C-Ya
Int’l Maritime Captain
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2008
- Messages
- 2,701
- Reaction score
- 10,168
Ok guys,
Here’s the deal. I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a tour boat, so I can take tourist out on sightseeing and sandbar trips, here in South Florida. I also would like to use the boat as a fun cruiser for friends and family. I would keep my present boat, since it is custom built for Bahamas cruising.
The boat below is 26’ x 14’. It will come with twin 40hp Mercury outboards with tilt and trim. I would also be adding both a bow and stern thruster with handheld remote control for an additional 15k, but I think it will be worth it. It will allow me to get to the center of a crowded sandbar with complete control of the boat. I would be the first owner to do this modification to the boat.
I can easily take out 6 people on a standard 6-pack tour. I can take 12 if I use the Bareboat Charter exemption. I will try to have to Coast Guard do an inspection so that I can get 18 paying customers, but that is a long shot to get that sort of COI. Certificate of Inspection.
My only regret is that I did not own one of these boats when I had my vacation home in Parker. This would have been fun to have there!
It should be noted that I am a fully licensed commercial boat captain.
I look forward to hearing your opinions of the pick of boat below.
One last thing……. I am having trouble thinking of a name for the business. So far, all I have is “Soggy Dollar Boat Tours”.(the name comes from my favorite bar in the BVI) It would be nice to have the name Tiki somewhere, but after searching names….. it seems like the best names are already taken. Tipsy Tiki , Tiki Time , etc. Can you geniuses help with a cool name?
What is your opinion of the boat? I stole the pic from a website that has the same boat, so you can see the what the finished boat would look like.
Here is a video of a guy in New Jersey, who bought the same boat. Just shows some of the tour possibilities.
Here’s the deal. I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a tour boat, so I can take tourist out on sightseeing and sandbar trips, here in South Florida. I also would like to use the boat as a fun cruiser for friends and family. I would keep my present boat, since it is custom built for Bahamas cruising.
The boat below is 26’ x 14’. It will come with twin 40hp Mercury outboards with tilt and trim. I would also be adding both a bow and stern thruster with handheld remote control for an additional 15k, but I think it will be worth it. It will allow me to get to the center of a crowded sandbar with complete control of the boat. I would be the first owner to do this modification to the boat.
I can easily take out 6 people on a standard 6-pack tour. I can take 12 if I use the Bareboat Charter exemption. I will try to have to Coast Guard do an inspection so that I can get 18 paying customers, but that is a long shot to get that sort of COI. Certificate of Inspection.
My only regret is that I did not own one of these boats when I had my vacation home in Parker. This would have been fun to have there!
It should be noted that I am a fully licensed commercial boat captain.
I look forward to hearing your opinions of the pick of boat below.
One last thing……. I am having trouble thinking of a name for the business. So far, all I have is “Soggy Dollar Boat Tours”.(the name comes from my favorite bar in the BVI) It would be nice to have the name Tiki somewhere, but after searching names….. it seems like the best names are already taken. Tipsy Tiki , Tiki Time , etc. Can you geniuses help with a cool name?
What is your opinion of the boat? I stole the pic from a website that has the same boat, so you can see the what the finished boat would look like.
Here is a video of a guy in New Jersey, who bought the same boat. Just shows some of the tour possibilities.
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