Note. The goal stays open until we pick the number. This page is not a live campaign. There is no Kickstarter.com project to open.
This page is the campaign we would run. It creates the first night. It is not live. If you want to hear when it is real, leave a note.
The problem
Head boats on this coast sell a bunk and a crowd. You buy a ticket. You share the rail. You sleep in a stack of berths if you sleep at all. The product is a day on the water with as many people as the boat will hold.
Hotels are on land. You can find a good room in Ocean City or Cape May. You can eat well. Then, if you have a boat day at all, you drive to a marina in the morning and you leave the water when the day is done. The night belongs to the hotel.
A private sportfish is a day trip. You take the cockpit. You fish. Then you leave. The boat is not yours after dark. There is no cabin that is yours. There is no night on the water that is the point of the trip.
There is no whole-boat overnight for six on this coast where the stay is the point and fishing is included. That is the hole. Marlaina fills it. The night is the product.
The night
Marlaina is one group on the whole boat. Six guests. Four private cabins. You do not share the boat with another party. Read the stay and how it works.
Crew sleeps in a closed cabin of their own. The captain stays aboard. Paying trips use a hired, licensed 6-pack captain. If we cannot hire one, we cannot run.
Canyon fishing is included with the stay. It is an overnight on the grounds, not a day ticket on a head boat. You can also leave the rods in the rack. The night still holds. The cockpit is real. The rods are on the boat. Read canyon fishing.
Themed nights are extras you add if you want them. They are not the stay, and they are not for sale on their own. Pirate Night, Egyptian Night, Full Moon, All Hallows, The Circle, Salt Morning, The Long Table, The Wedding Night. Each has a page. Dawn run, scuba, and a private chef night live there too.
Ports in play are West Ocean City or Cape May. Indian River is out. This hull does not fit that inlet. A slip is not a sure thing until it is in writing.
The working hull class is a 2000 Buddy Davis 78. Carolina sportfish lines, mothership volume, a cockpit that still fishes. It is a candidate, not a closed deal. Someone else can buy a 78 while we are still raising. Read the boat.
This is a concept. There are no bookable dates. This campaign creates the first night. It does not sell one.
See the nights
Why now
The site exists. You can walk the stay, the boat, and the nights. The company paper does not. There is no LLC on the table yet. There is no EIN. The idea is on the web. The legal work is not.
The hull class does not wait. A 78 that surveys clean will not sit forever. If we want a night on this class of boat, the first mile has to start while a candidate still exists.
This campaign is the first mile, not the keys. It is how the first mile is shared. Friends and strangers can stand behind the first night before there is a company and before there is a hull. That is the point of doing this in public.
A funded first mile is still not a launched charter. The paper, the survey, the slip, the insurance, and the captain all come after.
What the money does
Money is not the product. The night is. This section sits here on purpose, after the night, because a pledge is not why this boat should exist.
This money does not buy the hull. A pledge is not a down payment on that boat.
If a campaign funds, the money pays for the start:
- Company paper. LLC, EIN, the legal work so the thing can exist.
- Survey and sea trial on a hull we might buy. If the 78 fails, the next one.
- First insurance quotes and first slip quotes. Real numbers, not guesses.
- Stand-up work. The work between a concept site and a boat that can take paying guests.
A funded start is not a launched charter. Paper, a clean survey, a slip, insurance, and a captain all have to land after this.
Risks
Be honest here. People can smell a gloss.
We do not own a boat. The 78 is a working hull, not a closed deal. Someone else can buy it while we are still raising.
A survey can kill a hull. Engines, structure, a bad sea trial. Then that boat is off the table and we look again.
No captain, no trips. Paying guests need a licensed captain. We hire a licensed 6-pack captain on paying trips. If we cannot hire one, we cannot run.
A marina can say no. West Ocean City and Cape May are the ports in play. Indian River is out for this size. A slip is not a sure thing until it is in writing.
Insurance can say no, or come in so high the math breaks.
This is a seasonal Mid-Atlantic idea. Winter is not the season.
Kickstarter is all or nothing. If we miss the goal, nobody is charged. We do not get a partial pot. You keep your money.
A funded start is not a launched charter. Paper, a clean survey, a slip, insurance, and a captain all have to land after this.
Rewards
We list kinds of thanks, not prices. Higher thanks only make sense when the boat is real. We say that out loud so it is not a lie.
- Thank you Your name with the people who helped start it. After the campaign, if it funds. Still goes if the hull slips.
- Concept pack A print of the nights. After the campaign, if it funds. Still goes if the hull slips.
- A dinner A created evening when the boat is real. When we are operating
- The First Night One named inaugural whole-boat overnight for one group of six, fishing included, when operating. An event this campaign creates, not a credit off a future rate. When we are operating
- A named stay A night with a name. The Wedding Night, or another night from the list, for one group. When we are operating
Limits, estimated delivery months, and shipping: ________
If we fund and the hull slips, the thank you and the concept pack still go out. The dinner, The First Night, and the named stay wait until we are operating. If we cannot get there, we tell you, in plain words, and we work out the rest.
Questions
Is this live?
No. There is no Kickstarter.com page to pledge on. This is the plan. Leave a note if you want to hear when a real campaign exists.
Does a pledge buy the boat?
No. Money is for start costs: paper, survey, quotes, the work to stand the night up. It is not the hull. It is not a down payment.
Can I reserve a night by pledging?
No. A pledge does not hold a date. There is no calendar, because there is no boat. The First Night is an event this campaign creates when we are operating. It is not a reservation today.
Is this a travel coupon?
No. Nothing here is a coupon, a credit off a future rate, or a voucher you can book against. The First Night is a created inaugural stay, when operating, for one group of six.
Before this can go live
A real campaign still needs three things this page does not have.
- A list of people who want to be told when it exists. Leave a note is that list.
- A video.
- Review by Kickstarter.
Until those land, this stays a plan. We will not invent a project page. We will not take a pledge on this site.
The first night
If this sounds like a night you would want, this is how the first mile is shared.
Leave a note. Tell a person who would want this. When a campaign is real, we write the list.
If we hit a goal later, we do the paper, we look at the hull, and we tell you what we find. If we miss, nobody is charged.
This is the plan, not a live campaign. It creates the first night. It does not start a company you can book.
The night is the product.
Leave a note