Club boats

I think dinghies are very prone to abuse, at least in our experience. Every week I see club Toppers run aground board down or Lasers flapping away until the battens fly out. People do not look after what does not belong to them selves. Small clubs rely on volunteers for maintenance.

Littleton SC used to have some good RS200s they hired out on a series by series basis (hirers even took these boats to the nationals and opens), this was about 10 years ago, no idea if they still do it.

I think the key to getting maintenance issues reported is to make it clear what the club would consider fair wear-and-tear and what is damage (ie what the hirer is responsible for) and not making the hirer feel like a naughty child when they report something needs fixing.

I'm convinced too that club boats will play a bigger role in future (.... we get told that the world is heading towards a 'sharing' economy with the likes of AirBnB and Uber etc etc) but maintenance is clearly the key from all the comments posted, although not sure what the solution is.

I think Carsington SC at one stage, very creatively, rented out Laser 2ks in 3 month periods, which almost solved the problem I believe - with people knowing that if they bust something it would be like that next time they used the boat.

But you could use the Sport England £ 10K grants, maybe match funded by Members loans, or Gift Aided gifts if you are a CASC.  Strikes me that the key issue might be in having a Semi Retired bosun who checks the boats over once a week.