Choosing the yacht
Motor yacht or sailing yacht, with the fuel bill included
Is a motor yacht or a sailing yacht better value for a Phuket charter?
The short answer
Is a motor yacht or a sailing yacht better value for a Phuket charter?
A motor yacht buys you speed, and in this cruising ground speed buys you destinations: a thirty mile crossing to Phi Phi takes ninety minutes rather than four hours, which changes what fits into a week. It costs you fuel, which comes out of the APA rather than the base rate, so a motor yacht quoting 35 percent APA against a sailing yacht's 25 percent is telling you something real. Over a week the total gap between a comparable motor yacht and sailing yacht is usually larger than the base rates suggest, and the honest question is whether you want to cover distance or to be somewhere.
What the APA hides
Compare two yachts at fifty thousand dollars a week. The sailing catamaran quotes 25 percent APA, the planing motor yacht quotes 35. That is a five thousand dollar difference before anyone has decided where to go, and it is almost entirely diesel.
On a Similan itinerary the gap widens further, because the motor yacht will run generators around the clock for air conditioning across two long crossings.
What speed actually buys
| Passage | Sailing catamaran | Planing motor yacht |
|---|---|---|
| Ao Po to Koh Hong, 14 nm | 2 hours | 40 minutes |
| Phuket to Phi Phi, 30 nm | 3 to 4 hours | 90 minutes |
| Phuket to the Similans, 58 nm | 8 to 9 hours | 3 to 4 hours |
| Phi Phi to Racha, 32 nm | 4 hours | 100 minutes |
On a seven-night charter that difference is roughly a whole extra day of being somewhere rather than getting somewhere, and on a Similan itinerary it can be the difference between the route being possible and not.
The recommendation
- Staying in Phang Nga Bay: sail. The passages are short, the fuel saving is real, and the bay is more pleasant at five knots.
- Doing the southern loop in four nights: either, with a slight edge to motor.
- Going to the Similans in seven: motor, or a fast catamaran. The passage time is the constraint.
- Wanting to sail as the point of the trip: sail, and pick a route with real crossings on it.
Next
- Catamaran or monohull in the Andaman SeaShould I charter a catamaran or a monohull in Phuket?
- APA explained: what it pays for and what comes backWhat is the Advance Provisioning Allowance on a yacht charter?
- How many days each cruising ground actually needsHow long should a yacht charter in Phuket be?
Last checked 6 September 2026. Rates, fees and regulations in this market change every season, so figures on this page are correct as at that date and not afterwards. How the figures are gathered.