Realistic Occasional Chartering?

[Sojourner]

How realistic is part-time occasional self-crewed chartering your boat?

Ciao everyone.... Getting my head around my first boat purchase still, and wondering about occasionally taking people out as charters. Any of y'all have sailboats that you take people on for day trips or weekend kind of things, skippering and crewing yourself? The boat would be a nicely equipped 53 foot Super Maramu with room only for 1 king bed bedroom (aft cabin) with private head, and a single bed in the corridor room adjacent. So basically for a couple or a couple with a kid, if overnights, otherwise as many as 6 or so for daysailing. This would be on the northwest Italian coast, next to the very famous (and very daysailable) Cinque Terre coast.

Is it realistic to hang a sign on the boat at the marina and get enough takers to make it worthwhile? Or where else to advertise? How much to charge per person for a day long tour? Overnight? Gads!!

For those who don't know, the pic is one of the towns along the Cinque Terre coastline....tons of tourists.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Location...Location.......Location.

Since you are in such a fabulous location my bet is that you would be booked up as much as you want with tourists forking out $100 euros each for a two hour boat ride easy. Last I was there we rented a simple skiff with an outboard motor for $100euro per hour to enjoy the from the Water views.


[[[now all this assumes you have all the needed paperwork and licenses...otherwise....mentacata...]]]

[atoll]

a friend of mine,legally in the same area just rents out his boat in the marina on airbnb,it never leaves the dock,so avoids the need for licences,certificates etc
his guests use it as a base to use the many legally operated day tripper boats,who he would otherwise be in competition with

[valhalla360]

If you can legally and legitimately run it on the Cinque Terra, you will find no shortage of clients.

I'm not familiar with Italian rules so take this with a grain of salt:
- Check commercial vs private insurance rates. Particularly if you only do an occasional charter, it may make it financially unattractive. If commercial charting insurance is $2000/yr additional to get commercial and you are only doing 20 trips per year, you need $100/trip just to cover insurance.
- Does your marina allow such an operation? If they do is there an extra charge?
- Do you have a captains license?
- Is the marina directly accessible to tourists? If not, how would you advertise and get people to the boat?
- Do you really want people breaking your stuff?

Not saying it can't work but there are some serious issues to address first.

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

If you can legally and legitimately run it on the Cinque Terra, you will find no shortage of clients.

I'm not familiar with Italian rules so take this with a grain of salt:
- Check commercial vs private insurance rates. Particularly if you only do an occasional charter, it may make it financially unattractive. If commercial charting insurance is $2000/yr additional to get commercial and you are only doing 20 trips per year, you need $100/trip just to cover insurance.
- Does your marina allow such an operation? If they do is there an extra charge?
- Do you have a captains license?
- Is the marina directly accessible to tourists? If not, how would you advertise and get people to the boat?
- Do you really want people breaking your stuff?

Not saying it can't work but there are some serious issues to address first.

All excellent ideas to ponder.... I do have an ICC license, as well as an RYA coastal skipper.... I don't know how that applies for anything commerical. Advertising wouldn't be a huge issue. No bareboat so hopefully no breaking stuff! As for the rest, I'm not sure.... in Italy, many things operate entirely under the table, so I wouldn't be operating anything through an Italian business or on paper if I can help it. Marina doesnt care if I have my friends on board, so if a couple times a week, a few new friends show up and we go sailing for the day, I don't think it would be an issue..... right?

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by SYSojourner

All excellent ideas to ponder.... I do have an ICC license, as well as an RYA coastal skipper.... I don't know how that applies for anything commerical. Advertising wouldn't be a huge issue. No bareboat so hopefully no breaking stuff! As for the rest, I'm not sure.... in Italy, many things operate entirely under the table, so I wouldn't be operating anything through an Italian business or on paper if I can help it. Marina doesnt care if I have my friends on board, so if a couple times a week, a few new friends show up and we go sailing for the day, I don't think it would be an issue..... right?

This sounds like an idea that works great...until it doesn't and then it goes completely to poo.

Just don't come back and complain about the evil
- Insurance company
- Authorities
- Competition
- Marina
- Customers
- Etc...

When things go wrong.

[Uricanejack]

Realistic or not I couldn't say.
A lot depends on flag. you mention day skipper and ICC so a wild guess from the UK.
You need a commercial endorsement for your day skipper. Possibly an upgrade to a YM.
Uk flag will also require the boat to be inspected and Coded as a commercial charter vessel. which shouldn't be to hard but will cost.
You will need to be insured for commercial. extra cost.
Local Italian reg's may or may not allow you to operate as a British flag vessel.
going across to Croatia or France may help with local rules.
EEC? probably. Until Brexit.

Odds are if you do it right breaking even on additional cost will be tough. Unless you get into it seriously.