"L. A. Powell" wrote in message news:ugS%a.141187$Oz4.31995@rwcrnsc54...
Never partnered on a boat, though I did do so with a couple of
airplanes. These tips should work for boats as well.

Form a partnership - easy enough to do, with proper incorporation
papers, checking account, etc.

Agree on a "rental rate" and assess partners for usage hours. The
assessment should be enough to cover dockage or storage fees, usual and
ordinary maintenance, etc. An hour meter will give usage; a mandatory
log will let the treasurer know who and how much to bill each month.

Each partner should be assessed an equal amount to make the boat
payments, insurance, and other fixed costs. Anticipate building an
escrow for big expenses like a blown engine or other major repairs.

Sound like the right idea. We are already seeing the posts to this
thread about how partnerships never work. I grew up with airplanes in
my family. The first two planes were shared among three partners and
the last was shared by two. It is not uncommon for planes to be owned
by private partners - and it works fine for lots of them.

Why can't it work for boats? Maybe aircraft owners are generally
smarter than boaters and can make realistic agreements they can live
up to. I don't know... Maybe its that a lot of boaters are too
emotional about their boats ("It's my boat"). While pilots love their
planes, perhaps they are more able to separate the "emotion" of
ownership with the "business" of ownership.

Don't go into a partnership think that it will reduce the cost of
ownership to a small fraction of sole ownership. For exmaple - If I
bought a boat with two other parties, I would expect (off the top of
my head) to save 40% (maaaaybe 50%) off the total cost of owning the
boat alone.

As pointed out, certain maintenance items that many owners may do
themselves might be better "contracted" out in a partneship. Avoids
the problem of one or two partners feeling like they do all the work.
These are things that raise the overall ownership cost to the
partnerhip, but you still realize significant savings individually
when you divide the costs out. (I think I could quickly get past the
scheduling issue, if I could save a significant amount of money on the
boat ownership and not have do so much maintenance.)

"Jim Donohue" wrote in message
news:7FQ%a.1103$n94.336@fed1read04...
I am not a small boat guy so I will leave those questions to someone
who
knows something.

I do however have a good bit of partnership experience.

First decide how the partnership ends. How many partners to end it
and how
to do it...Get that in place before you buy anything.

Second decide how a partner leaves. Do he sell his share or simply
walk
or...

Third decide how costs are divided up and paid. Note that this is
related
to prior and next item. Have clear plans for repairs and maintenance.
Unless someone is well suited to the role pay an outsider to do them.
More
expensive but it vastly limits partnership friction.

Fourth decide how the boat is scheduled. I recommend a regular
schedule of
"ownership" with the owner allowing other partner usage as he sees
fit.

Fifth - Write it all down. You will be sorry if you don't...and it
may well
cost you a friend or a lot of money.

Jim
"BooBoo12321" wrote in message
. net...