wakeboat rentals

[Jetrey]

I saw this discussed a while back, but could not find it in search. Is wakeboat rentals a viable business? a lake in my state rents a 10 seat wakeboat for 600 a day, 1400 for 3 day. Is insurance an issue? just a few of the many questions. thanks for any input.

[knelems]

rentals

Yes, insurance is the issue.If you could get $600.00 a day that would be good.I forgot what we were quoted for a year,higher than pontoon boats. There are some online companies you can get quotes from.

[wallacmc]

There is one operation at Stardust Marina at Norris Lake, TN that rents three Sangers, but they only charge in the 300's. I rented the biggest one last year. It had about 500lbs of ballast in it. The other two were ski models I believe. The itneresting thing, however, is that thye are the only spot on that huge lake that rents something more than a runabout or a toon. I don't know how lucrative this would be, but I do know that with that small of a supply on that large of a lake, they get rented quite frequently. In fact, there are groups of people that will go down and rent all three for a week or two. Another consideration: newbies driving v-drives can be interesting, though, someone used to driving exclusively stern drives might be even more interesting.

[c_hotshot]

There is a small shop 1.5 hours north of Houston that does rent a 22Ve with a driver for 800/day and I think 500/four hours. Pretty steep in my opinion for the average person.

Additionally, there are some partial ownership clubs in the area (freedom and carefree). One of the companies has a good sized fleet ranging from 20ft Center Console to a 38ft Sea Ray cruiser...AND they have a RZ2 in their fleet too! If I remember my numbers correctly, they ran 400/month plus your fuel usage. One company did a flat rate...while the other was a "tiered" platform...which depended on the size of vessel and your "priority" in getting the desired vessel.

[3mk]

dream job

there are 2 guys on my lake in canada the prices are 600 for 4hr that includes a driver a instructor and all the toys.sounds like a great gig

[Jason B]

I would think it totally depends on your area if it's viable or not. If you have a hugely popular lake with little to no copmpetition you may be ok--otherwise I would think the expense and work would not be worth the return.
A better solution may be to set up a rental company with a current boat and use that business to write off your expense for the boat. If you make money, that's awesome...if you lose money than no big deal, expense your hobby and save a little bit on your taxes. Also, that way you will see the demand, the rates you can charge, your marketing expenses, insurance fees, and above all else, is it really worth it to pursue that as a "real" business model.

FWIW, one of our richest and busiest lakes here rents a Supra with a driver. Not sure what it costs....but I've never seen the Supra away from the dock.

[nisckia]

I did this last summer when I got laid off from my job. Just advertising on Craigslist I was able to do 9 rentals over three months at an average of $450 per rent, covered all my boat expenses for the year. I charge an hourly rate with me as the driver. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some fun people. I plan on doing it again this summer and being more aggressive with advertising to see if it can be legit summer income as I am still unemployed. I do have everyone sign a waiver but we all know those are really worthless. What do you legal types out there recommend as far as insurance and such to protect myself?

Still waiting/hoping for 6 hot nurses to rent for a day.......

[yllw20]

nic,

you need to read your actual policy...there may be exclusions due to rented to others or for business use, although if you are the driver that may be bypassed....you may want to look into a commercial policy to cover you.

[Jason B]

^^ yup. If engaged in use for pay, I doubt your policy will cover a dime. Mine won't--specifically says so. You'd need a comercial policy.
It takes 15 minutes and 25$ to make an LLC(for WI). Do that. It will help mitigate your exposure to any lawsuit. Forming an LLC will also allow you to reap larger tax benefits from any loss if you don't break even. With that you can also expense your stereo, parts, gas, dinner, etc....It's a little more work, but totaly worth it.

[TJRiver]

A business has to be run as a business. I can pretty much guarantee that if you are using your boat "for hire" your personal insurance will not cover anything. You would have to obtain a commercial liability policy. You also have to check with local laws and Coast Guard Regulations to see if your business requires that you be specially licensed as a captain on a vessel for hire. A business license is a typical requirement. Forming an LLC or corporation probably will not do a ton of good if you are operating the boat, as any accident would typically be operator error and you would be sued along with the entity that owned the boat. As for the tax advice offered in these forums, I suggest getting professional tax advice before deducting some of the items suggested above. Otherwise, best of luck.

[Jetrey]

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of trying the one boat idea to see how it goes. no wakeboats offered on my home lake. just little tahoe type boats, jet skis and pontoons. I am worried about the liability, as well as the bozo's that would trash my boat. I'm thinkin' charge enough to make it worth my while, if it dont rent, oh well, write it off.