Every few weeks, someone asks us some version of the same thing: Am I supposed to tip the crew? How much? Is it weird if I don't?
We don't think it's our place to tell you what to give. But since the question keeps coming up, here's an honest answer based on what members have told us over the years.
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Tipping is never required at Nautical Boat Club. Some national chains build gratuity into the model. We don't. Our crews are paid above the average dock wage, because good people are what make your day on the water effortless, and we want to keep them season after season.
That said, members do tip. Not because they have to, but because the person who rigged your boat, loaded your gear, and had everything waiting when you pulled up made the whole day easier. Most members who tip give somewhere around $10–20 per trip, and a little more on the days the crew goes above and beyond. Give what feels right to you, or nothing at all. Either way, the dock still runs the same.
Tips are pooled and split evenly among the Nautical Boat Club dock crew at the end of the day, so no one gets left out. If you don't carry cash, most crews keep Venmo on their phones — ask anyone and they'll sort it in ten seconds. And at marinas where a separate operator works alongside us, only the Nautical Boat Club team is part of our tip pool, so hand it to our crew directly.
"We love Nautical Boat Club. This is our third year being a member. We have 4 kids under 7 and this is the easiest way to get the family out on the boat. We go at least twice a week. Jake Zimmer is hands down the best dock hand they have. We love showing up and seeing Jake on the dock — we know we're going to have a great trip."
— James Strange, Nautical Boat Club – Little Elm (Google Review)
That's the whole point. You tip the crew because someone like Jake is the reason a family with four kids under seven can get on the water twice a week without it ever feeling like work.
Tipping is the small number. Ownership is the big one.
A generous season of tips runs a few hundred dollars. Owning the boat that makes those trips possible runs into the tens of thousands every year, before you ever leave the dock:
Membership replaces all of it with one predictable cost, a fleet that's always clean and ready, and a crew that handles the rig, the wash, and the put-away while you head home. The tip is a thank-you to the people who make that real. It was never the expense.
If you're weighing membership and quietly running the math on tips as a hidden cost — don't. A member who boats two dozen times a season and tips generously on every single trip is looking at a few hundred dollars across the whole year. Set that next to what it costs to own the boat, and it disappears into the rounding.
Nautical Boat Club is the first and only Boating Country Club® — boat life without the ownership. Find your closest location and see what membership looks like near you.
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Don't buy a boat. Join the club.
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