Renting Out Your Boat in Florida: Livery Requirements for Owners

When a Florida boat owner counts as a livery, and what the law requires: the FWC livery permit, $500k/$1M insurance, renter checks and records.

Updated 2026-10-14

Are you a livery?

Florida treats a person who advertises and rents out a vessel for consideration, without providing or requiring a U.S. Coast Guard–licensed captain, as a livery (Fla. Stat. § 327.54). Listing a boat for self-captained (bareboat) rental generally puts the owner in that category.

Boats offered only with a required, licensed captain are generally regulated as charters instead — they still need appropriate commercial insurance.

FWC Livery Operator Permit

Liveries need an annual, no-cost permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission before offering a vessel. Qualifying requires:

a list of every vessel offered
valid insurance meeting the statutory limits
enough USCG-approved life jackets for the capacity of every vessel offered
the required safety equipment on site
display of the commission’s boating-safety information

Insurance

The livery must keep a policy from a carrier licensed in Florida covering at least $500,000 per person and $1,000,000 per event, keep proof available where the vessel is rented, and give every renter the carrier’s name, address and policy number. A standard recreational boat policy rarely covers rental use, and a damage waiver is not insurance.

Renter checks and records

Before handing over the keys, a livery must confirm renters who need a Boating Safety Education ID Card present one, provide pre-rental instruction, use a written rental agreement and keep rental records.

How BoatWakr handles Florida listings

Florida listings offered without a captain go through a compliance review before they are published: owners upload their livery policy, vessel schedule and FWC permit, and the listing stays unpublished until it is approved.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change — check the linked sources and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or talk to a lawyer, before relying on it.