I'm thinking of offering week-long charters in the San Juan Islands on a 50 trawler and my wife thinks I'm crazy because I'm not planning on cooking meals for the guests. I figure I could discount the charters $1500 a week and let the charters supply their meals and cook them. My wife says nobody wants to charter and have to cook their own meals...I say she's wrong ( but normally she is right)...any thoughts? Am I really off base???????????
Random thoughts about your idea; early on a Sunday morning:
Having owned a bareboat (and crewed) charter business for several years in Friday Harbor (Charters Northwest), I can offer you several things you need to consider:
If
you bareboat charter your boat and
you are hired back as the skipper, it will legally be interpreted to be a crewed charter. (Some have thought that you could bareboat charter the boat and just be hired crew (not the skipper) but that doesn't work either. If you are aboard, you are deemed to be the skipper.) As such, the boat needs to either be a US built boat or have the
CG coastwise trade endorsement to be legal. Not difficult to get but you still need to go through the process. I know.........I did it for a Taiwan built boat.
You will need to have a 6 pack license at the very least.
From a sales tax perspective in WA State, if you purchase a boat to be placed in a bareboat charter fleet, you defer the tax at the time of purchase. The tax is collected and remitted on the bareboat charter fees. If you purchase a boat for crewed charter, you pay the full sales tax at time of purchase. Similar rules apply if you bring a boat in to the state that has been purchased out of state.
I am not an insurance agent but this is what I recall about the cost of insurance. (this in 2003) Crewed charter insurance will likely be more expensive than bareboat insurance. Bareboat insurance, depending upon the age of the boat, condition, etc., can be quite a bit higher than standard insurance. Fleet insurance policies are usually priced better than individual policies. If I remember correctly, the cost of bareboat insurance for a power boat was about 1.2% of the insured value while private insurance ran about .75%. YMMV
You may want to read this
USCG Boating Safety Circular for more information.
I am sure there are other things to consider but I need to get my second cup of coffee this morning. If I think of anything else, I will post.
Hope this is helpful........