When you are not using your boat

Do you like your boat?

I ran charters on my modest size boat (s) for 6 years in Fort Lauderdale.
What is the question?

Yes, I ran the boat for the guests and occasionally my wife would come along to serve champagne and chat with guests as a hostess.
As for multiple day charges: We never did 2 charters in a day, wasn’t that busy, but I also turned down charters if I smelled a problem, like bachelor parties, or when they started to argue on the phone. ( I was limited to 6 passengers, sometimes they wanted me to take 7 or 8 and explained some of the pax was small or children. 6 is a hard number, some customers didn’t understand that)

As for attracting the guests: I had a website and a FB page, also joined several “platforms” like Boatsetter or Get-a-Boat and others, they would take 15% of the total, but some of those were meant for Bareboat Charters and would also provide insurance, which we didn’t need as were an UPV = Uninspected Passenger Vessel, this also led to problems as some agents didn’t understand the difference and denied me the charter if I didn’t pay for their insurance.
I also had big signs made up and hung them on the railings for visibility then ran frequently through Fort Lauderdale with lots of exposure to both locals and tourists.
I charged $125 an hour, the trips were usually 3 hours, sometimes 4 and most people were generous
with a tips at the end of the trip.
I didn’t make a profit but offset some expenses as my accountant let me deduct all boat expenses.
(I had 2 boats, a small recreational canal boat and the charter boat which was registered commercial
with commercial insurance, a business bank account and could show expenses like fuel, repairs, engine services, etc)
Because of Covid I had no business for almost 2 years but was still able to write off expenses.

It depends where you are are what kind of charters you have in mind. 48 is small for multi days overnight charters but can work for day charters in the right locations.

not in south Florida though as it’s all ghetto charters and tour boat will be trashed We used to run day charters in miami for years until about 7-8 years ago when we noticed a significant drop in guest quality.

And the plandemic only made it worst.

Agree, and if overnight charters might be part of the plan, a review of sleeping quarters and heads/showers is probably in order. (I dunno anything about Sabre 48s.)

We had two staterooms on our just previous boat; "queen" master in the bow and full size mattress in the small guest stateroom. Would me and crew sleep in the guest room? Not hardly. Would guests love it? Probably not. We had a single split head/shower arrangement. Good, but maybe not the kind of privacy a charter couple might be looking for.

In the current boat, we have our own master, plus a "queen" berth in the bow suitable for a couple, plus a bunk room (kids?), plus separate head and shower to service all that. More suitable... but chartering can be a boatload of work... and we're not instantly "social" with any ol' Tom, Dick, or Harry that might want to come aboard... so we decided not worth our effort.

That "social thing" is another factor. If you're part of the trip, can your personality handle it? And/or can your captain's?

FWIW, we did allow our first boat to be chartered a few times (before I got the ticket), mostly bare boat. Too much fix-it/clean-up work afterwards. Bagged that.

-Chris

We did about 15 years of weekly charters mostly in the Exumas along with a few in New england early on. Out of about 100 week long charters I can’t really think of a single bad experience. A few were soon forgotten but at least half of the guests became repeats and many became good friends. The owners of the 110 we run started as charter guests.

But yes it was hard work especially on the first boat, a 70 footer with 3 guests staterooms. The logistics of having a total 8 people on board for a week were challenging… freezer space, watermarking, holding tank etc. Later on on an 84 and then the 110 we run now it became much easier

Great way to add some wear and tear to your boat!

I chartered ( properly licensed and insured...) our 50' Sportfish for 5-7 years. Ran the boat a good amount myself, sometime had others captain it. Broke a ton of stuff, but it was an experience.

One very positive, RI has laws in place where all fuel taxes are stripped off the diesel for commercial vessels. Saves a boat-load.

There is something about a boat when I first walk on them. I can tell if they were chartered or luved by the owner.
Not all guest you have on board are boaters. Some are slobs.
On your 48, 6-pax, captain and at least one mate/stew.
Your head will be the first service issue after 8 folks go thru it daily.

Good luck on your dissensions.

It's amazing what people will toss into your marine head... I'm flabbergasted.