Yacht brokers Mallorca and Andalusia

The annual maintenance of a recreational boat is built around the lift out with hull cleaning, the engine service and anode replacement, and on a ten metre boat it usually totals between two thousand five hundred and five thousand euros excluding berth and insurance.

A berth is priced by multiplying length by beam, so a boat ten metres long and three and a half wide occupies thirty five square metres, and the port's daily or annual tariff is applied to that area.

Compulsory third party liability insurance covers damage caused to others, while hull and machinery cover, which protects the vessel itself, is voluntary and accounts for most of the premium.

The qualification needed depends on the length of the boat and the distance from shore: a navigation licence allows up to six metres and two miles, the basic skipper certificate up to eight metres and five miles, and the PER up to fifteen metres and twelve miles.

The annual cost of keeping a boat usually runs between eight and fifteen per cent of its value, covering berth, insurance, maintenance, lift out and fuel, so the purchase price is only the first payment.

The flag determines the law applicable to the vessel, but it does not displace the tax obligations arising from the owner's residence or from the effective use of the boat in Spanish waters, which are governed by their own criteria.