You’ve passed the Sportbootführerschein, Germany’s sport boat license, or you’re about to, and now the next question comes up: buy your own boat, or keep chartering? Both paths have their place, but they suit very different lifestyles. This article sorts out the key differences so you can make a call that actually fits how you boat, your budget, and your time.

The License Is Your Entry Ticket, Not the Decision

With the SBF Inland or Coastal license, you have the formal requirement to skipper the corresponding boat, whether it belongs to you or you’re renting it. The license itself says nothing about how you actually like to be on the water. Some graduates know from day one of their preparation that they want to buy their own boat, others use the license first to try out different boats and cruising areas flexibly through charter companies. Both approaches make sense, the only question is which one fits your everyday life.

One important distinction: anyone who does not yet hold a Sportbootführerschein can still skipper a rented boat on certain inland waters, through the so-called charter certificate (“Charterschein”). How that works and where its limits lie is explained in the article on the charter certificate. This article, by contrast, is about what comes after: you already hold the regular SBF and are weighing whether your own boat is worth it or whether chartering remains the better choice.

Owning a Boat: Benefits and Responsibility

Owning a boat means one thing above all: you’re on the water spontaneously whenever you want, no booking, no waiting for a free slot. The boat is set up exactly the way you like it, your gear stays on board, and over time you get to know your own vessel inside out, how it behaves docking, how it handles in wind, its particular technical quirks. For anyone who wants to go out often and spontaneously, that’s a real advantage.

That freedom comes at a price, and not just a financial one. Owning a boat brings ongoing responsibility with it:

  • Mooring: you need a permanent or seasonal berth, and availability can vary sharply depending on the area.
  • Maintenance and care: engine, hull, electrics, and safety equipment all need regular checks and upkeep.
  • Winter storage: depending on the region, the boat has to be winterized and stored.
  • Insurance: boat liability insurance is strongly advisable, and hull insurance additionally protects the boat itself.
  • Resale value: as with any major purchase, eventual resale value matters too.

Anyone choosing to buy a boat should plan realistically for this effort, not just the purchase price. For an overview of the costs directly tied to the license itself, see Save Money on Your Boating License; the purchase and running costs of the boat itself come on top and vary too much by boat type, age, and region to put a single figure on.

There’s also a point that’s easy to underestimate: the time that simply managing a boat takes. If you handle the mooring contract, yard appointments, spare parts, and the annual technical check yourself, that costs time even when the boat isn’t moving. Some owners consider that part of the hobby, others see it as a chore that gets in the way of actually sailing. That personal judgment matters at least as much as the raw cost question.

Chartering: Flexibility Without Commitment

When you charter, you pay for the time you use the boat and don’t have to worry about anything between trips. No hunting for a berth, no yard bills, no winterizing, no worrying about resale. That makes chartering especially attractive if you:

  • only go out at certain times of year, for example on holiday,
  • want to try different cruising areas and boat types before committing,
  • have no interest in technical maintenance and admin,
  • or simply don’t want to tie up the capital that owning a boat requires.

The downside is obvious: you’re bound to the charter company’s availability, need to book ahead, especially in high season, and the boat is never really “yours” with familiar quirks. The fit-out won’t always match your own preferences either, and boats can vary widely in age and condition depending on the operator.

For anyone still unsure which type of boat actually suits them, chartering is also a good way to gain hands-on experience with different boats before making a bigger investment. There are differences within chartering too: some operators offer pure “bareboat” charter, where you skipper solely as the license holder, others offer charter with a skipper, where an experienced person stays on board and gives you extra confidence, for example in an unfamiliar area or in more demanding weather. For your first trips after the exam, that can be a sensible middle step before you go fully on your own.

Comparing Costs: What Actually Matters

A blanket price comparison between owning and chartering can’t seriously be reduced to concrete figures, boat type, region, season, and personal standards vary too much. A look at the cost structure is more useful:

With an owned boat, a high upfront investment is offset by ongoing fixed costs that apply regardless of how often you actually go out: berth fees, insurance, maintenance, winter storage. If you use your boat very often, those fixed costs spread across many trips; if you use it rarely, the cost per outing is comparatively high.

With chartering, costs only arise when you actually go out, but usually at a higher daily or weekly rate than the pure pro-rated use of an owned boat would cost. So there’s no fixed rule of thumb for how many trips a year make owning “worth it”, because that depends heavily on boat type, cruising area, and your own habits. Anyone who genuinely wants to run the numbers should honestly estimate their actual usage days per year and then get concrete, current quotes from yards, marinas, and charter companies, rather than relying on generic online comparisons.

Don’t Underestimate Responsibility and Liability

Regardless of whether you charter or buy: as skipper, you carry responsibility for your boat, your crew, and other water users in both cases. With a chartered boat, you’re additionally bound by contract to the operator’s terms, for example around handover, damage during the rental period, or an agreed excess. It’s worth reading the charter contract carefully before setting off and clarifying any open questions directly with the operator instead of guessing.

With your own boat, you carry that responsibility continuously and independently, even outside the actual trip, for example for the proper condition of your safety equipment or for adequate insurance. If you’re unsure which license you actually need for which boat and area, SBF Inland vs. SBF Coastal is a good starting point, or try the boating license finder directly.

Choosing a Cruising Area: It’s Not Equally Easy Everywhere

Whether buying or chartering are even equally viable options also depends on the cruising area you choose. In heavily touristic areas with many charter bases, for example along certain coastal stretches or on larger lake districts, you’ll typically find a wide choice of charter boats in different sizes and fit-outs. In quieter or less touristic areas, the charter offering can be noticeably smaller, while free berths for an owned boat may be easier to find at the same time. It’s worth checking the actual supply situation in your intended cruising area before deciding, not just your own preferences, for instance directly with local marinas, yacht clubs, or charter bases.

Who Fits What? Typical Profiles

Every situation is individual, but a few broad tendencies can be named:

Owning a boat tends to fit if you:

  • go out regularly, ideally spontaneously, over many years,
  • have a fixed cruising area where you can find a berth,
  • enjoy hands-on maintenance, or can and want to delegate it,
  • want to fit out your boat to your own taste.

Chartering tends to fit if you:

  • mainly go out on holiday or on a few occasions a year,
  • want to get to know different areas or boat types,
  • would rather avoid maintenance, admin, and winter storage.

Between these two clear poles there are also middle paths: boat-sharing arrangements, where several people share one boat, or owner-charter models, where owners rent out their own boat to others during periods they’re not using it themselves. Such models can lower ongoing costs, but bring their own organizational questions, for example around scheduling or liability for damage caused by other users.

Conclusion

There’s no universally “right” answer to owning versus chartering, only the answer that fits how you boat, your budget, and your life situation. If you go out often, spontaneously, and over years, you’ll usually benefit from owning your own boat despite the ongoing responsibility. If you go out rarely, seasonally, or are still undecided which type of boat suits you, chartering is generally the better fit. Either way, the Sportbootführerschein remains the foundation everything else builds on. If you’re still preparing for the exam, you can use the Boatpass app to practice the official ELWIS question catalog in exam mode, whether you go on to buy your own boat or keep chartering for now.