For all those who think those of us who charge at the top end of the scale are charging too much. Well....you crawl out of bed 7 days a week at 4am and have the boat fueled, cleaned, gear tied and ready for a 6m start...fish until 4pm (with people you often don't really know) then clean and fillet the fish, vacuum pack and freeze the catch, then go clean up the boat, get on the road by 6:45 to head home and arrive home at 7:30 pm. Deal with the phone calls as soon as you arrive because people are waiting for you to call them back, have a quick shower and scarf down a semi cold dinner and be in bed by 9pm...repeat. Last year the longest consecutive was 47 days (July 24th to Sept 8th) with that exact schedule EVERY day!!! No summer with the family, no weekends off, no social evenings with your buds...just work, eat and sleep. Good forbid you have a mechanical crisis in the middle of it all. Most of you guys saying the prices are out to lunch have no idea of the costs involved to do this properly. This is also my livelihood not a casual part time gig to supplement a pension. I'm sorry if I feel that at 56 years of age i'm entitled to have dual ownership with a bank on a home in Victoria. No one here has even mentioned the marketing costs involved in any business venture. Do you think it is just put a name on the boat and have someone make a one page website and your phone will ring off the hook?! Your cheapest advertising is word of mouth, but it takes years to build up a clientele base that will generate new business. Until then you have to rely on paying for pretty much everything to expose you to the buying public.
BTW some of the marinas take the 1st hour you charge as a fee for the privilege of being able to work from their docks. Even if the charter group has nothing to do with them.
