What are motor boats?
A motorboat is a motor-driven watercraft
Unlike a sailboat, the motorboat has only one mechanical propulsion option. While the sailboat can choose to run on wind power or engine power alone, as well as the combination of engine and wind power, the motorboat moves forward using only engine power. These can be internal combustion engines or electric motors. A motor boat can be equipped with one or more engines. In addition, there are motorboats with outboard and inboard engines.
Motor boats can be found as:
- Sport boat
- Racing boat
- Rennyacht
- Cabin boat
- Motor yacht
- Inflatable boat
- Barque
Sport boats and small cabin boats have the bow shape of a displacer or glider. Racing boats are basically gliders. Motor yachts and launches are displacement boats. If you rent a boat on vacation or for short trips, it is usually an open sport boat, a cabin cruiser for up to six or eight people or a comfortable motor yacht. Book your boat or motor yacht now at boats book.
What does it cost to rent a motor boat?
The rental price depends on the type and size of the boat and the rental period
The prices for boat and yacht charter vary greatly between:
- the regions
- the size of the boat
- the engine power
- the rental period
- the season
If you want to rent an open sports boat with a powerful engine on the German North Sea coast, you will pay between 100 and 200 euros per day and around 1,000 euros for a week. Prices are similar on the Croatian Adriatic coast. In Spain or Italy, boat charter is much more expensive. Of course, you can also buy a motorboat.
For a motor yacht with a large cabin and cabins for up to six people, costs start at 1,000 euros per day in the popular vacation areas of Turkey or Spain. A mega yacht with five or more cabins costs over 10,000 euros per day. Cheaper you sail through the Netherlands with a 15 meter long yacht for
250 euros per day. If you would like to explore the Mecklenburg Lake District on a houseboat, the costs for this range from 800 to 1,500 euros per week.
Which driving license do I need for a motorboat charter?
Different countries and cruising grounds have different regulations regarding the need for a driver’s license.
If you want to rent a boat for trips on German inland waters, you need the Sportbootführerschein Binnen. The official name is now “Sportbootführerschein mit dem Geltungsbereich Binnenschifffahrtsstraßen”. This license allows you to drive motor boats with a length of up to 19.99 meters and an engine with more than 15 hp or 11.03 kW. You are allowed to drive motorboats with an engine power of up to 15 hp in most German inland waterways without a sport boat license.
Special regulations exist for navigating the Rhine and Lake Constance. In general, you are only allowed to drive a boat with a length of up to 14.99 meters without bowsprit and rudder with the Motorbootführersein Binnen on the Rhine. If you would like to sail a longer motor yacht or racing yacht on the Rhine, you also need the Sportpatent. For sailing on the Hochrhein between Stein am Rhein and Schaffhausen you also need the Hochrheinpatent. The Lake Constance skipper’s license category A entitles you to sail on Lake Constance as a supplement to the inland motorboat license. Without a license, driving boats with a maximum power of 5 hp is permitted on the Rhine and Lake Constance.
An exception to the driving license requirement exists on the Mecklenburg Lake District. In a wide area of this lake region, the yacht charter of houseboats with a length of less than 15 meters and a maximum speed of 12 kilometers per hour is possible without a sport boat license and driving experience. Similar regulations exist for the navigation of houseboats in the Netherlands as well as in France and Ireland.
In other countries, such as Croatia, a motorboat license is required for any boat with an internal combustion engine.
If you want to rent a yacht on the German coast, you need the Sportbootführerschein See. The official designation is “Sportbootführerschein mit dem Geltungsbereich Seeschifffahrtsstraßen”. This area of validity includes not only the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, but also the estuaries of some rivers. The Sportbootführerschein See entitles you to drive motor boats for sport and leisure purposes with an engine power of more than 15 hp. The permit is valid regardless of the bow length of the boat. Boats with smaller engines may be operated without a special license. In other countries, regulations may differ, so an additional certificate may be required.
If you want to charter a yacht to sail on the high seas, the rental may additionally require a pleasure craft license as well as a general radio operating certificate.