Want to live the boat life but don't own one? New share service launches in Hamilton, other Ontario cities

Just east of the Pier 4 playground and the Leander Boat Club, on Hamilton's west harbour, there's a locked gate that leads to a long dock stretching out into the bay.

Elegant sailboats and other luxurious pleasure craft line the dock, which seems to stretch 100 metres into the water. 

Finally, nearing its end, are the modest but pristine motorboats that could be yours. And mine. And anyone's — provided they're willing and able to pay about $500 per month for six months of the year.

The world's first boat-sharing service, Skipperi (pronounced "Skipper-ee"), has arrived in Hamilton, along with several other spots along Lake Ontario.

"It is a cottage experience on Lake Ontario," says enthusiastic Skipperi member Andrew Sorlie, who was part of the Finnish company's beta test in Toronto last summer.

After about 20 years since he'd last boated – when he taught sailing as a teen at summer camp – he found himself back on the water "full time" after joining the boat share.

"We were on the water four or five days a week. We'd bring our laptops and call it 'work from boat.'"

Skipperi's Hamilton dock is one of several Ontario locations launching May 1, including Mississauga, Scarborough and Pickering, after the successful test in Toronto last June, the company's Canadian general manager Keven Dextradeur told CBC Hamilton.

It follows six other markets outside of Canada: beyond Finland, it operates in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and New Zealand – places a Canadian member could also boat with their membership if they were to travel there.

"Skipperi is made to remove all the hassle of owning your own boat," he said, listing maintenance and storage among such hassles, "so you can just focus on the fun parts of boating."

Memberships start at $475 per month, and run for the "boating season," from May to the end of October. Members reserve boats through a mobile app, which also works to open a lock box on board to access the vessel's key. New boaters – who count among 65 per cent of the company's membership – can access the online test to get a boating license right through the company's website. Once they're licensed, Skipperi offers one-on-one training in one of their boats to get new members comfortable.

And just in case, there's 24/7 access to the company staff, says Dextradeur.

"You alway have a team who are here to answer any questions you may have when you're in the boat, which is not necessarily something you would get as a private boater," he said, noting the support provided seems to draw people into boating who might otherwise not have felt comfortable giving it a try.

Canadian members include a wide age range from 21 to 82, and are 40 per cent women, which Dextradeur said is not the norm in boating as a whole.