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Old 07-25-2014, 11:54 AM
 
37 posts, read 63,612 times
Reputation: 25

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Any recommendation? We'd like to sign up for a boat club membership. Which one would you recommend? There seems to be several in the area from Boyntonto Jupiter.
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Old 07-28-2014, 02:26 PM
 
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I am a member of the new Palm Beach Boat Club, formerly Freedom boat club. I used to own a boat, so I have seen it both ways. It has its pro's and con's like anything else. The biggest pro's are the cost (it truly is a fraction of the real cost of owning a boat) and the convenience of not having to clean or store a boat. The cons are getting a boat when you want one and some of the boats show a lot of wear. If you really don't care what kind of boat you get, you can get one fairly easy on their waiting list. But if you have to have a center console or something else set up for fishing, you have to reserve 2 months in advance. This isn't a problem if you are a planner and keep making reservations in advance. But if you are not organized and keep up with the reservations you won't go out much. You can have 4 reservations on the books at once.

My wife loves it, but only because we get to use boats I would never buy (33 ft sea rays and 44 foot luhrs). It also has worked well for us because our kids are small and we couldn't go out much if we had a small center console, which is what i would own. But I see us getting out of it one day and owning again. The owner of Palm beach boat club said that most people own for 7 to 10 years before they try something else. We have owned it 4 years and i see us moving on in probably 3 years when the kids are older.

I see now that Freedom is opening a new location in Lake Park, but i don't know much about them. If you are interested in Palm Beach boat club, make sure you check craigslist. When they first opened they offered these lifetime memberships that lock in your monthly rate. You will see several people selling them now at a price cheaper than what a new membership costs. You have to have either seatow or towboat membership, so add an annual $150 charge to your budget. Feel free to ask any other questions.
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Old 07-28-2014, 03:28 PM
 
232 posts, read 770,120 times
Reputation: 85
Thanks for the great info. Do you know how late in the day you can rent a boat? For example, could you return a boat at 8:00 PM? I always thought it would be nice to go at night on the intercoastal in December.

Do you hear about people co-oping buying a boat? Sharing expenses and sharing a calendar? I understand this would rely upon incredible trust.
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Old 07-28-2014, 07:37 PM
 
16,991 posts, read 21,667,967 times
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Be sure to check the finances of "the boat club" as some have had issues staying in business. Give them a downpayment and they go out of business, you lose your money.

Jupiter Pointe Marina has recently gotten in the boat rental business also. I didn't get the details but I have seen the ads. Most of the clubs require you to bring the boat back by 5-6 pm......they want to tie it up/inspect it and go home!
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Old 07-29-2014, 07:52 AM
 
72 posts, read 225,388 times
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I would agree with being careful. A friend of mine leased his boat to Boat Fleet in Lake Park and I think they either went out of business or changed hands. Either way he was not happy with how he or his boat was treated. Palm Beach Boat club has been around for a long time. He has the largest fleet around, over 50 boats. Seems to run it pretty well. I wasn't thrilled when he dropped his Freedom Franchise, but he did it because when you belong to Freedom you can use any of there franchises around the country. He has by far the nicest franchise around and had a lot of people coming over to use his boats that were not paying him. He has 2 Luhrs 44's, which you never see at a boat club. It became very difficult to get reservations. It seems a little better now, I just hope he keeps up his boats with out Freedom telling him to do so. Of course I have seen other Freedom franchises and they are run horribly, so I'm not sure how much of a "standard" they require anyway.

They do allow you to take them out past 5, but only if someone has not reserved it for early morning fishing (Before 9am) the next day. You can also take it overnight but only Sunday through Thursday.
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Old 09-19-2014, 09:32 AM
 
1 posts, read 6,544 times
Reputation: 12
I belong to the Palm Beach Boat Club, it has it advantage and disadvantage. The crew is very nice. I think Chris is dishonest, when you join he makes it sound like you can get a center console, weekend boat very easily if you make your reservations a month ahead of time.

The 1st time you first set up your reservations, sure enough there are boats available. However, after you go out your first time and try to make a new reservation, guess what - mysteriously it has been booked out 2-2.5 months.

Seems like they keep a few boats on reserve to mislead their new members into joining. I am not the only person that found this out, i talked to another member and he said it happened to him as well as other people he knew.

Plus I am very suspicious of them refueling. I took a 4 stroke 7 miles(I tracked it) got charged with a $60 bill. ($20 of that went to the fueling surcharge), but that leaves $40.00 for 7 miles; traveling 20% on plane and 80% minimal wake.

This would only be possible if the 4 stroke got 1 mpg, which they do not. Something did not add up. I'm not the 1st reviewer to say this either.
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Old 09-22-2014, 02:17 PM
 
232 posts, read 770,120 times
Reputation: 85
Should make a website that would allow you to rent out a boat - kind of how they rent out houses/condos. Both the renter and user would get reviews.

Looks like someone already made it: https://getmyboat.com/
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Old 06-20-2015, 04:01 PM
 
1 posts, read 5,261 times
Reputation: 10
Default Boat Membership

I've been a member of the Palm Beach Boat Club for 7 years. I was lucky and purchased a lifetime membership which is no longer available. I just purchased a boat so I have this transferable membership available if anyone is interested for what I paid for it. Contact me at [email]sfdivers@aol.com[/email]
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Old 06-20-2015, 09:04 PM
 
158 posts, read 215,438 times
Reputation: 140
Meh. I have spoken to freedom boats and a few of the other boat owners. Yes, it is fraction of the cost of owning a boat. But, again you dont own the boat. I want to be able to take my boat out when I want and where I want. This 2 to 3 months out nonsense doesnt work for a true boating enthusiast.
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