Boat Management Sydney
- Davis Marine
- Boat services
- Vessel management
Vessel management · Sydney Harbour
Boat Management in Sydney
Hand us the keys and stop thinking about it. Monthly care, the annual programme, and every contractor who touches the boat coordinated by one person who answers the phone.
The real question
What is your time actually worth?
For most of our clients, their time is worth significantly more than they pay to get the work done on the boat.Davis Marine Brokerage
Keeping a boat up to scratch takes time and attention to detail. Most owners do not have a spare Saturday to chase a mechanic, wait on a slipway booking or scrub a bilge — and the weekends you do have should be spent on the water with the people you bought the boat for. That is the whole idea.
Every month, without being asked
Monthly boat management packages
Your boat and your preferences will differ from the next owner’s, so packages are built to suit. These are the things that go in most of them.
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Interior and exterior detailing
Washed, wiped down, vacuumed and kept on top of — so the boat never gets far enough behind to need rescuing. Boats on a schedule sit at the bottom of every price band we quote. See detailing prices.
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Engine bay and bilge detailing
The part nobody photographs and every surveyor opens first. A clean bilge is also the only way to spot a weep, a drip or a chafed hose before it becomes a bill — which is half the reason we do it monthly.
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Re–fuelling and waste tank purging
Fuelled, pumped out and ready. You should not arrive at the berth on a Saturday morning to discover the tank is low and the holding tank is not. She is ready when you are, or we have told you why she is not.
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Eyes on the boat
Someone standing on your boat every month is worth more than any checklist. Lines, fenders, covers, batteries, bilge pumps, water in places water should not be — the small things that sink boats get caught while they are still small.
Once a year, coordinated
The annual programme
The big–ticket items that owners put off because they involve booking three different people. We book them, and we are there when they turn up.
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Engines servicing
Scheduled, done on time, and recorded — which matters far more than owners realise when the boat eventually goes on the market. See engines and servicing.
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Antifouling and Propspeed
The lift, the wash, the paint, the anodes and the running gear — plus the hull and superstructure polish while she is already on the hard. See hull antifouling.
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All exterior contractor work managed
Shipwrights, electricians, canvas, upholstery, electronics, surveyors, marina and insurer. We get the quotes, we meet them at the boat, and we check the work before it gets signed off. One number to call instead of nine.
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The annual polish
A full cut and polish or a maintenance polish depending on how the gelcoat has held up. Done at the right time of year, it is the difference between a boat that ages and a boat that does not.
What it looks like from your side
A managed year
Not a list of services — the actual rhythm of a boat somebody is looking after properly.
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Every month
She gets cleaned and checked
Interior and exterior detail, engine bay and bilge, refuel, pump out. Someone physically on board looking at lines, fenders, covers, batteries and pumps. You get told what was done.
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Before you use her
Ready, not almost ready
Tell us the weekend and she is fuelled, clean and cold before you get there. No arriving to a flat battery, a green waterline and an empty tank.
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When something turns up
You get a call, not an invoice
If the monthly visit finds something — a weeping seal, a chafed line, a failing pump — you hear about it with a quote attached, before it is fixed and long before it becomes the reason a weekend gets cancelled.
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Once a year
Out of the water
Yard booked around your calendar. Antifoul, anodes, Propspeed, engine service and the annual polish, all on one lift. Photos when she goes back in.
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Renewals and paperwork
Nothing lapses
Marina agreement, survey and insurance renewals tracked so none of them arrive as a surprise. Service history kept in one place.
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The day you decide to sell
She is already ready
A managed boat with a complete service record, a clean bilge and gloss topsides lists faster and holds its number better than the same boat neglected. We are brokers as well as caretakers — see sell my boat, sales preparation and what is my boat worth.
Why owners hand it over
What management actually buys you
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Regular care
It is easy to overlook the key maintenance jobs, and before long it starts to show. On an established schedule the care simply happens, and the boat is ready when you want her.
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Small problems stay small
Catching and fixing a minor fault early is how you avoid a major failure and an expensive repair. Most big marine bills started as something someone could have seen months earlier.
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Longer equipment life
Diligent maintenance extends the life of engines, gear and systems — fewer replacements, less money over the years you own her.
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Safety
A proper maintenance routine reduces the chance of a failure that hurts somebody or damages the boat. Offshore, the things you did not check are the things that matter.
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Fewer cancelled weekends
Unexpected breakdowns are what turn a boat from a pleasure into a chore. Keeping her serviceable means the day you planned is the day you get.
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Your time back
The one that matters most. Boat ownership should not cost you the weekends you bought the boat to enjoy. See everything we can take off your hands.
Boat management, answered
Frequently asked questions
What is boat management?
Boat management means someone else takes responsibility for keeping your vessel maintained, clean and ready to use. In practice that is a monthly package covering interior and exterior detailing, engine bay and bilge cleaning, refuelling and waste tank purging, plus an annual programme covering engine servicing, antifouling and Propspeed, and the coordination of every outside contractor who works on the boat.
What is in a monthly package?
Typically interior and exterior detailing, engine bay and bilge detailing, and re–fuelling and waste tank purging — along with someone physically checking lines, fenders, covers, batteries and pumps while they are on board. Packages are built around the individual boat and how the owner uses her.
Do I have to be there?
No. That is the point. We hold keys, deal with the marina and the yard, meet contractors at the boat and report back. Plenty of our managed owners never see the work happen — they just find the boat ready.
Do you do the work yourselves or subcontract it?
Detailing, polishing, presentation and the hands–on care is our own team. Mechanical, electrical, shipwright, canvas, upholstery and electronics work goes to trades we know and have used for years — but we get the quotes, we meet them at the boat, and we check the work before it is signed off. You deal with us, not with nine different people.
What does boat management cost?
It depends on the size of the boat, where she is berthed and how much you want covered. A monthly package on a 35–footer is a very different number to a managed programme on a 60ft motor yacht with a full annual haul–out. Tell us the boat and how you use her and we will build a package and a price around it.
Is it worth it for a boat I only use a few times a year?
Often more so. A boat that sits is the one that suffers — growth on the hull, flat batteries, mould through the cabin, seized gear. Occasional–use boats are exactly the ones that turn into expensive restorations, and exactly the ones management protects.
Can you manage a boat that is not berthed in Mosman?
Yes. We are based at Fergusons Marina and work hands–on across Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour and Pittwater. Further afield we organise servicing Australia–wide through our network of partners and stay across the job for you. Get in touch and tell us where she is kept.
What happens if you find a problem?
You get a call and a quote before anything is done. We do not authorise work on your boat without telling you what it is and what it costs — the only exception being something that would sink or damage her if it waited.
Does management help when I eventually sell?
Considerably. A managed boat comes with a service record, a clean engine bay, a hull that has been antifouled on schedule and topsides that have been looked after. Buyers and surveyors both price that in. We are brokers as well — see sell my boat and vessel brokerage.
Can I start with just the monthly package?
Yes, and most owners do. Start with the monthly care, see how it goes, and add the annual programme when the haul–out comes around. There is no lock–in to work out what you actually want.
Davis Marine Brokerage
Stop managing the boat. Use it.
Tell us the vessel, where she is kept and how often you get out on her. We will put a package together and a price against it.