We purchased a one-twelfth share in Ursula in October1997 for £2,900 and,
under the terms of a "Shared Ownerships Agreement", she was managed by Ownerships Ltd
on behalf of the owners.
Unlike, most boats in the Ownerships scheme, she was acquired as a used boat and not
built to Ownerships' specifications. She entered the system in 1992 but was two or
three years old at that time.
We had nine plus wonderful years cruising the UK Waterways on her but the challenges of
making multiple journeys across "The Pond" from Reno, Nevada, USA to the United Kingdom
each year became a bit too much so we decided to sell our share.
We had lengthy communications with Allen Matthews, owner of Ownerships, regarding their
"Buy-Back" scheme and eventually accepted a negotiated offer whereby the company would
buy back our share for £2,963; (after taking into account brokerage fees
and buy-back premiums for 2006 and 2007 the actual net amount was £2,500).
This was less than her true market value, and most likely less than we would have received
if we had advertised her on Ownerships' web site. It was also £37 less than the amount
Ownerships was legally obligated to pay under the terms of the agreement we had signed with
them but we were satisfied with this offer. Especially as Ownerships offered to repurchase the
share immediately rather than wait until July 2007 (the earliest buy back date in their scheme) and
also refund 100% of our 2007 boat costs. As we were not sure if we would be cruising on Ursula in
2007 this was an added incentive to accept their offer.
At the end of the short slideshow there are links to the 18 cruises we took between October 1997 and
November 2006. In total we cruised on her for 36 weeks. It is difficult to calculate the exact per week
cost but I would estimate that it was approximately £271 arrived at as follows: -
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Original purchase price:
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£2,900
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Boat Expenses - 1998-2006:
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£4,796
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Ownerships Admin Fees - 1998-2006:
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£3,082
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Net Sale Price:
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£2,500
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Fixed Costs:
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£8,278
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Estimate for diesel, calor gas
and pump-ours (£40 per week)
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£1,480
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Total
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£9,758
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Over this ten-year period the exchange rate varied from $1.40 to $1.97 but using an average
of $1.68 this works out to around $455 per week for the boat. Of course, this
does not include air fares - for the 18 trips these may have average out at $650 per ticket
if we had not used frequent flyers on some flights. The bottom line is that, given the enjoyment
we had cruising the waterways on Ursula, the finiancial outway was definitely well worth it.
I have included some additional data about Ursula below; if you have any questions or would like
to know more about the boat or Ownerships Ltd. please contact us at