Boats are the Airbnb’s of the water, even providing locals with vacation vibes.
After a three-hour cruise on the Maumee River, Donielle Whiteland of Perrysburg said the experience was extraordinary.
“It was probably the best date me and my boyfriend ever had,” she said. “To be honest, it was just magical.”
While boat rentals are not new, today’s boating experience is just a few good taps and clicks away. Using an app similar to those for home rentals, Ms. Whiteland said she could easily book her boating excursion using the GetMyBoat app.
“Everything was really easy to do through the app,” she said.
In addition to the sheer convenience of performing the booking tasks, app users have easy access to a range of other features like live weather updates, local restaurants, shopping and of course, ratings.
While summer entertaining and leisure can be done at home, water lovers will say that water recreation is on another level.
“There’s no comparing the two,” Ms. Whiteland said. “I'm a water person to begin with so it was really amazing.”
“A great feature of GetMyBoat is that the vast majority of bookings on our platform are captain charters,” said Val Streif, marketing manager for the company.
“That's where you're going to connect with a Coast Guard licensed captain and go out on the water,” she said. “It’s really the perfect solution for people who don't have boating experience.”
“For a lot of people who just want to go boating once or twice a season to celebrate something, have drinks and whatnot, the safest way to do that is to just have a captain who's sober and knows the local area,” Ms. Streif said.
Realizing that every client is different, the web platform provides various fun water activity options ranging from fancy yachts, fishing boats, and pontoons to personal watercraft, or jetpack flying.
“Toledo is a smaller, but definitely a more growing location for us,” Ms. Streif said.
Area connection
The company has connections with watercraft owners along the Maumee River, across the Michigan line in Monroe, and at Sand Beach, not far from Toledo, she said.
One of the most noted benefits of using the service is its practicality.
“It's a lot more cost-effective,” Ms. Streif said. “If you only want to go boating a couple times a season, it's just not cost-effective to own a boat.”
“Toledo has a short boating season where you have to winterize the boat, haul it out of the water, and make sure you store it properly,” she added.
Ms. Whiteland agreed.
“We actually want to get a boat at some point, but we've got young kids, and it's just financially it's not doable right now.”
Having previously rented boats for an entire day for around $700, Ms. Whiteland believes the better deal is in renting rather than buying.
“If you buy a nice boat, you're gonna pay that monthly with insurance, the marina, winterization, and things like that,” she said. “At this point I'd only use it a few times so for me that's more financially doable than owning a boat.”
Paul Sagert owns a 22-foot, 12-seater crest pontoon that docks at the Maumee River Yacht Club. His boat service has received multiple five-star ratings on the platform.
“I always say ‘I got one of the greatest jobs in the world,’” Mr. Sagert said. “I get to make people happy and give them really cool things to do.”
“Water sports, water boats, jet ski things like that, they're expensive so when you give people a little opportunity to rent, it's great.
“I always tell people ‘Don't buy a boat — rent,’” he said. “They don't realize everything that goes along with it, the maintenance, the winterization, the storage, the price of gas, the upkeep, all these things.
“Do you know what BOAT means? Break Out A lot of Thousands,” Mr. Sagert said jokingly.
Having been involved in boat rental for five years and flyboarding and jetpacking for 10 years, Mr. Sagert connected with the boat rental app platform for the ease of connecting with clients and the convenience of not dealing with paperwork and red tape.
“It's nice when a company can take care of that, and I don't have to do all that because it takes time,” he said.
“I love the app,” he said. “Back in the day, you could do things on a handshake, but it's just a different world. It's the reality so you have to cross your T’s and dot your I’s.”
Offering two time slots, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Mr. Sagert’s renters can enjoy the low-level water cruise of the Maumee River at peak and safe hours.
As this is a non–captain service, renters are required to have boating experience, and those born before 1982 are grandfathered and permitted to drive the vessel.
Boaters can access the sand bar, pull up and enjoy the restaurants on both sides of the water in downtown Toledo or at the Docks.
“I call it liquid therapy,” Mr. Sagert said. “Water therapy. It calms you. It just makes you feel good and it's just a great experience.”
Ms. Streif said the company has seen a recent uptick in rentals as people are getting ready for the Fourth of July.
“Toledo is moving into an area of growing interest for sure,” she said.
“It's a great area where you have the lake right there, but then you're also on the river,” she said, referring to the Maumee River and Lake Erie.
The platform also offers a financial opportunity for boat owners, much like Airbnb does for homeowners.
“If people are boat owners, and they want to offset their costs, it's a great option,” Ms. Streif said. “The average owner on our platform, I think, earns about $25,000 a year. So it definitely offsets all the cost of ownership. And then most owners can also turn a profit, which is really nice, and it’s free to join.”
Mr. Sagert wants Toledoans to know that many fun options are available for the residents.
“Maybe this will be another thing that will give them an idea,” he said. “Boating, flyboarding and being downtown on the waterfront is very cool.”
“If you have a bunch of people, let's say eight people divided by 300, it's less than 50 bucks to have a great day and a memorable experience to talk for years and years,” he said.
“I want people to have the greatest experience,” Mr. Sagert said. “They're paying me for a service. I want them to have the fun that people deserve and don't often get and break away from life and just enjoy another day in paradise out here on the Maumee River.”
More information can be found at https://www.getmyboat.com/trips/rYDJwMNm.
First Published June 11, 2023, 1:00 p.m.
