I own a twelfth share in NB Rodbaston. There are 12 joint owners, and we engage Ownerships to maintain and manage her on our behalf. She was launched on 28 November 2003.
Rodbaston is a six berth boat, with a fixed double bed; two singles, which can also be made into a double, in their own cabin; and a make-up double in the lounge. She is in a reverse layout, which seems to be coming more and more popular. This means that the galley and lounge are at the back – great for getting cups of coffee to the steerer! The main bedroom is in the middle, and the other cabin with two bench seats is at the front. There are two pump-out toilets and there is a cratch and cover installed over the front. When cruising in the summer, the engine provides hot water, and for winter there is a gas boiler (also feeding radiators) and a solid fuel stove. This is one of the many attractions of shared ownership over hiring – you get better facilities, more like a private boat.
The owners have a website, which acts mainly as a cruising log, but also holds lots of other information which is useful to the owners and other boaters. I found the website to be really helpful when choosing a boat to purchase a share in.
If you’re interested in shared ownership, I’d certainly recommend Ownerships as a great scheme. As a group of owners you own the boat between you, and you are free to sell your share at any time. The owners meet once a year to make plans for the following year, such as what extra maintenance or alterations you want done over the winter period, and which marina the boat will be based at for the next cruising season. (Ownerships has arrangements with many marinas around the country to base their boats there, and owners can move their boat from season to season. This is one of the great benefits of this scheme).
All owners get to use the boat for at least 3 weeks a year, and once those 36 weeks are allocated, it’s also possible to bid for extra weeks when the boat isn’t in use. Last year we spent time extra between Christmas and New Year on board, which was absolutely delightful. The order of priority for booking places rotates between owners, but I have a special share which means that I can use the boat during school holidays. There are up to 3 special shares available on a boat, and they get their choices first before the other owners. Although I don’t have kids myself, other family and friends do, or are teachers, so it seemed to be the sensible option unless I wanted to crew single-handed!
Shares are often available in the boats as people move on – to see if there are shares currently available in Rodbaston click here.
I’ll add some more information and photo’s to this page later, but for now, I’d certainly recommend the Rodaston Website if you’d like more information. Ownerships are also extremely helpful and will send you a huge pack of reading material explaining all about the scheme if you contact them.
