ALL ABOARD – with no strings attached
Few things soothe the spirit more than gliding across a body of water as the afternoon sun sinks low on the East Tennessee horizon, but as every boat owner knows, there’s a price to pay for such peace.
A general rule of thumb for those who own boats is that roughly 10% of the craft’s purchase price should be set aside annually for maintenance. From an 18-foot bass boat to a 40-foot cabin cruiser, the costs for engine service, oil changes, minor repairs and winterization can run owners anywhere from $500 to $20,000, and the stress of shouldering such a financial burden often prices potential customers out of the boat ownership market.
Membership in the Freedom Boat Club, however, offers an alternative that allows everyone from novice sailors to experienced navigators to enjoy a day on the water without the hassle of overhead costs once they’re back on dry land. According to Mariah Lawrence, chief operating officer and co-owner of the Knoxville-based franchise, the organization gives members access to a fleet of watercraft without the cost or commitment of ownership.
“Our members include everyone from people who have never really boated before and are getting into this to figure out if boating is for them, especially when the average boat purchase is $70,000 to $80,000,” Lawrence says. “This way, they can join and get our training, because to be a member, you have to take an online course, then pass our on-the-water certifications with a Coast Guard-approved and licensed captain.
“We just have such a mix of people in the club, from those who have never owned boats before to those who have gotten to a point where it costs too much money to store it and maintain it to retirees who just don’t want to keep up with it anymore. With Freedom Boat Club, you don’t have to keep up with maintenance and cleaning. You’re able to just show up, get on the boat and go.”
The organization was established in 1989 in Venice, Florida, and for roughly a decade, its membership was limited to the Florida area, but founders quickly realized they were onto something revolutionary: a “hassle-free boating experience,” according to the organization’s website, at a time when local boat clubs and extensive rental options were hard to find. Through a meticulous training process, the club began to expand across the Sunshine State, and in the early 2000s, franchise clubs began popping up around the country, Lawrence says.
“It’s just an alternative to ownership – a way to have access to a fleet of boats and not have to maintain, store or deal with the boat at all,” she says.
In 2022, the Knoxville chapter grew out of the Freedom Boat Club of Nashville, which Lawrence herself had joined in 2020 after a lifetime of working as a deckhand and dock concierge. The organization became known as the Freedom Boat Club of Tennessee, and today it owns 125 boats in 12 different locations.
Born in Kentucky, Lawrence grew up in Tennessee, where her family owned a cabin on Norris Lake as well as Choto Marina, which sits due south of the Cove at Concord Park in Farragut, on an inlet of Fort Loudoun Lake. Her uncle Mitchell Jones, she says, made connections in the local boating community and decided to buy Choto, which prompted her family to move to Blount County and help him run it. Lawrence, who would go on to stardom as a women’s basketball standout at Maryville High School (where she averaged 10 points per game and shot 39% from three-point range during her senior year) and Eastern Kentucky University, was 12 years old when she began working at Choto to help the family out.
“One of my earliest memories is sitting in front of the TV at the cabin, watching The Weather Channel, waiting for a gap in the rain so we could go out on the boat,” she says. “We owned a Sea Ray 240 Sundeck, and I just wanted to get pulled behind it on a tube all day. That’s honestly my very first memory.”
At the marina, her grandmother served as office manager, her father oversaw marina operations and both she and her sister contributed to the family efforts year-round, but especially during the summer, even after she went away to college. Although she majored in sports management, her love of the water and the crafts that glide across it sent her in search of a career that would allow her to maintain those ties.
Her uncle established the Knoxville chapter of Freedom Boat Club, and when Lawrence graduated, she returned home to run it for him. The franchise’s original founder, Willie “Bill” Sheriff, had once worked as CEO for Truckstops Corporation of America, and his original vision called for young, charismatic and entrepreneurial leaders to help establish a chapter that met the needs of boaters just as Truckstops had for road drivers.
Today, the franchise also owns “Bill’s Boats,” a used-boat dealership in Nashville, and with a “very synergistic” business model, Lawrence adds, the franchise continues to grow at warp speed.
“Bill gave me an opportunity for ownership in the club and told me to run with it and start as many locations as I can,” she says. “Today, we’ve got a rotating fleet where the oldest boats are only three years old, so chances are you’re going to be going on one of the newest boats we have.”
Perhaps the most critical service provided by Freedom Boat Club is the training necessary to safely traverse the winding waterways of East Tennessee. Some members, Lawrence says, are, like her, lifelong mariners who simply need to brush up on their skills and better familiarize themselves with local waterways. Other members, she adds, have long daydreamed about owning a boat, but impracticalities and inexperience have made the venture seem unlikely or even impossible.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Every skill level is different, but all of our online training goes through the state of Tennessee or NASBLA [the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators], and they’re all designed to make sure you know your markers, that you know boating courtesies – who has the right of way, etc. – things you want to do, things you want to stay away from, what the safety features are … all of those things,” Lawrence says. “You’ll have to go through a test, and once you pass the book training, you’ll take part in two- to three-hour-long initial on-the-water training with one of our four Coast Guard-approved captains.”
Such vetting may seem daunting, but consider this, Lawrence points out: When the Tennessee Legislature mandated that those who navigate state waterways possess a Boating Safety Education Certificate from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, anyone born before Jan. 1, 1989, is exempt.
“In other words, there are folks who go out and buy a $100,000 or $200,000 boat, and they’ve never been on the water before. Because if you’re born before Jan. 1, 1989, you can just buy a boat and go out on the water without a license,” she says. “One thing other boaters don’t have to worry about is Freedom Boat Club members. Our members have to have that boater education card.
“Our online training teaches you things like where the lifejackets are, how you need to toss out a throw cushion, what happens if a scenario is dangerous. And then while you’re taking the on-the-water training, you have to go down a checklist with the captain. That way, if the captain says you’re ready, then you’re ready. That certification is attached to your profile, and you can start reserving boats to go out in.”
Perhaps more importantly, the Freedom Boat Club services aren’t limited to pre-excursion checklists. Because drop-off for the boats can vary – anchoring at a pier or in a slip draw on different skill sets – boaters can take advantage of refresher training to go back over boat-parking challenges and issues. And depending on the membership tier, club members can receive more benefits with more training.
And membership, Lawrence adds, is customized to each individual’s need. The weekday tier, for example, is geared toward retirees or those who work outside of the traditional 9-to-5 paradigm. For $350 per month (plus a one-time entry fee), weekday boaters have access to bowriders (versatile powerboats with a seating area near the front, or bow) made by Sea Ray, Cobalt and Regal and tritoons (pontoon boats with three aluminum tubes instead of the traditional two that “give you the ability to have a larger horsepower engine,” Lawrence notes) ranging from entry-level Godfrey Sweetwaters and Harris Cruisers to premium brands like the Barletta.
The most common tier, she adds, is the Freedom Boating Plan, which runs members $450 per month (with a one-time entry fee between $4,000 and $5,000) and gives them access to bowriders, tritoons and double-decker recreational pontoon-style boats with slides directly into the water. The third, elite-tier plan grants access to all those, including more elite-style tritoons and bowriders, as well as wake boats made by Nautique for wakeboarding, wakesurfing and waterskiing.
The fees and plan payments, Lawrence points out, don’t just cover the training and certification for those crafts; they also include access to an on-call staff that springs into action in the event of an accident – similar to the roadside assistance plans offered by most auto insurance companies or AAA.
“A lot of people who are just getting started ask, ‘What if I hit something?’” she says. “With Freedom Boat Club, no matter what day or what time, we have staff there to help you if you need it. We’ve got you covered. It might cost you if you hit something, but at the same time, we’re going to get you back to the marina with no additional cost for towing.”
And inexperienced boaters have to earn the privilege of the captain’s chair for the more elite crafts, Lawrence adds. Wakeboarding and tow boats with inboard engines and ballast tanks designed to create ocean wave-style wakes for acrobatic maneuvers by those being pulled behind them are more complicated, and to take them out, club members go through more advanced training.
“You have to complete up to five reservations on one of our standard boats, and it has to be signed off on by our location managers who determine if you’re ready, or if you need to go through more training,” she says. “We want our members to know everything, from all of the functions on a boat – ‘Here’s what these buttons do, here’s what it looks like on the bottom of the boat, here’s how to avoid shallow water.’
“We make them take a two- to three-hour course on the water showing them how to operate the V-drive [the engine configuration on inboard engines common on wakeboard and wakesurf boats] and how to tow surfers. We want them to understand how they need to stay away from other boaters and fishermen and docks, and that they’re responsible for the wakes they create. We make sure we’re advocating for safe boating.”
And one of the best perks of membership, Lawrence adds, is that once members are certified for their various tier levels, they can sign out one of 125 boats at 12 locations across the state of Tennessee. From Norris and Fort Loudoun to Tellico and Watts Bar in East Tennessee to Center Hill Lake, Percy Priest, Tim’s Ford and Old Hickory in Middle Tennessee, there are Freedom chapters throughout the Volunteer State … and beyond.
“If you go out of Tennessee, there are Freedom Boat Clubs around the world,” she says. “Our members have gone down to Destin or the [Florida] Panhandle, and all they have to do is get on the schedule and reserve a boat. With other rental boat agencies, you’re responsible for everything, but with us, we’ll untie you, kick you off and tell you to have a great time. We’ll help you plan out where you’ll go that day, and we’ll get our maps out and show you the best way to get there, tell you to text us if you have problems and make sure you have a good time.”
Lawrence herself is an example of a Freedom Boat Club member who has taken full advantage of her membership. From whale watching out of Portland, Oregon, to sightseeing along the New England coast out of Portland, Maine, the membership gives her the ability to enjoy the experience without having to worry about the wraparound obligations of ownership.
“It’s just such a cool concept,” she says. “A lot of people are craving an experience, and Freedom Boat Club gives you an unlimited number of ways to have these types of experiences. So often, folks who own their boats get out on the water and go to the same cove, or sail to the same restaurant, and they get burned out after a while.
“Growing up, I saw a lot of boats sitting in their slips that were never used, never cleaned and were always neglected. I also always heard people say, ‘When I make it financially, I want to buy a boat!’ I believe in Freedom Boat Club because I truly think it’s a way that people will get on the water more. I also believe it’s a way for families of all different financial situations to be able to boat affordably, and to do so in an area where we have some of the most scenic and beautiful waterways in the country.”
wildsmith@blanknews.com
