Owner's Time Questions

I know the info I seek has been posted and answered many times but I can't find it for some reason. I'm interested in owner's time for July or early August. No later than 1st week of August. Bareboat. Prefer a 433pc or 514pc for a week in BVI for 6-8 people depending on cabin options. Definitely want A/C, dinghy and chart plotter. Wifi and/or water maker would be nice but not important. Besides here, the charter boat section where else can I check? I looked at sailonline and ownerstimecharters but did not see any power cats. Some people have said to be wary of dealing directly with owners with regards to payment and others have said they made the payment directly to Moorings for instance. Which is the norm? Are all the same services generally included, such as Mooring's 4 hour service guarantee for any maintenance problems? Really want to go this year but on a tight budget, as usual. Besides Moorings, if I go the traditional route with a charter company, who has power cat options with a good reputation? Not really interested in MarineMax as I've found their rates even higher than Moorings. If no other options, I will go with Moorings, it's just the prices that are killing me.

Finding power cat time can be difficult. If you are booking Moorings owners time all payments are handled through the owner. What I typically do is get the boat booked and a contract sent to the chartering party. The contract should have both your name and the owners name on it.I ask for a deposit to cover the booking fees and the balance 60 days prior. The Moorings chase boat services are the same for owners time as a regular charter. The base will not even know you’re on owners time. If however they don’t get you fixed and you lose a day the Moorings will not offer you anything since they are not getting any money for the charter. That would be between you and the owner.
George

I'd always verify the booking before handing over any money - You can speak to John at Moorings who books all the owners times. I did that my first time booking owners time and always gave those buying from me the info to verify as well. Everyone owner can handle the pricing how they want. That's really between you and the owner. It is a good idea to discuss cancellation and other options just so you and the owner are on the same page.

As George said, you don't get the 4 hour guarantee in that you don't get any credit for future use, but they do come fix things just as quick. We had issues on probably half of our trips - from minor things to more major things (engine over heating, genset not running) and things we're always fixed quickly. There was only one trip where something couldn't be repaired (A/C on the 5800) and we could have moved to a 4800, but opted to live without it for our last 2 nights. They do their best to take care of things.

End of the day, it is a great way to get a discount. I am probably going to look into it myself for this summer - even though we own a boat, it is in Newport over the summer and we are trying to sell it and I'm having serious BVI withdrawl

On our Moorings 433 PC right now in The Bight. I have 7 days of owner’s time available. If you are interested PM me.
Cheers,
Billy

The payments are always (or nearly always) through the owner for owners time. The base support should be the same (My experience with TMM and feedback through my guests), and rarely will anyone at base (with possible exception of management) know that you booked directly with owner.

I encourage all to check out the owner's reputation... I am in a medium size town offer to have me vetted through CPA, Attorney, Medical Staff office, my banker... I realize that these references are no guarantees, but certainly a good start. Should also be able to verify that the owner is indeed the owner by contacting the charter operation directly: "I am discussing chartering Sea Tiger directly from Deepcut and just want to verify he is indeed the owner".

Due diligence.

Check out Mark with ORION. He is a sponsor here on this site. Great to deal with, and all the great things said here about TMM are true.

Wes from sea tiger would be great to deal with too. His lagoon is also taken care of by TMM.

Thank you for all the feedback. Still working on a crew to join us so my planning is in a holding pattern!

Decided on July so if anyone has owner's time on a 433pc or 514pc please pm me!