Water Sports Rentals

06/06/2024: Boathouse rentals are not available due to access issues until further notice, will update paddling listserve when they are available.

MITOC’s boathouse has equipment for canoeing, whitewater, sea kayaking, windsurfing, and surfing. Get on the paddle mailing list to hear about awesome trips! If you want to rent a boat or two for your own trip, read on…

Rental procedure outline

1. Become a boathouse keyholder.
2. Get certified by the appropriate boat chair to rent out the boat you want.
3. For each trip that you want to use a sea kayak or take a canoe on a car, fill out a float plan form. For surfboards, fill out a surfing float plan form.
4. Drop off deposit checks (frequent flyer) at MITOC office (if not done previously).
5. As early as possible, email the boat chairs with your reservation request and respond promptly to any of their concerns. If your reservation is approved, the appropriate boat chair will let you know.
6. Make an online pre-payment for your equipment, sending confirmation of payment to the chair. The chair will then provide the lockbox PIN to access the boathouse key. Note: your unique PIN will be active (up to) 3 days prior to your trip-start and expire 1 day after your trip-end.
7. Go to the boathouse, use your PIN to unlock the key and access the gear rooms. Remember to leave the key in the lockbox, for other renters. Have a fun, safe, trip! Respect the boats and don’t let them get stolen.
8. Return and clean your boat and gear at the boathouse. Make sure to return your gear before your lockbox PIN expires!
9. Email the boat chairs and tell them how your trip went, about conditions of the boats and gear, especially if any boat problems or damage is noticed.

If you’ve never done this before, read on for…

Details of the rental procedure

1. Become a boathouse keyholder. To become a boathouse keyholder, MITOC members must complete boathouse training and then provide one hour of service to the boathouse once a year to maintain active keyholder status. Training sessions are held monthly, coordinated by the Boathouse Manager, and announced on the paddle listserv. If you became a keyholder last year, you can rent boats through May before renewing your keyholder training.
2. Get certified to rent out the boat you want. Whitewater kayaks, sea kayaks and windsurfers are all restricted gear; only canoes can be rented out by all keyholders. The best way to get certified is to go on a trip with the appropriate boat chair so that they can make sure you have the skills needed to use the boat safely. Otherwise, you can talk with them at keyholder training or by emailing the boathouse-mgr listserv.
3. For each trip that you want to use a sea kayak or take a canoe on a car, fill out a float plan form.
4. Drop off deposit checks at MITOC office during MITOC office hours, prior to your trip. If you have current Frequent Flyer status, you may skip the rest of this step. Otherwise, because boats are restricted and expensive, we require you to deposit checks ($300 and $700 in value) to cover any damage or theft of boathouse equipment you rent. These checks are kept for one year, and you can rent (any MITOC gear) as often as you like without writing more checks.
5. As early as possible, email the boat chairs with your reservation request and respond promptly to any of their concerns. Please try to email us a week in advance, and the deadline is noon Wednesday for an upcoming weekend. Allow us a couple days to respond since we are busy and do this on a volunteer basis. As with other MITOC gear, each member can rent gear only for himself and one other person. Boathouse keyholders may borrow more than two boats so long as there is at least one MITOC member in the group for every two boats rented. Official MITOC trips also take precedence over individual rentals, so check that there are no conflicting trips scheduled on the MITOC calendar. If your reservation is approved, the boat chair will tell you and authorize the MITOC office to rent you a key.
6. Make an online pre-payment for your equipment, sending confirmation of payment to the chair. When your reservation is approved (based on dates, gear availability, deposit having been made and rental payment confirmed), the boat chair will contact you and provide you with a PIN to access the lockbox that contains the key to the boathouse. Get your boat and gear from the boathouse. One key that will open the exterior doors to the loading dock, and the interior boat storage room doors. If you end up NOT taking out your boat because of “prohibitive weather conditions”, let the chairs know as soon as possible, and you will be able to use the payment made for any future MITOC rentals (NO refunds will be processed).
7. Have a fun, safe trip! Respect the boats and don’t let them get stolen. Do NOT take the key with you – remember to always leave the key in the lockbox for other renters.
8. Return and clean your boat and gear at the boathouse. If the boats were used in salt water or got dirty, please rinse them off before returning them. There is a sponge and bucket available in the sea-kayaking room. Also, please try to brush off any sand on the exterior of the boats. Life jackets and skirts also should be returned dry and have any salt or sand rinsed off. Return the key to the lockbox. A late fee of $25/day will be charged if you forget to leave the key in the lockbox.
9. Email the boat chairs and tell them how your trip went, about any boat problems or damage.

Boats

Surfing

Approver is the Surfing chair for the appropriate gear (boathouse-mgr@mit.edu)

Paddleboarding

The inflatable stand-up paddleboards and PFDs can be found in the MITOC office, and one does not need to complete the boathouse keyholder training to rent them. For approval to rent the paddleboards, email the Paddleboarding chair via mitoc-approval@mit.edu with details of the planned paddling trip.