Market notes · Guides · Ownership

The Journal

Working notes from the Komodo boat desk — market reports, deal and legal guides, survey checklists and the economics of owning a boat in Labuan Bajo.

64 articles

Latest Labuan Bajo Market

2027 Komodo Boat Market Report: Inventory, Demand and Deal Flow

This is a working desk’s view of the Komodo and Labuan Bajo vessel market heading into 2027, based on the enquiries, listings and completed transactions we handle. It is qualitative and regional rather than…

Read article 18 Aug 2026 · 5 min read

Ownership & Charter

Financing a Komodo Purchase Through Charter Forward-Bookings

Conventional marine finance is thin in eastern Indonesia. Banks that lend readily against a yacht in Europe are cautious about a wooden…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Ownership & Charter

The Two-Boat Strategy: Operators Pairing Phinisi With Speedboats

Spend a week watching the Labuan Bajo waterfront and a pattern emerges among the operators who seem to run smoothly: most of…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Survey & Technical

Handover at Sea: Delivery Protocols for Komodo Transactions

Handover is the moment a Komodo boat sale becomes real, and it is treated with startling informality in a market where the…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Deal & Legal

Licensing a Small Speedboat for Park Work After Purchase

A speedboat purchase in Labuan Bajo can complete in ten days. Making that boat legally able to carry paying passengers into Komodo…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Labuan Bajo Market

Price per Cabin: The Metric Komodo Buyers Compare First

Ask any experienced Komodo operator how they triage a shortlist and most will do the same arithmetic within seconds: purchase price divided…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Labuan Bajo Market

Shooting a Boat in Komodo Light: Listing Media That Converts

Listing media for a working Komodo vessel has a different job from charter marketing. Charter imagery sells a feeling to a guest.…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Survey & Technical

Refit Before Listing: Seller Upgrades That Actually Return Money

Owners preparing to sell a Komodo vessel face a genuinely difficult allocation problem. Spend nothing and buyers mark the price down aggressively…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Deal & Legal

Keeping the Crew: Retention Clauses in Komodo Boat Sales

A Komodo liveaboard is a machine operated by people who know a specific piece of water extremely well. The captain who reads…

18 Aug 2026 6 min read

Deal & Legal

Insurance Binding in NTT: Covering Your New Komodo Purchase

Insurance is usually the last item a Komodo buyer thinks about and one of the first that can derail a completion. Cover…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Survey & Technical

Vessel Age and Park Standards: What Older Boats Must Prove

Buyers arriving in Labuan Bajo often ask the wrong question about age. “How old is too old?” has no useful answer here,…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Labuan Bajo Market

Buying From Exiting Operators: Fleet Sales at the Komodo Gateway

Some of the best-documented vessels in Labuan Bajo come to market not because anything is wrong with them but because an operator…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

Survey & Technical

Booking a Survey Slot in Labuan Bajo: Lead Times and Local Pros

Buyers routinely discover that the constraint on a Komodo boat purchase is not finance or negotiation but calendar. The good surveyors working…

18 Aug 2026 5 min read

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