Special Boating Section: A Fine Feadship
October 1, 2002
Kwikumat, which now operates with a 10-person crew in the Mediterranean in the summer and in the Bahamas in the winter, was originally designed with wall murals decorating several of the guest staterooms, and the current owner expanded the theme. Three of the four guest staterooms—Plantation, Portuguese, Venice and California—feature themed wall murals. Palm trees and scenes of the Caribbean, for example, are painted on the walls of Plantation. The California stateroom has no murals, but rather takes its name from a frequent guest of the owner, a Californian who regularly stays in that room. “If you buy the yacht, you get the murals,” Baker says. “You can paint over them, but that would be a pity because they’re very appealing."
Baker says that if you purchase Kwikumat, making the yacht available for charter might be a prudent decision. He recommends a 12-week charter schedule each year, making Kwikumat available in mid- to late summer in the Mediterranean, and in the winter in the Caribbean; save June around Greece and September in the Bahamas for yourself, he says. Kwikumat’s 8-foot-5-inch draft allows the yacht to navigate most of the Bahamas’ shallow waters without danger of damaging the hull. “Without any significant difficulty, a committed owner could break even on charter,” Baker says. “Use it in June and September. It will be less hot, less crowded and more attractive."
Recently, another yacht brokerage firm listed a 142-foot Feadship, built the same year as Kwikumat, at $17,950,000. Kwikumat was originally listed at $17,750,000, and Baker says that a prospective buyer would be getting fair market value. “The days of naked optimism in yacht pricing are behind us,” he says. “People have to offer value for the price they’re asking. Besides, you’ll have a lot more fun using this yacht than watching your stocks decline every day on the New York Stock Exchange
Camper & Nicholsons International, +44.20.7491.2950, www.cnconnect.com
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