Bare boat motor cruiser charter?

[John Kennett]

I've been looking around to see if I can find any motor cruisers for bare boat charter and it looks like it's almost impossible. As if bare boat RIB charter wasn't hard enough!

If I was of the rag and stick persuasion there would be any number of coampanies willing to trust me to get into god knows what sort of trouble, but dispense with the flappy bits and the only options seem to be narrowboats or plastic floating caravans on the Thames or the Broads.

I'm not looking for anything fast or exotic, just something that I could use to take the family for a week of coastal cruising in reasonable comfort. Something like a Pedro would be ideal, but I'm open to suggestions.

Anyone got any bright ideas?

[Polwart]

John,

Both Tim and Doug were suggested recently for a similar question: http://rib.net/forum/showthread.php?t=31236 - of course whether they would trust you is a different matter

EDIT - if you are not too fussy, then Caley Cruisers seem to hire boats to anybody - but you are restricted to the Canal/Lochs. These are basically floating caravans though - albeit that like caravans they range from bloody awful to just claustrophobic white blobs!

[John Kennett]

Thanks, I had assumed that Tim and Doug's were skippered. I'll see what they say.

The Caley boats aren't what I had in mind but they do look better than the average hire boat!

[Tim M]

John
I can arrange bareboat on a Sealine F37, although you would have to supply a "CV" of experiance.

[Rogue Wave]

surely JF or his cheerful buddy would know somebody that could could sort something out for you.

[Jimbo]

Hayling Sea School will bareboat charter their MotorCat - if you ring Nigel tell him you got the link from Jimbo
http://www.haylingseaschool.co.uk/5266/79518.html

[John Kennett]

Thanks, that looks like it might do the job. I think the Sealine would probably be a bit OTT for what I want - something between the two would probably be ideal.

Do you know if the MotorCat is restricted to the Solent? I was really thinking of heading down to the West Country. I'll give Nigel a call anyway.