Boat sharing
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Boat Sharing describes the ownership of boats, mainly sailing boats, by a non-profit organisation for its members, for pleasure use.
A boat sharing organisation may be an association, club, cooperative or company. The boats may be owned by the organisation, or leased to it, with members hiring or booking the boats for use for a variety of cruise durations.
The costs of setting up, financing and administering a boat sharing scheme may be offset by the eventual higher utilisation of the boats and moorings, producing cheaper rates of sailing for its members compared to private boat ownership.
Members joining a boat sharing scheme may also save themselves the need to wait for a mooring, which in many marinas can be significant due to the demand exceeding supply. Advocates of boat sharing contend that it offers a fairer way of utilising over-subscribed but sometimes under-used moorings.
Larger sharing schemes may also offer the opportunity to members of sailing from different ports and shores, and with different classes of boat. The limiting factor for the growth of a boat sharing organisation is still, as for the private owner, the availability of moorings.
Examples of boat sharing
SailCom
The oldest and so far largest boat sharing organisation is the Sailcom cooperative in Switzerland. Founded in 1991 under the name ShareCom as a combined car sharing and boat sharing cooperative, in 1997 the car sharing department merged with Auto Teilet Genossenschaft ATG to form Mobility Carsharing Switzerland, whereas the boat sharing department turned into today's independent Sailcom cooperative. It has 1425 members (as of February 2006) and 57 sailing boats on 16 lakes in Switzerland. In the years 2002–2004, the number of members grew by 10–15% p.a. which is quite a challenge for a not-for-profit cooperative, that mainly depends on its members' spare time efforts and only very few part time employees.
Only members may use Sailcom boats; to become a member, one has to:
- have an official Swiss licence for sailing boats with more than 15 m2 sail area ("Bootsführerschein Kategorie D" or "D-Schein" for short), and
- buy a share of SFr. 600.—; this amount is refunded when membership ends.
Members can make reservations for sailing boats by internet (this is the vast majority of reservations) or by a 24-hr telephone call center. Boat usage is charged per hour or per day reserved. Daily rates are fivefold hourly rates; slightly higher rates apply on weekends and holidays. Rates vary according to size and equipment of the boats.
Sloepdelen
In Amsterdam Sloepdelen.nl offers subscription-based access to electric boats (sloepen) from two sites, one in the western and one in the eastern harbour. The mooring in the Eastern Docks, which were redeveloped for housing in the 1990s, is on the Borneosteiger, where it can be supervised from the Jaap Hannis' restaurant. Some eight boats are available there from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m. (during the night rhe batteries are charged up.) Members open the key cabinet with their smart card. Bookings are made through the internet, and in addition to the seasonal or monthly subscription a steep hourly charge is levied, which makes the service too expensive to use for shopping trips or visiting friends, but viable for group use. Casual boat hire is also available.