Well - This is, of course, many peoples' dream: to offset the costs of running the boat by chartering it out. The problem here is at least twofold:
a. What's your attitude towards your own boat. Is it going to be your "pride and joy" or just a business tool? If it is to be your Pride and Joy - you wont want strangers treating it as "oh - its just a rental" (and they do, unfortunately). If its a business tool then have you considered the other aspects of the business. You mentioned the advertising and
marketing but what about setting up the other infrastructure.
By this I mean that lets suppose you rent the boat out to someone for a week: You will of course have had it cleaned immaculately and checked all
electrical, mechanical,
rigging plumbing and
hull systems. You'll then do a comprehensive boat hand-over briefing to the charterer and quite likely a comprehensive chart briefing on the cruising ground. So far so good but on day three of the charter at, lets say, 7.30am, you get an anguished call from the charterer saying something has broken: oh yes, he's 170 miles up the coast, and he wants it fixed NOW. You either go up there and fix it yourself, or call a local mechanic/electrician/plumber who knows
boats. Well, things dont go smoothly and maybe you cant get there and the local
mechanic cant do much "until later this afternoon". You will get several calls, each slightly more irate, throughout the day asking for an update. The later calls will start hinting at compensation. Lord help you if its been a
refrigeration problem because he will need re-imbursement for spoiled
food. Well, it turns out that he is not a nice person and slightly litigious to boot.....get the picture? Having got him (and his lawyer) off your back, you've then got to mend whatever else he broke (but didnt tell you about), and clean the boat up for either yourself or your next charterers.
Its damned hard
work and that's why there are well organised
bareboat charter companies around the globe. And they dont always get it right, I can assure you! (having run one!)
What was point b? I forgot - but I hope I've given you something to ponder. Tony