Charter Skippers unite

sailwithrob · Post by **sailwithrob** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:32 pm

For those of us who regularly bareboat charter and are fed up with finding their boat has been poorly maintained, is under equipped and is generally in bad condition I am attempting to start an association of like minded people in order to give us some negotiating power with the the charter companies.

If you are interested in joining me in this effort then please email me bearaway@sailwithrob.f2s.com

I look forward to hearing from you>

Post by **Silkie** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:39 am

Are you planning anything to help owners whose boats are poorly maintained and under equipped?

sailwithrob · Post by **sailwithrob** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:14 am

I rather think that the pressure to supply better equipped and maintained boats will cause the charter cmpanies to get to grips with the problem or lose business.

claymore · Post by **claymore** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:04 pm

I don't think that's likely. They will surely equip them to the level they need for certification.
Whilst not someone who owns a charter boat, the margins will be quite narrow I guess, so they'll be keeping expenditure well under control. This explains poor standards of maintenance - better for the profit margin to cobble a job yourself for free, than get a yard to do the work and get last weeks profit gobbled up.
Not offering this as some form of justification before anyone starts shouting at me!

sailwithrob · Post by **sailwithrob** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 5:29 pm

This is exactly the point. By forming a group of charterers who can wield a little power we might be able to improve the situation.

claymore · Post by **claymore** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 6:57 pm

How can you wield some power? "Lets all join up and not charter from these people who don't maintain their boats?"

That would be so hard to coordinate and even more difficult to drive. Don't you just go to the yacht charter association and report a member and then get them to deal with it? You've always had that right.

sailwithrob · Post by **sailwithrob** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:01 pm

Well everyone has the right to take their business elsewhere but I was not thinking about being quite so confrontational as you suggest. Rather more pursuasive. A lot of people speaking with a single voice often carries a little more weight.

I usually charter in the Mediterranean - the YCA has little influence there. I have recently returned from a charter where the anchor windlass was mounted on a platform that had severe cracking around the bolts and when I pointed it out to the charter company they just shrugged and said it would be ok - needless to say that it was not ok and the second time we hauled the anchor the whole machine was pulled off the deck.

There was no radar reflector - no white flares - no cone shape and the fairlead on the port quarter was completely missing. The 2 steering compasses read 10 degrees apart from each other and neither agreed with the fluxgate autohelm compass. In addition to that the charts werre so old they were useless for navigation. As it happens I always take my own.

Post by **DaveS** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 6:06 pm

Did you get a sizeable refund?

I would have thought that the bad publicity from this sort of thing being made widely known would be more effective. A dedicated area of a well visited forum where people could post experiences - good and bad - would be useful both for prospective charterers and the better chartees.

sailwithrob · Post by **sailwithrob** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:36 pm

Do you know I did not even consider a refund - I think I am more interested in your idea of a website to publicise the bad charter companies and in my experience, which is not inconsiderable, this means most of them.

BLUEMOMENT

Charter Skippers unite

Charter Skippers unite

Sounds interesting but..

Name and shame?

Name and shame