Hiring a Delivery Captain: Moving Your Boat by Water vs by Truck, Vetting, Contract, Costs and Owner Prep

Weigh these for your boat and route:

• Distance and route: a long coastal or river route may take many days by water; trucks can go direct, but wide or tall boats need permits and planned routes.
• Size and shape: big, beamy or tall boats are hard and expensive to truck; sailboats need the mast unstepped for the road.
• Condition: an untested boat (just bought, just repaired, long laid up) is a risk underway. A delivery can expose problems early, but far from home.
• Season and weather: hurricane season, winter and seasonal lock closures can stretch a water delivery.
• Wear: a delivery adds engine hours; a truck adds road stress and needs careful prep.
• Cost: compare the full water budget (step 6) with written truck quotes, including launching and hauling at each end.

Ask your broker, surveyor, marina or boat club for names, and check online captain directories, regional captains' associations and owners' groups (the Great Loop association lists delivery and training captains among its sponsors). Soundings points out that none of these directories vouch for a captain's competence; that's your job. Interview more than one, by phone or video, not just text.

Ask for the captain's Merchant Mariner Credential and check:

• Level and tonnage: captains moving yachts commonly hold 50- or 100-ton ratings, per Soundings. Ask your insurer which credential level it requires; some set a higher bar than the basic six-passenger (OUPV) license.
• Route: the credential is limited to Inland, Near Coastal or Oceans. It should cover where the boat is going.
• That it's current: the Coast Guard's National Maritime Center offers an online credential-verification tool that emails results when you enter the mariner's last name and reference number (from the credential). You can also email the NMC.
• The medical certificate too: the NMC's announcement says the same tool verifies both the merchant mariner credential and the mariner's medical certificate, which is a separate document with its own expiry. Check both, and note the NMC says its verification data updates on weekday mornings, so a renewal from yesterday may not show yet.

A license proves a test was passed and sea time was logged, not that the person is good. Soundings notes a credential can rest on as little as 360 days on the water.

Ask:

• How many deliveries, on what kinds of boats, over which routes? Experience with your type and size of boat matters.
• For three or more recent references, and call them.
• Who will crew with them, and what that adds to the cost.
• How they decide not to go, or to stop, for weather.
• How often they'll check in with you underway.
• Their policy on alcohol, drugs and smoking aboard (the Great Loop captains specifically recommend asking).

Be wary of rock-bottom prices. Soundings is blunt that a very cheap hourly quote is a reason to walk away.

Call your insurer early. Questions to get answered in writing:

• Does the policy cover the boat while a hired captain runs it, with or without you aboard? Does the insurer need to approve the captain by name, and what credential do they require?
• Is the route within your navigation limits and the season within any hurricane or ice restrictions? If not, can you get a temporary extension?
• Are the captain and any crew covered for injury? As the Great Loop article warns, the owner is generally responsible if the boat is damaged or a hired captain or crew member is hurt, outside cases of gross negligence.
• Does the captain carry their own liability or professional insurance? Ask for a certificate.

Delivery captains usually charge by the day (sometimes by the hour or mile), plus expenses. The Great Loop association's 2024 guide put typical delivery rates at roughly $400 to $750 a day plus expenses, with another $150 to $400 a day for a crew member. Then add:

• Fuel (from your boat's real burn rate and the route length)
• Marina nights and any lock or bridge fees
• Captain's and crew's meals and travel to the boat and home again
• Haul-out or launch at either end, and any pre-trip repairs
• A contingency for weather days and breakdowns

Ask each captain whether training is included if you're aboard; some include it at no extra charge, but don't assume it.

Soundings recommends a contract drawn up by an attorney who knows maritime law, not boilerplate. It should cover:

• The boat, start and end points, and a target window (not a hard deadline)
• Day rate, crew, expense rules and the payment schedule
• Weather days, delays for repairs, and cancellation by either side
• The captain's authority to refuse to sail, change route or stop for safety
• Who may be aboard (no paying riders), and alcohol rules
• How expenses and repairs are approved, and how damage is reported
• Proof of the captain's credential and insurance as attachments

Give the captain a way to pay for fuel and "necessaries" without running up debts against the boat: Soundings suggests a credit or debit card with a limited authorization plus a signed-for cash float, accounted for at the end. A mortgaged boat's lender may not allow debts other than the captain's wages, and some remote yards only take cash.

Before the captain arrives:

• Service the engines and generator (oil, filters, impellers, belts), and fix known problems
• Fill or plan fuel, check batteries and the charging system
• Check safety gear: life jackets, flares, extinguishers, horn, navigation lights, VHF, and an EPIRB or PLB for offshore legs
• Carry spare filters, impellers, belts, fuses and tools (see our spares guide)
• Update chartplotter software and charts, and make sure the depth sounder works
• Put the registration or documentation, insurance papers and a towing membership card aboard
• Write a one-page sheet: known quirks, where the seacocks, breakers and fuel shutoffs are, and any system that doesn't work

Go through the boat with the captain before departure: systems, quirks, paperwork, and where everything is. Take a short run together so the captain can see how the boat handles and you can see how the captain handles the boat. If you just bought the boat, the pre-purchase trial run is no substitute: the delivery may be the first time the engines run for hours at cruise.

Agree on daily check-ins (position, conditions, problems) and how decisions on repairs or delays get made. Trust the captain's weather calls. File the route and expected arrival with a family member or the marina at the destination.

At arrival, walk the boat with the captain: engine hours, fuel used, any damage, any equipment used or broken. Settle the expense account with receipts. Do your own short trial and check the bilge, engine room and hull before you sign off and make the final payment. Then log the trip in your maintenance records: hours, issues found and repairs made.