Boat delivery service · Ocean City, MD
I'm Jake Procino, a 100 Ton USCG Near Coastal Master out of Ocean City, MD. My boat delivery service moves powerboats by water between U.S. East Coast ports, and the estimator below shows the captain cost for your route before you pick up the phone. The boat gets checked over and photographed before it leaves. It can show up at the new slip clean, too, because detailing is my day job.
A boat delivery service puts a licensed captain on your boat and runs it by water from where it sits to where you want it. You pay for the days that takes, plus fuel and dockage along the way. Yacht delivery is the same job with a bigger boat.
The first question is always cost, and most delivery captains want a phone call before they'll answer it. So here's mine. The captain rate is $750 for a daylight running day. Every other rate is in the table further down, and the estimator does the day math for you.
Why trust me with the boat? I hold a 100 Ton USCG Near Coastal Master license and have been a licensed captain since 2018. That includes two years running 48 to 78 foot crewboats carrying up to 30 people plus parts, tools and supplies. I've run coastal deliveries from New York to North Carolina, and I ran Sea Quenched Private Charters out of Ocean City for three seasons, with five-star reviews on Google and Airbnb. I'm also a member of CAPCA, the Chesapeake Area Professional Captains Association.
The most recent long one: in October 2026 I was one of two captains, with a mate, on a Hunt Ocean 56 run from Annapolis to Fort Lauderdale for the Fort Lauderdale boat show. Some legs ran inside on the ICW and some ran outside, depending on the weather each day. That's the kind of multi-day run where two watchstanders matter. One runs the boat while the other rests.
Comparing captains? My guide to hiring a boat delivery captain covers what to ask any of them. Delivery is one piece of my captain services, and dealers moving boats on a schedule should look at the dealers and brokers page.
Pick two ports and enter your cruising speed. You get a captain cost and a day count in a few seconds. Fuel, dockage and my travel are extra, and the estimate says so instead of burying it.
Between 6 and 40.
Total for all engines. Adds a fuel gallon estimate.
Pick two ports to see an estimate.
Captain estimate
Plus fuel, dockage, and travel costs, paid by the owner.
Get a written quoteHow the math works: route distance divided by 85% of your cruising speed gives hours underway. I count 8 hours of daylight running per day, add one travel day at half rate, and show a weather day as a possible extra. A run of 4 hours or less prices as a half day. Distances on listed routes are a straight-line figure padded for coastlines, inlets and bay channels, so your actual route may run longer or shorter. This is for planning. Every trip gets a written quote from me before anything is booked, and I don't take routes more than 200 miles offshore or trips to foreign ports.
The worry with any delivery is what shape the boat will be in when it gets there. My answer is a process you can check, not a promise. Seven steps, and the boat doesn't leave the dock until the first four are done.
You tell me the boat, where it is, where it's going and roughly when. I send back a written quote with the day count, the rate, and the costs you'll cover directly, so the final invoice has no surprises on it.
Most yacht insurers want to approve a hired captain before the trip. I send you my license details and boating background to pass along, and nobody unties a line until your insurer says OK.
Before departure I run the checks a captain makes before leaving any dock: fuel, fluids, bilge and pumps, steering, electronics and safety gear. The question is whether the boat is fit to make this run.
Everything gets photographed with the date on it, so there's a record of how the boat looked before the run. If something isn't right, you hear about it before the boat moves.
I'm a licensed captain, not a marine surveyor. The photos are a dated record of what the boat looked like, not a survey or a valuation. For a pre-purchase or insurance survey, hire an accredited marine surveyor.
I pick the route (outside, inside on the bay or the ICW, or a mix) and a departure window that fits the forecast. If the weather is bad, the boat waits. A weather day costs $375. A boat beaten up in a bad sea costs a lot more.
You get a text when I leave the dock, check-ins along the way, and a text when the boat is tied up at the other end. On multi-day runs you'll know where the boat is spending each night.
Once the boat is secured, I send photos from the new dock that line up with the departure photos. It comes with notes on how the boat ran, fuel used, and anything worth showing your mechanic.
I call this Delivered Ready. Detailing is my main business, so the boat can get a wash at the destination, or a full detail from my regular packages, before you step aboard. That part is quoted separately. The services page shows what each package covers, and instant pricing gives you a number for your boat.
My captain rate for a boat delivery is $750 per daylight running day. I price by the day, not the mile, because a mile in a following sea and a mile into a building northeaster take very different amounts of time.
$750
per day
Daylight running. This covers most coastal and bay deliveries, inside or outside.
$450
half day
Up to 4 hours. Local moves, dock-to-dock in the same harbor, and sea trials.
$375
per day
Half the day rate. Covers getting to the boat, getting home, and lay days waiting on weather.
$650
per day
For dealers and brokers who book multi-day commitments on a regular basis. Details on the dealers and brokers page.
On top of the captain rate: the owner pays fuel, dockage, my travel, and my meals on multi-day runs.
Deposit: trips longer than two days take a 50% deposit.
Rough running time with decent weather, for a typical center console or sportfish. Slower boats and bad forecasts stretch these out.
| Run | Rough running time |
|---|---|
| Dock-to-dock in Ocean City | A few hours. Usually the half-day rate. |
| Ocean City to a Chesapeake Bay marina | One to two days, depending on the marina and the boat's speed |
| Norfolk to Ocean City | One to two days, depending on route and weather |
| Ocean City to Annapolis | About two days, with one night at a marina |
Running time is only part of the bill. Add a travel day for anything longer than a half day, and leave room in your plans for a weather day.
If you're pricing boat transport, boat shipping, boat hauling or yacht transport, you're probably picturing a trailer. For plenty of boats that's the right call. For others, running the boat there is simpler. Here's how to tell which one fits.
| Compare | Truck it | Run it by water |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Trailerable boats, long overland distances, and any move with no water route, like an inland lake | Boats too wide or heavy to trailer easily, and moves between ports along the coast or the bay |
| What's involved | For a big beam or a heavy boat: oversize permits, sometimes escort vehicles, a haul-out, a cradle for the ride, then a re-launch | A captain, fuel, and dockage at overnight stops. The boat leaves one slip and ties up at the next. |
| What the boat goes through | Lifted, strapped and carried on the cradle the whole way | Run for real hours under load. That adds engine hours, but it's also when small problems show up, and they go in the arrival report |
| What can stretch it | Permits and scheduling the haul-out and re-launch | Weather. A lay day while the boat waits out a forecast is $375. |
On boat transport cost, I don't have a trucking number to give you. Hauler quotes move with the boat's beam, weight, route and permits, so ask a transporter for one. Then put the same route through the estimator above and add fuel. Two real numbers side by side is the honest answer to what it costs to ship a boat. With a water delivery, anything that turns up on the run goes into the arrival report, instead of surprising you on your first weekend out.
If my pre-departure check turns up something that makes the trip unsafe, I'll tell you what it is, and it gets fixed before the boat goes anywhere.
My license is Near Coastal, which covers ocean waters up to 200 miles offshore, and I keep deliveries to U.S. port to U.S. port. For an international trip, look for a captain who specializes in that work.
With Catalyst Marine, the captain costs $750 per daylight running day, and $450 for a half day of up to 4 hours. Travel days and weather days are $375, half the day rate. The owner also pays fuel, dockage, my travel, and my meals on multi-day runs. For example, a 150 nautical mile run at a 20 knot cruise is two running days plus one travel day, so the captain cost is $1,875, or $2,250 if a weather day is needed. The estimator on this page runs that math for your route, and every trip gets a written quote.
Not as a standard part of a trip. My normal running day is daylight, and the boat ties up at a marina for the night. An overnight leg is something I'd look at case by case, based on the boat, the route, the forecast and who's available to crew. If it makes sense for your trip, it gets priced in the written quote. The estimator above assumes daylight days only.
Distance and cruising speed. I divide the route distance by 85% of your cruising speed to allow for sea state, then plan on about 8 hours of daylight running per day. A 150 nautical mile run at a 20 knot cruise works out to roughly 9 hours underway, which is two running days. Weather can add a day, so I show that as a possible extra instead of hiding it in the price.
It depends on the boat and the route. Trucking usually makes sense for trailerable boats and long overland moves, and it's the only option when there's no water route. For a wide or heavy boat, road transport can mean oversize permits, escort vehicles, a haul-out, a cradle and a re-launch, and a water delivery skips all of that. A water delivery costs captain days, fuel and dockage instead, and weather can add time. The fair comparison is a written hauler quote next to a delivery estimate for the same route.
Nothing, really. Both mean a licensed captain runs the boat by water from one port to another, and "yacht delivery" usually just means a bigger boat. My boat delivery service handles powerboats between U.S. East Coast ports, anything between a half-day move in the same harbor and a multi-day coastal run.
Federal law requires a USCG license when a boat carries passengers for hire. A paid delivery of a private boat with no passengers usually falls outside that rule, but most yacht insurers want a licensed captain, and many require the captain be approved before the trip. I hold a 100 Ton USCG Near Coastal Master license, and you can verify my license with the Coast Guard.
The owner does. That covers fuel, dockage at overnight stops, my travel to the boat and back home, and my meals on multi-day runs. Fuel is usually the biggest number. A rough figure is hours underway times your boat's gallons per hour at cruise, and the estimator does that math if you enter your burn rate.
The boat stays tied up until there's a safe window. I won't push a delivery into a bad forecast to save a day. A weather or lay day is billed at half the day rate, which is $375, and I'll keep you posted on the forecast and the new departure plan.
No. My license is Near Coastal, and I only run U.S. port to U.S. port within 200 miles of shore. That rules out the Bahamas, the BVI and other foreign ports. I don't take trips to Puerto Rico or the USVI either.
Yes. Detailing is my main business, so I can wash the boat at the destination or do a full detail from my regular packages. That's quoted separately from the delivery. My services page lists what each package covers, and instant pricing gives you a number for your boat.
Give as much notice as you can. Half-day local moves are easier to fit in. Longer coastal runs hang on weather windows, so a flexible range of dates makes the trip easier to plan.
Send the basics and I'll come back with a written quote showing the day count, the rate and the costs you'd cover directly. If you used the estimator, your ports are already filled in below.
Rather talk it through? Call or text (302) 853-2853 or email jacob@catalystmarineservices.com.