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This Website Makes Owning and Renting a Boat Completely Worth It
A new company takes the Airbnb model to sea
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.
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Rearview Mirror: Spinasse at Home, a New Spa Experience, and Seattle Mag’s Reader’s Choice Awards
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
YOUR VOTE MATTERS Everyone has a favorite restaurant, coffee shop, or local boutique. Call me old-school, but I will die on the hill that Caffe Vita has the best coffee in town. Disagree with me? Now’s your moment to speak up. Each year, we survey Seattle magazine readers, asking them to weigh in on everything…
Studio Sessions: Ling Chun
The Seattle-based artist brings playful color to ceramics and neon while exploring memory, transformation, and life between cultures.
For Ling Chun, creating begins with something sensed before it can be named. Working with clay, glass, light, and sometimes synthetic hair, the Hong Kong-born artist gives physical form to things that words cannot always hold. “For me, the magnitude of making goes far beyond the object that is eventually produced,” Chun says. “The object…
The Magic of PAX Is Stronger Than Ever
PAX West draws more than 100,000 people to Seattle each year. Co-founder Jerry Holkins reflects on what the gaming convention set out to change, how its community has grown and why gathering face to face still matters.
Access to game news as it was happening was difficult back in the day. Even with the advent of the internet, communication between game publishers and journalists was still a very elite affair. I used to fake credentials—via fax machine!—to attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo, mostly just known as E3. It was simultaneously as loud…
Your Guide to Bumbershoot 2026
Navigate Seattle’s wildest end-of-summer weekend with 20 picks spanning Death Cab for Cutie, Blood Orange, wrestling, skateboarding and—obviously—movies made in 48 hours.
Four years after Bumbershoot returned with its quirkiness revivified, Seattleites broadly acknowledge the two-day multimedia extravaganza as a welcome finale to the summer festival season. Fests like Bumbershoot are designed around a choose-your-own-adventure model, but if you’re the kind of person who looked at this year’s sprawling lineup—featuring multiple bands, artists, and exhibits happening at…