Uber for Boats: Marine App that Helps you Roam the Water

If you thought about the Development of an on-demand Boat-yacht Service, this may be actually a good idea. Uber-like itself has moved in direction of the water transportation market at least twice. According to the latest research all boats (starting with simple kayaks and ending with the most luxurious yachts) are used by their owners only 8% of the year. Which means that most of the time all boats owners only have to invest in their floating property paying for the maintenance and staying in dock or marina.

At the same time people are travelling all year round and many of them may be interested in renting a boat and exploring new places. Since there is a demand for this service it grants an opportunity to all boat owners to earn a great deal of money. So Uber for boats is a great platform able to connect renters and boat owners. So check out what you should definitely take into account if you consider developing your own app for on-demand boat renting services.

Business Opportunities

There are about 12 million registered boats in the U.S. according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association report. Most of them are private vessels, and about 100 thousands of them are yachts.

Sadly, but in most cases these ships are idle, moored to the shore for most of their lifespan.
Obviously, some boat owners would gladly rent or share their vessel in order to cover maintenance expenses. Likewise in the U.S., an Uberboat service can get much of attention among European yacht owners, especially those located in the Mediterranean Sea.

By the way, we’ve made a similar geolocational web service for private yacht owners called SeaGuide.

Another great opportunity lies in the development of boat booking app, that will ease public transportation in cities that situate on the shore. Such app can monetize through ads and transaction fees that will be charged for boat ticket purchase.

For instance, there are more than 70 inter-regional ferry-lines in Japan. The island country, as well as Norway, boasts one of the most developed water transportation networks. Development of an app that locates and schedules a water trip may be extremely helpful and popular among locals.

In addition, don’t forget about water cities and tourists centers like Venice, Miami, Chicago, Paris, Wuzhen, Shanghai, Hamburg, Amsterdam, etc. Each of them can be a good place to start the boat booking company operation.

Here is one great example for you proving that building Uber for boats is a brilliant idea. Have you heard about an app called Get My Boat? This is a huge platform for providing boat renting services. It was launched in 2013 and now thanks to this app people can rent boats in the USA, Mexico, Canada, France, Holland, Colombia, the UAE. It is present in 184 countries in overall and covers over 9000 destinations.  People can find vessels of various sizes and types, with captain or other personnel. As you can understand the revenue of this platform owners is huge. And the benefits of Uber for boats are mutual for both renters and boat owners.

One more thing to consider fro you is Airbnb for boats. It is a solution similar to Uber for boats but instead of offering rentals of boats for sea exploration owners provide yacht-as-apartment services. So renters can find a vessel they like and get settled on it for their vacation. It will be popular among people who cannot ride the yacht, do not want to hire the captain or simply have a seasick but still want to have that luxury experience of being on yacht.

The possibilities are endless and Uber for boats will get extremely popular in the near future because this is the most convenient way to connect boat owners with renters and provide services. Uber for boats is totally investment-worthy idea.

Hot Locations Providing Boat Rental Services

• Florida
• Massachusetts
• Illinois
• Washington
• New York

• Croatia
• Australia
• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Portugal
• Egypt
• France

How to develop own Boat Rental App?

Still Uber hasn’t captured the best part about water rides. This app should be made for rich people, who are spontaneous in their wants and interested in quick and effortless boat service. Thanks for such a lucrative targeted audience, yacht lovers, the app doesn’t necessarily need to gain mass popularity in order to get a stable income.

Boat Sharing App can be easily monetized and become profitable without covering a wide audience.

Boat rentals & Yacht Charter App Features

• Rides Request – This feature will suit for any travel app and those tourists who are looking for a private voyage with a professional captain.
• Boat Locator – It may be really hard to find your boat if you’re not familiar with a pier or port.
• Internal Messenger – Prompt communication with boat owner may be extremely helpful if you’re not familiar with a yacht and her “character”.
• Boat Booking – The most common use of Uber for boat app is the ability to share or rent a for a day trip.
• Nautical Maps – For those who prefer to be a true captain on board. We adore the aesthetics of nautical maps and will be pleased to integrate this feature again like we did for Drophook app.
• Weather Forecast – Some extra support for travelers. You definitely don’t want to rent a yacht in storm day.
• Feedback – This feature will allow all renters to check out whether the boat is really good and whether they should rent it based on the experience of other people who already used the service.

How much does it cost?

Uber for boats is a holistic solution and it should be of a high quality. Therefore you need a team of qualified specialists to build it for you. As the development cycle is a complex procedure, you will need a range of tech takes starting with developers and  testers and ending with designers and business analysts. Each specialist does an important part of a job to build your app from scratch.

Usually software development companies offer the discovery stage (market research), full development cycle, UI and UX design and of course software maintenance. Every qualified specialist has an hourly rate. So the cost of your app will depend on its complexity, set of desired features and development hours.

On average the price for Uber for boats starts from $30K per one platform (iOS or Android) and it can increase, depending on the company you will choose. However, there is a way to reduce your costs. F.e. you can choose a company which has ready-made developed modules as well as extensive experience in making similar applications.