If You Dont Have Time To Sail Should You Rent Your Boat??

[pico]

12/20/08

Seasons Greetings:
I have been working diligently repairing a great 27 foot boat, and its all ready to go. The problem is I just got accepted into graduate school. It’s my first boat and it means a lot to me, so I’m not ready to part with it yet, but to pay to have it stored is a little pricy to not use for the next to years. Does anyone know anything about renting or leasing boats, or alternatives to a situation like this, and the legalities that follow.
Thanks,

Matt
And Happy Holidays

 

[Roger Long]

Part of the plan when I we (or so it was then) got my boat was that we would charter it out a couple weeks a year through one of the charter agencies in Maine that we had chartered from in earlier years. Their literature indicated that a couple charters would pay basic storage and similar costs.

When I contacted them to talk seriously about it though, I learned that things had changed a lot in the decade since we chartered a C&C 30 a few times. There are now lots of fancy boats with full Navnet electronics packages, radar, chartplotters, and every bell and whistle for them to take their pick of. Owners are aging and using their boats less, lots of people bought more boat than they need. Life is getting expensive. In short, they weren't interested in a charming but funky and simple boat like mine anymore.

You might be able to work out something with someone privately. Remember, you insurance will be void if you rent the boat to someone without having way more expensive coverage. Your best bet would be to find someone to become a partner in the boat, perhaps putting in a lot of the sweat equity contribution that it sounds like you won't have time for.

 

[sailingdog]

The problem is that you'll need a USCG license if you're chartering your boat, which is what renting it is considered. You'll also need much more expensive commercial insurance, since most normal yacht policies don't cover chartering the boat.

If you have some friends that sail and you trust implicitly, it might be worth having them use it, maintain it and pay for the slip and marina fees, or at least split them. They'd have a boat to use, and pay for the privilege by maintaining and storing it, but wouldn't have to pay for the capital costs of buying it...

Doing this with a stranger might be a lot more trouble than it is worth.

 

[Roger Long]

The problem is that you'll need a USCG license if you're chartering your boat, which is what renting it is considered.

Not if it's a charter in which they supply the crew and you basically turn the boat totally over to them for an agreed upon period. Insurance is a big issue though.

 

[pico]

O well thank you for the update on the insurance, I had not even thought that far. I'll see if I can come up with anything though. I do like the idea of 'sharing' my boat though.

 

[newly anonymous]

a better option might be...

...to offer your boat for partnership. After an appropriate buy-in your partner would pay slip fees and contribute to a maintenance fund in return for half ownership of the boat.

This sort of arrangement is not uncommon in the world of boat ownership.

Congratulations on getting into grad school!