Yacht Management
Professional Services for Sailors, from Sailors !
Love for the sea creates a desire to own a boat, to many people. However, very few people proceed to make this wish come true. Even when the financial prerequisites are in tact, the procedures, the service and the care required on an annual basis are enough to hault the plans of the majority of people. Things become more complex, if the boat is also required to be chartered (with or without crew).
This is the basis on which some Fleet Management companies have been active and busy for many decades. They practically take ownership of all these worries and deliver some income and a few weeks of “carefree” holidays to the owner. Why then, a great number of (managed) boat owners do sell their “dream” after a few years ? And why a great number of them complain about the services they have received ?
We believe that only true sailors or people who have been active in sea activities (and not simply being a member of the marine industry in general) can feel empathy for a boat owner, who bought his boat out of his love for the sea.
A boat is not a mere professional tool, even when it is actually a true commercial asset and is being chartered on a regular basis. Neither, a means of transportation, like a car. Every boat has its own name, its own character, its own unique faults and advantages, its own identity.
That is why some charterers ask by name the same boat that they had chartered in the past !
We are sailors, we are boat owners ourselves, we are interested to grow our ownership of boats and having secured some excellent conditions for our own boats, we can undertake to do the same job that we do for our boats, for the boats of other owners, for mutual benefits. Benefits related to a larger turnover, benefits related to economies of scale and benefits due to boat loving care !
So here is what we, at SeaStarSailing, can do as Fleet Managers :
Before your buying a Sailing Boat
- We can provide a market demand analysis for various types of boats.
- Point to popular features and characteristics, per type of boat.
- Help you achieve an excellent purchase price from the shipyard.
- Help you calculate your expected annual return on investment.
- We can advise you on reliable boat transportation and insurance.
- Check the boat upon arrival.
- Provide experienced authorized local contractors who will put the boat together (mast installation, engine start-up, etc)
- Help you buy good quality nautical equipment at low cost and have it installed by reliable contractors (sprayhood, bimini, electronic equipment, life saving equipment, dinghy, outboard, linen, cutlery, crockery, toys, etc)
- Perform sea trials prior to delivering a yacht to customers
- Boat registration and licencing
Make the boat available for bookings
- Detailed professional photo-shoot
- Brochure/Leaflet creation for the boat
- Registration in the major Booking engines
- Inform International Brokers about the new arrival
- Our stands in International Boat shows
- Our stands in International Broker events
- Our website and the social media
- Leaflets to Brokers
- Email marketing
- Respond to enquires with offers
- Make proposals to Brokers
- Make reservations (options and bookings)
- Update Booking engines to sustain Real-Time availability
- Prepare Charter contracts
- Collect all Payments
- Respond to requests for Skippers and Hostesses
Prepare the boat for delivery to charterer
- Repair any damages from previous charterer
- Remove and dispatch for cleaning all linen
- Put all boat equipment in order, each piece to its appropriate location according to the specifications
- Clean all bilge areas
- Clean all interior spaces
- Disinfect all toilets
- Wash and dry all cutlery and crockery
- Clean all external spaces and surfaces
- Provide fresh linen
- Provide fresh courtesy supplies
- Fill Water tanks
- Inspect/repair, clean dinghy
- Inspect/repair outboard, petrol refill
- Inspect/replace gas bottles
- Reset all electronic equipment preferences to standard
- Pay contractors
- Purchase and payment of supplies
- Collection and forwarding of bills/receipts to accounting
Check-in Charterers
- Pick people from the airport, if required
- Crew List preparation
- Signing of all contracts and required documents
- Submission of documents to the Port Police
- Security deposit collection
- Introduce the charterer to the boat and all its functional characteristics
- Assistance for route planning, if requested by the charterer
- Keeping in touch with the charterer during the charter period
- Solution of any problem that might arise during the charter period
- Check underwater part of hull (contract diver)
- Check all boat equipment for damage, other than normal wear and tear
- Collect damage compensation (if appropriate)
- Security deposit return
- Boat-Refueling at the charterer’s presence and expense
- Hoist the boat out of the water and place it on land ,on a cradle
- Clean the hull, the engine, the propeller and any other underwater devices (e.g bow-thruster)
- Treat with anti-fouling
- Polish all external (gel-coat) boat surfaces
- Treat all teak surfaces
- Remove all sails for washing and winter storing
- Remove spray-hood and bimini, wash and store
- Inspect, lubricate and protect all gear (e.g. winches, windlass, etc)
- Remove and store expensive external equipment (e.g GPS plotter)
- Inspect all interior spaces and perform repairs, if required
- Tighten all screws and bolts both internally and externally
We make sure that all contractors bill the owner in a transparent way and in a timely manner, so that no claims are raised after a few months when the real circumstances might have been forgotten.
We commit ourselves for an initial two year agreement, agree our compensation for our services beforehand and renegotiate thereafter on an annual basis.
Since we aim to expand the fleet under our management, in order to achieve economies of scale, our fees are very provocatively competitive.
Please contact us, we shall be happy to be of service to a fellow boat owner sailor.