I'm under contract to buy a 2011 Azimut 58...

I'm afraid you're interested it seems in the ugly underbelly of the charter industry, not something you'll find much familiarity with here. In fact, likely something many here would like to see curtailed. You're not chartering boats but you're running party boats. You're going for drinking rather than food and for discount crews. Now, I would have thought most of those you're targeting go in parties of more than six, more than you can handle.

You decided before coming here who you were going to listen to and it's most definitely not any of us. It's those you know with their boats, giving you delusions of grandeur. It's charter brokers with promises. It's probably a good many illegal charterers or those constantly on the edge of legality.

Guess while you're young and foolhardy is the time to do things like this. Good luck impressing the girls as that seems your real goal. I'm now out of this discussion as doing business the way I see you doing it is not something I want to encourage.

Doh! I can perfectly see why an Azi 103 (103S, I suppose?) can look attractive.
But 35 souls onboard? I mean, legally? If yes, well, only in America....

RER brings up an excellent point. You have three options with regards to your charters:

1. Limit the number of passengers to 6 and have a licensed captain do the driving. You can be that captain once you get your license.
2. Take up to 12 passengers using a "bareboat" option. In that case, you need to give the option of letting the charterer provide their own qualified captain or they can choose from a list of approved captains you've already vetted. In this scenario, you are not allowed to be on the boat during the charter. Although that might seem a bit unreasonable, it is absolutely the law. Also, you'll need a MARAD letter allowing you to charter more than 6 and only up to 12 passengers since you will be doing this with a foreign made vessel. And make sure you've got a signed bareboat contract from the charterer before they set sail.
3. Go through the USCG inspection process to get approved to take more that 6 passengers for a non-bareboat charter. If you go this route, you'll need a US-built vessel and be prepared to spend a LOT of time and money to get approved. If you're successful, the USCG will assign a new passenger limit based upon many variables such as the size, safety and stability of your vessel.

Makesumwake
It might not be a terrible idea to book three or four day charters on different yachts in the location you will base your new boat. You could see what competition is like, get some valuable information from the charter boat crews, and maybe even encounter a few crew who you can poach to staff your new vessel. It would be worthwhile research for you.

You're going about this all wrong. Have you considered working on one of your friends boats as a deck hand to see how the chartering even works, what boats work and don't work. How to maintain a yacht, etc. Why not learn on someone else's dime?

You ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to cut price to get charters. They are priced as such so that you can make a profit. Cutting price will for sure do 2 things. 1- you will piss every single other person off that does day charters and they will both black ball you in the industry AND create as much chaos for you. 2. You will only attract the worst of the worst charter guests that will destroy your boat. What you do want to do is make friends with the other boats and kick them back 10% of the charter fee if they send something your way. EVERYONE gets double booked from time to time or has a mechanical issue that takes them out of the game, do the same with them.

The boat is not what makes the charter boat successful. It is the CREW and the experience. You're completely delusional if you think an Azimut charters any better than any other similar Euro brand such as Sunseeker, Princess, Feretti, etc. etc. Most people don't know the **** difference. As long as it looks flashy and has the appropriately sized areas and amenities. You want something reliable, because waiting 3 weeks to get parts from Italy isn't going to pad your wallet if you have to cancel charters.

Speaking of crew- You need very good crew AND extra crew. You get charters and referrals by having the best crew so that the guests have the best experience. I was talking to a customer the other day that has a 80+ ISH' yacht that has done the Miami day charter scene for a long time and is one of the busiest ones. He charters around 120 days a year but a mix of 4/6/8 hour charters...…...He builds into the price an extra 25% that goes to the crew as a tip automatically so around $4500. Plus whatever tips they get, the crew split also. He runs 4 crew, sometimes 5. Lots of repeat customers. Crew is what makes it work and you need the same crew, CONSISTENCY. You can't have different crew learning the boat every other charter. It shows with guests and does not make for a great experience. After all the wear and tear and maintenance and etc...….the boat makes a little......BUT, he's one of the busiest. You also have to be at a good marina that guests can get on and off no problem. I think you would be around the lower side of your number......Once you spent 2 years getting established...…...

Quite frankly, from what I read, you're in way over your head. Work on someone else's yacht and do day charters for a month or two, then come back to the buying table. And, after seeing some playboy doing the dirty in the master stateroom with 3 skanky hookers, you might not want to charter your own boat after all.

Well spoken, lots of good advice being doled out here, pay attention this is gold.

This has been a fascinating read. It’s an aspect of boating I know nothing about. My wife and I run our 65 only for our own use, never charter, and never been a charter guest. But a few things stand out:

Someone suggested general rule of a $800k boat costing $80k (10%) to maintain. While the 10% rule is debatable, the OP responded that he could get the same boat for $600k, so maintenance would be less. (If he we’re given the same boat for free, would he say the annual maintenance is zero?).

I am surprised at I haven’t read anything about seasonality to this business plan. OP seems to be saying he can charter a couple of days a week, but is there really business in summer months? Seems like majority his business would be concentrated December-May.

It’s possible in my mind that those of us over 50ish are out of touch with what young people with discretionary income value. Maybe they care less if the food came from Publix and more about how it looks on their Instagram feed. Maybe they care less about traveling to a pristine island retreat and more about who is on the yacht “parked” next to them at the sand bar. Maybe they would rather get “referrals” from drinking buddies and Yelp than from a tried and true yacht charter company.

I wish the OP success in whatever form it takes. I also hope he will keep us posted on his progress as his plan unfolds. Please start a new thread.

I don't think it's an age thing..... Some people seek a chef with a reputation in a restaurant with ambiance and go there for the quality of the food, service and total experience. Some people go to places where there's three taps of Yaeger, $8 wings all night, a slightly off beat power trio by the name of "Harry and the Orgasms" and ladies with frequent partial wardrobe malfunctions.

"It ain't a party 'till the cops show up".

There are a lot more of the latter than there are of the former.

It sounds like you only want the boat to just get hot chick charters. I would expect you to be blackballed pretty quick by the industry. Don't go down the route of the sleazy side of chartering. There's a lot of people here who have posted really great stuff I would listen to them.

I myself am new to this site and I'm here for completely different reasons, but even if I did ever want to run a charter it would be for class and priority. Most charters that I have looked up in the last couple of days seem to price themselves pretty reasonably and to the operational efficiency of the vessel. The moment you start trying to undercut people it just makes for bad business for the industry as a whole.

I would suggest before you even buy you just sit down and really think about what the purpose of this vessel is four and really think your priorities through. I myself just enjoy having the yacht and enjoying it for what it is. It's why I've been an owner operator. It's not everybody's back at e, but it's mine. If you seriously want to get into the chartering business think heavily about why you're doing it.

I also suggest you watch a few of the captains that are on YouTube. and really listened to the stories they have to tell about what chartering is actually like. My personal favorite is super yacht captain. His insights are really fascinating. but don't get into the industry for the wrong reasons.

The study of boat nuts in their natural habitat? Welcome.

Sounds like a good plan.

By my math your looking at closer to 40k/annually plus electric-no small number, to keep this boat at a decent marina in south beach. That’s half your proposed annual expenses. No one has pointed this out, Am I missing something?

I have got to say this is the most entertainment I have had on yachtforums yet. I thought I was on thehulltruth for a minute hahah. If you could just get bravo or the kardashians to make a show about this venture you would be in the black real quick.