Charter my boat

[rob71]

I am planning on doing day charters with my 43DC. I have just started getting captians license and insurance in place. I plan to take people to picknick,swim,cruise and/or visit the barrier islands around my area. What advice do some of you experienced captians have for me?

Rob71

 

[Imthebeachgirl]

Hi Rob, where in Florida are you?

 

[rob71]

I am about 25 miles north of Clearwater, in Hudson.

 

[Imthebeachgirl]

Hi again Rob, we are in Brandon (Hillsborough County), just south of you. We boat in the lower TB area and around St. Pete and the Gulfport area..."beer can" island... nice..good luck with your venture and keep us posted on how things work out...

Cheers,
Laurie & Jim

 

[Pascal]

in short, attention to details is critical.

unless you are positioning yourself at the lower end of the market, you have to make sure everything is "perfect". While the boat i manage is obvioulsy in a different price range, we (Naomi and I) work real hard to make sure every little detail is just right. from the towels to the food to the drinks and keeping the boat absolutely spotless. We make sure the food we serve is natural, homemade as much as possible. No cheap deli stuff or publix desert!

water toys are important... a good tender, noodles, snorkeling gear, etc....

on a charter, you really need to have a second person on board to take care of the guests while you drive the boat. Ideally, that person needs to be licensed if he/she is going to drive the tender with guests.

 

[rob71]

Thanks for the encouragement Laurie and Jim, hope we meet out there sometime. Thankyou Pascal for the tips, especially about not letting unlicensed crew pilot the tender. The local day rate for a private fishing charter is about $600 for the day, do you think that would be a good price for the type of day charter I have described?

 

[Passages]

Are you sure about $600 for a full day fishing?

I was in Ft Lauderdale in January. The 42C Hatt I was on charged that for a half day.

That said, $600 for a full day picnic cruise might be fair as you'll burn much less fuel than the charter fishing fleet.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

We looked into that a few years ago but gave it up.

Another couple decided to do that, but after all the hassle they had to go thru to get insurance, the U.S.C.G. people put them thru the wringer on every little detail plus all the extra stuff you will need to have on board, the price didn't justify the cost.

The easier way to go, is to hire yourself out to run THEIR boat, that's what I do here........

 

[Sparky1]

I hate to hijack this thread (really, I do ), but I've considered the same thing with my 58 up here in Tennessee. I happened to meet a guy at lunch a couple of weeks ago who used to captain one of the sightseeing riverboats out of Chattanooga.

According to him, the USCG end of it is not as complicated for inland operation as it is coastal. Specifically, you wouldn't be limited to six paying passengers on a non-inspected vessel, and there are fewer restrictions. Anybody able to confirm or expand on that?

 

[67hat34c]

I dont know much about running a charter esp sight seeing but I would suspect Pascal hit this one on the head.

If you are serving food, not sure if there are going to be health dept issues etc. You will be in state waters so recommend you research this. Unclear if you have to be licensed to serve food if you are not selling it separately. You may need to be licensed and or insured to serve or sell alcohol. If not then it would be BYOB.

 

[Bill Allen]

What the heck I may as well say my piece. Been chartering boats for around 20 years. Both fishing and now diving. It's a very hard way to turn a buck. Hard on the boat, passangers never take care of it the way you do. Need to track your business trips as well as any pleasure time on the boat. Need to be nice to every A.H. that comes on the boat. Deal with breakdowns NOW so the customer aren't inconvinced or any trips cancelled. Boat needs to be kept better then you would keep it for yourself. Jeez I can't even begin to mention the pitfalls. I wish you all the best, it's doable, but you might find a job at McDonalds more profitable. Bill

 

[Angela]

Lots of good points have been made already. There are a variety of levels of a "charteryacht." You can run an operation like Capt. Ron on a wing and a prayer, with a lot of deferred maintenance waiting to haunt you, and you'll still find customers who want to get out on the water for as few little dollars as possible. Those people are more concerned with what it costs per person, rather than the vacation or experience they are buying.

On the other end of that spectrum, you can run a high dollar luxury charteryacht business, and you'll find customers for that, too, but you have to really WANT to be in the hospitality business and have some degree passion for what the work really is - it's not the "marine business". It's not the same as spending the day on your boat with your friends. It's hard, long days of being nice, polite, and smiling even when you don't want to.

In the current financial climate, it is this kind of activity that gets cut out of a family's budget first. You likely won't get wealthy doing day charters, but if it makes you happy to get more time out on your boat with someone else footing the cost, then there is a reason to do it. For me, I very much enjoy getting up early, cooking nice meals all day and doing my best to ensure guests are enjoying themselves and the boat and have everything they need.

As for more effort in keeping up the boat, I have to say that if I didn't charter, I would still keep my boat in the condition she is in now, and no, she's still not perfect. I strive to be as good to her as I possibly can, constantly making improvements to her, regardless of whether there is charter business lurking or whether I'm just a liveaboard - I like nice things and to live in a nice, clean, tidy environment. I've been described as "being married to my boat" because I am always working on something that makes her a little nicer. If I wasn't trying to charter her, I would not change a thing about the manner in which I keep her.

 

[Pascal]

no need for food, health or booze licenses...

no issues with the USCG either... you don't need to be inspected to carry 6 passengers. if you have a Master, you can take up to 12 under a bareboat contract where crew and fuel is contracted separately. If you only have a OUPV/6 pack, you are limited to 6, even on a bareboat charter, inland, coastal, makes no difference

in fact, we were boarded during a charter a couple of months ago (5 pax on board), they didn't ask or care if we were on a charter (I'm sure they could tell by the luggage still unpacked in the stateroom).

you probably wont' make any money running charters but it will cover some of the expenses.

as to the rates, in miami smaller boats (40 to 50') charge around $1500/2000 a day, all included (brokers take a 20% commission). Modern 65 to 75 footer charge between 3500 and 4500 all included.

 

[rob71]

Thanks all for the great input, Angela hit the nail on the head reguarding my motivation, out on the water with some expenses offset. I do plan to incorporate and have been advised to title the boat there. Any more insights?