Canoe livery
Encyclopedia
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
engaged in the livery
Livery
A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...
(or rental) of canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s or kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
s. It is typically found on or near stream
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
s, river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, or lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
s that provide good recreational opportunities. A related but dissimilar business is a boat
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
rental business, which is often distinguished by renting powered
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
or sail
Sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
craft and by not having a provision for return from a remote location. Such liveries can be found worldwide, wherever there are sufficient tourists or locals to support the activities.
Services
Rental of the watercraftWatercraft
A watercraft is a vessel or craft designed to move across or through water. The name is derived from the term "craft" which was used to describe all types of water going vessels...
and associated equipment paddle
Paddle
A paddle is a tool used for pushing against liquids, either as a form of propulsion in a boat or as an implement for mixing.-Materials and designs:...
s, life preserver
Life preserver
Life preserver or Life-preserver may refer to:*Personal flotation device*Lifebuoy, a ring-shaped flotation device*A kind of club...
s and the like, is the basic service provided. Some optional extras offered may include liability insurance
Liability insurance
Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims. It protects the insured in the event he or she is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy...
, transport of the craft back to the livery at the end of the journey, provision of a guide
Guide
A guide is a person who leads anyone through unknown or unmapped country. This includes a guide of the real world , as well as a person who leads someone to more abstract places .-Guide - meanings related to travel and recreational pursuits:There are many variants of...
, or organised group outings. The livery often will sell ancillary supplies (sunscreen, sunglasses, clothing, water bottles, maps and books) as an adjunct to the business. Foam blocks or chocks, and rope may be sold or provided to enable car-top transport.
Equipment
In addition to the craft themselves, the livery will often have one or more vehicles or trailers fitted out with special racks to enable transport of many craft efficiently. These vehicles can be quite large, holding as many as 20 craft or more. This is because usually the customers travel downstream from the livery and at the end of the journey, some provision for return must be made. Small liveries may have as few as four boats in their fleet, while large ones may have over one thousand.Location
Typically, the actual rivers or lakes used are not the property of the livery. (most such are held in common in most jurisdictions). In some cases, the put in, and take out, locations, may be owned by the livery, but it is common that these are owned by a park or recreation authority and the livery operates there, with or without permits, a term known as "granting a concession".Liability
Canoeing and kayaking are sports that inherently have some risk. Typically, this risk is offloaded to the customer by having them execute a waiver. However some operators offer coverage to renters. In addition there may be lawsuits filed against operators, despite any waivers. Specialised insurance does exist for this risk. The liability issue may impact the park or recreation agency that has granted a concession to the livery.Economic impact
Precise figures for the number of these businesses may be difficult to come by. The United States Economic CensusUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
tracks down to the Recreational Goods Rental level only , and canoe livery is a subclass of this category. As of 2002, the category had 1,757 establishments employing at least one employee, with revenue of 521,783,000 USD and a payroll of 126,376,000 USD covering 7,416 people. At least 344 such businesses exist in the US., and there possibly may be many more.