Executive Summary

The idea came upon me to build a spacious sailboat to charter, especially as a live aboard bnb. I researched this idea to identify ways in which it could attract sponsorship and custom.

I figured the boat should be eco-friendly, able to cater for environmental projects, charity and social work and holidays in pristine locations.

This required a boat that could hold a number of people, and be fairly stable. This narrowed the type of boat down to a multihull. To be eco-friendly, this multihull needed to be a sailboat with an electrical drive system that generates its power from solar panels. Power storage would have to be with Lithium batteries due to weight limitations.

Finally I narrowed down the multihull to a Proa design, as this would give me the greatest amount of open space un-encumbered by mast shadow for solar panels.

Thus far, the boat has cost over $210,000 (this includes $24000 of lithium batteries), and at present requires about 2 weeks work and $6500 to put it in the water.

I suffered a fall from the boat deck to the concrete hard a few months ago, fracturing my pelvis and have only recently recovered. This has delayed the final completion, and consequently I am now looking for sponsorship to finish the project in a timely fashion.

Once in the water, a further $45,000 would complete the interior of the boat and make it ready to charter.

Charter options

People have chartered sailboats for a sailing holiday for many years and this is now a mature market, but the idea of simply living aboard a sailboat is a relatively new concept.

Afloat bnb is a website/Facebook page that started the idea in 2011, and the live aboard holiday is only now gaining momentum. This can be particularly noticed in airbnb where if you look for holiday places in sailing areas you will find boats advertised as well as the usual houses, apartments and rooms.

• Live aboard holiday (afloat bnb)

• Diving

• Surfing, sail-boarding

• Environmental projects

• Eco friendly holidays in an eco friendly sailboat

• Charity and social holidays for handicapped, or underprivileged children

Rewards for sponsors

• living aboard for a special holiday in the Algarve Ria Formosa National park.

• Major sponsors would have the option of buying in to a share of the boat and even buying the boat itself.

Future growth prospects and marketing

• By moving the boat to a new region as seasons change it could be used year round.

• This would also serve to advertise the concept in a wider international market.

• There will be an increased amount of return custom if the boat is periodically at a new location.

Thus, although the boat starts operating in the Algarve’s Ria Formosa, she could cross the Atlantic in November after the season has ended (and could even charter in Cabo Verde on the way), and be ready to charter in the Caribbean in January.

At an appropriate time she could then transit the Panama Canal to French Polynesia (Tahiti) and the rest of the South Pacific.

I envisage a final destination of Thailand/Malaysia/Indonesia where I predict charter growth will greatest in a few years. This area would also be highly suited to building further versions of Kleen Breeze, due to boat building skills and low labour costs.

Competitors

Presently there are a few people advertising live aboard holidays at afloatbnb and in airbnb.

There are also people advertising diving holidays, surfing holidays etc.

There are a few companies that combine the two holidays into one, where you live aboard the boat that you are diving off. However these are expensive, as they cater for the fully pampered holiday not the bnb type. As yet, I have not seen a bnb type diving holiday.

To this end I have actually bought the domain name divingbnb, and acquired the facebook page diving bnb for future growth.