Boat-Based Business

No apology necessary. Thread wander is a good thing, because it brings out points that would otherwise not come to mind. The idea of a thread like this is to inspire the creativity of a unique group of sailors such as is on this forum, to reinvent common practice.There are thousands of cruisers out there who have resigned themselves to the common notion that to cruise, you must either have a substantial cruising kitty to last the duration, or you must do what cruisers do, paint pictures and sell them to other cruisers, fix boats, write books, or do acounting for other cruisers. These are very effective IF you have the talent, or if you do not mind spending a month in a bout yard working on someone elses boat, OR, if you have been scrimping and saving for a while to build the cruising kitty. I have tried the latter, and at first, it was no problem, neglecting other parts of my life to save money, but when unexpected circumstances came up, and the kitty never seemed to be reaching the goal, and years passed, life became uncomfortable. I found myself having to spend money on some of the more conventional needs, such as going out to dinner, and movies, and short vacations. After 5 years of doing without, in order to save money for cruising, it was starting to feel like it was not worth it. My interest, and more importantly, my wife's interest, was waning.
Now, I am trying another approach. What if I were to take off with the boat provisioned, and a thousand dollars in my pocket? If I could find a way to keep that thousand dollars in my pocket, I could take off tommorow. BUt to do this, I need to find a way to generate basic cost of living, while allowing me to enjoy cruising. Traditional knowledge would dictate that compromise is necessary, but maybe, through this thread, someone will strike on an idea that would accomplish my goal. I am willing to bet that someone out there has already taken from the ideas that have been posted, and started towards their goal.

[CaptainK]

Kai. I'm sure that, there are numbers of sailors out there. Who either have mentioned, or not mentioned. (Due to business competition?) That sailors can make a living and cruising their dream!!

But you might be surprised, that even some of the simplest job trades. Could help provide cash for any willing cruiser, to support their lifestyle? Whether they lived by the means of the wild side (partying etc.) to being frugle, not being big money spenders?

I agree, but I have not figured out where to stow my AMWAY stock

[CaptainK]

Oh boy.....I remember Amway. Man that one is a major joke.

In the past a number of people tried their very best, to get me to join in under them. Make sales. And be helping them as well. Talking about pyramid schemes here, this is one of the biggest in the world?

[Jim H]

Kai Nui once whispered in the wind:
After 5 years of doing without, in order to save money for cruising, it was starting to feel like it was not worth it. My interest, and more importantly, my wife's interest, was waning.

Hi, Kai

Forgive me for asking, but did you own one or two coastal cruisers during this time for shorter cruises? I admire the advice in "Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach" by Don Casey and Lew Hackler. Their argument is to go cruising right away with as much boat and as much time as you can afford (but keeping the day job). For most this may first be a less expensive coastal cruiser for weekends and week-long cruises to begin with (or frequent, less expensive charters). If this works well, they believe serious cruisers will figure out how to do year-long absences for cruises, or make the big move to multi-year cruising.

They tend to argue against "waiting to cruise" until everything is just right (finances, perfect boat, kids a certain age, etc.).

We have had several boats since we started this project. The first one was a 34' wood boat, and our first 10 months was spent in a boat yard. we were only able to take off for weekends, and an occasional week cruise, but in this area, the cruising is very limited for such a short time period. After nearly 5 years living on the 34 footer, it just became too small. My wife has been very patient with this process, but the sleeping accomodation on that boat just got to be too dificult. Moved up to our current boat, a 40' ketch about 2 years ago. This has been quite comfortable to live aboard, but my wife has not been comfortable handling this boat, and we have had to do allot of refitting, so we have not had the time to take off. We recently purchased a trimaran to address some of my wife's concerns about handling the boat, and overall comfort. This will probably set us back another 2 years by the time we fit out the tri, assuming we like the way it sails. We also have both been employed in jobs that require substantial time commitments, and have not allowed us to break free. It has been a self perpetuating problem. I have done a few deliveries up and down the coast that have allowed me some additonal sea time, but our recreational sailing has been limited. We are not waiting to get far enough ahead to go cruising, we are just waiting to catch up enough to go cruising. We could liquidate, and take off on our little wood boat, and we have talked about it, but there are certain creature comforts we are just not willing to do without. Our circumstances, when we made the decision to do this, were not exactly ideal, and we were aware of that fact, but we decided to go for it anyway. the resut has been that things are taking longer than we had hoped, but they are taking shape. Unfortunately, as things have a habit of doing, our lives outside of sailing have become more complex, and have required more commitment that takes time away from the boat. Anyway, you get the idea.

[SailWiz]

Kai, I think after reading your thread that the answer is right in front of you. Start a web based business that finds work for cruisers. You have obviously done alot of research. With making a few connections in popular cruising grounds, you could set up what amounts to a headhunter firm that places people in locations for a certain time and position. You get a commission from the employers and the job seekers pay you to find them a job. just a thought and maybe a business partnership. Lets discuss.

Wiz

[ssullivan]

Genius!!

That's a great idea. Better get on that before all the other cruisers on the web start in. You could broker projects for cruisers and get paid a commission on the project.

I guess sail "wiz" isn't an overstatement at all.

HMMMM? I Like it Regardless if this is "the one", sailwiz, you proved my point. The creativity of people on this forum never ceases to amaze me.

[SailWiz]

Thanks Kai. I did some thinking overnight on the subject. If you would care to share ideas on the subject you can contact me at wisniosd@bellsouth.net. I think there are some strong possibilities for success. Take care.

[SailWiz]

Sean, Attempted to reply to your message but got an error saying your mailbox was full. Please try the email I gave to Kai and I will respond on that.

[hammerfelt]

What an incredible topic for discussion. I am sure this is on the mind of every cruiser. The overall ideas are excellent. I am trying to figure out if there is a way of doing this without diluting the pool in some way. Think about it -- If it's an idea you have to guard, get it out before someone else does -- and eventually someone else will, then the field WILL be dilluted eventually, and some powerful business interest might obscure your very idea. (case in point -- all the books out there written by people about "following your dream" -- try writing one of those books and see if you could find a publisher not -- I would guess it is not cake, since there are already people doing it. Same with articles for magazines. ) If instead we figure out a way for all cuisers to have some marketable skills which they could impart to the worlds they visit, that would be a better deal -- there are many worlds out there in every community, and rather than fixing people's boats, maybe we can fiogure out ways to integrate into the needs of the people on land. This would ideally guarantee that the reservoir of work would keep going forever. If a needed skill is provided by a cruiser, he/she could pass that oportunity to the next one who enters port, just as you are leaving.

Maybe a web net of bartering for cruisers. Engine work in exchange for guitar lessons for your kids for a month while in the same anchorage. That sort of thing.

Some more random thoughts... It always amazed me that we make life easier, and then we have to do things to ourselves to make it harder, so that we function as humans. My wife bought a stairmaster once "I will use it, I know I will" -- famous words. We moved out, and we couldn't get rid of the damned thing. Eventually a friend came up with a brilliant idea -- to make a point... (we lived in an apt building 7th floor) We left it in the elevator.... It was beautiful. People could take the elevator, and contemplate using the stairmaster to burn calories, while using a lot of electricity to NOT burn calories.

So.... maybe we can figure out a system for sailers to have some exercise equipment which generates energy back into the batteries. You could save heaps on generators. Or take your exercise "bike" and get on someone else's boat... "run" your bike for 2 hours, and charge them 1/2 galon's worth of diesel in that country. Might not be much, but you could be fit in days!

The old excercise bicycle tv deal huh
As I said before, the creativity on this board never ceases to amaze me.

[Redbull addict]

Let me add another potential avenue. Technology is not only making peoples lives easier and or enjoyable. It is opening up new usage models and new business models. Take the ipod, yes you can listen to music, but now there are podcasts and video podcasts. You can make money on content being delivered through a free infrastructure. Use your expertise in any subject to create a podcast with a subscription model. heck, people like me who are here to learn would love an avenue to hear or see what long distance cruising is like, instead of just reading about it. Get paid for doing what you love!

I have a tendancy to ramble or jump through ideas too quickily, so let me know if i need to add any details.

[SailWiz]

Ahh, the collective creative juices are flowing! I like the Idea of exchange. Yesterday before I read your posings, I had thought of the company here in Florida that buys your old music CDs and resells them at a discount. I would think the same could be done with chart software. Any takers?