Experience with Boat rental during a trip?

Expensive? $400.00 divided by the adults(5) = $80.00 per day, each.

That is a bargain for a days worth of entertainment.

I admit it is a lot of money, but you also have a lot of people sharing in the fun.

It's not only to maintain, but the peak summer season rental is just but a few months long, but you still have to make payments and insure it all year long...even in the middle of December.

We rented a pontoon boat in Arkansas for the day, and by the time we paid for the incredibly price fuel at the marina and the rental, it came close to about $400 for the day. But there were 5 adults & 6 kids and we had a blast. It was the first time that alot of them had toobed, so the money was quickly forgotten by the good memories.

It is expensive, no doubt about it...

Man that's crazy, but SO interesting. I think you guys are hitting the nail on the head. It's a pricey thing because it's hard to maintain!

When I was young, I was in charge of a small boat rental department at my uncle's marina.

Want to know why it is so expensive? Astronomical breakage and maintenance fees, because most renters do not listen to the operating instructions!!

I seen people flip a rental sailboat ten feet from the dock! "We know all about sailing." Run a power boat into the dam, or the dock. Everyday it was something. If only we had videos back then.

Every summer we supplied and boat and motor to a camp so that they could offer water skiing to the kids. We sent the boat AND a spare engine! Why? Every summer for 5 summers, they would blow up and completely ruin an outboard motor, and it was easier to have a spare on hand. We really didn't mind. They paid for it, and we were guaranteed a new motor sale!

So you may be careful and treat the boat properly, but many do not!

Any rich marina owner was rich before he bought the marina. The saying goes " If you want to get a Million dollars when you sell the marina you have to buy one for 2 million first."

You know, I wonder about the cost of boat rental too. We have rented in Flordia, just never while camping in the midwest.

I'm going to guess the average low end of the number of days a 400 dollar a day boat goes out is 10. That's 4000 revenue, maybe that's low, so lets say 5000 a month revenue.

I wonder where the expenses go? First insurance, then dockage fees to own the marina, then salaries, gas that might need to be higher on this list, either loan payment or lease fess plus deprecation.

All that adds up I bet. But, you know I have never met a super rich marina owner! Now that said, I bet most of them are small partnerships with the local good ole' boys who own half everything involved!

I once had they guy in Florida tell me it was better to let his boat sit at 400 dollars a day than rent it every day for 200 or less. I think he was saying that 200 was too much wear and tear. His supply and demand curve made it better for him to rent less for higher, as long as the market would bear it!

We have rented a boat once a summer for several years when we go to the 1000 islands. It usually costs about 300-350 for the day with a pontoon boat. We have a nice time and it is our big expense for the trip. When my children were small I carried our own life vests. I didn't want to use the marinas. We also rented many a fishing-type aluminum boat just to tool around in the various little lakes that we camped at. This is not a big expense usually 25 dollars for half a day which is plenty with little kids.

I was a avid boater before I got into RV'ing. I even have a Porta Bote and outboard that we use when RV'ing.
Last summer we rented a Pontoon boat for the first time.
It was $400.00 or so for a 1/2 day. Which I felt was expensive.
However from experience boating is an expensive hobby.
I imagine it would have cost me $200.00 or so to bring a boat with me. That's extra fuel,ramp fees gas etc. So now it cost me $200.00 more to just walk down to the dock and drive off.
I would rent a Pontoon boat again for a 1/2 day or so as a treat for the kids.
Boating is expensive no way around it, but renting maybe a psueudo economical way to mix boating and camping vs. owning and maintaining a boat + an RV

We have rented boats a few times. It can be very expensive. It depends what kind of boat you want. If you just rent a row goat with a motor for getting to see the lake and do a little fishing those aren't bad. Once you get into speed boats and pontoon boats they get expensive fast.