It all started with paying for a “build slot” deposit on a Helia 44 with Multihull Solutions in Thailand a couple of months ago. However, our circumstances changed and I needed to make some modifications to our grand plan – or lose the dream for a while.
The team at Multihull Solutions, namely Andrew De Bruin, Greg Boller and Charles Robinson were ultra supportive and instead of walking away from a difficult deal, they put their heads together and tried their best to make this work out for us. Yes, they are sales people, but their personal efforts went beyond “closing a deal”, helping us to get the yacht we were looking for.
It so happened that at the time, Dream Yacht Charter started negotiating with Fountaine Pajot to include FP boats in their charter fleet. Multihull Solutions, being an FP sales agent got wind of this and saw an opportunity for us.
We settled for DYC’s Dream Easy Program. Basically, we needed to pay 35% down payment (which was a 20% initial deposit and a further 15% approx 6 months prior to delivery). DYC then uses the yacht for 66 months in their bare boat charter fleet at an agreed destination (Croatia in our case), pays for all the maintenance, insurance and associated running costs. At the end of the contract, we pay a remainder of 25% and the cat is ours.
In the meantime, we get to use our or any other equivalent sized and aged catamaran in their fleet, anywhere in the world, for up to 8 weeks per annum, for free (almost, a small cleaning fee is involved).
So whilst we are still at work, earning the 60% to pay for our retirement dream, we get to sail in some of the best cruising grounds, keeping the dream alive and the mind relaxed…. further more, we don’t have to worry about the yacht whilst we are not using it, having to pack up and securing it or getting the cat ready for the next trip. Just step on board, sail and leave!
Well, it all sounds good…. really good….. so lets see how it pans out over the next 6 years. The boat is due for delivery in April 2019 and will be ours to take away in Nov 2024.
