Skip to content

This Website Makes Owning and Renting a Boat Completely Worth It

A new company takes the Airbnb model to sea

By Lexi Bolton July 25, 2014

0814boatbound

This article originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.

When August finally arrives in Seattle, owning a boat seems like a genius idea. Imagine it: tooling around Lake Washington every weekend, sailing up to the San Juans or just buzzing over to Bainbridge. The sun shines, the water sparkles…unfortunately, for most of the year the boat sits at the dock, racking up marina fees. This reality inspired last year’s online launch of Boatbound (boatbound.co), a San Francisco–based company that applies the Airbnb model of peer-to-peer (in this case, “pier-to-pier”) rentals to watercraft. Having expanded to Seattle, Boatbound makes it possible for boat owners to offset costs, and for those curious about the boating lifestyle to live it without the storage hassle. Owners set the prices, which in the Puget Sound area range from $110 for a full day on a classic inflatable-hull Zodiac to $1,100 for a full day on a Catana 472 luxury performance catamaran. Powerboats are a popular offering here (around $200–$400 per day), but mellow boaters may prefer a 17-foot canoe ($75/day). Renters and owners review each other online, and Boatbound screens renters (25 and older only) for driver’s licenses and previous DUIs, and provides boat insurance and round-the-clock water support (including towing, should your rental conk out). Boat shoes not included.

 

Follow Us

Rearview Mirror: An Oyster Party, Money for Art, and Mac & Cheese at 30,000 Feet 

Rearview Mirror: An Oyster Party, Money for Art, and Mac & Cheese at 30,000 Feet 

Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).

We Partied for Art I love a party, and I love art, so when the Henry Art Gallery invited me to its annual fundraising gala, it was paddle’s up from the get-go. Held on the floor of Pioneer Square’s Railspur building in a space managed by Rally, Angela Dunleavy’s latest venture (read all about it…

Urban Grit Meets Wild Beauty: Inside Seattle Art Museum’s Beyond Mysticism
Sponsored

Urban Grit Meets Wild Beauty: Inside Seattle Art Museum’s Beyond Mysticism

Seattle’s history is rooted in its fascinating juxtaposition of industry and nature, inspired by the region’s dramatic landscapes and rapidly changing cityscape. Seattle Art Museum’s current exhibition, Beyond Mysticism: The Modern Northwest, invites you to meet the artists who captured that tension and transformed it into a bold new vision of Modernism. Modernism, Made in…

Our March/April Issue Has Arrived!

Our March/April Issue Has Arrived!

Inside you’ll find Best Places to Live, a packed spring arts guide, and more stories from across the region.

The future’s bright, and so is the cover of Seattle magazine’s March/April issue! Featuring a mural by local artist (and 2023 Most Influential pick) Stevie Shao, the colorful cover is a snap from Woodinville, one of the six “Best Places to Live” featured inside. While we usually focus on Seattle neighborhoods, this year we expanded…

Supporting Roles

Supporting Roles

Three women in the Northwest are helping local artists through newly launched residencies outside of Seattle. Here, we take a look inside these thoughtfully designed spaces, and learn what drove their founders to become cornerstones in the creative community.

Iolair Artist Residency Eastsound, WA Years ago, after studying photography and earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Washington, Pacific Northwest native Linda Lewis realized that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life behind a camera. “The minute I graduated from school, I was far more inspired by the…