A boat livery is a

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

or dock on a lake or other body of water, where boats are let out for hire (

rental Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement (or lease) is sign ...

), usually on an hourly, daily or weekly basis. Boats may be powered or

sail A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may b ...

craft or human powered like rowboats, paddleboats (pedalos) or

inflatable boat An inflatable boat is a lightweight boat constructed with its sides and Bow (watercraft), bow made of Inflatable, flexible tubes containing pressurised gas. For smaller boats, the floor and Hull (watercraft), hull are often flexible, while for ...

s. The primary use of the boats is recreational. Lynn M. Pearce, Ed., Encyclopedia of American Industries Vol. 3: Finance, Service & Public Administration Industries. 6th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2011. p2855-2857. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale, Cengage LearningPatricia J. Bungert and Arsen J. Darnay, Ed., "Boats." Encyclopedia of Products & Industries - Manufacturing. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 113-119. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

Business operations

Services

Rental of the

watercraft A watercraft or waterborne vessel is any vehicle designed for travel across or through water bodies, such as a boat, ship, hovercraft, submersible or submarine. Types Historically, watercraft have been divided into two main categories. *Raf ...

and associated equipment, such as oars, motors,

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened end (the ''blade'') used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered watercraft by p ...

s, and life preservers, is the basic service provided. Some optional extras offered may include fishing tackle. Boat liveries may also be required or optionally provide watercraft classes or training. The livery often will sell sunscreen, sunglasses, clothing, water bottles, live bait, maps and books as supplemental income.

Equipment

Boat rentals by Magdalen Bridge - geograph

In addition to the craft themselves, liveries may also maintain a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : "related to the sea") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo ...

. Numbers of craft in the fleet can vary from one to several hundred. Fuel cost and storage is an important consideration for motorized crafts. Livery owners and employees must also clean, maintain, and store their fleet during inclement weather.

Location

Typically, the actual bodies of water used are not the property of the livery. In some cases, the launch or dock locations may be owned by the livery, "but could also be owned by a park or recreation authority and the livery operates there, with or without permits, a term known as "granting a concession".

Liability

In the United States, the insurance for boat livery owners can be expensive and difficult to obtain. According to an article in ''The Business Journal'' (

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

), keeping track of state laws and regulations is extremely important and new laws can cause expensive challenges for a livery operator.

Economic impact

In 2004, it was estimated there were about 1,400 small rental, single-location operations in the United States. According to the 2007

United States Economic Census The United States Economic Census is the U.S. federal government's official five-year measure of American business and the economy. It is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, and response is required by law. Forms go out to nearly 4 million busin ...

, 1,740 scenic and sightseeing water transportation categorized establishments reported total revenue of $1,270,714 U.S. dollars. Nearly half of that income was created by 129 businesses operating year-round and each employing 20-100+ employees. An additional 1,722 recreational goods rental categorized businesses reported total revenue of $683,457 U.S. dollars in the 2007 Economic Census of the United States. The American government industry category for a recreational boat livery is: * SIC 7999: Amusement and Recreation Services, Not Elsewhere Classified NAICS codes: * 487210 Scenic and Sightseeing Transportation, Water--"Although these activities use watercraft, they are different from the activities included in water transportation. Water sightseeing does not usually involve place-to-place transportation; the passenger's trip starts and ends at the same location." * 532292 Recreational Goods Rental.--"This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in renting recreational goods, such as bicycles, canoes, motorcycles, skis, sailboats, beach chairs, and beach umbrellas" including providing boat rental without operators.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Business Idea Center: Boat Rentals
– ''

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

'' magazine Water sports equipment Ship management