Charter Fishing Boat (NEW JERSEY)

I want to raise capital to start a new niche charter fishing company in Southern New Jersey. As a charter captain that truly loves the office I work in, I want to share the Southern Jersey with my funders.  I will offer Free Fishing trips to the top 5 Funders. Returns on investment are estimated at a respectable 25% per year. There is considerable potential to expand the fleet. A fleet of approximately eight backcountry boats is quite feasible.  Typically, it takes three years for a charter business to become fully establish. The first year is slow. It really doesn’t matter how much advertising money you allot, returning customers and referrals from these customers, make the business. Properly placed ads, a well-built web site, affiliation with local marinas, and word of mouth advertising generated by the our funder, are adequate to generate good numbers. Business Description: This is a Charter Fishing Enterprise. We are seeking to fill a niche between the high priced offshore charters and the flats fishing charters. Marketing Strategies: Word of mouth advertising has and will remain to be the best advertising there is. We expect three to five referrals per charter each year. With an average stay of five days per vacationer, approximately 75 trips per year will be booked through our customers. Our affiliation with local Marinas should provide an additional 75 trips a year. Customer referrals, proper directed marketing should produce an additional 75 trips. Sixty to eighty percent of customers return in following years. By the third year, minimal marketing is required to maintain a solid customer base.    The mid-size boat charter fleet has been greatly reduced in the past three years. Smaller flats boat competition is limited to about 15 percent of the market during season due to the weather. We have selected to run fuel-efficient 26 foot boats that offer excellent adaptability to a variety of fishing applications out of Southern New Jersey. The Financial End:In the table below, the total the half days, full days and Stripper trips, is 260 trips. Stripper trips are run in the late evening or early morning, freeing the boat to run a half-day or full day charter on the same day. With these estimates, the boat will be operating, 180 to 200 days a year with paying customers. An additional 25 days a year are set aside For the top funders. Charter boats can easily operate 180 days per year in New Jersey once established. This gives a comfortable margin of error to the following estimates.Table 1 - Average Income and Expenses by Charter Type Full Day Half Day Stripper TripExpenses Expenses ExpensesCaptain $150.00 $80.00 $60.00Fuel&Oil $32.50 $20.00 $3.00Bait&Ice $30.00 $15.00 $36.00Tackle $10.00 $5.00 $5.00Commissions/Discounts $82.50 $52.50 $48.75Totals $305.00 $172.50 $152.75Income Income IncomeTrip Price $550.00 $350.00 $325.00Gross Profit Per Trip $245.00 $177.50 $172.25Trips Per Year 140 60 60Gross Income $77,000.00 $21,000.00 $19,500.00Annual Gross Profit $34,300.00 $10,650.00 $10,335.00