The definition of seamanship is apparently a matter of contention among some boaters, including other marine journalists not working for this publication. I will settle the matter right now: To practice seamanship means, in part, to practice good preparation. Seamanship is not limited to acts of high adventure on stormy seas.

Now that that’s resolved, let’s examine why boaters who winterize—or who store their boats otherwise—for months at a time should develop a routine for that first run of the season.

First, I never met a boat that wasn’t a work in progress. There’s always one or more tasks that need to be done or that are not 100 percent completed and one or more items that have failed or are about to fail. It’s the nature of the beast. Break out those Benjamins. Some of these tasks might be aesthetic and some might be critical. Along that spectrum, first-run boaters should make a checklist prioritizing critical items and working toward aesthetic.

Here’s my main point: Things that were in process or top of mind before you laid up the boat have had time to sink into the mire of disuse and distraction. Other things take up space in our brains. The holidays, house projects that got delayed while you were boating, plus the simple passage of time can all push boating tasks and repairs beyond recollection. So, make a list.

Start with safety: Check your flares for sufficient number and type as well as for expiration dates. Check your life jackets by pulling on the straps and ­tugging at the buckles, rearming the ­inflation mechanism, and noting whether any of your regular crew have grown over the winter and so now need a new size. Does the horn work? Do the nav lights work? Does your EPIRB, PLB or other beacon need a battery? Perform a self-test on these per the manufacturer’s procedure.

Other accessories that I’d give ­priority to include the VHF ­radio. Make sure it works by ­either requesting a radio check, radio-checking yourself with a handheld VHF, or by installing an inline wattmeter on the antenna cable (these come ready to go for easy installation).

Checking the bilge pump probably works as well in the safety paragraph, but I needed a good transition. Reach into the bilge and raise the pump’s float switch, and also check for manual operation by flipping the switch at the helm. What about livewell and washdown pumps? Better to find out before you launch, so check ’em out now.

Read Next: Six Tools for Spring Make-Ready

Let’s not forget propulsion. More than one boater shows up for spring launch with an ­engine that won’t start. Or won’t shift. Or otherwise doesn’t run right. ­Connect a hose, and fire off the engines in the yard or on the trailer. Shift gears. Check the alternator output, oil pressure and fluid levels before you head out for your first run.

This list is not intended to be complete for every boat. Nor is it an indictment of every boater. Instead, I’m hoping to provide you with a head start. I want to prompt you to think about your first run before you make it. Much of good seamanship is mindset and routine.

And don’t forget your drain plug. 

The post The Importance of a Spring Launch Checklist appeared first on Boating Mag.

Flying into Miami International Airport on a winter morning, I looked out the window to the waters of Biscayne Bay shimmering and light-blue like the Caribbean, and it’s not a stretch to say that the water was calling me. I had just left a snowstorm in the Northeast that had delayed my outbound flight, and all I could think about was feeling the warm breeze on my face as I cruised through downtown Miami, taking in the sights and sounds of the city by boat. The only issue? My family’s boats were all sitting winterized in our boat garage, trapped inside by over a foot of snow blocking the access road. To get even one to this point would have involved a lot of plowing and shoveling and a three-day drive through inclement weather—not an ideal scenario for spending one day of subtropical boating. 

Fortunately, there’s another way to boat, one that works the same as the Airbnb app I used to book lodging for my warm-weather excursion. I had used the boat-sharing platform Boatsetter to book a Sea Ray 270 Sundeck for a day on the water, and in a short time I’d be sitting at the helm, taking in the beauty of South Florida.

Boatsetter is one of the peer-to-peer apps that allows boat owners to rent out their boat to other people when they’re not using it, and because most boaters get on the water only about 40 hours per year, it’s a way to keep your boat in the water—and even make money when you’re not using it. For users, it’s a way to go boating anywhere you want to try, without worrying about your own boat. I decided to give it a go to see how it could work for everyone.

Shared Experience

I arrived at the dock in Miami Beach, ready to get out on the Sea Ray 270 and experience my day in Biscayne Bay. While I was waiting under swaying palm trees for the day to start, the actual experience started weeks beforehand when I opened the Boatsetter app and put in the type of boat I was looking to use. I had my choice of center-consoles for fishing, cruisers, and others put forth by a variety of people, but I settled on this Sea Ray, offered on the app by a boat owner named Capt. M. The Sea Ray is the perfect choice for a day of cruising, exploring and even beaching the boat. With one touch on my screen, I started the entire process of having the boat ready to go when I arrived.

Boat-sharing apps such as Boatsetter and GetMyBoat are not new; both arose out of the sharing culture that came on the heels of peer-to-peer businesses such as Uber, Airbnb and VRBO.  Boatsetter opened for business in 2012 and now lists more than 50,000 boats in more than 700 locations as available to book for its users. The key to making this all possible is the insurance put in place through Geico that covers both the boat owner and the boat renter while the boat is on the water. (A full breakdown of the app’s Geico policy is available to read on boatsetter.com.)

“Insurance is a big part of our offering,” says Boatsetter CEO Michael Farb. “It’s something we’re really proud of.” 

Without the insurance coverage, no sane boat owner would offer up their pride and joy to the general public and take the risk that everything would go smoothly every time. And who would want to rent a boat from someone knowing that they might be on the hook should something unfortunate happen? This is why Boatsetter’s founder, Jaclyn Baumgarten, made working with insurance companies to create peer-to-peer coverage a priority before the first boat was ever booked through the Boatsetter app.

When I worked through booking my Sea Ray with Capt. M, I was led to a page where I had to sign a series of documents to ensure that the coverage was in place. Then I could book the boat and get out and enjoy my day.

Sharing Your Boat

Capt. M, who owns the Sea Ray 270 I’d be taking, is actually Mylene Garot, who uses Boatsetter to run a small fleet of rental boats in Miami with her husband, Frank. She originally posted two boats on Boatsetter to see what would happen.

“It did so well that I started buying more boats,” she says. 

The Garots now rent six boats in total through their rental business and get almost half their bookings in Miami through the Boatsetter app.

“What I love about them, as an owner, is that there’s no pressure,” Garot says. “If your boat is unavailable, Boatsetter works to find a replacement for the user. They also make it very easy to be compliant with the Coast Guard and the insurance companies.”

When I stepped on board from the dock, the Sea Ray was clean, well-maintained and full of fuel. The first thing the Garots did was go over all of the safety equipment and the procedures for calling for help if needed. They also gave a rundown of the local rules of the road and where some of the best places were to sightsee by water. Were I to need assistance, Boatsetter has an agreement with BoatUS for towing services on the water.

The Garots are unique in that they were able to use boat-sharing to create a bona fide rental business, but what about the typical boat owner?

“Our biggest growth is in boat owners wanting to rent their boat,” Farb says.

“Owning a boat is expensive, and this is a great way to make money from an asset that they don’t use as much as they’d like.”

As any boat owner knows, boat engines run better if they’re used more frequently, and long stretches sitting in a slip or on a trailer can lead to as many problems as overuse. Most people don’t think in those terms though, but rather in covering the expenses it takes to own and maintain a boat. Storage, docking, insurance, fuel, maintenance—it all adds up.

Just like ski-condo or vacation-home owners, people put their boats on Boatsetter with few expectations other than to defray some of those costs. Some people, such as the Garots, actually turn it into a profitable business. For a single-boat owner who rents their boat through the app on a regular basis, Boatsetter estimates that they could make up to around $20,000 per year. 

But I didn’t care about that. I just wanted to get on the water and go boating.

Read Next: Essential Boat Insurance Coverage

Taking the Ride

I’ve been boating pretty much my entire life, and feel comfortable at the helm of almost any boat in all kinds of conditions, but in booking this trip, I decided to try an option that Boatsetter now offers its users—the chance to go with a professional captain. It’s an option available for app users and boat owners alike, as a way to add another level of safety during the day’s experience.

“We now have a huge network of USCG-approved captains,” Farb says. “It’s not for everybody, but it’s great for new boaters and for people not as experienced or to boat on unfamiliar waters.”

Capt. M works with six licensed captains, and for my trip, I chose Thibault Cazals, a captain with several years’ experience in running local boat tours, at a rate of $40 per hour. I had originally planned to take the boat out through Government Cut and cruise along the local beaches, but a steady offshore wind and a small-craft advisory necessitated that we have a Plan B. For this reason alone, Capt. Cazals proved indispensable.

He asked what type of experience I’d like to have, and I mentioned seeing the city of Miami’s skyline by boat, gawking at all of the ridiculously large houses on the water, finding a place to beach the boat and go for a dip, and stopping at a local dockside restaurant. Within minutes, he had a plan in place to meet my requests in the time we had aboard the Sea Ray 270 Sundeck. 

“There’s DJ Khaled’s house,” he noted as we idled through the local waterways on our way out to Biscayne Bay. It’s something I never would have noticed on my own. Khaled is known for hanging out on his docks or running his Sea-Doos all over Miami, but, alas, on this day, he was nowhere to be seen.

We motored past several other eye-popping houses of both public and private figures and made our way into Biscayne Bay. With the wind picking up steam, Cazals knew the perfect route to take along the Miami Beach shoreline so that we were always in the calm waters of the lee. We cruised past Lido Bayside, the waterside restaurant we’d planned to stop by on our way home, and through the Venetian Islands, then made our way to Flagler Memorial Island. It’s a public park with walking trails that lead to the Flagler Memorial Monument—a 110-foot-tall obelisk in the island’s center dedicated to Henry Flagler, the man responsible for developing Miami and much of South Florida. Cazals idled us to the western side of the island that featured white-sand beaches and shallow, protected water for a dip. We beached the boat and did some exploring, noting the gigantic cruise ship docked behind us in Government Cut. After a short stint there, we idled around the area, taking in the sights on Star, Memorial and Hibiscus islands. From there, it’s a short run to Fisher Island, Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, and beyond that, the famous Stiltsville: a collection of houses built on stilts in the middle of Biscayne Bay. We had hours of exploration in front of us, only to be curbed by my desire to swing by Lido Bayside. While I truly enjoyed my day on the water in the Sea Ray 270 Sundeck, the experience made me think of another benefit. If you’re looking to buy a boat, you can book through a sharing app and try out several different types of boats before deciding which is the best fit for you. I had the option to book everything from a center-console to a walkaround, a performance boat to a pontoon, or even a watersports boat to give wakesurfing a go. 

For boaters, using a sharing app such as Boatsetter is a way to explore waters beyond where you keep your boat. It’s also a way to “try before you buy” if you’re looking to upgrade or get started in the sport. For boat owners, it’s a way to keep your boat in use and offset some of the costs inherent in boating. When it works the way it did on my trip to Biscayne Bay, everybody wins.

The post Conveniently Rent a Boat Using Boatsetter appeared first on Boating Mag.

Owning a boat can be expensive (But, oh, so worth every penny!) That said, savvy boaters find ways to take care of things less expensively. In this article, we’ve compiled a list of seven great and inexpensive hacks that will not only make boat ownership easier, it will help make boat ownership less expensive as well. Check out these seven boat hacks and add your own boating and boat ownership tips in the comments below.

Jump to:

• Crayon or Candle: keep zippers zipping
• Dark Towels: cut reflected glare and stop coolers from sliding
• Spotlight: find leaky hatches
• PVC: hang fenders quickly
• Liquid Dish Soap: slide your boat off the trailer
• Film Wrap: protect your boat from bugs

Stuck Snaps and Zippers

Snaps and zippers on boat canvas eventually stick, become hard to operate and may even cause a tear in the fabric or damage to your boat. To prevent these tragedies snaps and zippers need to be kept lubricated. Use a crayon (or a candle) to “draw” a waxy film on to snaps and zippers and keep them operating smoothly. It’s easy, there’s no overspray to stain fabric and using a crayon is easy and cheap.

Windshield Glare

Glare in a boat windshield is annoying. It can also be dangerous: if you have difficulty seeing you might strike flotsam, jetsam or even another boat. Most windshield glare occurs because the reflection of a light colored helm (“dashboard” for any landlubbers reading this). A simple solution to cut reflected glare from a light-colored is to place a dark towel on top of the helm. A colored shirt works in a pinch. Some boaters will paint there helm tops, or have custom canvas covers or adhesive decking applied. Those solutions work, but a dark towel is easy and cheap!

Sliding Coolers

A cooler that slides around the cockpit as your boat plies the waters can be annoying. Surely, if a heavy cooler is best tied down or placed in a dedicated rack or stowage spot. But, not every boat is so fitted. Also, sometimes boaters carry an occasional extra cooler. In any event, a cheap and easy way to prevent a cooler from sliding is place it on a wet towel. Use a towel big enough so that when folded in half, it’s at least as large as the bottom of the cooler. Soak the towel with water (should be plenty of that around when aboard a boat!), wring it out, then fold it over to make it thick. Place the cooler atop it and watch it stay in place. Note that this hack won’t work with an empty cooler; the weight of ice and supplies helps the hack to work.

Leaky Hatches

Whether it’s your lifejackets and gear, or your boat’s sterndrive or inboard engine, keeping things dry increases longevity, reduces corrosion and is overall a good thing. To see how “watertight” your hatches are, go aboard your boat at night. Place a bright light, like a flashlight or portable lantern, inside the engine compartment or stowage compartments. Close the lid. Wherever you see light peeking through is a place where spray, rain and wash water can enter. Apply self-adhesive weatherstripping (available at hardware and home supply stores) to the underside of hatch lids, around the perimeter. Weatherstripping costs but a few dollars. Before doing that, though, make sure the lid latches and hinges are tight and adjusted correctly. Using a screwdriver is cheap and doesn’t require a ride to the store!

Fender Hanging Hack

We stole this boat hack from contributor, author and charter boat operator, Capt. John Raguso. Raguso uses a clever and cheap solution to hang fenders from his boat, MarCeeJay. He has his fenders pre-rigged with a length of line tied to a section of PVC pipe with holes drilled at one end. The pipe fits into the rodholders and when he needs to deploy fenders, he simply drops the PVC into a rod holder and fender overboard. “Wall-ah,” as they seem to say on the internet. This hack can work for any boat owner whose vessel is equipped with rod holders. And it’s cheap!

Sticky Trailer Bunks

Boat owners who use bunk trailers can sometimes face difficulty getting their boat off the trailer if the water level is low. While a roller trailer and slippery bunk covering are both great options, there is a “ home-brewed” solution to help a boat slide off a bunk trailer more easily. This hack is simply to apply a few squirts of liquid dish soap onto the carpeted bunks before you load the boat. Then, the next time you go to off-load your boat, the slipper soap will make sure your boat slides off more easily. Hey, almost everyone has dish soap meaning this boat hack is free for almost every boater.

Bugs on Trailer Boats

Some call them love bugs, but don’t tell that to a trailer boaters. If you are trailering your boat through bug country it can be quite annoying as the “buggers” stick to your hull, t-top, bow rails, windshield and everything else. A good cover helps a lot, but often does not cover T-tops or other high boat structure. Additionally, there is the hull to protect. For tops and pipework, a cheap hack is to buy stretch film packing from hardware or home repair store. Secure it with tape to help it withstand highway speeds. A cheap solution to mitigate bugs sticking to your hardtop  is to split pool noodles and secure them over the leading edge with tape. Of course, making sure every exposed surface is waxed will go a long way to make bug removal easier.

The post Seven Best Inexpensive Boat Hacks appeared first on Boating Mag.

Life seldom works that way, of course, but through the online platform Boatsetter, your boat can be active — and generating income — when you’re not using it.

Like residential and vacation homes, cars and RVs, boats are part of the sharing economy. Boatsetter links owners of boats with qualified, pre-screened people eager to pay a fair fee to share them. Since its founding in 2014, Boatsetter has helped tens of thousands of boat owners offset the costs of boat ownership.

Boatsetter brings owners and renters together, and eases their relationship. And it can make US Coast Guard-licensed captains available for renters without boating experience, or who simply want to enjoy their boating with a trained professional at the helm.

Boat rental through Boatsetter is safe. It’s legal. And everyone involved is insured.

Boatsetter lists boats for fishing, sailing, watersports, cruising and even on-water celebrations. Among them are pontoons, center-consoles, watersports boats and party boats. Nearly 20,000 boats in more than 600 locations comprise the privately held, worldwide fleet.

Your boat can be an income-producing part of that fleet.

Boat Owner? Renter? Captain? You’re Covered

Through a partnership with boating-industry giants Geico Marine and BoatUS, Boatsetter transactions include insurance coverage for owners, renters and captains — the only such peer-to-peer insurance policy in the marine industry.

Plus, TowBoatUS, the marine equivalent of roadside service, provides on-water support for the rental period.

How to List Your Boat

The Boatsetter website guides you through the simple, free listing process. You provide your boat’s:

• Make and model
• Year, length and other specifications
• Description, including features
• At least four photos
• Rental or trip pricing (Your take-home rate is 60 to 85 percent of the boat’s listed price. You can increase your take-home rate based on your performance as an owner. By performance, we mean responding quickly to renters, keeping your calendar up to date, and turning on Boatsetter’s Instant Book feature.)

The Renter Requests to Book

Verified renters search the Boatsetter platform for the location and boat type he or she wants. They then connect with the owner through the website or mobile app.

Just as the renter reviews the boat/owner information, the owner considers the prospective renter’s boating experience and other qualifications, and then decides if this person is the right person to rent their boat.

It is your boat, after all — you decide who gets to rent it.

Everything shipshape? A trip is booked, with payment made through Boatsetter.

The renter and owner conduct walk-throughs before and after the outing, so there’s no question about condition or damages. No issues? The security deposit is released to the renter.

The owner can prep their boat for their own next use or its next Boatsetter rental, and the renter can begin making plans for their next voyage on Boatsetter.

The post Boatsetter Makes Listing and Renting Your Boat a Smooth Voyage appeared first on Boating Mag.

Here’s an amazing statistic from BoatU.S., the nation’s largest organization of recreational boaters: About half of the 12 million registered boats in the United States are not covered by insurance. Because you are a Boating reader, we know you are smarter than average and have purchased an insurance policy on your boat. But are you well-covered or just sorta covered? With the input of insurance experts at BoatU.S. (which has been owned by insurance giant Geico since 2015), we’ve identified six key policy features often overlooked by boat owners — details that could mean the ­difference between paying significant costs out of pocket or coming out of a claim in good ­financial shape. Study the fine print on the declarations page of your boat policy or consult a marine-insurance agent to make sure a catastrophe doesn’t leave you high, dry and maybe broke.

Consequential Damage
According to BoatU.S., half of all sinkings occur at the dock after the failure of some small part below the waterline, such as a through-hull fitting or rubber sterndrive ­bellows. These parts most often fail due to “wear, tear and corrosion” or a lack of maintenance, so the insurance policy won’t pay for a new bellows. But ­suppose as a consequence of the failed bellows, your boat sinks and is a total loss. Who pays for that? Make certain your boat policy includes consequential damage coverage that pays for a loss caused by a failed part that may be excluded under the policy; in this example, the failed bellows may not be covered, but the rest of the ­repairs or a total loss will be. Consequential damage coverage usually ­applies only to ­major or total losses. Typical ­coverage will include the immediate consequential damage resulting from fire, ­explosion, sinking, demasting, collision or stranding.

Fuel-Spill Liability
Let’s say as a consequence of an ­accident or sinking, your boat has just discharged 400 gallons of fuel into the water. An environmental cleanup crew is dispatched, and maybe the marina has to be shut down for a day. You could be handed a substantial bill; under U.S. federal law, boaters can be held liable for up to $939,800. (Whew! At least it’s not a million.) A policy with specific fuel-spill liability, up to this maximum amount, protects you from cleanup claims or third-party damage caused by the accidental discharge of oil or fuel. Some policies just pay the costs ­associated with a fuel spill up to the policy’s limit of liability coverage.

On-Water Service and Towing
The average towing fee in the U.S. is about $700, according to BoatU.S., and many boat insurance policies today ­offer on-water towing and service endorsements. Know the details of that coverage. Who is the provider and is it active on your waters? If you cruise or trailer, are there any geographic limits to the tow and service coverage? Is there 24-hour dispatch available? What could your out-of-pocket costs be? If the coverage built into your policy seems weak, you might be better off with a separate towing service and routine service assist­ance plan (from outfits like TowBoatUS or Sea Tow), which can cost less than $100 annually, generally has few limits, will cover more than one boat, and may even cover a boat you have rented or borrowed if you are acting as the captain of that boat. The coverage may go with you, not with the boat.

Salvage Coverage
A fire, sinking, storm or grounding can often result in a salvage situation: The boat must be raised or moved to a safe location. If the boat is not a total loss and needs to be recovered and brought to a repair facility, salvage costs can quickly escalate, often in surprising ways.

“There are a lot of salvage stories from last summer’s hurricanes, but few can top this,” says BoatU.S. spokesman Scott Croft. “The owner of a 38-foot boat kept on a mooring off Dinner Key in Biscayne Bay did all he could short of hauling the boat to prepare for the hurricane: He had four 1-inch lines in place, placed chafe protection on the lines, stripped off all windage possible. It was apparently impact from another vessel, however, that released the boat from its mooring, and when the hurricane had passed, the ­vessel was resting in the end zone of the football field at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove. The field abuts the bay, and the storm surge carried the boat until it stopped, upright, at the field house. The boat had very little damage. Salvage required hiring a land crane, negotiating with a neighbor to get the crane into the site, and trimming trees so the crane could lift the boat over the trees into a canal adjacent to the field, an operation that cost more than $20,000. The boat owner had liability-only coverage on the boat, but he added a full salvage coverage rider that paid for everything. The policy only cost about $100 a year.”

It’s natural to assume that the cost of salvage is covered by the base insurance policy, but some policies will subtract salvage costs from the insured value of the boat. Other policies may only provide a small percentage of the insured value for salvage, leaving you to pay the rest. Better policies provide separate salvage coverage that is equal to the boat’s hull-value coverage. As with fuel-spill coverage, the most protection likely comes from a policy with completely separate coverage for salvage. Also, consider whether your insurance provider can arrange salvage as quickly as possible, potentially negotiating with crane operators, divers, truckers, storage facilities, local government officials, or marina staff. Ask around on the dock and let the past experience of other boat owners be your guide.

Trailer Coverage
Not all boat-insurance policies automatically provide trailer coverage, and there may be geographic limits on where you can trailer the boat. You may be covered only when towing in your home state, for example, or certain adjacent states. If you have an accident while towing, your boat policy pays to repair or replace the trailer. If your trailer causes injuries to people or damage to property — say you back into the bait shop — your auto policy should cover the liability. Check both policies to make sure you are covered.

The Risk of a Liability-Only Policy
Many boaters opt for a liability-only policy if they think the value of their older or smaller boat doesn’t warrant full coverage. Such a policy should obviously cover property damage and bodily injury to others, but consider coverage for salvage and ­removal of a wreck, and that separate coverage is available for fuel-spill incidents, any of which could drain a bank account. Remember the boat that ended up on a football field.

The post Essential Boat Insurance Coverage appeared first on Boating Mag.

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The Internet is great for a lot of things, like finding videos of cats chasing sunbeams or someone’s pants falling down at a wedding. But it’s also been a boon to boaters and how they use their boats. The new big thing in the digital realm is peer-to-peer sharing (basically, renting). Most Internet-savvy people trace the concept back to renting real estate through a site like airbnb.com. What Airbnb does is allow people to directly offer up their property, or space in their home, for rental to the Airbnb community. Well, if people are doing that with their vacation homes, mother-in-law apartments or even the spare futon in their basement, why wouldn’t they want to do that with their boats?

A number of companies have sprung up based on the idea of peer-to-peer boat sharing, such as Cruzin, Boatbound, GetMyBoat and BoatSetter. We spoke to people who use Cruzin and tried it ourselves to find out exactly how peer-to-peer boating works. How could it benefit you? We found three obvious ways: if you’re a prospective boat buyer looking to test the waters before deciding, a boat owner looking to cover ownership expenses with rentals, or a visitor to an awesome boating destination and you didn’t bring your boat.

What Is Peer-To-Peer, Anyhow?
The peer-to-peer business is exactly what it sounds like. Boat owners list their boats through a third-party website that connects them with potential renters and streamlines the process online. A site like Cruzin pre-screens potential renters and gives the boat owners final say in all rental deals. The boat owner decides when his boat is available, how much the rental will cost and, most important, whether to allow a prospective renter to use his boat. The owner can also ask the renter to use a licensed captain.

The process seems fairly straightforward until you consider the elephant on deck: What if the renter breaks your boat?

“The biggest challenge to this marketplace is the insurance,” said Jaclyn Baumgarten, the founder and CEO of Cruzin. “I spent about a year putting in place a peer-to-peer marine insurance policy that protects both the boat owner and the renter.”

The insurance is key. Every boat rented through Cruzin is protected by a $2 million hull damage and $1 million liability insurance policy for the duration of the rental, and the company also offers towing assistance during the rental period through BoatU.S. If you list your boat through Cruzin, the company handles the contracts with the renter so that the insurance is in place and collects the payment. It’s free to list your boat on the site, but Cruzin keeps a portion of every rental to pay for its services.

As a renter, how do you know you’re not paying for some dog of a boat? Cruzin is set up to avoid any “buyer (or renter) beware” scenarios.

“All of our boats get curated and approved by an insurance company before they can be taken out through our site,” said Baumgarten. Plus, renters have the ability to rate and review their rental experience on the site. She stressed that Cruzin strives to maintain quality control over what boats get listed and the overall rental experience.

Another benefit of renting peer-to-peer is the ability to set the duration of use. Most traditional boat rental places have rigid hours, usually in half-day or full-day blocks. With peer-to-peer, renters have the ability to negotiate the time of pickup and drop-off, and even rent the boat for a number of days.

“The beauty of what we’re doing,” said Baumgarten, “is creating a platform where people can rent a boat anywhere, any time.” Is this an absolute truth? Not quite yet. As of press time, Cruzin had boats available in 27 states as well as the British Virgin Islands and the Mediterranean Sea. But that number is sure to grow as peer-to-peer catches on. Here’s why we think it will.

The Boat Buyer
Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Andy Helfan grew up in the fishing and boating lifestyle. Ever since he entered adulthood and the working world, owning his own boat has been a goal.

“I knew what type of boat I wanted, which was an open fishing boat like a center-console,” he said.

Before he pulled the trigger on a specific make and model, he wanted to literally test the waters. Getting a sea trial is not always possible, particularly if you’re prospecting and not close to making a purchase on that boat. A site like Cruzin provided a solution.

“I had the opportunity to try one of the boats I was looking at,” Helfan said. He rented a boat through Cruzin for a day of fishing. How did he find the experience?

“It’s a pretty seamless process,” he said. First Helfan signed up through the site. Then he went through a verification process. Once Cruzin approved him for renting, he was able to reach out directly to the owner of the boat he wanted to rent.

“The guy was really responsive and answered all my questions online,” Helfan said. Helfan made arrangements to use the boat with the owner and did all the paperwork for it through Cruzin. Because of that, he got to use a style of boat he was interested in buying, in real-world conditions. The peer-to-peer sea trial helped him pull the trigger on buying his own boat, a Bluewater Boats 2850 center-console.

Helfan liked the Cruzin experience so much that he now lists his boat on the site for rental. “A one- or two-day rental would cover storage in dry dock or gas for several trips,” he said. And that brings us to the primary benefit for a boat owner.

The Boat Owner
Bill Amirault has lived in Hollywood, Florida, since 1995 and has been a boat owner for about 10 years. Like a lot of boaters, he uses his boat to cruise up and down the Intracoastal and around local waters, sightseeing and restaurant hopping with the occasional run outside the inlet. Every once in a while he’ll take his boat down to the Keys.

Also like a lot of boaters, he doesn’t get to go boating as much as he’d like, because real life gets in the way — mainly his job with a software company. On average he uses his boat about three times a month.

“I travel a lot for work,” he said, “which is one of the motivating factors for renting through Cruzin.”

Amirault owns a Dusky 233 center-console with twin outboards that he had repowered in 2007. Making it available through Cruzin helps him in two ways. “The old engines on my boat broke down because they sat too much,” he said. “Now I’ve got the engines running more often than I can keep them going on my own.” Also, it helps him burn through the gas in his boat, so it doesn’t sit in his tank for long stretches at a time.

For Amirault, though, the key benefit is that renting through Cruzin helps offset the cost of ownership: fuel costs, maintenance, storage fees and insurance. By renting his boat twice a month, he can recoup some of those expenses.

But how does he feel about handing the keys over to a stranger?

“Every boater I’ve had on my boat has been qualified and has experience,” he said. “An inexperienced boater is not someone I want on my boat.” Some of the renters he has approved have come back. Some have come from other parts of Florida, some from northern states like Minnesota, and one boater even visited the area from Canada. That renter keeps a 47-foot cruiser on his home waters, which is not practical for him to bring down to Florida. And that’s the third reason we think boaters will embrace peer-to-peer platforms: They don’t always want to bring their boat with them.

The Wandering Boater
There’s nothing sadder than going on a vacation to a great boating destination and not being able to boat. Sure, there are traditional boat rental places that are worth considering, but often they are inflexible with rental times and rates and have strict restrictions on where you can take them. Charter services are great too, but many have a minimum requirement of days. Why pay for a five-day charter if you want to use a boat for only three days? (And charter services tend to be geared toward sailboats, trawlers or luxury yachts.)

By signing up for a service like Cruzin, you may be able to rent the exact type of boat you’re looking for, and for the exact amount of time you want. A lot of that depends on what’s available through the site in your area.

To get firsthand experience, our West Coast editor, Jim Hendricks, rented a boat in Cruzin‘s home waters in San Francisco. And there are plenty of boat types available in certain boating hot spots like Florida, where this is a natural fit. But what about elsewhere?

A quick visit to cruzin.com lets you explore the possibilities. Simply type a destination into the search box and see what’s available. As of press time, Cruzin had no boats listed for prime destinations like Montauk, New York, and only one boat listed for Cape Cod, Massachusetts (a 21-foot Grady-White: cruzin.com/boat_rentals/766). But it had several boats listed in major cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego.

As peer-to-peer boating sites like Cruzin grow, we expect the inventory of available boats to grow with them. So the next time you find yourself in Las Vegas and want to get away from the slot machines, renting someone else’s boat on Lake Mead could be a much better bet.

We Go Cruzin
Our firsthand experience with peer-to-peer boating.

I’ve rented boats before, but this was my first experience with a peer-to-peer ­service. It began with a desire to visit McCovey Cove outside the right-field bleachers at AT&T Park during a San Francisco Giants Sunday baseball game, 375 miles north of my home waters near Los Angeles.

To get started, I visited cruzin.com and looked for boats in the San Francisco area. I found a 1989 Invader 1901 runabout powered by a MerCruiser 4.3-liter V-6 with an Alpha drive, starting at $250 a day. The site spelled out that I would also need to pay a $37 insurance premium and a $75 cleaning fee, as well as for the fuel I burned. Also, the owner laid down his stipulations, including no drugs or alcohol.

After a few clicks to register, secure insurance, reserve the boat and present my credit card, I was all set to meet the owner, who agreed to bring the boat to a launch ramp near AT&T Park before the game.

One glitch came when the boat owner called to say he would be an hour late. Once he got there and launched the boat, we went through a formal checklist and he showed me around the boat, including the safety gear. The interior was a bit worn, as you might expect of a 25-year-old boat, but it started fine, though the shifter was stiff. Not a big issue for me, but I wondered how a less-experienced captain would deal with this.

The boat was the perfect size for idling amid the throngs of boats in McCovey Cove, but late in the day the engine began running hot. I knew from experience to get out of the cove and run the boat to cool it down. I returned to the ramp at the appointed time and called the owner, who was there within an hour. Rather than accompany him to the gas dock, I paid him $30 for fuel, which seemed fair to both of us. — Jim Hendricks

Whatever Floats Your Boat
The lowdown on three other peer-to-peer boat companies.

BoatSetter
(boatsetter.com)
This site focuses on affordable captained rentals. BoatSetter keeps a national database of licensed captains and helps boat owners pair prospective renters with their boats, as well as hire a licensed captain. The company provides per-use hull and liability insurance and pre-screens both owners and renters.

Boatbound
(boatbound.co)
This site is similar to Cruzin in that it provides rental access with or without a captain. It also provides per-use hull and liability insurance and on-the-water assistance through BoatU.S. Boatbound also will send a professional photographer to your boat so it looks great in its listing.

GetMyBoat
(getmyboat.com) GetMyBoat allows listings from both boat owners and rental and charter services and offers three insurance ­levels for renters at costs ranging from $29 to $66 per day. The site boasts access to 24,000 boats in 110 ­countries (mostly through listing ­charter services abroad).

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Critter-Proofing Your Boat

“It smells like grandma’s house” my tween-age son commented as we walked among the pontoon boats that were placed on blocks or atop their trailers for storage in the off season in the parking lot at our local boat club.

I noted the same distinct scent on the late autumn breeze as I prepared to rake leaves from the deck of our family’s Flote-Bote, and it wasn’t roast turkey. The odor reminded me that I needed to weigh down the seat bases and batten down the steering console as well as establishing my own scent barrier to keep critters from finding a comfortable compartment in which to set up housekeeping and spend the winter months aboard.

It seems the owners of some of our neighboring boats had recently prepped their craft for the threat, salting their boats’ decks and storage lockers with mothballs in hopes their pungent odor would keep critters at bay. Following a sunny Indian summer day that had been perfect for the final ‘messing-about’ in their boats for the season, the air over the boat yard fairly reeked of attics and sweater chests.

I’ve used moth balls – crystals, actually, which we put in aluminum pie pans in a couple places under the boat cover – and they worked. But a few years back, based on advice from a fellow boater I met on a trip, I switched to scented laundry fabric softener sheets. I put a sheet in the bottom of each locker and a few more pinned down under furniture legs to keep them from blowing around. I replace them in mid-winter and the boat has remained mouse-, ‘coon-, cat- and, ‘possum-free ever since. And smells a heck of a lot better come spring.

Better-smelling alternatives to moth balls that I have heard of boaters using include Irish Spring bar soap and Fresh Cab (earth-kind.com), the latter an all-natural rodent repellent popular with farmers to keep rats and mice out of their tractor cabs. But until I find a nest built of shredded Bounce, I’ll keep using dryer sheets to keep my local meeces off the deck.

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Cooking Safely Onboard

Now here’s what I like to see. The galley aboard Beneteau’s Swift Trawler 34 is U-shaped, making it easy for the cook to brace against the furniture while the boat is underway. If it gets real bumpy, there’s a sturdy pole to grab. The cooktop is fitted with potholders, which serve as well against wakes in an anchorage as they do for swells on open water. Finally, check out the way the counter’s corners are rounded. Bumping into one is way less painful than hip-checking a more stylish sharp corner. In all, this galley is very ship shape.

Takeaway: If cooking—or any work –needs to be performed while in rough water, you can often deliver the softest motion for your crew by heading downsea at a slow speed rather than stopping completely and drifting dead in the water.

Selecting A Boat Barbeque Grill

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Five Tips for Storm Coverage

There are five things you need to investigate about boat insurance before you buy it. Thanks to the folks at Allstate for numbers 1, 2 and 3. Numbers 4 and 5 are things we think you should consider.

1. Watercraft Liability Insurance: Let’s say your boat sinks at the dock during a storm and releases fuel into the water. You would be responsible and possibly fined. Watercraft liability insurance can cover those costs, which can be astronomical.

2. Additional Equipment Coverage: This provides insurance against the loss of accessories aboard, including navigation equipment.

3. Agreed Value Option: If your boat is a total loss, most policies provide coverage at current market value, which is usually less than the replacement value of your boat. By purchasing an agreed value option, you can cover yourself at a fixed and higher amount.

4. Named Storm Deductible: Typically 5 percent of boat value (though that varies by policy and boat location) is the amount you’ll need to pay should a hurricane, tropical storm or other weather event given a name by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration damage or destroy your boat.

5. Responsibility: Make sure you look closely at clauses such as “taking all available action” or “preventive measures” prior to a named storm. These can mean hauling out, moving to a safe location or doubling the dock lines. In any event, get the insurance company’s exact definitions of these phrases so you know what’s expected of you should a hurricane hit.

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