What about selling "lodging only" from a Cat?

[psychfeld]

Hey All!

I'm 15 days away from a real estate deal once closed allows me to begin a serious, checkbook-ready exploration of the cruising cat's I've been spying for several months.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of ports or regions in the cruising worlds - carib, med, Australia, thailand, anywhere - that would be feasible place to rent my two guest berths to overnight guests in a 44-46 owners verion cat, say, a Helia or Lagoon 450, owners version (let's make this cozy)

I'm curious if anyone knows an intelligent way this could be done legally, wisely? I suppose most marina's will simply say no, so this would mean shuttling guests to boat on the hook.

I don't have a captain's license yet, although will be enrolling in CG 6 pac classes soon. However, I'm still on the fence about operating a full charter service. In asking about operating as a floating bnb I am seeking alternative income options. I may just want to bypass the liability, head-aches, logistics of captaining my boat as charter. However, I'd still like to make a little money, meet some interesting people, and do it small scale.

I have experience running a b and b in the usa and think there will be many similarities between renting berths when I'm in a particular port, and selling bedrooms on land for transient lodgers. I would probably book through VRBO, airbnb type sites.

I'd be curious if anyone knows about such a limited commercial operation.

Thanks for your time and thoughts!

[Dulcesuenos]

Maybe check with local laws. In the US its easy to vrbo or air bnb your boat. My understanding is many countries you need a local business partner to do this. Also maybe check on the Grenada cruisers group, or Caribbean cruiser.groups on Facebook.

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[pathlesschosen]

Check boatbound.com.


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[garrobito]

at USA west coast harbormaster didn't like airbnd your boat.. I know more than a couple boats kicked out the marina for this matter..
Now if you're rented an slip for a couple week and want to sub lease a cabin.. I don't know.. could work...
Anyway, could me more hassle than reward..

[belizesailor]

Have you considered buying a less espensive boat and thus not needing to produce additional income?

[ozskipper]

Originally Posted by psychfeld

Hey All!

I'm 15 days away from a real estate deal once closed allows me to begin a serious, checkbook-ready exploration of the cruising cat's I've been spying for several months.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of ports or regions in the cruising worlds - carib, med, Australia, thailand, anywhere - that would be feasible place to rent my two guest berths to overnight guests in a 44-46 owners verion cat, say, a Helia or Lagoon 450, owners version (let's make this cozy)

I'm curious if anyone knows an intelligent way this could be done legally, wisely? I suppose most marina's will simply say no, so this would mean shuttling guests to boat on the hook.

I don't have a captain's license yet, although will be enrolling in CG 6 pac classes soon. However, I'm still on the fence about operating a full charter service. In asking about operating as a floating bnb I am seeking alternative income options. I may just want to bypass the liability, head-aches, logistics of captaining my boat as charter. However, I'd still like to make a little money, meet some interesting people, and do it small scale.

I have experience running a b and b in the usa and think there will be many similarities between renting berths when I'm in a particular port, and selling bedrooms on land for transient lodgers. I would probably book through VRBO, airbnb type sites.

I'd be curious if anyone knows about such a limited commercial operation.

Thanks for your time and thoughts!

Aussie laws require all commercial vessels to be in Commercial Survey. The laws are quite restrictive for anyone wanting to casually hire their personal boat out.

Developing countries would be better options for this kind of thing.

[JKP]

Great idea as my wife and I actually looked at doing the same thing this year when we moved to Washington D.C. (cheaper and more sqft than buying on land). Most of the marinas here weren't too affable to the concept, but if you are a livaboard then how can they restrict from having "visitors"?!

I've heard that there is also a guy or couple that owns a 44ish FP near Annapolis that rents on Boatbound, but will also do custom extended stay. However, the prices they are asking are more expensive than a moorings charter in the Caribbean with all food and top shelf boos included (equivalent to your first born child).

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by JKP

Great idea as my wife and I actually looked at doing the same thing this year when we moved to Washington D.C. (cheaper and more sqft than buying on land). Most of the marinas here weren't too affable to the concept, but if you are a livaboard then how can they restrict from having "visitors"?!

Easy, they casually ask a "visitor" how they found about about you then go online and find the advertisement. Even without asking a little googling and it won't be hard to find.

Shortly thereafter they invoke the contract you signed that says you aren't to run a commercial enterprise without prior approval and tell you to leave immediately or charge you the commercials slip rates at 2-3 times the rate for non-commercial.

Check with your insurance while you are at it. They may not take kindly to a commercial operation without commercial insurance and they probably won't distinguish between sitting at the dock and going out on the water. If your "visitor" breaks a leg, they are likely to say sorry but you didn't buy the commercial insurance that would cover customer injuries.

It can and is done but with the owner taking significant risk.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

Aussie laws require all commercial vessels to be in Commercial Survey. The laws are quite restrictive for anyone wanting to casually hire their personal boat out.

Developing countries would be better options for this kind of thing.

Plus the boat must pay Australian duty of 15% of the value of the boat on arrival in Australia, or before the boat is advertised as being for charter.

The skipper would need a commercial license.