After five or six seasons in a charter fleet, the boat comes back to its owner, or onto the market. Cruising World notes that boats in the Caribbean typically see five peak seasons before they're phased out, and in Europe they're typically replaced after six years. What the owner gets back depends on how well the phase-out is run.
This checklist follows the advice of Navigare Yachting, a charter operator, and The Catamaran Guru, a broker. Yachting World quotes a surveyor on why a pre-phase-out survey matters: it settles what's fair wear and tear and what needs fixing before the price or the handover is agreed.
01
A year before
Navigare Yachting, a charter operator, says preparation for leaving the fleet starts a year earlier. The Catamaran Guru, a broker, says to start well before the contract ends so every item on the phase-out survey can be dealt with in time.
- Contract's phase-out terms read, and the company's phase-out manual asked for
- Plans for the boat decided, private use or sale
- Tax and import status checked for where the boat is going
- Insurance and transport costs checked
02
Records and inventory
Navigare says to ask the operator for the maintenance log and check it for accidents and groundings. The Catamaran Guru says to check the inventory list from delivery and make sure everything on it is on board.
- Maintenance log from the operator
- Groundings, collisions and insurance claims during the programme
- Engine hours and major work done
- Sails, upholstery and canvas replaced during the programme
- Inventory from delivery, checked item by item
- What stays with the boat and what doesn't, such as the dinghy and outboard
03
Survey and sea trial
Navigare recommends a survey with a haul-out about two to three months before the exit, and a sea trial about two months before. Not too early: a second trial and haul-out costs again. It puts the survey and haul-out at USD 2,000 to 5,000, paid by the owner.
- Independent surveyor appointed by the owner
- Hull out of the water, blisters and delamination
- Deck, mast, rigging and sails
- Interior, every system and the electrical panels
- Engine cold start and sea trial
- Oil analysis, not straight after an oil change
04
Fair wear and tear
The line the negotiation runs along. The Catamaran Guru says owners won't get new upholstery, new sails or a new engine unless they're destroyed. Navigare says torn sails, dead electronics, cracked rigging and large blisters aren't normal wear.
- Items the surveyor calls damage, with the survey reference
- Items the operator calls fair wear and tear
- Items agreed for the operator to fix
- Upgrades the owner wants done at the same time
05
Conditional acceptance list
Navigare calls this the Conditional Vessel Acceptance: the list of issues to be corrected before final delivery. Yachting World quotes a surveyor recommending that the agreed work is checked by another survey once it's done.
| ITEM | AGREED FIX | WHO PAYS | DONE | CHECKED BY |
|---|
| | | | |
06
Final check before handover
Check every item on the acceptance list on the boat, not on paper.
- Every acceptance item checked done
- Inventory complete
- Documents, manuals and keys handed over
- Insurance moved to the owner from the handover date
