Getting some income from your boat

Hi all

With the popularity of Air B&B's i was wondering if you had a boat in a Marina whether it could be used as overnight accommodation and derive some income from it but still have it available for your own use when you wanted to

Ideally I was thinking of catamaran for the living area

If you also had a mooring nearby you could offer either a night at the Marina or at a additional cost if they wanted to be out on the water, once the people were on board you could take it out to the mooring, tender back in and then go and bring it back in the next morning

I wonder if the boat would have to meet any commercial survey requirements if used in this way

If you could get some income from the boat it would allow you to buy a more expensive boat than you might normally be able to afford

Any thoughts on this

Regards Don

I would think it would need the same survey as a charter boat to be legal. Insurance might prove interesting. There is a large yacht for sale on Gumtree for $39,000 [QLD] and has some interesting figures. It's used as a B&B on a private wharf. Mate was discussing doing something similar with a yacht on a mooring here. It would have to be a business for tax purposes and then all the other crap follows. If you considered a cash in hand set up you would soon get dobbed in!
A business would mean all the usual benefits of writing off stuff but getting the right boat and getting through survey and then the annual costs of survey might be a bit much.

Someone is doing it in Queenscliff:

www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/10281051

You will lose your berth at the marina if they catch you

It's an interesting idea Don, but I think "making money out of your boat" should read "losing less money"

You probably need an organisation to go through the marina/survey/insurance questions - maybe Waterbnb? I'm sure it could work, but there'd be some hard yakka to get there.

I'm sure some marina complexes would see the benefits of a lot more visits to cafes, restaurants and other retail, rather than empty boats sitting there. Maybe they could charge a % or even act as agents . After all, many marinas have substantial charter companies operating out of their facilities.

Insurers are used to evaluating risk and charging the appropriate premium.

You'd need some certainty that boats used for this didn't require full commercial survey. Perhaps a self certified or quick visual in-water inspection to ensure basic safety provision could be introduced. A sort of basic, in-marina safety ticket.

How much for a night on a 40 yr old , 28 foot Compass?

Cheers

Bristol