If you’re reading this, congratulations – you’ve won at life enough to be in ownership of yacht. Not only that, you’re looking at your (no doubt) hard-earned yacht and idly wondering what exactly you could do with it. A yacht is an incredible thing to behold, and an even more incredible thing to own; it brings with it boundless potential, but potential that requires a little foresight and planning to completely realise.
Alternatively, you might have been inspired enough by reality shows like Below Deck to get involved in maritime operations of your own, and in the market for a yacht with the express purpose of realising the potential held within yourself as a business owner. Here, then, let’s break down exactly how you can tap the potential, and how you can turn this highly expensive asset into an asset that generates more money for you – money you could use to buy another yacht. In short: this is how to turn your yacht into a business.
Assessing Your Yacht
Before diving in, take a second to honestly evaluate your yacht for what it is – and your own capabilities for turning your yacht into a business. For instance, not all yachts are made equally, something it would behove you to understand well before you start browsing yachts for sale online. Put bluntly, is your yacht big enough? Is it well-maintained too? How suitable would it be for commercial use? There are a few ways to generate money with your yacht, but few will yield meaningful financial reward for a tired, poorly maintained vessel. Suitability also means safety; is it up to code, can it be properly insured, and is it correctly certified?
Assessing Your Aptitude
The other side of the coin is you. Do you have the time to actively and precisely manage the germination of a yacht-centric business? Or will you need to hire a management company and crew? How experienced are you with maritime operations, and are you well-placed to learn the skills necessary to make your business a success? This is to say nothing of the upfront costs associated with registering and setting up a new business, whatever model you choose. Speaking of which…
Exploring Business Models
Several avenues exist for turning your yacht into a business. Fundamentally, you’re looking at some form of yacht chartering business, wherein your yacht is rented out to clients for various reasons. This might be a bareboat charter, wherein your clients who are responsible for providing their own qualified crew and provisions; alternatively, it could be a crewed charter, where you provide the crew.
If you’re providing a crew, then you could target yourself at different industries. Offering shorter trips for sightseeing, whale-watching or snorkeling could be a great opportunity to get regular income from tourists; longer charters could mean more money over time, particularly if you target film production companies for location shoots.
Developing a Business Plan
Whatever you land on business-wise, you now need a plan. An executive summary outlines your idea, and should be followed by some hard data on your gap in the market, as well as financial projections for the next five years. With this, you can gain some seed funding from other parties, and properly get the ball rolling on establishing yourself as a limited company.
There is so so much more to running a yacht charter business than that which we’ve touched on here – but these ideas can be used to great effect in getting started on making money from your yacht. Congratulations, and good luck!
