Who Makes There Living Sailing And How

sail or motor whats the magic formula for making a living on the water

some folks fish
some folks charter

I can just imagine myself throwing both kinds of catch overboard eventually
so maybe chartering is not for me

but I am curious about how folks make it and if there niche is local or global
personally I'd be inclined to play the stock market while sitting in a nice comfy cabin next to a small wood stove and watching the gulls crap all over the place





so whats your gimmick
importing
exporting
marketing
how do you make it as a live aboard in these troubled times

cheers
B

 

Well, I can't say I "make a living" at it, but I used to.

Now, it's more just beer money.

The full-time work was captaining a tow boat, eco-tour boats, charters, boat deliveries, small ferry boats.

Now, it's just the odd boat delivery and commission sales of high end Zodiac style boats.

All locally. I hope that answers your question.

-Tom

P.S. Oh, and five years with the Coast Guard in Search and Rescue

 

It's not a gimmick. It is the result of years of hard work and effort.

 

personally I was thinking pawning my years of experience as a carpenter might be the easiest way to make it once I get back to the water but I'm not sure I can afford a boat that can hold all my stuff. I got more tools than God and would need about a ten by twenty room to just fit everything

how about it kids
anyone else working there way around on a live aboard

 

I follow the jobs. You got to be willing to pack up and go.

 

Interesting.

Getting ichy? Are you really thinking of taking-off?

In my opinion, having all your equipment is a good thing. You need to stay put. Cant you be the builder, or repairer?

You could be like the boat builder Prothero sp? - who said, 'The only reason I sail is to break things on the boat so I can take it back to the shop and work on it.'

I don't think you can be both - the full-shop craftsman and the gypsy

but, then again,

Thomas Colvin (according to his web site) built a large boat for a bloke who took a saw-mill set-up with him (Lucus mill, Mitey mite?). Another with a mobile machine-shop.

To carry all of your tools you would probably need a steel, big-ol' something, chug,chug,chug......

 

Over the decades I met quite some people able to make a living while sailing.

There was a couple with a complete dentists surgery on board, she was a dentist.

Skilled Aluminium welder was another one, he mainly got jobs ashore.

A elder couple was baking bread to a German recipe (sourdough), they sold it mainly to German people. They said they could not live on it, but it would add substantially to their pension. (Germans pay nearly every price for a proper bread, when abroad for some month, I do so in Istanbul too (ten times the price of the local crap)

A electrician made switch panels / cabinets (obviously a much sought after kind of job on the barefoot route), mainly ashore too. He could live pretty comfortable of the income and afford a 75ft schooner.

Finally I managed my landbased business while on a nine years trip, thanks to Inmarsat.

Regards
Richard

 

I definetly buy the best beads I can find Apex
sometimes I enjoy an old time Roman meal and decent bread is a must

 

Playing the stock market means you continue to be part of the problem, not part of the solution......what do you have when it all collapses?

Successful living independently means reducing or eliminating your dependence on outside systems. A simple boat you maintain yourself, simple sustainable systems, low to no consumption of anything. Gather wood off the beach for heat and cooking, a windmill, tide generator, and solar panels for hot water and tiny amounts of electricity. Grow food, bake your own bread (don't buy stuff!). Reduce dependence on money and then you can work hardly at all....sell the odd story, paint a picture and trade it for eggs...etc.

Get rid of the car, get a bicycle, use re-cycling centers, a row boat, trade books with other sailors....you have time for all this once you reduce the cash dependence......only then are you independent. But don't be surprised when others hate you for it and pass laws to get rid of you.

It's the land-bound urban lifestyle that takes whacks of cash...get out! Read Annie Hill on all this http://www.anniehill.blogspot.com/

 

I met a gal in Ensenada who lived aboard her boat and made a living doing canvas work and other repairs. She'd set her sewing machine up on the dock and sew all day. I don't think the marina minded, as it may have brought a few more boats down from the LA area to get their canvas overhauled.

I also know a former delivery captain, now retired. While talking about nautical careers, he persuaded me to consider something land-based. getting paid to sail other people's boats can be fun, but putting up with their drama is not always ideal. But that's true in any field. As much as he likes passage making, he had one too many rough trips getting boats from one place to another in rough weather on other people's schedules.

 

the gypsy way

... or maybe more applicable, I knew a carpenter/ taker of odd-jobs that I kept running into while cruising one summer. He sailed around the Puget Sound, living on a Ranger 26, going wherever he could find work. Sometimes he'd rent dock space, but in the summer he'd anchor out and row in.

He owned a van where he kept all his tools and everything else that wouldn't fit on board the boat with him. You have to be pretty light on worldly possessions to live full time on a Ranger 26.

Whenever he sailed someplace to work (usually construction), he'd park the van in or near the marina - which is not too hard to do in the Pacific NW, as most ports are less than a day's drive from one another and the ferry service is good.

 

I'm in SW England now (working on boats). In the last two years I was in Oman, Uruguay, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico and the USA. I have my backpack, sextant, sight reduction tables and other navigation equipment. Everything else I don't mind leaving behind. The jobs are always available.

 

Not in Brasil and Spain?