Boatshed.com launches charter service

Online yacht broker Boatshed.com has launched a new service, BoatshedCharter, enabling its worldwide audience to charter boats.

The UK firm, which has over 80 offices globally and over 1.2m registered users, says boating enthusiasts can initially choose from 47 boats (monohull and catamaran) and a range of manufacturers including Jeanneau, Beneteau, Lagoon, Hanse, Bali and Dehler.

All are said to be professionally managed by charter companies and cater for differing budgets (€1,200 – €16,500 per week). The boats are moored in Athens, Lefkada and Volos, in Greece, and are available with or without crew.

The firm says this move supports experienced and novice sailors keen to explore new regions; from their bases, the boats can be used for sailing holidays around the Cyclades and Saronic islands, Ionian islands and Sporades islands.

Vangelis Papagrigoriou, head of BoatshedCharter, developed the charter service, building upon Boatshed.com’s existing used boat model which gives buyers an in-depth understanding of their potential purchase.

“Our intention is to disrupt the charter market by offering an unrivalled level of information to clients,” says Papagrigoriou. “There is no leap of faith with us; potential hirers will be able to check out the internal and external spaces, overall condition, and storage capacity, and in most cases, see the engine.

“We only list boats where we’ve met the owners or fleet operators, and then a member of our team takes a photo and logs the date. Our ethos is total transparency and it’s a view appreciated by all.”

Boatshed.com founder, Neil Chapman, adds: “Entering the charter business fulfils our ambition to become a ‘one stop shop’ for boating enthusiasts, no matter what they require. Over the next few months we intend to partner with more charter companies globally, and increase the number and type of boats we offer for charter.”