Freedom Boat Club (reviving old thread)

Ghostprof

Ghostprof

Active Member
I see an old thread on the Freedom Boat Club from 2016, but am wondering if anyone has updates. Are any of you members of FBC? What do you all think of it? I'm less interested in whether you think they have a good business model than if you think its a viable way to fish and boat around here without the hassle of owning. I currently have a 16' Double Eagle with a 60 hp Yamaha and 8 hp Yamaha kicker on it. I use it a fair bit in the spring and early summer, then again a bit in the fall, but am finding the costs and hassles may outweigh the advantages of owning.
So: any experiences with FBC? Thoughts now that they've been on the Island for a few years? TIA.
 
trophywife said:
i have a good friend who swears by it.. loves parking it and walking away.
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A family member uses it frequently and loves it, it certainly does give you lots of freedom and choice, your boat sounds pretty capable though for local waters.
 
only thing I've heard is the boat rigged for fishing can get booked up fast during popular times
 
RiverBoy said:
Pffft. So…more like “No Freedom Club.”

man i’m an idiot…
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Sorry, "the" boat? As in, they have only one?

I have downriggers and stuff I could bring to a boat, but it would still need to be wired and have mounts on board at least. That said, I did not get out for salmon much at all this year. And I don't need special gear to bottom fish really...
 
Freedom Boat Club has some boats moored at Reed Point Marina (RPM). This past summer RPM put in a one boat one parking pass rule. all of us who have moorage at RPM get one parking pass (I think a second pass was available last year for $350.00 but only one pass could be used per day) The metered lot parking was restricted to restaurant and customers of the various marine services.

There is a Book of Faces for RPM and a member of Freedom Boat Club popped over to tell us that he was pretty upset that as a "Club Member" he couldn't invite his friends to come boating at his Club and park their cars for free in the lot.

Then a rule was brought in that people couldn't pick up or drop off their guests at the fuel dock. It seemed that that might have ben directed to a particular group. I mean who doesn't want a bunch of folks with their kids, coolers and other stuff trying to use a busy fuel dock as a visitors assembly station.

The young people who look after the FBC boats are pretty slick boat operators, as anyone would be, who takes maybe 10 boats a day to the fuel dock and in and out of their slips.

The boats are always clean when people take them out and they seem to be well looked after. I never took the time to look for any downrigger mounts on the boats.
 
my buds picks his parties up from rocky point. saves the parking headache as well as the frantic/ness of some newbs around docks.
pretty good deal. he is retired and picked a program/contract that suites his needs. i dont think he even has weekends.. rides his bike from his condo and hops on a ready fuelled and cleaned boat. doesnt even care if kids eat stuff on the boat. should have seen him before when he was a boat owner. lol
 
The freedom boats at mosquito creek have downrigger mounts. And keep a few riggers set up in the office. The boats are well maintained. No kickers. I believe they use 20-22' thunder jets for fishing. They also have party barges and cruisers. I have an acquaintance who is out of town most of the time. Has money for a boat but no time. He raves about the freedom club.
 
I've got a buddy who loves it. I even saw a family overnight in one at Hornby this past summer. I think it's a great idea if you're not an OCD control freak like myself.
 
I thought it was a bit expensive when i looked into it but hearing lately how much some people are paying for moorage its probably a pretty good deal.
 
Bill 310 said:
Freedom Boat Club has some boats moored at Reed Point Marina (RPM). This past summer RPM put in a one boat one parking pass rule. all of us who have moorage at RPM get one parking pass (I think a second pass was available last year for $350.00 but only one pass could be used per day) The metered lot parking was restricted to restaurant and customers of the various marine services.

There is a Book of Faces for RPM and a member of Freedom Boat Club popped over to tell us that he was pretty upset that as a "Club Member" he couldn't invite his friends to come boating at his Club and park their cars for free in the lot.

Then a rule was brought in that people couldn't pick up or drop off their guests at the fuel dock. It seemed that that might have ben directed to a particular group. I mean who doesn't want a bunch of folks with their kids, coolers and other stuff trying to use a busy fuel dock as a visitors assembly station.

The young people who look after the FBC boats are pretty slick boat operators, as anyone would be, who takes maybe 10 boats a day to the fuel dock and in and out of their slips.

The boats are always clean when people take them out and they seem to be well looked after. I never took the time to look for any downrigger mounts on the boats.
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My buddy is moored at reed point. Last time I parked there with the meter, it was $55 for the day. Most expensive parking in the lower mainland I think lol
 
My buddy is with fbc and uses the boats out of mcm primarily. He has his own downriggers as the ones they provide often have issues, and they now charge a decent fee. I believe there is a 4 hour reservation window and he finds it somewhat restrictive when you need to hit the Chevron to top the tanks off on each return. But, he has also used reciprocal fbc locations all over the place and feels that is a huge value. The boats at MCM seem very nice and well kept so this provides a soft landing into boat ownership.
 
Corey_lax said:
My buddy is moored at reed point. Last time I parked there with the meter, it was $55 for the day. Most expensive parking in the lower mainland I think lol
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I had no idea parking was that much. If you paid every day the cost would be $20,075.00./year

If we are at our boat 75 days this coming year the parking offset to our moorage would be $4235.00

I know that is silly math , but having unlimited parking adds to the value of moorage

Lots of people's cars are in the lot for weeks at a time from May till October
 
Bill 310 said:
I had no idea parking was that much. If you paid every day the cost would be $20,075.00./year

If we are at our boat 75 days this coming year the parking offset to our moorage would be $4235.00

I know that is silly math , but having unlimited parking adds to the value of moorage

Lots of people's cars are in the lot for weeks at a time from May till October
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Mine when I'm at the cabin for 2 weeks in summer lol
 
Sounds like some of the FBC boats have downrigger mounts and wiring, but then there's all the uncertainty around size and setup of cannonballs, clips etc. I think I'd go jigging rather than trolling. A half decent sonar is about all the boat needs.
 
Wet out with someone who was a FBC member. The boat we used was a nice large welded aluminum thunderjet (like 24ft Alexis). The breakdown for him was that he wasn't able to spend $170,000 on that boat but could get to use that boat with his membership. Factoring in cost of the boat, upkeep etc FBC made sense for him. I had to admit it was nice to get back to the dock and just walk away and have the attendant come to take the boat to clean it.... I felt like a rich guy with a butler hahaha.

The issue I'd see for me is that the boat ws bare bones and he had to offload all his gear. My boat is like a floating flee market with all the stuff I have so for me it wouldn't work to have to bring everything on and off.
 
I have seen the ads for these guys and I like the concept, especially since they say they offer training. For someone who has never boated before and wants to start safely with good equipment to get a feel for it this seems to be a win/win.....then you stay with the program or venture off with the knowledge you obtain and go purchase your own boat. Just out of interest, and I understand they offer 'packages' anyone have a ballpark on what people are being charged to use this service? I think this may be a better model then the ones where its a co-op with just a few people owning a handful of shares in one boat - that scenerio to me is a recipe for nothing but problems. A small handful of personalities and quite likely everyone has a different opinion on how they want the boat kept and maintained etc. etc. This business model would eliminate any of those types of issues. I can see the draw for sure. Purchasing a boat can be pretty daunting a lot of times, I think for a lot of people this is a great option.
 
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