Fun boats for rental

[Walshey]

Hi All,
There are 2 of us (a couple) and we are both 36 - we are looking to set up a small boat rental company in Perth where we live, We are serious about doing this and have the funds. The forum is a good way for us to do some research from people who know their motorhomes and we are hoping to get some of your knowledge.

We have very little boating experience's at all we believe this dose not matter we are passionate about this and hard working and will make this work.

Our market is 25-45 years old miners. We are not thinking rentals like regular boat rental company - this rental is more geared for fun, Where the guys can have some serious fun on there week off.


What do you think would be popular and fun boat to start with keeping in mind we have 80K to spent on at least 3 boats each, that is total 240k. Also keep in mind maintenance cost.
We are looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Fun boats for rental

Perth/Freemantle is great boating territory. Reminded me a lot of Norfolkk when I was there.

First, what size are you considering? Open boats for fishing and messing around, cabins for overnights, etc?

You definitely want outboards.

Hard to say from here what goes in the budget since we have no idea what prices are there. From my cousin who lives in Sydney, I know that basic cars are at least 3x what they cost here. And if your fuel prices are as high as they were when I was there, you want efficiency.

One very popular rental boat here is the Carolina Skiff J series. Look at Carolina Skiff's website. They are indestructible and unsinkable, maintenance free, clean with a powerwasher or a good rain storm. Better, they can run on motors way smaller than typical for the size--we use a 19' with only a 50 hp on it for a work/fishing/transport boat on a seaside island and it does fine.

You may find something similar made over there; I recall that there were some decent small hulls being made in Malaysia.

If you want to get into bigger boats, look at getting a boat club franchise. Look at http://www.carefreeboats.com/ or http://freedomboatclub.net/. They stock used boats; I have a friend who sold them his sailboat, since he (like most boat owners) didn't use it that much. Now he can; they maintain it!

 

[Philster]

Re: Fun boats for rental

Well, I will get so specific as to say Evinrude Etecs or Mercury Optimax outboard engines, provided you have support.

I know Optimaxes get shipped to OZ all the time. Both of these engines have no valve train (to break) and are darn efficient. They are 2-stroke engines. Thrashing on them seems to make the happier. They are happiest when run hard.

Stick to boats with white hulls. If you want to make them cool looking, use vinyl graphics, which are cheap and can be replaced or ditched later. But definitely white hulls.

It's hard to recommend a brand of boat. I have opinions, but considering there are so many more variables, others can chime in.

I can put you in touch with someone who supplies engines and fun boats to Australia every day. It's basically his business: Shipping outboards and fast, cool boats to Australia (big or small). He rigs them and sets them up to run perfectly, and he knows how the process works. He's also dead honest and probably wouldn't sell you something just to sell you something.

Australia is a big market for U.S. dealers now.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Fun boats for rental

I'd be curious to know if there are any local or national laws in Australia regarding licensing and training of boat operators.

The only reason I mention that, is that in some jurisdications in the US there are laws about who needs to be licensed based on engine power or simply vessel type. Such as, in Michigan if you were born after 1978 you need to have a boaters license to operate a PWC.

I guess my point is, that if there are local or national laws that will prevent some of your potential customers from operating a boat, you may want to tailor your boat search to ones that will give you the biggest potential customer base.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Fun boats for rental

House boats. Their arer a few places around here that rent those out and they stay booked up.

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Re: Fun boats for rental

What ever you decide, I'd keep it simple and as indestructable as posible. I used to work at a campground where we had a fleet of 6 14' aluminum boats, all with 9.9's on them for rentals. The boats rarely made it to 3 years old before being trashed. People just don't take care of stuff they don't own. $240K is a lot to put into something just to have it beat on - then again you are probably in a much different financial state than I am. Bottom line, make sure your break even point is before the replacement point, otherwise you will never make money.

Good luck with the venture.

 

[canuckjgc]

Re: Fun boats for rental

I'd say Quintrex all the way given where you are located. You'll be able to sell them easily when they get tired looking and shouldn't require much maintenance. If you can still buy 2 strokes, go that way, otherwise you'll pay more in maintenance on 4 strokes in terms of oil changes, adjusting valves etc., on high hour engines.

 

[64osby]

Re: Fun boats for rental

http://www.americanboatrentals.net/rentals.html

I ran into a couple (hired help) that were gassing up one of the Glastrons after a day on the water last summer. They had left the bow straps off after loading. The company had 9 Glastrons out for rental that day.

I like aluminum boats and don't know much about newer FG boats, but I thought I would show you a link to an existing company in Northern Michigan.

 

[boatfish]

Re: Fun boats for rental

Shoot me an email and i will telll you the in and outs of boat rentals...we have every boat imaginable..you cant find my email here EDIT:

Please, no email addresses on the forum, use PM for personal information.