Hiring a Captain and Crew
The largest step-change in the cost of owning a boat, and it arrives at a predictable size. Here is what each size needs, what it costs, and what changes the day you put somebody on the payroll.
By size
Where Your Boat Sits
No law requires a private owner to carry crew. What decides it is the boat, the maintenance she needs whether you use her or not, and increasingly your insurer.
| Length | Usual crew | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 ft | Owner operated | Most owners run these themselves. A day-rate captain for a longer passage or an unfamiliar inlet is common and sensible, and costs nothing when you are not using one. |
| 50 to 70 ft | Captain, often the only crew | The usual arrangement is a captain who both runs her and handles routine maintenance and the yard relationship. Whether they are full-time or on a retainer depends on how often you go out. |
| 70 to 100 ft | Captain and mate, as a minimum | This is where crew stops being a choice. The boat needs two to handle her properly, and the maintenance schedule has become somebody's job rather than somebody's weekend. |
| 100 ft and above | Captain, mate or first officer, engineer, stewardess | The hierarchy expands with size. Engineers on the systems, deckhands on the exterior and the tender, a chef and further interior crew as she grows. Crew accommodation becomes a design constraint rather than a spare cabin. |
What Each One Does
- Captain
- Safe navigation and operation, the maintenance program, managing any other crew, and the single point of contact between you and every yard, surveyor and supplier. The most consequential hire you will make.
- Mate
- Second pair of hands for handling, watches and anchor work, plus exterior maintenance. On a boat above 70 feet the difference between a comfortable operation and a stretched one.
- Engineer
- Mains, generators, watermakers, air conditioning, hydraulics and electrical. Arrives when the systems become too much for a captain to run alongside everything else.
- Deckhand
- Lines, anchor, tenders and toys, washdowns and exterior upkeep. The role that keeps a boat looking like she is cared for.
- Stewardess
- Interior presentation, provisioning, service and guest care. On a boat used for entertaining, the difference guests actually notice.
What it costs
Full-Time, Retained, or by the Day
Full-time
$75,000 to $150,000
A year, by boat and experience, plus benefits, health insurance, paid vacation, sometimes a housing allowance. Earns its keep on a boat used often or kept to a standard that needs daily attention.
On retainer
An agreed number of days
A monthly arrangement for a set number of days. Suits owners who use her regularly but not constantly, and keeps the same person across the year, which is most of the value of a captain.
By the day
$400 to $800
By qualification and boat size. Right for weekends, a longer passage or an unfamiliar inlet, but somebody still has to mind her in between.
Choosing
Four Things to Check
The license, matched to the boat
A USCG Master license appropriate to her tonnage and operating area. A 50-ton Master covers most recreational yachts under about 80 feet; larger vessels want 100-ton or 200-ton. STCW certification and further endorsements come in for international cruising.
Experience of your kind of boat
A captain who has run sportfish brings different instincts from one who has run displacement motor yachts or sail. Ask what they have run, at what size, and where, not just how long he has held the ticket.
References, actually taken up
From previous owners, and called rather than read. This is the step people skip and the one that would have told them what they later find out.
Somebody you can be around
Your captain becomes a regular presence in your boating life and often in your family's. Competence is the qualifying round; fit is what decides it.
The part owners underestimate
You Become an Employer
A full-time hire is not a service arrangement. It brings the obligations any employer has, and getting them right at the start costs a fraction of sorting them out later.
- A written agreement: pay, schedule, duties, time off, benefits, notice and confidentiality
- Workers' compensation insurance, which is required for yacht crew in most jurisdictions
- Payroll, withholding and reporting handled properly from the first month
- Your marine insurer told, since crew affects the vessel policy
- A maritime employment attorney on the agreement, if the hire is full-time
We are brokers, not employment lawyers. What we can do is tell you where the thresholds sit and put you in front of somebody who does this properly.
Straight answers
What Owners Ask
We have watched a great many captains work on boats like yours, and we are glad to make an introduction. We take nothing for making it.
(954) 560-2811At what size do I need a captain?
There is no legal threshold for a private owner running their own boat, but there is a practical one and it sits around 70 feet. Below 50 most owners run her themselves; between 50 and 70 a captain is common and often part-time; from 70 to 100 a captain and mate is the working minimum. Your insurer may also have a view before you do. Cover on a larger boat can be conditional on a licensed captain, particularly for a new owner stepping up a long way in size.
What does a captain cost in South Florida?
A full-time captain runs roughly $75,000 to $150,000 a year depending on the boat and the experience, plus benefits: health insurance, paid vacation and sometimes a housing allowance. A day-rate captain is $400 to $800 a day. Between the two sits a retainer for an agreed number of days a month, which suits owners who use the boat regularly but not constantly.
Full-time or day rate?
Count the days you will genuinely use her and the days she needs attention whether you use her or not. Full-time earns its keep when the boat is run often or kept to a standard that needs daily attention, and on a larger yacht the maintenance alone is a job. Day rate suits weekend and seasonal use, but somebody still has to mind her in between, which is where a management program or a retained captain comes in.
What license should a captain hold?
A USCG Master license matched to her tonnage and where she goes. A 50-ton Master license covers most recreational yachts under about 80 feet; above that, 100-ton or 200-ton. Anything international brings STCW and further endorsements into it. Check the license covers the boat you actually have, not the one they last ran.
Am I an employer if I hire a captain?
Yes, and that is the part owners underestimate. A full-time hire means a written employment agreement, workers' compensation insurance, payroll, withholding and reporting, and your marine insurer needs to know, because crew affects the vessel policy. Get a maritime employment attorney onto the agreement before the first day rather than after the first dispute.
Where do I find good crew?
Fort Lauderdale has the deepest pool of qualified crew in the country, and three routes into it: crew placement agencies, which pre-screen and verify credentials; the docks and yacht clubs, where the community is small and word travels; and your broker, who has watched captains work on boats like yours. We are glad to make introductions and we take nothing for making them.
We will introduce you to the right crew agency
Tell us the boat, how you intend to use her and whether you want somebody full time or for a passage, and we will point you at the agencies that place that kind of crew here. For a delivery or a single trip we can usually name a captain directly.
We do not place crew ourselves and we take nothing from an agency. What we have is a view of who turns up and who lasts.
Or call (954) 560-2811.