Want to rent a boat in Okanagan, Kamloops? There's an app for that

While there are numerous boat rental businesses in Kamloops, the Shuswap and the Okanagan, they may not have just what a boater wants when they want it.

GetMyBoat.com is an international boat sharing site, similar to AirBnB, that not only offers hundreds of boats throughout the region but also allows owners to reap some rewards from their under-utilized assets.

“For boat owners in Kelowna who may want to offset their ownership costs (especially this year, with so much inflation) GetMyBoat can help them turn their boat from a toy into a business,” says a news release from GetMyBoat issued, May 23. “It's free to join GetMyBoat and the average owner on the platform earns over $25,000 annually.”

According to a Businesswire article about GetMyBoat, U.S. boat owners only use their craft an average of less than 8% of the year.

The article says the company was launched in January 2013 and, by the end of the year, had listed thousands of boats in more than 1,100 cities in 80 countries.

It helps to know what kind of boat is best suited for your needs as there is a huge range in options and prices.

One big, powerful ski boat, for example, is listed on GetMyBoat.com for $400 a day while another one is $450 per hour.

Prices at Kelowna marinas for similar boats can start in the $200 range so shopping around does make sense.

This is in sharp contrast to the other big summer rental businesses: recreational vehicles.

There are a number of sharing sites for renting privately-owned RVs with prices for a Class C motorhome that sleep four or six, for example, renting for about $200 per night on sites like RVezy or Outdoorsy.

National companies like CanaDream are charging around $400 a night for similar vehicles, and they’re only available in a few large cities like Vancouver and Calgary.

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