You’ve seen a little about what makes us different. Read the FAQ below to understand why we are the best boat club on Smith Mountain Lake.
We use ONLY Premium Quality NEW Boats. It’s not just about having access to a boat—it’s about having access to the right boat.
In a typical club, there’s a wide range of boats. Some are highly sought-after—newer, high-performance models that every member wants—often requiring reservations weeks in advance. Others are less desirable due to their age, lower power, outdated features, or inferior performance, making them the last to be reserved. The rest of the fleet falls somewhere in between.
We take a different approach. Our fleet consists only of the most desirable boats in each category, replaced with brand-new models every year. Members can always count on a premium, first-class experience with consistently equipped boats, including the 24’ Starcraft Tritoon SLS with 250 HP, 24’ Starcraft Tritoon with
200 HP, 23’ Starcraft SVX Tower, and Mastercraft 23 NXT. Additionally, we maintain the right balance of
each boat type based on popularity and demand.
One of the major benefits of joining our club over others is that we have our own dealership service department. A major boat breakdown in the middle of the season—especially with a full schedule of upcoming reservations—is every boat club’s worst nightmare. Eventually, it happens to every club.
Our on-site dealership service department is staffed with factory-trained technicians and stocked with a vast inventory of parts. This has saved our boat availability more than once!
For example, one Sunday afternoon, a member struck bottom and severely damaged a lower unit. We immediately towed the boat in (yes, we provide towing for breakdowns). Within two hours, our technicians had pulled the boat, replaced the lower unit, and had it ready to hit the water again by the next morning.
As for the customer that struck bottom, they had about an hour left on their time and we were able to put them on a different boat from our fleet, so it did not mess up the rest of their day.
Our commitment to fast, expert service ensures minimal downtime—so our members can keep enjoying their time on the water without disruption.
That type of response just doesn’t exist for most boat clubs. We are able to keep our boats in excellent running order, and respond to difficult situations more fluidly, thus maximizing boat availability for our members!
Our members understand that for weekends and holidays, it’s best to reserve a boat at least 2-3 weeks in advance. However, we know that plans can change, and sometimes a member wants to get out on the water with shorter notice.
That’s why we offer impulse reservations, allowing members to book a boat with as little as 2 hours’ notice and up to 16 hours in advance. These impulse reservations are in addition to your 4 rolling reservations that you have in the booking system already.
If a reservation is canceled—there’s no penalty for cancellations, though we ask members to reserve only when they genuinely plan to go—we make that boat immediately available for others to enjoy.
Unfortunately, a couple of our boat types have to be winterized; however, our tritoons are available all 12 months! This provides you the opportunity to capitalize on those occasional warm days in the middle of the winter when there is no one else on the lake. We personally think those are the best times to be on the water. We only have 4 days that we are closed and don’t have boats available: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Day.
That is not true here at Bridgewater Boat Club. Our dedicated and hardworking staff go above and beyond to maximize boat availability and ensure a seamless experience for our members on a clean boat. Here’s how they make it happen:
If the club boats are all booked up and you are really trying to get on the water that day, our quality rentals may provide a solution if you are signed up as a “fleet access” member. Unreserved boats from our rental fleet will be made available to club members after 12:30. That is up to 140 additional vessels that are usable on a “call-ahead” basis only. To put that to scale, we only had 7 days in the summer of 2024 where every single boat was on the water at the same time. End result: more quality boats available for your use!
Members must be at least 25 years old. The liability and the wear and tear from those under age 25 would be significantly higher. Not to mention this group can monopolize the boats, due to having more free time than 3 members who are settled into their careers and families. This age restriction helps keep the boats in top notch condition and more available for you!
Driver’s of our boats must be one of the two members whose name is on the membership agreement. These
drivers are required to have a valid driver’s license and a boater’s license.
We pride ourselves on having open and honest communication with prospective members. We do our best to give an honest, realistic expectation of our boat availability to potential members. We reinforce that expectation by showing them the reservation system and what availability looks like. Let us know you are coming ahead of time and we will also take you on a tour of the docks to see the boats first hand.
Depending on your situation, it may make more sense for you to just rent boats when needed, or it could be that you need to be a boat owner. We are glad to talk with you about those options and help you weigh out what makes the most sense for you.
2025 will be our first year with the boat club, so new members will be getting in on the ground level and have access to the best boats on the best dates for usage. The more we grow, the more boats we will add to the fleet. The standard ratio of members to boats in the boat club industry varies from 7:1 to 10:1. We don’t expect to exceed 4:1 for 2025 and promise to never exceed a ratio of 7:1. More members does not mean less availability to you, it just means we are buying more boats.
No. Summer holidays typically do not book up much quicker than a regular weekend. That is because:
It’s important to understand details about weekend availability. Based on our experience in the boating industry we anticipate the Saturday and Sunday afternoon time slots to be the most popular, so we recommend planning at least 2-3 weeks ahead for that. Saturday morning and Friday afternoons will be next in line to get reserved usually. Almost every weekend works out that way, and knowing that will guide you as to how far in advance you should plan to reserve a boat. We recommend planning at least 2-3 weeks ahead of time to reserve a boat for weekends, holidays and Friday afternoons. If you do that, there is generally a variety of boats and time slots available. On weekdays, advance reservations are still great, but impulse reservations are also generally available.
If those options fail, then as long as you have the “fleet access” add-on you still have a very high chance of getting a boat on a call-ahead basis. We only had 7 days last summer where there was not a single boat left on
the dock.
Although afternoons are most popular, there are good reasons mornings provide a better boating experience:
1
There is less boat traffic in the mornings.
2
There is a much lower chance of thunderstorms that can disrupt your boating,
3
During the summer, temperatures in the morning are much more desirable.
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