Basically, a boat timeshare offers a sailor a chance to buy into a piece of a boat for a season. Similar to a yacht club, but without all the expenses of owning your own yacht, these programs lets sailors sail minus the headaches. Some programs allow members to purchase blocks of time over the course of a sailing season to use a boat. Many programs work by giving several “skippers” the same boat during the sailing season. These skippers book multiple sail times, show up, sail, have a blast and return the boat for the next skipper to take over.
While boat timeshares provide everything needed to sail, members still are responsible for making sure the boat is in good condition when it’s returned. Swabbing the deck isn’t out of the question. However, many timeshare programs will even go as far as to include maintenance, fuel and so on in the initial price. This leaves the member responsible for simply safely piloting the vessel, keeping it clean and enjoying their high seas adventure with their family and friends for a fraction of the price of owning a yacht themselves. The insurance, boat licensing and other worries are generally handled by the timeshare company itself.