Boat EconomicsAccess and Ownership Alternatives
Is a Partnership Share Worth the Access You'd Actually Get?
Compare paying for a boat alone against a defined partnership share, with the scheduling trade-off made explicit instead of buried inside a lower annual number.
A cheaper annual cost can still be an expensive day on the water
A 50% share sounds like half the cost for half the boat, and on an annual-cost basis it often is. But a partnership also usually means fewer days genuinely available to you, whatever the schedule allows, not whatever you'd ideally want. Cost per accessible day exists specifically to catch the case where a lower total cost hides a worse deal once availability is actually accounted for.
How this is calculated
Your individual cash requirement is your ownership share of the boat's cost plus any buyout or exit cost. Your annual cost is your fixed-cost split (defaulting to your ownership share) plus your per-use variable cost times your expected use days, plus your share of any shared reserve contribution. Accessible days take the lesser of what you'd want to use and what the schedule actually gives you, and dividing your annual cost by that number produces the per-day figure that reveals the availability trade-off.
Worked example
A 50% share of a $30,000 boat with $6,000 in sole-ownership annual fixed cost puts $15,000 in cash on the table and $3,400 a year in ongoing cost ($3,000 fixed-cost split plus $400 in per-use charges at 20 days). Against $6,000 a year for full ownership, that's a $2,600 annual savings, but at only 20 accessible days a year that works out to $170 a day, versus $300 a day for a sole owner using the boat the same 20 days.
Common mistakes
Comparing only the annual-cost line, without checking the accessible-days figure, makes every partnership look like an obvious win. The other common mistake is assuming the written schedule will hold exactly as agreed; real scheduling friction, holidays, and conflicting plans routinely eat into the days a partnership promises on paper.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the fixed-cost split default to my ownership share?
Because that's the most common structure, a 50% owner typically pays 50% of fixed costs. Some agreements split costs differently from ownership percentage though, so this is adjustable separately in Advanced if yours does.
What is "cost per accessible day" and why does it matter?
It divides your annual partnership cost by the days actually available to you under the schedule, not the days you'd ideally want. A partnership can look cheap on an annual-cost basis while still being an expensive way to buy a day on the water if your accessible days are limited.
Can this tell me if a partnership will work with a specific person?
No. It only models the cost and scheduling-availability math. Partner compatibility, communication, and how well a written agreement actually gets followed are real factors this tool has no way to see.
What if my accessible days exceed what I'd actually use?
Then the accessible-day figure isn't your binding constraint, your own use pattern is. In that case, compare the partnership's annual cost directly against sole ownership using your expected use days instead of accessible days.