Fair questions, straight answers.
The short version: it’s an app for filling seats on boats without hurting feelings. Details below.
What is Boat Days?
An app for coordinating spots on boats. Captains post a day with a set number of spots, invite people in tiers, and friends claim seats with live capacity tracking. No spreadsheet, no 80-message group chat.
How do I get in?
Boat Days is in closed beta and opens lake by lake. The usual way in is an invite from a captain who already uses it. If you don’t know one, Get Boat Days and tell us your home lake. Captains with an active group of friends go to the front of the line.
What does it cost?
Riding is free and always will be — no card, no catch. Hosting is the Captain plan: it opens with a free introductory trial, so you can post boat days before you pay for anything, and there's a one-time Founding Captain seat if you'd rather never renew. The boat still runs on gas and snacks, though.
How does gas money work?
Captains can set an optional chip-in for a day, and riders pay it right in the app. The captain never has to ask, and nobody has to remember who paid last time. Gas money is a contribution toward the actual cost of the day, fuel and slip and the like, shared among the people aboard. It is not a fare.
Is gas money taxable? Will I get a tax form?
We can't give tax advice, and we don't withhold or report anything ourselves. Captains are paid out through Stripe, and Stripe reports payouts above the IRS thresholds on a Form 1099-K like any payment platform. Whether a chip-in that only covers your real costs is income is a question for your accountant. Keep the receipts for the day either way.
Can I run a charter or paid trips on Boat Days?
Yes, as an organization. Clubs and charter businesses get a roster, scheduled trips, passes, and payment at booking. Before an organization can take money, an owner confirms that it holds the licensing, vessel inspection, and insurance the law requires to carry paying passengers. That responsibility is the operator's, not ours. Boat Days coordinates trips and payments and does not operate, inspect, or insure any boat. If you're a private captain collecting more than a share of the day's real costs, you're running a charter, and the Coast Guard treats it that way.
What happens to my contacts and my data?
Your contact list never leaves your phone. Invites are sent from your own number, and the app matches people by phone number only when they sign up themselves. Location features use a coarsened area, not your exact position. The details live in our privacy policy.
Is it only for boats?
Only boats for now — pontoons, wake boats, sailboats, whatever you run. Every boat day is tied to a boat and a lake. The same problem shows up anywhere there are more friends than seats, so we may widen it later, but we'd rather do one thing properly first.