Floating hot tub tours coming to Victoria

Hot Tub Boat Canada says it also plans to launch in Vancouver and Kelowna in 2019. (Hot Tub Boat Canada/Facebook)

Call it a hot tub tide machine.

A new company is advertising floating hot tub rides around Victoria's Gorge Waterway and Upper Harbour this summer.

Billing itself as "Canada's first hot tub on water," Hot Tub Boat Canada says it will start renting the floating hot tubs in the city on July 6.

The hot tubs are built in the Netherlands and can hold up to six people. They will be available for 1.5-hour self-guided tours around the city's downtown.

Owner Tanner McLeod tells CTV News the charge for rentals will be approximately $65 per person plus a $35 boat fee to cover environmental costs.

The company says the hot tubs are heated with an onboard stove that burns briquettes.

A post on the company's Facebook page says trial runs were underway in Victoria this week and accompanying photos show one of the hot tub boats near Victoria's Johnson Street Bridge.

Earlier posts show workers constructing a floating change room and storage shack on the Upper Harbour.

The company's website stipulates that a boater's licence is not required to rent the tubs. However, all hot tub captains must be at least 19 years old and all occupants must be at least 12 years old.

Alcohol is not permitted aboard the vessels, which boast Bluetooth speakers and bottled water.

Hot Tub Boat Canada says it also plans to launch in Vancouver and Kelowna in 2019.

A company with a similar concept rents hot tub boats for tours around the waters of Seattle. That company, Hot Tub Boats, was founded in 2011 and is not affiliated with Hot Tub Boat Canada.