the listing come from the seller, and we do not verify them, nor the boat. You do that yourself, ideally with a surveyor you instruct. Checklist for buying a boat
And if I want to get out again?
You can sell your share at any time, through PartABoat or privately. From your notice the other co-owners have 30 calendar days to take it over themselves; they can reject your buyer only for good cause relating to that person. How quickly that goes and what it brings in depends on the boat and the buyer. Leaving the co-owner group
What else makes it fail and what to settle beforehand: Why shared boats fail.
Experiences from the founder’s circle of friends.
We share a boat because that way the purchase, maintenance and operation are spread across several shoulders and the boat gets used more. We handle the upkeep, organisation and technical side together. Along the way, co-owners have become friends.
From interest to ownership.
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Discover You register interest in a boat.
To pay €0 to nobody
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Check & get to know each other Viewing, sea trial or test sail, getting to know the co-owners.
To pay Travel, a surveyor if needed not to PartABoat or the seller
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Secure your place Existing co-owner group: you buy directly. Whole-boat sale: you accept the seller’s offer; nothing is paid at this point.
To pay Option fee, only if you do not buy in the end to the seller, in a whole-boat sale
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Become an owner You sign the purchase contract and transfer the purchase price on the handover date, once keys and papers have been handed over. In doing so you join the Living Contract (co-owner agreement).
To pay Your share of the purchase price and structuring fee to the seller and PartABoat
The circle is the boat, each quarter a share: dashed requested, turquoise taken, white your ownership, turquoise ring bound.
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.
PartABoat is just starting: listing and enquiries already work. Until PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you buy directly; getting to know each other and forming the group are then yours to organise. How to protect the purchase price is explained in the information sheet.
Every step in detail: How it works What we do not check and who is liable for what: Safety How you get to know your co-owners: Finding co-owners
What you pay, and to whom.
Paying at handover
Your purchase price never goes to PartABoat. As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you transfer it only on the handover date, once keys and papers have been handed over. Until then, the information sheet shows how.
To PartABoat
€500 to €1,500 structuring fee, 1.5% of the value of the share, once only after completion; if you buy the whole boat alone, it does not apply. You pay nothing to PartABoat until completion. If you buy directly, while the purchase does not yet run through PartABoat, you pay PartABoat nothing.
When a share is bought, PartABoat is paid by both sides: you pay the structuring fee, the seller a commission. Both fall due only after completion, the commission for a buyer without a service agreement with PartABoat already after the purchase contract. The statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the PartABoat service agreement; details are in the instructions on withdrawal.
Structuring fee, commission and option fee are final prices. Any statutory VAT and other price components are contained in them.
Your share is yours.
Purchase contract, not a voucher
You are named in the purchase contract and can sell your share or leave it to your heirs. Leaving the co-owner group
Living Contract
Part of every purchase of a share through PartABoat. It sets out how you allocate the weeks and split the costs, who has which duties and how to leave again.
Want to move up to a bigger boat?
An example with two motor yachts in Croatia: a quarter of a 13-metre motor yacht (43 feet) costs you around €4,875 in running costs per year, a quarter of an 11-metre motor yacht (36 feet) around €4,125. That is €750 more per year for two metres more boat. If the 13-metre yacht costs €230,000, you pay €57,500 for a quarter. You sell your current boat through PartABoat. Sale and purchase run separately; you decide what happens when. For owners: how the sale works
All figures are guide values. Basis: approx. €1,500/m/year running costs for motorboats, from market research, in Croatia. What it really costs you depends on the boat, year of build, cruising area and condition.
Pick your boat.
Your boat doesn’t have to wait until you retire. With a share it comes sooner. And two sizes bigger.
Registering interest is free and non-binding. Only when the boat, co-owners and price fit do things move on.