Ex-Ownerships boat Shadow joins BCBM

I joined most of the other members of the Shadow syndicate yesterday at the Old Royal Oak by the Oxford Canal in Hillmorton.


We had a long but productive meeting, starting shortly after 1100 (before the pub had even opened) and finishing at about half past five. The main issue, that of the three "missing" shares which were owned by OwnerShips before it collapsed, we were told, had been resolved. The three shares had been acquired, and effectively dissolved. This means that those who had held a twelfth share now own a ninth share; and owners of what was a half share now own an eighteenth of the boat. We were assured by the owner who was telling us this that it was all completely legally watertight.


Shadow at Loughborough Wharf in 2009

I have to say that this came as a surprise to everyone and was universally welcomed. Of course, it means that all the costs of running the boat are now split between fewer people, but we all get more weeks afloat.

We discussed how we were going to operate as a syndicate: whether to self-manage, or go with a shared ownership management company. We agreed that we'd joined OwnerShips in the first place because we wanted someone else to have the hassle of looking after the boat, so we dropped the self-managing option. We considered three management companies: ABCBM; BCBM; and Ownashare Cruising Ltd.

ABCBM is the boat management arm of what used to be Alvechurch Boat Centre. They had made a very competitive bid, offering to manage our boat for just £250 per share annually provided we moor at one of their marinas (£350 if we were to moor elsewhere), and promising 5% discount on all diesel, pumpout and parts. The first management fee would cover until the end of 2011.

BC Boat Management Ltd. was set up by Andrew Barton and John Cunliffe in the wake of the collapse of Challenger Syndicates. Their fee was more, at £400 per share, but people seemed to be impressed with the professionalism of the brochure and what was promised. Andrew Cooley and Carole Briese came to give us a presentation of what they could do for us. Andrew Cooley was OwnerShips's local manager at attenhall Marina and has been managing Shadow since the demise of OS.

Ownashare Cruising Ltd. is the company which is rising from the ashes of OwnerShips.

We swiftly dismissed the latter option. We were smarting too much from the enormous losses we'd all sustained. We'd added up our collective losses: they came to over £22,000. Thanks OCL, but no thanks. So it was between ABCBM and BCBM. I played devil's advocate, putting forward the case for ABCBM, but we plumped unanimously for BCBM. The fact that Andrew Cooley knew our boat so well weighed heavily in his favour. Andrew and Carole left (celebrating, no doubt) and we went through the BCBM syndicate agreement and discussed moving the boat further south for next year.


As I said, a productive meeting, and I now find I own a little bit more of the boat than I did. That means more weeks (good) and more money to find (bad), but (obviously) not as much money as a whole boat would consume.

I think my boat search is on hold for a bit.

(edited to add photos and correct a typo)