Delivery captain and crew rates?

[unbusted67]

Hey, all, I’m getting ready to do a delivery of a 48 foot power boat south from Maine to Norfolk, Virginia. I’m wondering what an acceptable rate is? I’m an experience captain with 19 years. I’m wondering about Crew and captain rate? Would 450 a day for Captain +250 a day for Crew be an acceptable rate?

[TheOffice]

sounds about right!

[ChrisJHC]

Have a think about your insurance and licensing/registration.

You are undertaking a commercial venture and hence usually need a commercial licence.

Also, many people consider that being named on the owner’s insurance is sufficient, while others take out personal skipper’s insurance. Others don’t think about it!

(Note that I’m being vague as I’ve never delivered a boat in the US and don’t know the local requirements).

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

Have a think about your insurance and licensing/registration.

You are undertaking a commercial venture and hence usually need a commercial licence.

Also, many people consider that being named on the owner’s insurance is sufficient, while others take out personal skipper’s insurance. Others don’t think about it!

(Note that I’m being vague as I’ve never delivered a boat in the US and don’t know the local requirements).

Sharon and I charge $650us/day plus all expenses from the time we leave our home to the day we return. Part of our contract requires the owner provide us a letter from the underwriter confirming that the owners policy will cover us. As a Transport Canada Licensed Master doing this for about 30 years, we've never been refused in Canada, USA, Bahamas, Carribean, Belize or Honduras.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

Have a think about your insurance and licensing/registration.

You are undertaking a commercial venture and hence usually need a commercial licence.

Also, many people consider that being named on the owner’s insurance is sufficient, while others take out personal skipper’s insurance. Others don’t think about it!

(Note that I’m being vague as I’ve never delivered a boat in the US and don’t know the local requirements).

This perhaps is the way you have in OZ. In US a skipper with a OUPV (6-pack) license can do deliveries as long as there are no more than 6 paying passengers aboard. AFAIK that license is the basic commercial one.

[Rackman]

I don't think you need any license for this. Only need a license if there are paying customers onboard.

[Rigamarole]

I mean, with all due respect, how experienced are you if your going on a forum to ask how much to charge. I could hire a pretty good Captain any day on findacrew for $5000/month.

This is a decade long question on this forum and one that makes me laugh a bit. I get $this$ - Well, how many times have you gotten that? $500 a day is $15,000 a month, $200k for a year - You better be driving a $5,000,000 boat for that type of wage.

[Fore and Aft]

Rigmarole you're a bit harsh I would have thought $500 a day for a casual job is at best average money. The delivery captain is on call 24 hours and away from home. So he's making around $22 an hour and often unsure where his next pay cheque is coming from. I am sure you didn't purchase that boat in your avatar by working for $22 an hour.
You wouldn't see me doing deliveries along with all the hassle for $500 a day.
Cheers

[Rigamarole]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Rigmarole you're a bit harsh I would have thought $500 a day for a casual job is at best average money. The delivery captain is on call 24 hours and away from home. So he's making around $22 an hour and often unsure where his next pay cheque is coming from. I am sure you didn't purchase that boat in your avatar by working for $22 an hour.
You wouldn't see me doing deliveries along with all the hassle for $500 a day.
Cheers

Nah, I made most of my money the old fashioned way. But the money I used to purchase my boat was made with my mind, no physical labor involved, really very little time either.

I'm just giving you the facts as I know and see them. In the Caribbean they pay $200/day for inter-island deliveries plus travel. This is for guys who actually work all the time delivering boats, not one job a year. Long term, it's about $5k a month for a guy to run a sub 60'er.

Trying to take $500/day and dividing it by 24 is really not applicable. Maybe 12, most likely 10. Then you get to eat super good food, drink some mighty fine liquor, visit awesome places, sleep in a great bed - all for free. Hell, maybe some delivery captains should pay me - what do you think?

[Island Time O25]

Is there an "a-hole owner" surcharge added at the end of the delivery? If not, there should be.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Rigamarole

I mean, with all due respect, how experienced are you if your going on a forum to ask how much to charge. I could hire a pretty good Captain any day on findacrew for $5000/month.

This is a decade long question on this forum and one that makes me laugh a bit. I get $this$ - Well, how many times have you gotten that? $500 a day is $15,000 a month, $200k for a year - You better be driving a $5,000,000 boat for that type of wage.

That's really harsh.

The guy is just checking his understanding of the market level before making his proposal. That's a normal professional thing to do.

And it is absolutely wrong to calculate a "wage" by projecting a daily or hourly rate over a year. It doesn't work like that.

Last time I worked for clients on an hourly basis -- maybe 30 years ago -- I took $800/hour, which no one complained about. Does that mean I was earning $1.6 million a year? Hell no. Not every day is billable. Not every working hour is billable. And there are lots of costs. It's not a "wage".

Whether $450 is the right number depends on the MARKET. What a willing seller and willing buyer agree on. It's an objective question, not a question of what seems cheap or expensive to you or me.

A little research turns up this:

Low end / small or easy run: $325–$400/day
Typical, experienced, USCG-licensed, coastal/offshore: $400–$600/day. This is where most East Coast delivery folks seem to sit now
High end (long offshore, complex systems, tight schedule, bigger >60 ft): $600–$800+/day.

That puts the OP's idea about price at the low end of the middle range of going rates.

In my opinion it's a modest level for someone I know is highly experienced. I would not expect to pay less if I ever had anyone move my boat for me.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

Sharon and I charge $650us/day plus all expenses from the time we leave our home to the day we return. Part of our contract requires the owner provide us a letter from the underwriter confirming that the owners policy will cover us. As a Transport Canada Licensed Master doing this for about 30 years, we've never been refused in Canada, USA, Bahamas, Carribean, Belize or Honduras.

There's a lot of good information in this post....beyond the rate. I spent 5-years as a full-time delivery skipper out of San Francisco, but that was 25-years ago so I cannot help with rates. Sailors especially would ask if I charged for weather delays, mechanical delays, and travel time (like Boatpoker, answer was "yes' to all, though I was pretty busy so if I had a lengthy delay (rare), I could move a different boat). For long deliveries, rate was a bit lower.

For some reason, the notion of converting to an hourly rate always seemed weird to me (though common for fairly newbie type owners). I was being entrusted with a very expensive asset and had 100% responsibility for it's delivery including crew; occasionally internationally. I averaged over 225 days per year underway, mostly cash, so was a good living at the time. The fact the OP only asked about rates led me to believe the 19-years of experience wasn't delivering - there's a lot more to successfully delivering a boat than knowing how to sail/run it.

After my first year, I stopped delivering sailboats. I enjoy sailing but I'm not a fanatic. They are slow and expensive to move. They are uncomfortable accommodations. And frankly, sailors are generally a frugal lot who see sailing their boat is so much fun that the idea of paying for a delivery doesn't compute.

[Portage_bay]

Originally Posted by Rigamarole

Trying to take $500/day and dividing it by 24 is really not applicable. Maybe 12, most likely 10. Then you get to eat super good food, drink some mighty fine liquor, visit awesome places, sleep in a great bed - all for free. Hell, maybe some delivery captains should pay me - what do you think?

As someone who quit making deliveries because the risk/reward ratio is way out of whack I can say I never experienced what you are describing. Super good food? Nope, we brought our own. Had to be easy to cook because we were working 24x7. Drink some might fine liquor? Nope, no drinking allowed until the delivery is over and we're off the boat. Visit awesome places? Nope, only stops we made were for fuel. Or if repairs were needed then we worked full time until underway again. Sleep in a fine bed? Maybe, maybe not. Some owners locked us out of the master stateroom.

Then when you're done the arguing starts. The owner doesn't want to pay for this or that. Wants a partial refund because he's unhappy for any reason. Tells me we should have done more, after all it was just an easy cruise. "Could have done it myself if I had the time".

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

The fact the OP only asked about rates led me to believe the 19-years of experience wasn't delivering

That is correct. I've been blessed with a job where I can rest my head on my own pillow at the end of the day. I am doing a one-off delivery and am out of the loop regarding rates. I generally do about one delivery a year.

[jeanathon]

I occasionally deliver. I don't rely on money from that to pay bills, but I do need to make as much as I would on my day job. As a consequence I don't work for or with people I don't like, and it feels like getting paid to go on vacation. Sometimes I get to go to places I've never heard of. I can't afford to do it for free, but I probably would if I could.