I am glad buying charter boats works out for some. I am also thankful that for more than 30 years others have used their cash and credit guarantees to fund buying new boats around the world for me to use. Thank You! I am very grateful.

Here is another angle to consider. If using debt to finance new charter boat purchases made profit and loss sense? The charter boat operators would use the public markets and bonds to finance the acquisition of the assets they need to succeed in business. Reality is the value of the boats coupled with the expense to operate them in general does not fall in line with the market prices to rent them. So we get to rent yachts below the actual cost at the expense of the owners and their credit. The operators take a percentage off the top to reward their shareholders.

There are exceptions the right boat in the right market may pay out. The same could be true or even better(maybe much better) if you bought the right condo in the right place, at the right time. Consider this... Imagine and earthquake, terrible hurricane, air travel disruption...? Many charter boats could go without revenue or greatly discounted revenue for a period of time. Anyone who signs a guarantee to pay a yacht mortgage should be prepared to pay all that note themselves until the boat can be liquidated. Real Estate may explode in value. A boat never will. In fact with the price of oil falling. The new boats that are made completely of oil(fiberglass) could fall. Only time will tell if and when the market adjust here.

For us Americans having a boat in charter can be the lowest cost way to tell your friends you have a boat in the islands. For other non US tax jurisdictions. There may be some strong tax incentives for high income earners. In the Moorings heyday on country with a 90 percent personal income tax allowed three year depreciation deductions with no recapture on the sale of the rental investment. The owner could buy the new boat deducted 90 percent of the cost over three years then sell it for no tax liability. Sadly we do no do that in the US. I look forward to your new yacht purchase soon! We always charter the newest and largest boat we can find for our dates. In my opinion if it flies or floats you are better off renting.