Boat Swapping

M

moknots

New member
With all the great cruising and C Brat gatherings all over the US, I am surprized I have not been able to find any threads on swapping time on boats. I'd like to boat the ICW north FL to Carolinas, and Cheaspeake Bay sometime. But I don't really want to trailer my boat 3000 miles to do it. Seems like some East Coasters might want to cruise Puget Sound and BC and would also like to not trailer.

So, new guy asks sheepishly: did I miss a great section of C-Brats.com, or is this "just not done"?
 
I know of a few times it's happened but not very often. From an internet contact, it's hard to determine who would one trust at the level required to swap boats and not worry too much about it. I think a lot of people would be more likely to engage in spouse swapping than boat swapping. :lol:
 
Funny thing is, I'd be more than happy to have people on my boat, but I am always timid with using other people's stuff as I'm afraid of breaking things. I think the swapping is in theory a great idea. I had a thought on a fishing forum (and hunting forum) to offer swaps. I love bass fishing but do not have a bass boat. I could take people on the salt anywhere with the C-dory, and then in return ask a bass fisherman to host.

but your vacation swap idea sounds like it has potential. people do house swaps, so why not?


rogerbum":3ryr2tw3 said:
I know of a few times it's happened but not very often. From an internet contact, it's hard to determine who would one trust at the level required to swap boats and not worry too much about it. I think a lot of people would be more likely to engage in spouse swapping than boat swapping. :lol:
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maybe a two for one deal. :xnaughty
 
DuckDogTitus":3h3aik4j said:
Funny thing is...I am always timid with using other people's stuff as I'm afraid of breaking things.
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That'd probably be my problem - I'd have a hard time relaxing on someone else's boat, wouldn't feel as free to make "my own" decisions about risk, etc. But, I know that there are many people who would take it in stride.

I don't think it's probably done often, but also not "just not done." I have four friends who have co-owned a sailboat for years and years (a wooden one, no less), and despite the potential issues it's worked out great for them. Not exactly a swap, but similarly an "arrangement."
 
that sailboat co-ownership is exactly the type of thing I've thought about... it makes sense, but again, I'd be afraid of the damage that I'd inflict.
 
Boat swap sounds like a neat idea, at first. Why not? Maybe start with, why did you buy a trailerable boat and trailer to begin with? Da huh. Worry is another reason. And, how about asking your insurance agent about this idea. Maybe he/she'd ask to see a copy of boating CVs (read credentials, experience) of all swappers using your boat. That's why.

It may make more sense to folks who have larger "in the water or on the hard" kind of boats. But that's not my current situation, so I'm not saying much about that...

Aye.
 
Foggy":3t9ph4uk said:
It may make more sense to folks who have larger "in the water or on the hard" kind of boats. But that's not my current situation, so I'm not saying much about that...

Aye.
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I have seen a number of larger boats available as vacation homes through organizations such as forrentbyowner, kind of a neat opportunity.
 
DuckDogTitus":3chkkdfz said:
but I am always timid with using other people's stuff as I'm afraid of breaking things.
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That would certainly be my issue - plus I have too many mods to explain how they work or sometimes don't work.
 
My son and his good friend purchased my 1983 CD Classic when I bought my present CD. They purchased it 50-50% and use it pretty much the same way but sometimes both families use it together.
I told my son that it was the best way to lose his friend but so far I have been totally wrong. One does one phase of maint. and the other one does the other phase. Works for them. The $$$$ is split evenly.
 
I had a friend like that. One liked "tinkering around on a boat".
The other liked to go boating.
It worked.

I find this is unusual.
It didn't work for me.

Aye.
 
Jack in Alaska":20pgdtf8 said:
I told my son that it was the best way to lose his friend but so far I have been totally wrong.
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i think the secret here would be for the financial part to be low enough to not cause a stressful burden on either party. but then, what would be the point of shared interest.

I had this thought with hunting land. get 4 or more buddies together on a 100acre+ plot, but my thought was to immediately split it into 25acre plots so each buddy 100% held their own and if they ever needed to get out of it (boredom or finances) they could with no hard feelings. you still have a 'shared' 100+ acre community, but nobody shared interest financially.
 
moknots":267m9fgz said:
With all the great cruising and C Brat gatherings all over the US, I am surprized I have not been able to find any threads on swapping time on boats. I'd like to boat the ICW north FL to Carolinas, and Cheaspeake Bay sometime. But I don't really want to trailer my boat 3000 miles to do it. Seems like some East Coasters might want to cruise Puget Sound and BC and would also like to not trailer.

So, new guy asks sheepishly: did I miss a great section of C-Brats.com, or is this "just not done"?
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Nope, never. Way to nervous a guy to captain a boat I didn't know about. Hand my Sea Wolf over to a guy I don't know. Not in this life. Might work for some but I'm out.. :crook
 
We've trailer-ed across the country twice (2 loops). In planning my first trip I considered leaving the boat in the east and just driving home in the truck. When I compared the savings (15 mpg vs 10 mpg) it was more than offset by the cost of motels; as we "boater Home" & stay in the boat. Plus our own cooked food vs restaurant food which gets very tiresome. The main savings is the "hassle" of dealing with the trailer on the highway and in gas and other stops. We learned to deal with that by planning plenty of time and not "pushing" too hard. Plan your passage through big cities to hit them in quite times. In short, we enjoy "boater homing" as the boat is a great way to meet people "We love your cute boat", and it gives us a home if we want to stay a while in one location and visit local sites. We've done a couple of 600 mile days, but crossing the country always seems to take two weeks or more. That really brings down the average daily miles.
Chuck
 
Two Bears":o6v6vkrg said:
We've trailer-ed across the country twice (2 loops). In planning my first trip I considered leaving the boat in the east and just driving home in the truck. When I compared the savings (15 mpg vs 10 mpg) it was more than offset by the cost of motels; as we "boater Home" & stay in the boat. Plus our own cooked food vs restaurant food which gets very tiresome. The main savings is the "hassle" of dealing with the trailer on the highway and in gas and other stops. We learned to deal with that by planning plenty of time and not "pushing" too hard. Plan your passage through big cities to hit them in quite times. In short, we enjoy "boater homing" as the boat is a great way to meet people "We love your cute boat", and it gives us a home if we want to stay a while in one location and visit local sites. We've done a couple of 600 mile days, but crossing the country always seems to take two weeks or more. That really brings down the average daily miles.
Chuck
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Yes indeed. I'm with you Chuck. Plan ahead, take your time, smell the roses a long the way. Several times I have found places to put the boat in along the way I didn't know about. Had a great time.
 
BRAZO":29ry2m5e said:
DuckDogTitus":29ry2m5e said:
but I am always timid with using other people's stuff as I'm afraid of breaking things.
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That would certainly be my issue - plus I have too many mods to explain how they work or sometimes don't work.
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This exactly. I would rather lend out my boat than use someone else's. Given how often I screw up my boat one way or another, I would be too nervous to use someone else's!

And, my boat has a hundred little quirks. Some intentional, some not. I would have to write an instruction manual. I think all boats are like that.
 
If you yearn for a distant cruising area you've dreamed about and you don't want to trailer your rig to, why not bare boat charter? I know it's not swapping to save the on board $$$, but it's a clean way to accomplish this. And travel to/from is a wash.

After you pass the charter company's credentials requirement (you have'em, right?) and perform a satisfactory cursory sea trail at the helm for check out, you're in. The difference is writing the check for not "trading".

Bare boat charters are available in many popular cruising destinations world wide. I've done this extensively in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Caribbean.

Go ahead a spend your children's inheritance on yourself. You may deserve it.

Aye.
 
I know there are folks on this site who are way better at a lot of boating stuff, (skills, maintenance, knowledge, piloting etc) than I am, and could handle my boat well, maybe better than I do, So it might work, but I would be so jealous of them being out on the water on my boat and that I was missing out , it would drive me stir crazy. Nope, not taking that chance, I just don't have that far to go :wink:

As to using someone else's boat, I would be petrified I might do something I shouldn't. Probably wouldn't, I am reasonably careful and moderately skilled on the water, but don't think I want to go there either.

On the other hand, I have considered a bare boat charter on occasion, and will probably do that in some corner of the world I can't tow to. And for the rest, I am reasonably competent trailer puller so will go with my own boat where the roads will take me.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon
 
I have a very strong feeling that if I travel somewhere where there happens to be a Brat living, I could very easily find an invite onto a C-Dory to travel their local waters. I know schedule allowing I'd be more than happy to host an out of towner on my boat in the Puget or some of the larger lakes out here :)

That would be a fun story and swap.
 
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