The boat captain services I built from Lake Erie to Lake Huron now cover Florida, twelve months a year: deliveries, lessons on your own boat, a captain for the day, insurance check rides and sea trials, anywhere in the state.
Or give me a call at (248) 497-5791. If I'm on the water, I'll call you back same day.
WHERE I WORK
I go where the boat is, anywhere in the state: both coasts, the Keys, the Panhandle and the waterways in between. You don’t bring the boat to me. I come to your dock, your marina or the dealer’s dock, and we start from there.
Atlantic coast
Gulf coast
The Keys
The Panhandle
The ICW
WHAT I DO
What I do in Florida
WHO SHOWS UP
Who shows up
It’s me, or a licensed captain I trust. When I’m in Michigan, those captains take the Florida jobs, working under Offshore Captain Services. You’ll know who’s coming ahead of time, and their credentials go to you and your insurer before the lines come off.
Whoever steps aboard, check their license yourself. It takes about two minutes, and I walk through how in checking a captain’s license.
Tom Ketelhut
Owner, Offshore Captain Services
YEAR-ROUND
Summer and hurricane season too
Florida boating doesn’t stop in summer, so the Florida work doesn’t either. The captains who cover it while I’m up north keep jobs going through the summer and hurricane season. If a storm means your boat has to move, call early.
A plan made days ahead has more options than one made in the last few hours.
Florida coverage, month by month
A captain available
Atlantic hurricane season
June 1 to November 30, per the National Hurricane Center
GREAT LAKES TO FLORIDA
A Great Lakes captain in Florida
If your boat spends summers on the Great Lakes and winters in Florida, I can be the same captain at both ends.
Fall
I run her south.
Winter
I coach you in Florida water.
Spring
I bring her home.
Once she’s down there, the water changes more than the boat does.
CREDENTIALS
Licensed for Florida water
My USCG Master 100-ton license covers inland waters, which the Coast Guard defines as everything shoreward of its boundary lines. In Florida, that takes in the Intracoastal Waterway, the bays and the rivers. My 50-ton Near Coastal license covers the ocean side, up to 200 miles offshore. Both carry the Commercial Towing Assistance endorsement.
You can check all of it with the Coast Guard using my Mariner Reference Number, 2913289. The details are on my credentials page, and when your insurer asks, I send them my credential submission directly.
PRICING AND BOOKING
How pricing and booking work
01
Tell me about the boat
Send a note or call with the boat, where she is, where she's going and when. Add your insurance carrier if you know it.
02
We sort it out on the phone
I'll get back to you, and we'll sort out the rest on the phone. Deliveries run on a day rate, plus travel and expenses. Everything else is priced after we talk, because a lesson at your dock and a check ride on a new 50-footer are different jobs.
03
It's in writing
Deliveries and coaching run on a written agreement, so you know what's covered up front.
I explain the day-rate model in why deliveries run on a day rate.