legality

[Neil Smith]

If its kept in a marina with repair facilities they could do anything that needs sorting before it goes out again.

 

Neil

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Stewart said:

Thanks for that, both gentlemen. Is it possible to rent a mooring near a repair outfit? Are there such things?....

You can rent a berth in a marina, of which many have on-site repair facilities / engineers, I would suggest, however. that they would not be prepared to go out in the middle of the night when the battery has gone flat, the gas run-out, they have run out of diesel or there is a bit of rope wrapped around the propeller.

 

If they did, I wouldn't be surprised if their charges did not come somewhere near the amount the hirer was paying you.

 

Would you expect the marina engineering company to keep in stock every conceivable spare part for your boat ?

 

I actually bought a complete spare engine for my 'spares' at least it was in my shed and not having to wait days for delivery of some obscure parts.

 

You may have guessed, you are not the 1st to look at hiring as a way of funding your boating hobby.

 

Remember BOAT is an acronym for 
Bring 

Out

Another

Thousand (£s)

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

And of course the boat is booked out with another party in 2-days time - will it be repaired in time ? Will it break down again ? Will they expect loss of amenity compensation if you cancel the day before they arrive ?

Two days time? In peak season it more like four hours time.

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, Neil Smith said:

If its kept in a marina with repair facilities they could do anything that needs sorting before it goes out again.

 

Neil

As Alan says be prepared to pay and pay well because you would be expecting priority attention over other customers who may have had their boats booked in for work for some weeks.

 

You might find a marine that will do the whole thing for you, including the turn round and instruction.

 

Have you looked at sponsoring a boat in an established hire fleet?

[Lysander]

The marina we use has the following clause in its Terms and Conditions:

Except with the prior written consent of (the marina operator), you may not use any part of the Marina or your Vessel for any commercial purposes including, without limitation, hire of
the Vessel, embarkation of charter parties, rental accommodation or advertising of any kind, or display any advertisements or signs on the Vessel or anywhere else
within the Marina. If (the marina operator) gives its written consent for commercial use, such use will be subject to such further terms and conditions as (the marina operator) may specify and to the
payment of additional fees.

So there may be further hurdles to negotiate...

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Lysander said:

The marina we use has the following clause in its Terms and Conditions:

Except with the prior written consent of (the marina operator), you may not use any part of the Marina or your Vessel for any commercial purposes including, without limitation, hire of
the Vessel, embarkation of charter parties, rental accommodation or advertising of any kind, or display any advertisements or signs on the Vessel or anywhere else
within the Marina. If (the marina operator) gives its written consent for commercial use, such use will be subject to such further terms and conditions as (the marina operator) may specify and to the
payment of additional fees.

So there may be further hurdles to negotiate...

 

BWML ?

 

We have the same (similar) worded conditions.

[Lysander]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

BWML ?

 

We have the same (similar) worded conditions.

No, but I expect it's quite a normal condition especially where a marina is running its own hire business.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Lysander said:

No, but I expect it's quite a normal condition especially where a marina is running its own hire business.

Some marinas don't want hire boats in there at all, some even refuse shared ownership

[Wanderer Vagabond]

On 29/07/2018 at 19:05, Alan de Enfield said:

From the business Licence T&Cs :

 

15. Self-Drive Holiday Hire (SDHH)

....................15.2 Where you operate a fleet of hire Boats you must have enough mooring space to accommodate the maximum number of boats that may be at the mooring at any given time without obstructing the navigation, lock landings, locks and bridges and without placing the Boat against the towpath or on designated visitor moorings...........................

 

Interesting T&Cs, I can certainly think of a few hire boat operators who don't quite run with that one

[Athy]

On 30/07/2018 at 16:52, Tony Brooks said:

 

 

Have you looked at sponsoring a boat in an established hire fleet?

Now that's an avenue worth going down. What it means is that you buy a boat, it gets painted in a hire fleet's colours, they operate it during the hiring season, you get a proportion of the revenue from its hirings, and when it's not hired out you can use it as your own boat (which it is). So all the legalities are taken care of by the hire company. The large company ABC, for example, operate this system.

 

We investigated doing this a few years ago.

Edited August 5, 2018 by Athy

[Jennifer McM]

March/April time this year we shared several locks with a boater and his crew on the GU (Berko area) travelling south. His boat (which looked rather tidy from what we saw, and not in any livery colours) had been used as a holiday hire boat by a company. He was moving the boat to another hire boat company as his boat had become too old for the first company. The second company wasn't so fussy how old the boat was. The boater was also having the first company build him another (new) hire boat. 

 

 

[zenataomm]

On ‎30‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 15:25, Neil Smith said:

If its (it's) kept in a marina with repair facilities they could do anything that needs sorting before it goes out again.

 

Neil

Well good luck with that one, most successful marinas want a week or so notice to do any work, they're hardly sitting around waiting for work during the season.

[Stewart]

A general thank you once again to all the kind people bothering to impart their knowledge and wisdom to a clueless newbie. I have time this week to finally look into the idea properly, and I feel rather keen to go ahead. I wonder how much money people make sponsoring a boat; that's an interesting proposition - speaking as someone who tends to like the lazy option...

Stewart

[TheBiscuits]

54 minutes ago, Stewart said:

A general thank you once again to all the kind people bothering to impart their knowledge and wisdom to a clueless newbie. I have time this week to finally look into the idea properly, and I feel rather keen to go ahead. I wonder how much money people make sponsoring a boat; that's an interesting proposition - speaking as someone who tends to like the lazy option...

Stewart

Considerably less than running a hire boat - but without all the hassle!

[Mike Tee]

Living on the Scottish Borders and being 'responsible' for a hire boat does not seem to be ideal. Also,  a costly exercise just to be able to go for the odd cruise through the year.

Why not get involved with a boat share? Much smaller investment, plus you would (probably) have the support of experienced boaters.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Mike Tee
spilling

[Chewbacka]

6 hours ago, Stewart said:

A general thank you once again to all the kind people bothering to impart their knowledge and wisdom to a clueless newbie. I have time this week to finally look into the idea properly, and I feel rather keen to go ahead. I wonder how much money people make sponsoring a boat; that's an interesting proposition - speaking as someone who tends to like the lazy option...

Stewart

If running hire boats made lots of money, then hire companies would own boats outright to keep all the profits, so I suspect that the profits are too small to reliably cover depreciation and interest on a bank loan to buy the boat outright.  So if you are prepared to cover those costs yourself, then there is probably some money to be made.  Depends on the summer as well, this year the season will probably be good and last longer, next year.............  so bear that in mind if asking a hire company as to the returns you might get, don’t just hear the results from an abnormally good season.

[PaulD]

On 07/08/2018 at 00:55, Stewart said:

A general thank you once again to all the kind people bothering to impart their knowledge and wisdom to a clueless newbie. I have time this week to finally look into the idea properly, and I feel rather keen to go ahead. I wonder how much money people make sponsoring a boat; that's an interesting proposition - speaking as someone who tends to like the lazy option...

Stewart

Everyone is being very kind and helpful. If you know nothing about boats, live hours away from your proposed business and prefer the lazy option there might be other opportunities for you.