Now even the have-nots can have yachts, too

For gilded millionaires struggling to manage declining fortunes and bruised egos, it is the prudent way to keep up appearances.

The latest fad at the 55th London International Boat Show is timeshare programmes, or "fractional ownership" as the industry calls it, to help those of the seafaring class keep their 60ft yachts at a fraction of the cost. Rather than buying boats for six-figure sums, an upmarket clientele is pooling its resources and sharing their yachts.

Boat-sharers save not only on the initial cost of the vessel but also on the maintenance, mooring, and fuel. Companies such as myboatshare.com have sprung up in response to the burgeoning demand.

Martin Gray, the founder of Pure Latitude, which helps enthusiasts hire a boat for between 15 days and three months, said: "Everybody recognises that boats are extremely expensive and underutilised assets.

"You need to have a tremendous amount of money to keep a boat all year round, and most people prepared to do so recognise how little time they spend on them. A lot of people who want to try sailing but can't afford that outlay think fractional ownership is a smart use of money".

Andrew Williams, the managing director of the National Boat Shows, agreed. "We've seen a steady growth in fractional ownership over several years. If anything, that growth shows signs of accelerating".

A standard £120,000 yacht will depreciate in value to about £100,000 after a year. Annual mooring costs are £7,000, maintenance at least £3,000, and insurance, usually £1,000. Using Mr Gray's time-share scheme, such a boat can be hired for 15 days at £3,500 or for a month at £5,500.

The impact for charter services has been positive too, according to Robert Braithwaite, the founder and chief executive of Sunseeker, the luxury British yacht company he founded with a 17ft boat he built himself in 1968.

"Charter services have been flourishing, despite, or maybe because of, the credit crunch. We're a seafaring nation and our island heritage has always made us rather keen to try out the sea. I think a lot of people who hadn't tried the seas before now think of boating as within their reach".

Nevertheless, Mr Braithwaite, who had a cameo role driving his first boat in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, has halved production of boats at the lower end of the market.

Fairline, one of the country's biggest boat-builders, announced 275 redundancies last month and put workers on a three-day week to cut costs.

The boat show is being held at the ExCel Centre in London. Staff at more than 500 stalls sell the seas in a parade of glitz and ostentation. A total of 100,000 people are expected to attend the show, which ends on Sunday.

The boats on display vary in size from a 1.4m (4.6ft) Autoculture mini yacht, designed for children and costing £549, to the 37m (121.4ft) Trideck motor yacht by Sunseeker, a gleaming metallic projectile that costs £11.5m and had to be lifted in by crane. The longest boat on display, at 133 metres (436ft), was the the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Westminster, moored outside on the river Thames.

Simon Chesunt, from Poole, Dorset, has attended the show for the past 14 years. "The boats seem to get bigger and shinier every time I come back, but the real gems are tucked away," he said. "You can get a terrific dinghy and paddle if you really look around."