Coding Aberdeenshire?

[ALANT]

Does anyone know of a good surveyor where to get a rib coded in Aberdeenshire? Any estimates of cost?
Looking to buy very soon moving house in about a week. this means remortgage which means a bit of cash!!
Anyone know of any boats for sale?? looked in boats and outboards a few possibilities.

[Andy Gee]

Do a search for the YDSA and you should find one, AFAIK there is one near to Buckie.
Costs will variy, but make sure that you have everything done before the Surveyor comes to keep the costs down.
How much are you wanting to spend on a boat?
cheers
Andy

[ALANT]

Hi Andy forgot about the one at buckie that is just a short drive from here thanks.

I have upto 20k to spend kinda want something big enough, but also small enough to trailer and launch. Want to be able to carry 10 people to make it cost viable.

Thanks Alan

[PeteSmith]

Are you planning to set up a rib Dive Charter Business?

If so are you planning full time ie 7 days a week or part time?

Pete

[ALANT]

yes full time along with sight seeing tours in summer have to make the money where you can!
I am at university just now doing business (no funnies please) Mature student. So I have spare time especially in the summer.

Had planned this for last year but things changed My wifes job so had to put it off. But the house move means all systems go.

Why do you ask? Do you have any advice

Alan

[PeteSmith]

Firstly I apologise for the length of the reply and for putting a negative view on the subject ...

The reason why I asked is that I was planning to do dive charter part time at weekends as I couldnt afford to give up my weekday job.

I was planning to do it off the south coast (Brighton) on a weekend and the figures are impossible to justify giving up a job.

Some background first. Im commercial qualified skipper and a senior BSAC instructor so I know the diving community in my area (hence the BSAC school bit - which isnt as weather dependent) remember you carnt take divers out in weather greater than force 4. You may do it with experienced divers from your own club, but you carnt afford to take the risk with paying punters.

Also from the dive side you are basically taking paying punters from land to a point out at sea. Where they decide to roll off your boat. What they do underwater you cannot control so if they get a bend etc you have to deal with it and speak to the MCA once you get back to shore. So you need to factor in the hassel / worry factor of some dive numpty having an accident.

I agree that scenic rides are alot safer and you can control what your passengers do to a certain degree - but with scenic rides you are again governed by the weather (probably more so than with ruffty tuffty divers that dont mind been covered with freezing cold sea spray)
With scenic rides / thrill rides you need to be aware that people can try to sue you for back damage due to G shock even if you have made them sign a form notifing them of the risks involved. (They just turn round and say they didnt think in their position that the G shock would be as bad as was.

My bit of the coast is a flat and boring so no one would be interested in doing scenic rides around Brighton (high speed thrill rides yes but this incurs possible problems as mentioned above)

I was going to do it from my friends Rib (8m Humber diesel) worth around the £30000 mark (its about 4 year old)

To get it coded in the first place you need lots of items the most costly are the liferafts and lifejackets. I reckon that on a boat of 8m length with all this kit stored you would be actually pushed to get 8 divers on board with all their dive kit (remember divers may be using twin sets / rebreathers) even for shallow dives (some divers just wont tailor their dive kit to the dive situation! - just a bug bear of mine)

The following does not take into account that you need to buy a Rib to start with (so you need to factor in boat replacement costs 30K+) and that paying people wont take care of it like you would.


Static Yearly Outlay
Accountant £600.00
Insurance £1500.00
Mooring Charges £1815.00 (Brighton Marina)
MCA Coding £600.00
BSAC Seamanship School £100.00
Commercial Liferaft Rental 2 x 6 man £1200.00
Boat Upkeep / Servicing £600.00
Slush fund for electronic replacements £600.00

These above figures are the main ones but there are others (such as advertising)

Total Fixed Outlay £5915.00

Diving
Based on a 5 month dive season May to September equates to approximately 40 possible weekend diving days

Due to bad weather and wanting to spend some time with family / friends figures are conservative and are based on 20 diving days.

Daily charge per diver £35 for two dives (wreck + drift)

Based on 8 divers @ £35 = £280 / day
Fuel and equipment depreciation based on £60 / day

Total income from diving 20 days @ £220 = £4400

BSAC courses
4 Boat Handling Courses @ £300 / course (for 3 people excluding course certification)
2 Chartwork @ £300 / course (for 3 people excluding course certification)
4 Diver Cox’n Exams at £120 (for 3 people excluding course certification)
Total income from BSAC courses £2280
£2280 - £400 (Depreciation / fuel) = £1880

Working profit to be offset from Yearly outlay before tax
£4400 + £1880 = £6280

£6280 - £5915 = Yearly profit £365 before tax

This also doesnt cover what you do with booking that you cannot cover due to illness or the boat being out of action.

Im not an accountant but you could say "well this covers all my boat costs so Id get the use of my boat for free" however as you have set it up as a business you would have to pay yourself a wage and as the above profit isnt alot I would expect the Inland Revenue to look at your accounts and ask why are you running a buisness that cannot afford to pay a sensible wage / profit....

If anyone can revise my figures (for the better) to show me that it would be worth running Id love to know how you can make it pay.

Pete

[ALANT]

Hi I have worked out my figures. Remember I plan to be full time form the end of April to September so a lot more posibilities.

The local dive schools are interested so there will be a qualified dive instructor alot of the time. I have dived the local coast for about 20years also.

Plan is to use a outboard rib as more room for the same size and with duty back not much in it cost wise.

There is a lot less competition up here also which helps the initial start up stops people.

But all advice greatly recieved

Alan

[Tony Hill]

Scottish Commercial RIB Supplier
Quinquari Marine North are based at Easdale and North Ballachulish on West Coast of Scotland. They have a number of coded secondhand RIBs as well as new builds. Quinquari offer a full boat and business support service.
website www.quinquari.co.uk

[Paul Beaurain]

Hi Pete

You show in the yearly outlay the MCA coding at £600.
Are coded boats needing an inspection each year?
Can you break that figure down.

Thanks
Paul

ps good luck - it does look marginal given the fixed costs

[Rogue Wave]

Coding fees as I recall are by the metre and run around 400 qud for an 8 metre and that's a one off fee for 5 years. There is an additional half term inspection which may be fee based butto make sure yor safety is up to scratch etc.

There are three coding agencies YDSA Mecal and the other mob. I use a guy from Mecal but that's how it happens no real reason..