Luxury Yacht Sales Sink as Costs Add Up

Fuel: Have 130 gallons of fuel you need to get rid of? Put it into a 200-foot yacht and idle it for 10 minutes. According to Superyachts.com, that's exactly the kind of mileage you can expect from these dream boats. Even tooling along at 20 knots will cost more than $2,500 an hour in fuel, as large yachts have a tank capacity anywhere between 1,300 and 106,000 gallons. With a three-hour tour costing roughly $7,500 in gas alone, it almost makes more financial sense to maroon yourself on an uncharted desert island.

Staff: Since sailing a floating city around the world requires more than a steady hand on the outboard motor, an owner will need a good captain. That captain's not going to come cheap, as those provided by such services as Palm Beach Yachts can command up to $26,000 a month. Unless you're up to cooking for your crew, your guests and yourself, you're going to need a cook, too. That can cost another $10,000 a month. Those crew salaries are much lower than they were before the recession, but that's of little comfort when you're spending $30,000 a month for base staff alone. With bigger ships requiring dozens of crew members, a combined staff salary can easily climb to six figures before the ship's set sail.

Security measures: Sure, a yacht owner can just hire more security from Xe, Triple Canopy or the like to fend off pirates, but that just puts more people on the boat and doesn't give him or her any toys to play with. Enter LaserSec Systems and its Sealase device -- a military-grade laser system that warns of approaching threats and temporarily blinds attackers with its rays. The Sealase's base price of more than $90,000 may seem steep at first. But consider that Abramovich had his Eclipse fitted with a missile defense system, bulletproof windows and armor plating. If you can afford a megayacht, you can afford protection that comes at a much lesser price than the ransom on your head -- or worse.

-- Reported by Jason Notte in Boston.

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