Boat ownership with a difference

Lachlan Wilkinson of Ownaship (left) takes delivery of the company's latest Legend 2500 from Rayglass general manager Dave Larsen. Photo / Supplied.

Potential boat owners will next weekend get the chance to experience a different way of getting out on the water.

The fractional boat ownership company, Ownaship, will be holding an open day at their Westhaven premises next Sunday, October 10. The day will, according to the company's managing director Simon Barker, give interested members of the public the chance to experience the "walk-on, walk-off nature" of their system.

"One of the reasons Ownaship is so popular is that our owners never have to worry about cleaning or maintaining their boats, they literally walk on at the beginning of the day and simply walk off when they return. We look after everything else."

Barker says that, before the owners arrive, the beds are made with fresh linen, there are fresh towels on board and the boat is fully fuelled. When the boat returns, it is cleaned, refuelled and prepared for its next outing.

"We also look after any maintenance or repairs, insurance and berthage," he says. All boats are either berthed in Westhaven marina or kept in the nearby Orams Boat Park.

Although Ownaship is not the first, or indeed the only, company to offer shared boat ownership systems, they do appear to be one of the most successful. Starting in late 2007 with just one second-hand trailer boat, the company will have 12 vessels, including a mix of trailer boats, 12-metre launches and yachts by year's end.

Under their system, owners buy a 10 per cent share in their chosen boat and this entitles them to 33 days use, split into three trimesters.

It is, says director Lachlan Wilkinson, a system that seems to suit busy business people and those who enjoy other things as well as boating.

"Instead of having to spend all that money buying a boat and then watching it sit in the driveway or on the marina for most of the year, our owners pay around 10 per cent of the cost of the boat, use it when they want and never have to worry about maintenance, cleaning or anything else." The open day will run from 10am until 4pm.