Shared boat ownership enjoying surge in popularity

Simon Barker is busy rebranding Ownaship. Photo / Doug Sherring

Previous Ownaship managing director Simon Barker and his wife, Donna, now own the Westhaven-based fractional ownership company.

Ownaship, which was founded in 2007 with a single second-hand trailer-boat, now runs an entirely new-boat fleet of nine.

The fleet includes luxury launches, cruising yachts and 6m and 7m powerboats.

The company is enjoying a renewed surge in popularity, Barker says.

"The phone is starting to ring as summer approaches and people realise that they can enjoy all the benefits of boat ownership, with none of the hassles, for a fraction of the price of a new boat."

Since taking sole charge of the company, Barker has been working on rebranding to emphasise the benefits that Ownaship offers.

"The new look is very like the Ownaship model - simple, effective and easy to understand," he says. "It allows us to simply and clearly state the key advantages of owning a boat the Ownaship way. Basically it says: 'You do the boating, we'll take care of the rest."'

With Ownaship, people buy a 10 per cent share in a boat and get 33 days' use each year. The company cleans the boat after each use and takes care of maintenance, insurance and mooring or stowage in the Orams Boat Park.

"Research shows that most boat owners don't use their boats any more than that," Barker says.

"The rest of the year the vessels just sit around on marinas or in driveways."

Since taking sole charge he has added two more boats to cater for the increased demand.

"We have just taken delivery of another Rayglass 4000 luxury launch, and we are about to add the first of what we expect will be a number of new Rayglass 2200 trailer-boats."