Cruising-Sailing

Yacht Winterization Service Business By Lance Winslow

If you own a boat maintenance business you need to be providing winterization services to your customers. Many boat owners who get to know you may trust you to help them winterize their boats. The best place to store a boat is under a cover in a controlled climate environment. This can be very costly and although there is debate on whether a boat should be "shrink-wrapped” for winter or not that too is very costly.

Since during the winter you will be requested to either halt services or curb washing to a frequency of every two months. Of course, the charge for these washings will be at double or triple the weekly price but you still lose a lot of weekly wash monies. If you charge $20 for weekly washing then that is $160 for two months of washes instead of $60 every two months for one wash. Including snow and debris removal.

Your solution is easy. Get the $60 for the washing every two months plus charge a $200 winterizing fee which includes weekly walk-byes for no additional charge. On those check-up days, cruise by the slip or dry storage and make sure the covers and tie downs are all secure. Boat owners seldom find time to get down and check on their boat during the four to six month ‘dormant period’. You would normally make $320 for washing a boat weekly for four months (4 months = 16 weeks), (16 x $20 = $320). During the winter if you wash the boat twice then that’s $120 plus $200 for your winterizing service. This equals the same amount of money.

Here are some of the services you can do as part of your ‘dormant period’ winterizing service. Now, before we list all these services, remember the obvious… a boat detail, window treatment coating, coating of metal parts (tuna towers, tie downs, horns, hooks, aluminum striping, propellers, etc.). If the boat is going into dry-dock how about an www.ADSIL.com coating. Hull only $30 per foot in Florida, $60 to $70 per foot in California, $50 to $60 per foot in the northeast. That can certainly add up on a 23 foot Sea Ray. And, of course, there are boat painters’ referral fees and even engine, canvas covers, etc. bird dog fees. Think on this.