Crewing your yacht
Ensuring that your yacht operates pristinely with the right people
When purchasing a yacht, a critical consideration to the purchase should be the crewing of the yacht. Depending upon the size of the yacht, the necessary manpower will different. Understanding the needs of your yacht will help you to optimize the entertainment and leisure aspect of the vessel as well as the functionality and technical elements needed when on the open seas.
Engineers and maintenance
One of the first people to consider for crewing is an engineer and engine maintenance crew. As problems tend not to occur in idealistic situations, having a knowledgeable crew member who can handle situations where there may be a need to tweak or repair the inboard motor or the technology equipment is vital. The engineer should also override certain features on the yacht to ensure the overall safety of the vessel or for cases where the technology has limited access to features needed for the functionality of the navigation of the vessel.
The bare minimum
The number of people used when crewing your vessel is dependent upon the use of the yacht for sale as well as the size of the yacht. For the bare minimum, an owner will want to have a Captain, a First officer, a helmsmen/woman, Deck Hands, Mechanics and at least one engineer, a cook, and stewards. For a 100-foot yacht, a crew of 10 to 16 would be pushing the crewing to the extremes. Generally, a boat of this size would have a crew of about 20 or more. Of course, if you wish to have a yacht that is oriented to catering and to high levels of leisure and lounging, you may wish to hire more stewards and deckhands.
The key is to balance the cost of operation to the income which is being obtained using the vessel. Should the cost of operation exceed the cost of the income gained from chartering the boat then you may wish to optimize and consolidate crew roles. Personal use yachts would not have an income obtained from use and so the crewing of the yacht is solely dependent upon the needs and experience of the yacht owner.
Should you hire from one crewing company or diversify?
There are pros and cons to using one company for all the crewing of your yacht. The pro is that you typically need to pay the company one fee for the hires and those funds are distributed by the company to their crew. Additionally, when using a crewing company, there is a higher probability that you will get crew members of a higher professional level (as companies tend to value the overall branding and image they represent and therefore will only keep those who hold to the crewing companies standards of performance.). The Con of hiring from a company is that you are slightly limited to the choice selection. Of course, you can tell the crewing company that you wish to hire your own engineer, deckhands, etc.
Calculating the Cost
Before committing to using a particular yacht crew placement agency, do some comparison shopping. Using a Crew information calculator/ cost calculator for your yacht is a quick and effective way to get a base cost estimation on the crew and the operations of your yacht. For example, a cook costs approximately $3000 per month. Deckhand costs would be more as you would have more deckhands. Cost for the crew could easily reach an annual cost of 800k or more depending upon the use and needs of the yacht. Use a broker to help you determine the best crewing options for your yacht’s needs.
Finding the right crew
When looking to crew your yacht, it is important that you use a brokerage to negotiate the contract. Our experienced yacht brokers have established relationships with some of the best yacht crewing companies in the industry. Our brokerage is driven by aiding boat owners so that they can have the best experience with their yachts.
Looking to sell your yacht? When listing your yacht for sale, if you have a brokerage such as Vessel Vendor to list your vessel, then you can use the access to professional crewing as a selling point. This alleviates the potential buyer from having to seek out crewing for their purchase. The less strain and stress that a person has in obtaining the yacht, the more apt that person will be to inquire about the details of the purchase. And since yacht brokers only work with reputable dealerships and vendors, you can rest assured that the professionals we hire are top notch.
Should you have any questions about crewing your yacht or any of the services offered by Vessel Vendor, please use the appropriate form on our website and we will respond back as promptly as possible.
