So, over in a thread I can't seem to link to...I'm trying to build a cyberpirates campaign in SR4.

And the thought just struck me...How do I determine passenger or crew capacity for, say, a yacht...Or any of the other watercraft in Arsenal and SR4?

Well it depends on the size of the yacht. Some are designed to be floating islands yet with all that space only have room for 18-20 actual passengers since the rest is for the crews. With automation being so big in 2070 this would be cut down so a Large yacht (for example the gigyacht which is real mind you) could seat round 50-60 people while a smaller one more around 3-5. Honestly its all up to you since different classes would fit a different amount of people

Keep to modern crew sizes. I really can't think crews getting any smaller. They tried it back in the 1980s IIRC, with horrible failures. You need helmsmen, a captain, a first mate, a ship's engineer, and deckhands. Automated systems canot deal with an engine failure or an unusual leak, and drones cannot deal with heurestic problems (such as which is more important the generators or the pumps or the halon system in an engine compartment fire).

Good point but I was talking more about the extra crew that would appear aboard a yacht like the chef, waiters, card dealer since quite a few have a game room, etc. Those jobs you mentioned though, ya your right, you need those.

I'd think deckhands and regular technicians are basically extinct in SR. Most freight hauling ships are fully automated, without a single human being on board. Drones do all the regular chores and if there's a problem, a rigger just remotely controls them to fix the machines or seal a leak (at least on the oldfashioned ships that still don't have selfrepairing nanofibers).
If a problem is big enough to offline the whole thing, you send over a projected mage leading a bunch of task-spirits with nautical mechanic as a bonus skill.
You'd only have personell on passenger ships and even then only for tending to those passengers and for leading the crew.
Really, there's no problem that 2070s tech and magic can't fix for cheaper than actually having to pay regular people to do it. Keep in mind, in SR there are clinics without any specialised field doctors on site, because they can just as well operate remotely from a central location. Whole shopping malls without any employees, because "selling stuff" is automated through wifi anyway and security and cleanup is done by drones 24/7/365.
You're either a specialist or you don't get enployed.

It's a lot more dystopian that way, too.

Sounds like you're talking about a cruise ship, not a yacht. Yachts are typically smaller and personally owned with a small staff of maybe 4-20 for the small to mega-yachts. Yachts are usually under 100ft long.

This is the link to the thread mentioned in the OP. We start really discussing the story ideas around pages 3-4, in case anyone's interested in checking it out.

-milk.

Actually I have seen yachts with crews of up to 40 with only 10-15 actual passengers. It's not normal thats for sure but some richer people have larger yachts that have crews beyond whats needed for the extra things they put on these floating islands. in 2070 I would think a few megacorps may own a few of these floating islands to send noteworthy wageslaves to for some RnR (and maybe some subtle brainwashing so they can be sure about their loyalties.) Haven't we all heard of corporate sponsored vacations?