PEORIA, Ariz. — Summer is inching closer, and with the kids out of school and holiday weekends around the corner, keeping cool in the Valley can be tough.
A local family is making a living working with an online boat marketplace that operates like an Airbnb for boats. The Petri family of five sold everything to start a church in Peoria. To make ends meet, they also rent some of their boats through GetMyBoat.com.
The site is a boat rental and water experience marketplace that can be booked across Arizona and the world. The website connects customers with boat owners, through online transactions.
Petri runs J and L Watersports, and lists two to three boats per year on GetMyBoat. He lived with his family of five and two dogs on a houseboat at Lake Pleasant for about a year, until a monsoon storm destroyed the boat a few years back.
The storm left the Petri family homeless, but they pushed through. They have moved off the water and live in the Valley now, but they still run their boating business through the website and their local church.
Their boating business started at Lake Pleasant, along with their first church service they kicked off back in 2017 at the lake too. Petri said his GetMyBoat.com business operates just like an Airbnb does for vacation rentals. The website and app offer all kinds of different options from kayaks, to speed boats and pontoons.
The worldwide boat marketplace is an easy way for people to rent and test out boats, to avoid the hassle and upkeep. They can also test out different boats to see if they want to become boat owners down the road.
Petri said his customers like his car door to car door service.
“We put them in the water, then at the end of the day we pull them back out and send them on their way," Petri said.
Petri said renters can drive, or he can provide someone to pilot. He offers water sport activities too. Some of his boats can range from 500 dollars to 800 dollars per day depending on time of year, and lake location.
He also encouraged people using the services to consider comfortability level when choosing a boat to rent.
“There’s nothing worse than getting out on the water with something that’s too big or something you don’t feel comfortable driving," Petri said. "That can be a scary scenario too."
He added there are also insurance options to consider when renting.
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