About 3 years ago, shortly before we got married, Shirley and I were in San Diego on business. We had a couple of hours before our return flight, so I suggested we look at boats. I had owned a 23' speedboat for about 10 years, but I always had enjoyed looking at trawlers for some reason. Shirley was quite kind and off we went to look at boats. We even talked to a broker a little and got some prices. We quickly realized that while we could probably afford a smaller trawler, we had a difficult time justifying the money spent compared to the time we would use it. Still, I dreamed of owning a trawler some day. Shirley, being the wonderfully practical one, said, "no way, unless you can make money owning it." Never one to turn down a challenge, I started looking at charter management ads in the boating magazines.

I must have called or written to every yacht management company in North America. Most returned my calls or wrote back with very little information other than offering to charter me one of their trawlers. A few did provide more detailed information, but when I asked for documentation of their claims of 10% return on investment, or examples of annual expenses versus charter revenues, they all became very silent. All that except one: Southwest Florida Yachts.

Although Vic Hansen didn't know me from Adam, he patiently listened to someone who knew very little about yacht management. He sent several articles on the subject, as well as a lot of information on Southwest Florida Yachts: their charter fleet, chartering rules, and the basic boating area. As we continued to correspond, I began to sense that this man honestly enjoyed what he was doing, and had a true passion for boating.

A few months later, Shirley had to attend some business-related seminars in Tampa, Florida. I was still pursuing this crazy dream of owning a trawler. She suggested that I fly down to Tampa and meet her to look at charter management operations in Florida. (I had already determined the Florida boating environment was the place to put a boat into a charter operation, based upon several factors, including a lot of information provided by Vic.)

I coordinated with four different charter operations that were able to work with our time schedule, and off we went. We looked at their boats and their operations and asked questions about charter frequency, maintenance schedules, etc. It took us only a short visit with the first three operations to realize we wanted no part of what they had to offer. Shirley was ready to bail out on me, but I finally convinced her to at least look a the last place since I had flown all the way from Phoenix to research these operations. She agreed, and off we went to North Fort Myers. We quickly realized we were talking about a different type of business operation. Vic sat down and discussed with us more in-depth information and showed us the portion of their fleet that was not out on charter. On our way back to Phoenix we agreed to ask more questions of Vic and Barb and continue our research after more correspondence (which included talking to people who had boats in charter with SWF Yachts), we decided a return visit and discussion of actual charter revenues and expenses was in order. Vic actually showed us three years charter dates, rates and maintenance schedules and cost of operation. We then discussed what type of boat they would like to add to their charter fleet, our target cost bracket and the procedures for locating a boat that met all our needs.

Vic looked long and hard. It seemed like years, but was actually only 3-1/2 months. The phone rang, and Vic said we better come take a look at a Grand Banks 42 Classic. We hopped the next flight out of Phoenix and crossed our fingers. We had read the spec sheet Vic had sent, but we wondered silently if we weren't a bit crazy to fly all the way to Florida to look at a boat. We were still thinking these thoughts as we walked down the boat dock in Punta Gorda with Vic. Shirley saw the boat first. She turned to me and said "This is the one," I tried to remain logical, but had to admit she was right...the boat was a beauty. We talked with the owner, went for a sea trial and talked dollars. Vic worked with us all the way through the process, and the next thing we knew, we were waiting the results of the haul out and survey. We had just bought a trawler.

How do we like what we've done? It couldn't be better! Vic and Barb, as well as the rest of their staff, have been nothing short of fantastic. The boat (we named her "Forever") has chartered well, and we have truly enjoyed the times we've spent aboard. Have we made money? I guess that depends how you measure it.

There are definite advantages to charter management:
(1) depreciation may help at tax time
(2) the boat is maintained better than I could ever do by myself, and
(3) the revenue certainly helps offset the costs of ownership.

Would we recommend charter management? Absolutely! We find it meets our needs to a "T". We have shared our story with close friends who have inquired about and visited SWF Yachts themselves. Is it for everyone? Probably not. But if you are considering buying a boat, give charter management with Vic and Barb a serious thought. If you are hooked, don't blame us!

Note: Since Bill wrote this story the Patton's have purchased a second yacht for SFY fleet placement.