Ron, Mark, and all other Cat enthusiasts Like many of us, I am looking around for a large cruising cat to use in the southeast US, Florida, Bahamas, and possibly as far south as BVI. I prefer the Chartercats 42 or 48 foot Prowler or the 42 foot Africat although it is quite a bit more expensive. Problem is tying up $500,000 or so for a boat that might only get 30 to 60 days of use per year seems difficult to justify. While visiting the West Palm Beach show last month I got the idea of trying to find 5 or 6 like minded catamaran lovers who would like to co-purchase one of these and share use throught the year. Putting a boat that I owned into charter is unpalatable. So here is the idea: -Lets say that 4 or 5 or 6 very experienced, responsible, and meticulous boat owners pool their funds and buy one boat. Approximate investment would be $100,000 each. Probably would not finance the boat to keep matters simple, this is possibly negotiable. -Each owner would be required to learn about the boat - systems, engines, maintenance, navigation systems, etc. You must be mechanically inclined, you must know the boat. -Each of the 4 to 6 owners will be a designated captain, and ONLY those persons can operate the boat. Your spouse can steer if your at sea, but that's it. Only the captain can start and stop the engines, dock the boat, etc. -Boat cannot be chartered, loaned out, or rented for any purpose. -Hurricanes are a big concern, so I suggest the boat comes north in the summer from early June to late October to someplace like the Chesapeake Bay area, or wherever that it is safer and wanted by a northern owner. -When each owner gets to use it is open to negotiation, but each has to take some off season time. We would have a set annual schedule, and then members could exchange if desired. If you are interested in talking about this, send me a reply. I leave on Thursday for a 4 week Bahama cruise on my noisy gas guzling 38 foot Silverton, so if I don't hear from you before Wednesday, I will get back to you when I return. Dennis McGuire (alias Snowman) PS Georg, your thoughts on this?