For many people, the most amazing feature of KaterBlue is the opportunity to combine chartering with selling and buying boats through our platform. In such cases, chartering functions as a form of trial trip, but more extensive, so potential buyers have all the time they want to find, test out and get accustomed to a certain vessel. We give buyers the chance to buy a boat they really like and feel totally comfortable with, and sellers can profit from the charters while doing little effort and eventually find a suitable and reliable boat buyer.
If you own a boat or yacht that you want to sell, you can now advertise your vessel for free to the global public on the KaterBlue platform. Registering and submitting some photos is easy and will take only about 20 minutes, but has the potential to be life changing. You can create a profile of your boat, submitting photos and detailed information like model, type, age, condition, cabins, berth, helms, heads, bathrooms, kitchen etc. that the searcher can browse for. Potential purchasers can find your boat quickly. The entire world will be able to see your boat and it often does not take long before someone will request more information. On KaterBlue, you the boatowner wishing to sell your boat must agree to charter the boat for a number days as agreed between yourself and the potential purchaser. You can be assured that your boat becomes more sellable once you allow potential buyers to test it through chartering with KaterBlue.
For a great number of owners, a boat can be a source of worry because of the high additional costs in maintenance, taxes, harbor fees etc. When you are waiting a long time for a buyer to come along you can find one more easily since the potential purchaser feels reassured that he can charter the boat first for an extensive sea trial and to see if it is really for him. Also, you can add to the comfort of the potential purchaser by coming along and getting him accustomed to handling the boat. Not selling the boat or not using the boat for one’s own leisure, like on most days, the vessel is just lying idly in some harbor, draining funds. KaterBlue changes all this. Chartering out your boat or yacht in this safe and controlled way, will be beneficial for the boat user – as further explained below – but also for the boat owner. As a boat or yacht owner, it allows you to freely put up your boat or yacht for sale, to look for a suitable and reliable buyer though charters, and to make money in the process. Even if you do not sell right away, you will have a new source of income at your disposal which will help you compensate for all those boat maintenance costs that your boat brings along.
Moreover, there are also boat owners who never wanted to sell in the first place, but felt enormous economic pressure to do so. Many of them have now found out that the chartering business works so advantageously for them, that they were allowed to keep their beloved boat.
Buying a Boat or Yacht
Potential boat buyers range from first time boat purchasers to experienced boat owners looking for a new vessel. For example, some recently qualified skippers are absolutely thrilled about buying their first boat, but they can feel inhibited by the short duration of the average trial trip, their own inexperience and the overall pressure that comes with making such a costly acquisition. KaterBlue will enable them to extensively test a certain vessel during a charter, have a skipper or skilled crew aboard (if requested) to make them feel in safe hands, and lower the stress of the entire process. Even for veteran skippers, or people who have bought and sold boats before, KaterBlue provides the ideal setting for a successful interaction that benefits both buyer and seller. We create a perfect setting for making the purchase of a lifetime. Instead of rushing into buying an expensive motor yacht or sailing yacht and finding out hidden defects after a week, users can easily look through hundreds of offers, selecting the boat they like most and taking it for an extended test run. By chartering for several hours, days or even weeks, potential buyers can not only get a good picture of the state of any vessel, but also discover which one fits their expectations and personal preferences most. Often the presence of the owner or skipper will show them how that particular boat handles, the best point of sail, the whereabouts of everything and thereby furthering their confidence. KaterBlue’s “charter plus buy” concept enables the buyer to make the most informed and balanced choice before engaging in what for many people could be the largest purchase of their lives.
