From first interest to your own co-owner group.
Four steps to your own share. Until you sign, you can stop after every step. If a term is unclear, the glossary Terms from A to Z explains it.
This page was written for owners and buyers in Germany. Legal, tax and boat-paper points refer to German law and practice; other countries may differ.
From the first click to the first outing.
- 1 Discover Find a boat. It costs nothing.
- You are the puzzle pieces More buyers come forward.
- 2 See the boat, meet the people You can drop out at any time.
- Existing co-owner group Buy a share directly.
- 3 The 100% is in place You accept the seller’s offer, and the boat is committed to you.
- 4 Purchase contract Payment is made on the handover date, never to PartABoat.
- Handover record signed The purchase has been carried out.
- The boat is yours
The circle is the boat, each quarter a share: dashed means requested, turquoise taken, orange available, white your property, turquoise ring committed.
PartABoat is just starting out: listing and enquiring already work. Until PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you buy directly; in that case you organise meeting each other and forming the group yourselves. How to secure the purchase price is explained in the information sheet.
With PartABoat you are bound only when you want to be. At every step you can stop without paying anything: with an existing co-owner group up to the purchase contract, in a whole-boat sale until you accept the seller’s offer.
Only when you are together as a group and the seller has made you their offer is the purchase price fixed for the option period, as a rule 45 days.
The option fee is 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.
You can see from which step the seller is bound in the timeline further down.
What happens at each step.
What each step costs and how you can drop out again.
1
Discover
Buyers browse the boat listings and register interest in a specific boat. Owners create a listing with photos, boat data, price and the division into shares they want. PartABoat looks at every new or edited listing before it is published; PartABoat does not verify the details in it, nor the boat itself.
Nothing. No fee, no commitment.
Looks at every listing before it is published and shows interested parties the details stated by the seller and the boat data.
The list shows all published listings that match your search and your filters; anything that does not match does not appear. Unless you choose otherwise, the most recently posted listings come first (“Newest first”). You can instead sort by the total price of the whole boat, ascending or descending, or by location, alphabetically by the name of the cruising area. Only the one criterion currently selected ever counts; no other criteria are taken into account. Nobody can pay for a better place, PartABoat does not highlight any listing by hand, and whether a boat already has interested parties plays no part in the order.
At any time. Withdraw your interest or delete your listing, without giving reasons, at no cost.
Boarding or Launch, alone or as a pair
Every listing shows whether it is a Boarding (you become part of an existing co-owner group) or a Launch (you form a new one together).
Coming as a pair? Then you each state your preferred share; in a Launch each of you counts individually, in the same order as everyone else. And anyone starting alone who wants at least half of the boat simply states ½ as their preferred share. Whether one co-owner then joins or two becomes clear when the group is put together.
As soon as someone has seen the boat, met the group and stated their share with binding effect, the listing shows what is still available, for example “Still available: two shares of ⅓ each”, as an interim status, not a commitment.
Typical combinations: 4×¼, or 1×½ plus 2×¼, or 2×½.
2
Check & get to know each other
When this step starts, you conclude the service agreement with PartABoat through a separate order step. It costs you nothing until completion, and your fourteen-day withdrawal period runs from that day.
You view the boat on site, go on a sea trial or test sail, check the technical condition and, if needed, bring in an independent surveyor.
Travel costs and, if you hire one, surveyor's costs (at your own expense). No fee to PartABoat.
Provides a checklist for buying a boat (boat condition, document check, insurance, maintenance history). Puts buyer and seller in touch. Organises the get-together as soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase: date, video call link and a list of questions. Does not check the boat or the papers: you do that yourself, ideally with a surveyor you instruct.
At any time. If the boat or the co-owners are not right for you, you stop: no purchase contract, no costs. You can terminate the service agreement at any time.
Price and getting to know each other
At this stage you also negotiate the price of the share with the seller. Only when both sides have agreed on a price does it go further.
As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, it also organises a get-together of everyone involved: video call (approx. 30 min.) or a meeting on site. Topics: cruising area preferences, style of use, standards of care, family rules. In a Boarding you meet the existing co-owners. In a Launch you get to know each other as the future co-owner group. PartABoat sends the invitation to the first meeting as soon as two prospective buyers have a service agreement for the boat; anyone who joins later is invited to the next date or talks to the others one to one. You hear about further prospective buyers with the invitation. Until then, on request, we introduce you to other people interested in the same boat, if they would like that too.
What matters: You get to know the boat and the people before you decide and tie up money.
3
Secure your place
Boat checked yourself, co-owners met, price negotiated: now it comes down to your decision. What happens next depends on the offer:
Existing co-owner group
There is already a co-owner group, or a sole owner looking for co-owners. You buy a share and go straight to step 4: purchase contract and payment. No advance fee, no intermediate step. From the purchase on you have a full say in the group.
If a co-owner in an existing group sells, under our template the others have 30 calendar days from the seller’s notice: they can reject you only for good cause relating to you personally, or take over the share themselves at your price. If a sole owner sells their first share, this does not apply.
Your way out: At any time before the purchase contract, at no cost, without giving reasons.
New co-owner group
The seller leaves completely. Together you form a new co-owner group. Nothing becomes firm until you are all together: only when all buyers have agreed their shares and the seller has confirmed your group do you accept their offer, within 5 working days; nothing is paid at this point. If one of you does not accept, the group dissolves, and that buyer loses their place, at no cost.
Your way out before accepting: At any time, at no cost, without giving reasons. Until then you risk no more than travel and time.
In a Launch you count towards forming the group only once you have done three things. You have viewed the boat. You have taken part in the group meeting, that is, met the people you would share it with. And you have told us which share you want: a quarter, a third, a half, also as a range if you are torn between two sizes.
As soon as the interested parties could reach 100% together, we ask everyone with a range at the same time for their fixed size; you have three working days for this, and every reply within this period counts as if received at the end of the period.
An enquiry through the form is not enough for this, and neither is a viewing appointment alone.
What this does not mean: you have not bought anything. Your stated share is binding in the sense that we calculate with it and that it counts for your place in the order, at the earliest from the end of your withdrawal period. Stating your share costs you nothing and does not oblige you to make any payment.
Your place is valid for 30 days. If nothing happens in this time, it lapses. To count again, you take part once more in a group meeting or a one-to-one conversation; you do not have to start from the beginning. The new point in time then counts for the order.
Two things that matter before you state your share.
First: Your stated share counts towards forming a group of buyers only once your withdrawal period has expired.
Second: If more shares are wanted than the boat can provide, what counts is the point in time at which you completed all three steps, that is, viewing, group meeting and binding statement of your share, but at the earliest the end of your withdrawal period.
We go through the statements in this order; you enter the group if exactly 100% can be reached with you and those already admitted, supplemented where applicable by buyers who count after you; otherwise you are skipped, even if your share would have made up a group with others.
If the point in time is the same, lots are drawn: we determine beforehand who takes part, draw lots using a procedure nobody can influence, and record everything in a protocol; on request you receive a copy in which the names of the others are made unrecognisable.
Anyone who misses out stands in the same order on a waiting list. If someone drops out before the seller's confirmation, people waiting move up whose desired shares, alone or together, exactly fill the share that has become free; the selection follows the same rule.
Before we tell you about an allocation, a human being looks at it; it is not produced fully automatically.
We determine the group once every working day, among all those whose point in time falls by the end of the previous day. All interested parties learn the result; if someone has not been included, we present the group to the seller at the earliest three working days later, so that any error can come to light beforehand.
4
Become an owner
All conditions are met. In a Launch the purchase comes about when all buyers have exercised their option. As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you transfer the purchase price only on the handover date, once keys and papers have been handed over, directly to the seller; until then the information sheet helps. You sign the Living Contract (co-owner agreement), the boat is handed over with a record, and your group begins.
Handover with the handover record, and the original papers go to you.
Your purchase is documented by the purchase contract and handover record; that the seller was the owner is shown by the documents about their own acquisition, which they hand over to you as far as they have them.
After that you re-register the boat papers in your names yourselves and appear together in the papers; if the boat is entered in the ship register, the register needs declarations from seller and buyers with notarially certified signatures for the transfer of the entry.
Purchase price of the share, directly to the seller. Structuring fee to PartABoat, due after completion; the amounts are under The amounts in detail. The commission is borne by the seller, not by you.
Supports the conclusion of the contract organisationally and provides the template documents for the purchase contract and the Living Contract; you set the usage plan in them together. PartABoat only brokers; the purchase price does not pass through PartABoat.
In a Boarding the purchase is binding once you sign the purchase contract; in a Launch, once all buyers have exercised their option. You pay the purchase price only on the handover date; if the purchase does not come about before then, you do not pay it.
Your route to a sale, step by step.
What you do as an owner, when you are bound and when the money flows.
1
Create a listing
You choose: in a whole-boat sale you leave completely. If you sell a share, you remain a co-owner and decide how much you sell, whether ¼, ½ or ¾; you keep the rest and continue to use the boat in proportion. You set the photos, data, price and division into shares.
What changes for you, two examples from Croatia:
| Berth + insurance + maintenance | Today (alone) | With 1 co-owner (½) |
|---|---|---|
| Sailing yacht Bavaria Cruiser 41 (built 2015), 12.5 m | approx. €12,500/year | approx. €6,250/year |
| Motorboat Bavaria 37 (built 2010), 11 m | approx. €16,500/year | approx. €8,250/year |
| Access to the boat | Available at any time | 25 wks, on paper |
| Sale proceeds | – | One-off payment for the share |
2
Check & get to know each other
Interested parties view your boat. As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, it organises a get-together of everyone involved. Until then, on request, we put you in touch with the interested parties. If you sell a share, you meet your future co-owners in person. In a whole-boat sale the buyers get to know each other.
3
Confirm the buyers
If you sell a share, the buyer buys directly, with no intermediate step; they pay only when all contracts are signed. If you are already part of a co-owner group, under our template you notify the others of the sale beforehand; they then have 30 calendar days.
In a whole-boat sale you confirm the group of buyers and with that make the group your offer; the buyers accept it within 5 working days and pay nothing until the handover; if one of them does not accept, the group dissolves, and you are free again. A buyer who does not buy in the end owes you the option fee. As soon as your offer has reached the buyers, you are bound; the option period begins once all have accepted and lasts 45 days, longer only if a replacement procedure runs after a buyer drops out (at most 23 days more).
Until then your listing runs on two tracks: it is open to a group of buyers and at the same time to a single buyer taking over the whole boat. You do not have to commit yourself in advance. If only two out of four buy, 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.
4
Complete the sale
Purchase contract, handover with a record. In a whole-boat sale the purchase comes about only when all buyers have exercised their option.
The purchase price never goes to PartABoat: as soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, the buyers transfer it to you only on the handover date, once keys and papers have been handed over. Until then, the information sheet shows how.
If you sell a share, your buyer accedes to the Living Contract.
If you remain a co-owner
You also get high-season weeks as a co-owner: the PartABoat template of the Living Contract distributes them according to shares, and each year it rotates who gets which weeks. If you set July and August as the high season, you are entitled under our template to 6 weeks with three quarters, 4 weeks with a half.
The PartABoat template provides for a right of the co-owners to buy from one another: if a co-owner leaves, they notify the others. From receipt of the notice you have 30 calendar days to take over their share yourself, at the price their buyer would pay, otherwise at the proportionate market value of the whole boat.
The Living Contract governs duties, costs and conflicts. In a dispute you first talk to each other; after that anyone can propose conciliation by a neutral third person.
The amounts in detail, and when they fall due.
PartABoat is just starting out: listing and enquiring already work. Until PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you buy directly; in that case you organise meeting each other and forming the group yourselves. How to secure the purchase price is explained in the information sheet.
| Item | Amount | Who pays | To whom | When due |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structuring fee | €500 to €1,500, 1.5% of the value of the share, one-off |
Buyer; if you buy the whole boat alone, you pay none. | to PartABoat | after completion. It falls due 14 days after receipt of the invoice you get after completion. |
| Option fee, only in a whole-boat sale | €750 for a quarter, €1,000 for a third, €1,500 for a half, €2,250 for three quarters, each at most 10% of the share of the purchase price |
Buyer, only if they do not buy in the end | to the seller, not to PartABoat | When the option period ends. |
| Commission | 5.5% of the value of the share, at least €350 per buyer |
Seller | to PartABoat | only on a successful sale. Anyone who posts 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). |
The structuring fee, commission and option fee are final prices. Any statutory VAT and other price components are contained in them.
When amounts fall due, examples, and what you can lose
Two examples: a ¼ share in a motorboat at €57,500 gives a structuring fee of €862.50. A ¼ share in a sailing boat at €25,000 gives €375; here the minimum applies, and you pay €500.
This money does not go to PartABoat but to the seller, and you owe it only if you do not buy in the end. If you buy, you pay only the purchase price.
No listing fee, no monthly costs. If you sell within the contractual follow-on period (six or twelve months respectively) directly to an interested party introduced through PartABoat, the commission is also due, unless the sale falls under the introductory offer. Examples with amounts are on For owners.
Until you accept the offer: travel and time. No money to PartABoat or the seller.
After accepting: if you do not exercise your option, you owe the seller the option fee. If the purchase comes about, you do not pay it. If someone else drops out and no replacement is found, you do not owe it if you have exercised your option; PartABoat will ask you to do so.
After completion: you are a co-owner. The Living Contract governs what applies then.
When a share is bought, PartABoat is paid by both sides: the buyer pays 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. It is precisely this dual role that obliges us to be neutral: anyone brokering for both sides must treat both equally. If we favour one side, we are liable for it. What we know about the boat, such as known defects, we pass on to the seller and the buyers alike.
Your purchase price never goes to PartABoat. As soon as PartABoat accompanies the purchase, you transfer it only on the handover date, once all contracts are signed and keys and papers have been handed over, directly to the seller. Until then, the information sheet shows how.
Who is liable for what, and what we do not check, is set out on the Safety page.
Withdrawal and due dates
The statutory 14-day right of withdrawal applies to the PartABoat service agreement; the details are in the withdrawal notice. The structuring fee falls due only after completion.
From when is the seller bound?
Here you can see from which step the seller is bound to you and may no longer sell to anyone else, once from the buyer's view, once from the seller's view.
From the buyer's view
Launch: together you form a new co-owner group
-
1 Discover
You come forward with your preferred share. No costs yet, no commitment, and the seller may continue to offer the boat to others.
Seller still free -
2 See the boat, meet the people
Boat viewed, future co-owners met, share set: this makes you ready to buy as soon as your withdrawal period has expired. Still no costs, and you can drop out at any time.
Seller still free -
3 Group complete
Your shares add up to 100%. If the seller confirms the group, they make you their offer; you accept it in text form within 5 working days, and nothing is paid at this point; anyone who does not accept loses their place, at no cost. Until their offer has reached you, nothing is firm yet.
Seller still free -
Tipping point
Seller's offer received
Once the seller's offer has reached you, the price is fixed. From here on the seller is bound to you and must not sell elsewhere. Once all have accepted, the option period runs, as a rule 45 days; during this time you decide whether to exercise the option; you owe an option fee only if you do not buy in the end.
Seller 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.
Boarding: you buy a share in an existing co-owner group
-
1 Discover
You respond to a listing. No costs yet, no commitment, and the seller may continue to offer the boat to others.
Seller still free -
2 See the boat, meet the people
View the boat, meet the co-owners, negotiate the price. Even now the seller can market in parallel, and you can drop out at any time.
Seller still free -
Tipping point
4 Purchase contract
On signature the purchase contract is concluded; with payment and handover the share is yours.
Seller bound
From the seller's view
Launch: you pass your whole boat on to a new co-owner group
-
1 Listing online
Your boat is listed. You may also offer it elsewhere in parallel and sell to a single buyer.
Still free -
2 See the boat, meet the people
Buyers come forward, view the boat, get to know each other. You remain free, nothing binds you.
Still free -
3 Group complete
The group of buyers covers 100%. You confirm it and with that make the group your offer. You are still free until it has reached the buyers.
Still free -
Tipping point
Offer received by the buyers
Bound from now on: price fixed, no alternative sale. Once all have accepted within 5 working days, the option period runs, as a rule 45 days, longer with a replacement procedure.
Now bound
In a Boarding there is no option fee: here, as for the buyer, only the signature on the purchase contract binds.
Status subject to legal clarification: The exact point in time from which the seller's commitment takes effect has not yet been conclusively settled in law. Until then this presentation serves as guidance, not as a binding commitment.
Questions that come up before buying or selling.
What do “Boarding” and “Launch” mean?
Every listing is marked as Boarding or Launch. In a Boarding you buy a share in an existing co-owner group, or become a co-owner with a sole owner who is selling a share. This can also be a share that becomes free because an existing co-owner is leaving. In a Launch the seller leaves completely and you form a new co-owner group. The process is almost identical; the route differs only in step 3: in a Launch you secure your place as soon as your group is complete and the seller has confirmed it: you accept their offer, and nothing is paid at this point. In a Boarding you go straight to the purchase contract.
How long does the whole thing take?
We expect 8–16 weeks from first interest to handover of the boat. This is an estimate, not yet a figure based on experience. You spend most of the time in step 2 (see the boat, meet the people, approx. 4–8 weeks); this is deliberate, so that you do not rush anything.
What if my co-owners do not pay later on?
You share the costs with co-owners, and the Living Contract governs what happens in the event of a default: if a co-owner does not pay despite a reminder and a reasonable further deadline, the rest of you can step in and pay for them and demand reimbursement from them. The amount remains their debt, and you can demand payment as with any other claim. If you want to leave yourself, you can sell your share at any time; how that works is explained in the guide Selling a boat share: leaving the co-owner group.
Can the seller sell the boat out from under me?
In a Boarding the seller may also offer their share to others until you sign the purchase contract.
In a Launch they may sell to a single buyer until their offer has reached your group; after that they are bound. Until then you are free too: no money paid, no commitment. The timeline above shows both routes stop by stop.
What if only two of us find each other instead of four?
Sometimes it takes a while for all buyers to come together. There are three routes for this:
- You two or three decide together whether to keep waiting until the group is full
- The seller waits with you for as long as they agree to
- The listing keeps showing which shares are still free; anyone who joins later meets you at the next group meeting or in one-to-one conversations
- If the seller confirms the details, PartABoat can also present the boat on Instagram
- If the seller agrees: the planned whole-boat sale becomes an existing co-owner group that you join
- The seller keeps e.g. ¼ or ½, you buy the rest
- “New co-owner group” thereby becomes “Existing co-owner group”
- Whoever wants to states a larger share, for example ½ instead of ¼
- Each of you counts individually, with the time of your new stated share
- Others can still change their share too; only what the allocation produces is fixed
What applies in any case: Nobody is forced into anything. Only someone who, after accepting, does not buy in the end owes an option fee. So if too few buyers are found, nobody pays anything and nobody loses money.
What if someone wants to buy the whole boat before we have found each other?
Until the group of buyers is complete, the same freedom applies to everyone: you can drop out at any time, and the seller can withdraw the listing or sell to a single buyer.
- As long as the group of buyers is not yet complete, you are not bound to anything; you lose no money, only travel and time
- You are just as free as the seller: no commitment to the purchase, and your money is not at stake
- If the boat is sold elsewhere, PartABoat informs everyone who is ready to buy it or on the waiting list
Once everyone is together, the opposite applies: As soon as the seller’s offer has reached your group, they are bound for the option period, as a rule 45 days; they may neither raise the price nor sell elsewhere.
What if one of us drops out after the commitment?
If one of you drops out after the seller is bound and before exercising their option, or lets the option period expire without exercising while others have exercised, or exceptionally withdraws from their service agreement with PartABoat before the handover, the replacement procedure applies: two stages, together at most 23 days, even if several people drop out. Once the 23 days are used up, there is no further procedure, and PartABoat asks you straight away to exercise your option. You can exercise at any time, including during the procedure.
- Those remaining can divide the free share among themselves by mutual agreement; for this, everyone agrees to the new division in text form. Nobody has to increase their share. If there were only two of you, this stage does not apply.
- If the fourth day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the stage runs until the next working day; the search for a replacement is then shorter by those days.
- PartABoat looks for a replacement buyer. They can join only if the seller and all those remaining agree.
If that does not succeed either, the sale has failed, and the seller is free again. PartABoat then asks you to exercise your option, if you have not yet done so. On request PartABoat continues searching afterwards; you have no entitlement to this. Nobody is forced into anything by majority vote, and before the purchase contract the seller never becomes a co-owner. If, after the purchase contract, the acquisition by an individual buyer fails and nobody takes over their share, that share reverts to the seller for a limited period, who then resells it.
What happens to the option fee of the person who drops out: They owe it to the seller; that is the price for keeping the boat available for you. Anyone who has withdrawn has paid nothing before the handover; whether they owe the seller anything is governed by the law. If the purchase fails, those who have exercised their option owe no option fee.
Can I sell my share again later?
Yes. Your share is genuine property; you can sell it or leave it to your heirs. The PartABoat template provides for a right of the co-owners to buy from one another and obliges you to sell only to a buyer they have agreed to; they can reject the buyer only for good cause relating to that person, within 30 calendar days of your notice.
Do I need a boat licence?
That depends on the cruising area. For German waters the usual rules apply, depending on the cruising area and the boat (recreational boat licence for inland waters or for sea); which licence is required in a foreign cruising area is something you clarify before the purchase. PartABoat does not ask about licences and does not check them; proof is a matter for each individual owner.
May I list my boat on other platforms at the same time?
Yes. Listing in parallel is allowed. Until you are bound to a group of buyers, you can also sell the boat outright at any time. The timeline above shows, in the seller's view, from when this applies and for how long.
This process is based on what we have learned ourselves.
My mate and I have shared two motorboats for years, one in Croatia, one on the Rhine. I polish the GRP (glass-reinforced plastic) and look after the wood; he takes care of the electrics and the engine. Together we have twice as much cruising area.
Our experience from five boats used together so far has gone into this process.
Ekki, founder of PartABoat
Ready? Choose your way in.
Whether you are looking for a boat, want to sell yours or want to bring co-owners on board, the first step costs nothing.