Cost to hire a captain?

[Jono as 2234]

........average 6 knots per hour.......

Shame, Fabio, shame.

[jmschmidt]

Days or mileage which ever is greater. Tahiti to Hawaii, about $4 per nautical mile but if becalmed or set of to the west for 20-30 days and the day rate may kick in.

[Mithril Bham]

I would definitely go along both for the experience and to monitor. Captain may also be less expensive that way.

[mvweebles]

It's been almost 20 years since my last delivery. I did mostly long distance offshore deliveries of high-end trawler yachts. I stayed very busy at $400/day plus all expenses, no discount for lay days or weather. Best I can tell, delivery skippers on east coast get less than high quality skippers on West coast. I know a skipper out of FLL who's been full time for over 10 years and gets $350/day. I've heard others getting closer to $500/day.

Most delivery captains I knew started with sail and quickly moved to something powered such as sport fishers or commercial. Sailboats are slow, uncomfortable in heavy weather, and frankly, with exception of well funded racing programs, sailors are a frugal lot who often gave the impression they resented paying someone to sail their boat.

Peter

[anchorman]

Originally Posted by ThePIFFProject

Hey everyone,

I am looking at possibly hiring someone to MOTOR a sailboat about 200NM in the Greater Toronto Area. I am trying to figure out a fair rate (and if anyone who reads this is interested).

Any guidance? Is it typically per NM fees?

Thanks and looking forward to any feedback you guys may have.

My rates are $300/day and $150/day crew. Please contact me on my website. Www.captainlarrylowe.com and we can discuss this further if you are interested.

[Kalinka1]

Where is the boat now? When do you want to move it? There are no Marina's open now along the way. There is no help available on the lake now either. I'm assuming the boat is on the East end of the Lake. So will be up wind Very Cold with little places to shelter if you need it! Probably safer to truck it! Or bring it up in the spring. Your looking at 2 days minimum for the trip.

[marshmat]

What others have said - perhaps $300 USD or $400 CAD/day plus fuel, dock fees, etc. for a skipper, and half to two-thirds that for a crew, seems about right.


Where is the boat right now? 200 NM from Toronto suggests she's either near Leamington (Lake Erie) or Cornwall (Thousand Islands). If it's the latter, I'd be happy to drop by and check her over with you to make sure she's safe for the winter, just as a "pay it forward" from the folks who helped us while buying ours in Port Dover.


Cornwall to GTA is normally a 4 day trip with stops in Gananoque, Bay of Quinte, and Cobourg. The inside passage via the Murray Canal doesn't open until May 15; the outside passage via the open lake isn't advisable any earlier than that.


Leamington to GTA is also normally 4 days, with a stop on the lee side of Long Point, and you need to either time your arrival at the Welland Canal for a small-craft day (available 3 times a week) or hang out in Port Colborne for a couple of days. You need 2 people on board to do a downbound Welland transit, which can take anywhere from 7 to 21 hours and must be done in a single shot.


Neither of those allows a safe passage to Toronto in December. Also, the marinas are all shut down for winter now, so you won't be able to get fuel or pump out the sewage holding tank.


I highly recommend keeping the boat "on the hard" at her current location until May. Catch up with some online safety & seamanship courses from the Canadian Power & Sail Squadron over the winter. Then spend a week with the boat in her current location - get familiar with her key systems, have a local skipper teach you the basics of handling a boat of this class, and just enjoy being on the water in that area for a few days. Then you'll be in good shape to bring her home, possibly with a bit of professional help, but you might find that you're comfortable doing it solo by then.

[sloop537]

Hi,Craig helped me take a boat from Toronto down to Florida. He teaches boat in the Toronto area, I am sure he could give you a quote or lead you in the right direction. craig@boaterskills.ca

[lo2jones]

I do delivery and private instruction professionally. The commenter saying spend some money is right: you get what you pay for. I charge, on the US west coast, $350 per day up to three days $250 for 4 or more days, $100 for crew and travel expenses. I rent a car or a minivan so the crew does not have to disarm PFDs and carry a life rift if needed.

[GrowleyMonster]

I second that, waiting until winter is over. I am not familiar with small boat Great Lakes sailing but I know it gets colder than Hillary's heart up there and windy, too. I bet you are somewhat limited in where you would be able to anchor safely, as well.

TBH I would rather install a heavy duty outboard bracket and a long shaft 9.9 HP or bigger outboard, than to count on using the dink as a tugboat.

Definitely figure on making the delivery voyage. Your skipper can teach you a lot in the 3 or 4 days it will take, and the couple of days provisioning and inspecting and testing before departing for Toronto. And the winter will give you time to read read read, maybe even take a class.

[JBsurfin]

Originally Posted by ThePIFFProject

Hey everyone,

I am looking at possibly hiring someone to MOTOR a sailboat about 200NM in the Greater Toronto Area. I am trying to figure out a fair rate (and if anyone who reads this is interested).

Any guidance? Is it typically per NM fees?

Thanks and looking forward to any feedback you guys may have.

If you have Boatus coverage, they provide a referral service on Capts. All are screened.

[nofacey]

A Little off topic.....the Hughes31 Sails wonderfully, great choice

[JimJohnston]

Originally Posted by marshmat

I highly recommend keeping the boat "on the hard" at her current location until May. Catch up with some online safety & seamanship courses from the Canadian Power & Sail Squadron over the winter. Then spend a week with the boat in her current location - get familiar with her key systems, have a local skipper teach you the basics of handling a boat of this class, and just enjoy being on the water in that area for a few days. Then you'll be in good shape to bring her home, possibly with a bit of professional help, but you might find that you're comfortable doing it solo by then.

I concur with Matt. Lake Ontario is not a great place to be in the winter months. For example, the current water temp is 6 deg C (43F) and unless your O/B has a thermostat it probably won't reach operating temperature resulting in poor performance. You'll have to store the boat somewhere over the winter so why not leave her where she is until May when the weather can be pleasant.

If the boat is East of Toronto, and you really want to move her, I suggest you contact Loyalist Cove Marina (near Kingston) as they do boat transport and you might get a pretty good price in the off-season

good luck with your quest

[Capt. Mike Maurice]

Deliveries anywhere right now are worse than a crap-shoot. The postings so far have pretty well covered the typical, exceptional and even some of the local difficulties.
The Covid-19 restrictions have made deliveries nearly impossible to know in advance as to where you can get fuel, food or repair help. This doesn't mean it can't be done, as evidenced by the last 3 deliveries I have made this year. But, it's like walking on egg shells. If anyone in the crew becomes sick, if anyone becomes EXPOSED to a known victim then you and your entire crew might get detained somewhere.
I and my crew have taken almost paranoid like precautions. No trains, buses, planes, restaurants, and none of us have been around other people in the week or so before getting together. So, we have had no problems.
But, the first time there is a problem, the boat and crew could get stuck somewhere. The expense of unwinding such a situation is unknowable.
If all this sounds pretty pessimistic, just think of it as reality.

[Paul Howard]

Before motoring any boat on Lake Ontario at this time of year be sure that the fuel system is clean. This includes tanks and filters, whether gas or diesel.
The lake is rough this time of year. Old sediment stirred up will clog filters/carb or whatever and cause engine to die. If you are motoring into the wind it will be very cold and rough in the short steep chop and everything in the tank will swirl around. As a precaution you might set up an outboard engine fuel tank to pipe fuel into the engine and carry some added fuel in gerry cans.

The Hughes boats were not a high quality build and probably have steel fuel tanks with lots or rust and sediment gathering over the years. There will not be other boats around to help out. If the boat has been setting unused for a while there is even more chance of engine failure due to split hoses and overheating in cooling system.
Be well prepared.