LI Boat Rentals, located in Port Washington has been accommodating seasonal boaters for the past seven seasons—this year is no different. After the coronavirus pandemic put the boating season temporarily on hold, LI Boat Rentals has finally been able to get up and running.
“We usually open May 1, obviously that was compromised,” Christian Gordon, president of LI Boat Rentals said. “We just opened up about two weeks ago and we’ve hada lot of protocols.”
LI Boat Rentals offers a number of services including captained and bareboat rentals, yacht charters, training and private lessons. Full and half-day rentals are available seven days a week. The modified June schedule is full day rentals from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and four hour half-day rentals available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Currently, chartered boats and training services are not yet available due to limitations brought about by the pandemic.
“As a lot of people probably won’t be traveling too much, we’re planning for a pretty busy season,” Gordon said. “We’re trying to hopefully accommodate as many people as we can so people can get out on the water and enjoy themselves after being stuck in their houses for so long.”
For many businesses on Long Island, the coronavirus has transformed the way companies conduct their business. LI Boat Rentals has moved all of their documents to an online format to avoid in-person contact as much as possible. While the offices are closed at this time, boaters can book rental services online or by calling or texting.
“We had a paper contract that people used to sign and [the pandemic] it’s actually forced us to go digital,” Gordon said. “Now all of our documents are electronic. We send them to people before they come down. Every single party has to sign a paper saying that they haven’t been exposed to the virus, haven’t had symptoms in the last 14 days and haven’t been exposed to somebody [who has the virus] within the last 14 days. We have to ensure everyone’s safety and to make sure people are following the rules that the state has put in place.”
To make sure the boats stay clean and free from germs, LI Boat Rentals has taken additional precautions to ensure that all of the boats are properly sanitized after each use. They have installed more hand washing stations and have moved their rental schedules around to offer more time for their staff to adequately clean and sanitize the boats.
“We’ve always been cleaning the boats between every use, but now we’re making sure that we foam and suds up the entire boat from head to toe,” Gordon said.
If all continues to go well with the reopening of the state, LI Boat Rentals will also be introducing a new luxury charter boat, which can accommodate up to 24 people. The luxury charter, which was custom made offers catering and is complete with a captain and a crew. is set to arrive in July.
“We’ll see what happens over the next few months, but, we’re hoping that [the 50 percent capacity] gets lifted because this was a really new service that people were really excited about,” Gordon said. “[The boat] should be arriving in July and hopefully by then we’ll be able to accommodate those larger groups.”
For more information about LI Boat Rentals and their services, visit www.liboatrentals.com.
