What is the difference between Essential Care and Full Management?

Essential Care covers the weekly check, sea strainer cleanings, and a bi-weekly wash. Full Management includes all of that plus a preventative maintenance plan, weekly fluid checks and top-offs, vendor management, boat opening and closing, and post-trip washdowns. Most owners start with Essential Care and move up once they see how The Program runs.

Do you replace a full-time captain, or work alongside one?

Vantage exists as an alternative to hiring a full-time captain, not as a competitor to one you already employ. While we can assist a program with a captain already in-place, Vantage specializes in managing yachts that require a high level of care, without the need for full-time crew.

Do you handle repairs yourself, or manage them for me?

Just like a full-time captain, repairs that do not require a trade specialist are handled in-house. For large scale projects or specialized needs, an ABYC or certified technician is sourced from a network of verified vendors.

Please reach out with information like the build, model, length, dock location, and vessel use. Pricing is quoted uniquely per vessel, to ensure you get everything you need, and nothing you don't.

Luxury yacht cruising on the open sea off the coast of South Florida

Servicing South Florida and Southern Maine

Your own captain, for a fraction of the cost

Vantage Yacht Management is one licensed USCG captain looking after your boat between your visits: a weekly check aboard, washes on schedule, repairs sourced and overseen through his own vendor network, and every bid reviewed before you approve it.

Get a Custom Quote

The Program

Someone is aboard your boat every week, and you hear about it

The Program is the weekly and bi-weekly routine underneath both tiers, and it is the single service Vantage is built around. Bilges, batteries, shore power, lines and fenders, sea strainers, fluid levels, and the state of the finish all get looked at on a schedule instead of the next time you happen to be down.

Every visit ends with a written report: what was checked, what was cleaned, what is starting to look tired, and what needs a decision from you. Nothing waits for you to ask.

See The Program in Detail

On a weekly visit

Bilges, pumps, and high-water alarms checked
Batteries, charger, and shore power under load
Sea strainers cleared and closed back up properly
Lines, fenders, and chafe gear adjusted for the tide and the forecast
Engine room walked, fluids and belts looked over
Photos and a written note back to you the same day

Two tiers, and everything else billed for the time it takes

The offer is deliberately simple. There are two monthly retainers, and everything beyond them is billed for the hours it actually takes.

Monthly retainer

Essential Care

The monthly retainer that keeps eyes on the boat. A weekly check, sea strainers cleaned on schedule, and a bi-weekly wash.

Weekly check
Sea strainer cleanings
Bi-weekly wash

Best for: Owners who want someone licensed looking at the boat every week and reporting back, who still want to be hands on.

See What Essential Care Covers

Monthly retainer

Full Management

Everything in Essential Care, plus a written maintenance plan, vendors managed for you, and the boat opened and closed for your trips.

Everything in Essential Care
Preventative maintenance plan
Vendor management
Boat opening and closing
Post-trip washdowns
Fluid checks and top-offs

Best for: Owners who do not want to coordinate anything: the schedule, the yard, the parts, and the trip turnaround are all handled.

See What Full Management Covers

A la carte work is billed for our time on top of your monthly retainer, so you pay for hours actually worked and nothing is buried in the tier price. That covers captain services, repairs, maintenance, and provisioning and concierge, which you can also use without a retainer at all.

Why owners hand over the keys

A boat is a seven figure asset sitting unattended in salt water. What matters is who is standing on it, what happens when something is wrong, and whether you can see any of it without making a phone call.

Licensed captains
Our captains hold USCG licenses, with over a decade of experience. You receive the experience and judgement not found with a wash crew or dock attendant.
See captain services
Independent bid review
Vantage reviews quotes from its network of trusted, proven contractors and vendors, ensuring you get the best value and quickest turnaround.
How managed repairs work
An owner portal, not a text thread
Using the YachtWave portal, owners have immediate access to maintenance plans and history, equipment records, financials, and a live overview of vessel status. Owners can submit work requests with the push of a button.
What the owner portal shows you
All-In-One Support, 24/7
Vantage Yacht Management is an owner's only call, 24/7. Whether it's maintenance, a question, provisioning needs, scheduling, or exterior washing, it's one phone number every time.
Contact Vantage

What a captain costs

Compare it to a salary, not to a service call

A full-time private captain in the United States commonly earns somewhere between $70,000 and $250,000 a year, and published industry averages land near $124,000. Benefits and payroll burden usually add another 20 to 30 percent on top of base, and that number runs all year whether the boat leaves the dock or not.

A Vantage retainer is a fraction of that, and the a la carte hours only apply when you actually use them. The lines below run from payroll taxes to who covers the boat during time off.

The short version

A full-time captain on payroll, line by line, against a Vantage retainer.

Annual base salary

On payroll$70,000 to $250,000, averaging near $124,000

VantageNo salary. A fixed monthly retainer, quoted per boat

Benefits and payroll burden

On payrollAdds 20 to 30 percent on top of base, and 40 to 60 percent for a full package

VantageNone. Vantage is a vendor, not an employee

When the boat is idle

On payrollThe salary does not shrink, and it does not pause

VantageThe retainer only, with no a la carte hours billed

Paid time off, and covering the boat during it

On payrollAccrued, paid, and backfilled with a relief captain you arrange

VantageCoverage is the service. There is no gap to fill

Running the boat

On payrollIncluded in the salary, whether you go out twice or twenty times

VantageOnly pay for a captain when you need one

National averages from published salary research, not a quote for your market or your boat.

Providing coverage to Southeast Florida and Southern Maine.

Common questions

Not seeing yours? Contact us.

What is the difference between Essential Care and Full Management?: Essential Care covers the weekly check, sea strainer cleanings, and a bi-weekly wash. Full Management includes all of that plus a preventative maintenance plan, weekly fluid checks and top-offs, vendor management, boat opening and closing, and post-trip washdowns. Most owners start with Essential Care and move up once they see how The Program runs.
Do you replace a full-time captain, or work alongside one?: Vantage exists as an alternative to hiring a full-time captain, not as a competitor to one you already employ. While we can assist a program with a captain already in-place, Vantage specializes in managing yachts that require a high level of care, without the need for full-time crew.
Do you handle repairs yourself, or manage them for me?: Just like a full-time captain, repairs that do not require a trade specialist are handled in-house. For large scale projects or specialized needs, an ABYC or certified technician is sourced from a network of verified vendors.
How to start?: Please reach out with information like the build, model, length, dock location, and vessel use. Pricing is quoted uniquely per vessel, to ensure you get everything you need, and nothing you don't.

On the water