I disagree. Consideration can be the exchange of mutual promises, with benefit and detriment. The contract must be drawn to show what is being exchanged to accomplish the OP's purposes. It does not take much to show consideration. For the OP's sake, he should shift all the risk to the friend willing to do this for free. The friend is essentially gaining the use of the boat for the delivery period in return for assuming all the risks. Of course, the prudent thing would be to hire a professional delivery captain who knows what he is doing.
Here are some search terms for the OP to research:
Gratuitous bailment
Payment in kind
Promises as consideration
Standard of care of bailee
Strict liability
Risk of loss
Negligence
Bailee's duties
Liability of yacht owner
Jones Act
Conflict of law in yacht delivery
Governing law in multistate delivery contract
Read the statutes, cases and commentary on these legal issues. Read your insurance policy to determine if your insurance will cover this kind of arrangement. I like Google Advanced Scholar for free internet research. You can find almost all the reported cases there. After spending several days researching the law, the OP may be able to prepare his own contract, assuming he is minimally intelligent and has some command of the English language, or realize he should have hired a maritime law lawyer in his jurisdiction in the first instance.
Or he can just use a handshake deal and suffer all the consequences. It is fun to bring or defend a lawsuit - if one is the lawyer running on his hourly rate!
