Feasible to Make Money Cleaning Hulls in the Caribbean?

[grunzster]

Well...and the Southern US? but mostly in the Caribbean.

I've been talking to a few people up North who do it full time. Seems in NJ average price is about $3/foot. There's another guy in ME who says he charges $6/foot, $100 minimum. Most say that if you charge 50% of a haul out you should be able to get customers, so I'm guessing with marina fees going up worldwide, $100 minimum is a good starting point.

Based on my primitive math, and assuming I'd be dealing with cash, I'm guestimating 200 boats/year would be enough to keep me cruising. That sounds like a lot, but that's only 4 boats/week and assuming they're all only 30-35'. Throw a few bigger boats in there and that number goes down fast.

The big question would be, what are the local regulations, and how do they really enforce them? I was just going for a dive. What scraper?...dropped in wetsuit pocket before coming up.

How much competition is there? Seems like the few locals who are divers in the Caribbean are instructors. Can't really see those guys cleaning hulls after how many hours they work. On the other hand, I can see that being part of their duties at the shops/resorts they work for, taking a big chunk of your potential customer base away?

Also, for every cruiser who does all his own work, there seems to be a lot of boaters who barely step foot in the water. I'm guessing that number changes significantly as you go further South and get into clearer warmer water?

FYI - I do have other things up my sleeve. I'm just looking at this as another option and as something to maybe at least open the door to work that doesn't require sitting in front of a computer all day. How about a nice picture of your boat from below the surface...or one of those cool over/under shots?