A canoe livery or canoe rental is a

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

engaged in the boat livery (or

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 ...

) of

canoe A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ' ...

s or

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

s. It is typically found on or near

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, or

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s that provide good recreational opportunities.''"A typical livery business will be on a small river with just enough current that the canoes will move along without having to paddle a lot"''Spetla 1998 A related but dissimilar business is a

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

rental business, which is often distinguished by renting 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 and by not having a provision for return from a remote location. Such liveries can be found worldwide, wherever there are sufficient tourists or locals to support the activities. Canoe carrier Dordogne

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

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, life preservers and the like, is the basic service provided. Some optional extras offered may include

liability insurance Liability insurance (also called third-party insurance) is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser (the "insured") from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the in ...

, transport of the craft back to the livery at the end of the journey, provision of a

guide A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Exp ...

, or organised group outings. Some liveries rent other unpowered boats 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. Others also rent

paddleboard Paddleboarding is a water sport in which participants are propelled by a swimming motion using their arms while lying or kneeling on a paddleboard or surfboard in the ocean or other body of water. Paddleboarding is usually performed in the open ...

s and tubes. Liveries may also provide watercraft classes or training. The livery may provide

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

facilities to support multi-day trips. The livery often will sell ancillary supplies (sunscreen, sunglasses, clothing, water bottles, maps and books) as an adjunct to the business. Foam blocks or chocks, and rope may be sold or provided to enable car-top transport.Spetla 1998

Equipment

In addition to the craft themselves, the livery will often have one or more vehicles or trailers fitted out with special racks to enable transport of many craft efficiently. These vehicles can be quite large, holding as many as 20 craft or more. This is because usually the customers travel downstream from the livery and at the end of the journey, some provision for return must be made. Small liveries may have as few as four boats in their fleet, while large ones may have over one thousand.

Location

Typically, the actual rivers or lakes used are not the property of the livery (most such are held in common in most jurisdictions). In some cases, the put in, and take out, locations, may be owned by the livery, but it is common that these are owned by a park or recreation authority and the livery operates there, with or without permits, a term known as "granting a concession".

Liability

Canoeing and kayaking are sports that inherently have some risk. Typically, this risk is offloaded to the customer by having them execute a waiver. However some operators offer coverage to renters. In addition, there may be lawsuits filed against operators, despite any waivers. Specialised insurance does exist for this risk. The liability issue may impact the park or recreation agency that has granted a concession to the livery.

Economic impact

Precise figures for the number of these businesses may be difficult to come by. The United States Economic Census tracks down to the ''Recreational Goods Rental'' level only, and canoe livery is a subclass of this category. As of 2002, the category had 1,757 establishments employing at least one employee, with revenue of US$521,783,000 and a payroll of US$126,376,000 covering 7,416 people.US Economic Census At least 344 such businesses exist in the US,based on listings in the and there possibly may be many more.

References

External links

Article
from Backwoods Home magazine, 1998, giving an overview of the business and association information.
Article
about liability issues from Findarticles.com

(Professional Paddlesports Association) a trade association of manufacturers, liveries, and trip providers. {{DEFAULTSORT:Canoe Livery Water sports equipment Canoeing and kayaking