Need a hotel room for Grateful Dead Chicago shows? How about a ‘boatel?’

For rent: A space along the lakefront, not far from Soldier Field for the Grateful Dead concerts next month, that can comfortably sleep up to 10 adults.

And it rocks — but not as much as the band.

Daniel Vevers, of Naperville, is renting his 40-foot Carver 36 Supersport for the Dead’s 50th anniversary shows through Cruzin, an online marketplace for boat rentals. Launched last year in Chicago, Cruzin is hoping to capitalize on the lack of Chicago hotel rooms for the sold-out July 3-5 shows with a new option: “boatels.”

“How many people get to take their hotel room for a spin?” said Jaclyn Baumgarten, founder and CEO of Cruzin, which began three years ago and now counts 2,600 boats to rent in the United States and other countries.

The option is probably not for the Grateful Dead fans on a VW budget, though the cost can be split among friends. Most of the boats for rent can accommodate four to six people, according to Cruzin.

Vevers is asking $2,500 per night to rent “The Sweet Emotion” — which has two staterooms, a TV and swim platform — during the Dead shows, though the price is negotiable. Renters can pay for a captain to accompany them on the boat. Vevers also requires a $24 daily insurance premium, a standard fee for online boat rentals.

“This renting out thing is kind of new,” said Vevers, 50, who said he rented out his boat four times last summer including for a birthday party and the Air & Water Show. “I think it’s a great concept.”

Cruzin’s greatest test in Chicago may be the Dead shows, which are expected to draw 70,000 fans each night to Soldier Field. Many downtown hotels are sold out during the Dead concerts, and Airbnb room rental listings are scarce.

Cruzin is not the only boat rental option for Deadheads. Boatbound, a website that “soft launched” in Chicago nearly a year ago, offers about 300 boats for rental in Chicago with 600-700 boats expected to be added by the end of summer, Boatbound founder and CEO Aaron Hall said.

Boats have to be inspected before they can join the marketplace, and there’s currently a waiting list of more than 500 boats, Hall said. Boats in Chicago generally rent for $500-$600 a day, and prices go up for major events.

There were 11 Chicago boats on Boatbound that could be rented from July 3-5, according to a Tribune search Friday morning.

“Chicago is our No. 1 most-traffic city in the country,” Hall said. “Any time there’s an event (along the Chicago lakefront), people look to boats to fill that gap.”

tswartz@tribpub.com

Twitter @tracyswartz