What does a delivery captain cost, Northeast to Florida?
There is no sticker price on a delivery, and that is the first thing to understand rather than the first thing to resent. A passage is a day rate job with a tail of expenses, so the honest answer to what it costs is a small piece of arithmetic rather than a number.
Owners ring three captains and get three numbers that look nothing alike. That is almost never because two of them are trying it on. It is because one quoted the day rate, one quoted the day rate plus fuel, and one quoted the whole thing delivered including the flights home and a fair guess at dockage. Until you make them all price it the same way, you are not comparing anything.
This page lays out every line that goes into a Northeast to Florida delivery, what each one typically runs, and the two or three that owners forget until they show up on the invoice.
Every line in a delivery
Think of it in three stacks: the people, the boat's own running costs, and getting everybody home. The people stack is the one that is quoted. The other two are the ones that surprise.
| Line | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Captain, per day | 400 to 800 | Tonnage on the ticket, the boat's complexity, and how sought after they are in that window |
| Mate or deckhand, per day | 200 to 300 | Whether the boat can be run single handed at all, and whether you want watches kept properly |
| Days aboard | 7 to 16 | Offshore is fewer days than the Intracoastal. Weather adds to both |
| Fuel | The largest single variable | Hull, engines and speed. A trawler at 8 knots and a sportfish at 25 are not in the same conversation |
| Dockage and moorings | Nightly, where she stops | ICW runs stop most nights, offshore passages may not stop at all |
| Provisions | Around 50 per person per day | Often on the owner unless the boat is stocked before departure |
| Travel to the boat | Varies | Getting the crew to your dock at the start |
| Flights home | 150 to 400 each | One way from Florida, and cheaper booked early than the week she lands |
| Weather days | At the day rate | A captain waiting out a blow is still on your job |
The crew line on a typical one to two week Northeast to Florida passage lands somewhere in the four to five thousand range before anything else is counted. Fuel can rival it or beat it outright on a fast, thirsty boat. That is why "what does a delivery cost" has no useful single answer and why any captain who gives you one without asking about your hull is guessing.
Fuel is the swing, not the day rate
Owners fixate on the day rate because it is the number they were told. On this corridor, fuel is frequently the bigger line and it is the one that varies by a factor of five between two boats of the same length. A displacement trawler making 8 knots and burning a few gallons an hour will cross into a different universe of cost from a sportfish making 25 knots and burning forty an hour, even though both are 45 feet and both are going to Stuart.
Work out your own before you take a quote seriously. Take your boat's real burn at delivery speed, not at idle and not wide open, multiply by the hours the passage needs at that speed, and price it at what fuel actually costs on the route. A captain worth hiring will do this arithmetic with you rather than around you, and will tell you plainly if the economical speed makes the delivery two days longer and cheaper overall.
Ask what speed they intend to run. It is the single question that most changes your bill, and it is the one owners never think to ask. Slower is usually cheaper even after the extra day rate, right up until it is not.
Offshore or down the Intracoastal
The route decides the shape of the cost as much as the boat does. These are genuinely different deliveries and it is worth knowing which one you are buying.
- Fewer days, because she runs through the night rather than anchoring
- Little or no dockage, which is a real saving on a long passage
- Needs crew for watches, so the daily people cost goes up
- Weather windows matter far more, and waiting for one costs days
- Suits a capable hull with an owner comfortable with open water
- More days, because it is daylight running and there are bridges and shoals
- Dockage or an anchorage most nights, adding up over two weeks
- Can often be run with a smaller crew, which trims the daily rate
- Weather matters much less, so the schedule is more predictable
- Suits a slower boat, a nervous owner, or a hull that should not be offshore
Neither is automatically cheaper. Offshore trades dockage and days for crew and weather risk; the ICW trades speed for predictability. What matters is that both quotes you are holding assume the same route, or you are comparing a two week trip to a one week one and calling one of them expensive.
How to make three quotes comparable
- Ask every captain to quote the same way. Days aboard at their rate, crew if any, plus their honest estimate of fuel, dockage and provisions for your boat on your route. Say plainly that you are comparing quotes and want them like for like. Nobody reputable minds.
- Fix the route and the speed in the question. "Offshore, at economical cruise" and "down the ICW" produce different numbers from the same captain. Ask for the one you actually want, or ask for both.
- Ask what is not in the number. The most useful question in the conversation. Flights, provisions, dockage, fuel and weather days are the usual answers, and any of them can move the total by thousands.
- Settle weather days and breakdowns in writing. What happens when she sits three days in Beaufort waiting on a front, and what happens if a gearbox lets go in Georgia. Who pays for the days, the yard and the crew's time. This is normal to ask and abnormal to skip.
- Ask about the deposit and the timing of payment. A deposit up front is standard practice. Handing over the whole fee before she leaves the dock is not.
What to check on the captain
Price is the last thing to settle, not the first. The cheapest quote from somebody whose ticket does not cover your boat is not a saving.
- The credential, and the tonnage on it. A delivery skipper holds a current Coast Guard licence, a Master or an OUPV ticket, and it carries a tonnage limit and a range. Confirm it covers your vessel and the water the passage crosses. On this site a captain's ticket is one of only two things checked by hand, and the card says when it was checked.
- Experience on this route, in this season. The Northeast to Florida run in November is a specific job with specific weather. Ask how many times they have made it, in what, and at what time of year.
- Their insurance and yours. Confirm the captain carries their own cover, then ring your underwriter. A hired skipper, an offshore passage and a hurricane season date can each touch a policy's limits, and finding that out afterwards is the expensive way.
- References you actually telephone. Two owners who have sent a boat with them. Ask what went wrong and how it was handled, because on a two week passage something always does.
Against the price of trucking her
For a boat inside the road envelope, trucking is usually faster and often cheaper: about three days on the road against one to two weeks at sea, with no fuel burn, no crew and no sea miles added to the hull. The case for a captain gets stronger as the beam grows, because width is what makes a road move expensive, in permits and escorts, while it costs a passage nothing at all.
There is also the argument that has nothing to do with money: a delivery is a shakedown. Two weeks of running finds every weak hose and tired impeller on the boat, in a way a season of weekend trips does not. Some owners consider that worth paying for and others consider it exactly what they are trying to avoid. Both are reasonable positions. The truck or captain guide works through the decision, and the cost planner lets you lay both against each other on your own numbers.
See who runs boats down
Licensed captains working this corridor this season, with tickets checked by hand and the date on the card. See the captains.
Price it both ways
A road move and a run down her own bottom, side by side on your route and your dates. Open the cost planner.
When to book
Both windows are short, and the spring trip has a hard edge set by your underwriter. Read the timing guide.