Ideas to help extend(fund) our voyage

[chowdan]

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I have started to create a budget plan to live by, putting us on a 3 year track to have enough funds saved up and stashed away to allow us to buy, outfit a boat and cruise the Caribbean and maybe the Med.

Our budget plan does allocate enough money + reserves that we wouldn't need to work for our cruise, however we figured if we work when possible, it would extend our voyage by that much more.

We have had some ideas on how/what we'd do for work, however the most promising one that we think might be best for us would be to do some sort of bakery. My girlfriend is an excellent baker(not saying it because i'm her GF), and she has contemplated multiple times about opening a bakery for desserts and such however never really pursed the idea too much. Now that we are looking to move aboard a boat in the next year or two, and once we are under way, we were thinking about selling packaged cookie dough, freshly baked cookies, molten lava cakes, brownies and some other things.

However the BIG question really lies not with what we are selling, rather than WHO do we sell to. Do we sell to cruisers? Locals? Tourists?

We are expecting that cruisers would be best(we could sell the take & bake model, and you/we pick up the jar/container it came in).

The other question that remains is, is there a market for this? Will people want to buy it? Would YOU buy it?

[colemj]

Have you ever operated an oven all day in the tropics?

Mark

[atoll]

there will always be a market for fresh baked baguette and croissants delivered to anchored out yachts in the morning!

possibly pizza delivery early evenings as well.

gas fired or wood fired pizza oven on the aft deck of a 60ft MFV would work.

[Sailmonkey]

You will have a hell of a time establishing yourselves amongst a bunch of cheap transients, being transient yourself.


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[INTP]

Hello,
The legalities sound like they could be daunting. Health codes, selling in a foreign country, (most like to keep jobs local), etc.
Then the required space. Refrigerators, ovens, power requirements, etc. All assuming you would do this from your boat. And like colemj said, the heat...
Good luck at any rate.

[Mike OReilly]

It's an interesting idea, but unless you have a very large galley, I can't see how this would generate more than beer money at best. That might be sufficient for your needs, but I suspect the work required vs the payback makes it a dubious enterprise.

[Greenhand]

You might be surprised at what it takes to even find specific kinds of foods in certain places.

Plus, the heat...The reason so many sailboats have grills on the railings is because it doesn't heat up the boat as much.

[zeehag]

health codes work within usa. some other nanny states as well. here, where your dog n cat are allowed to sit on the table and under it when you eat, not so much.
not all places are consistent with usa standards. to consider usa standards being used in other locales as rquirement for selling foodstuffs is rather arrogant and untravelled. each locale has its own health standrds.. research em first/
research your area of travel well. that is done after arrival, as most cool locales havent their goods aaadvertised on line. each locale is specific to itself.
you wont know until you arrive what you can and will be able to get away with, insofar as work permits aand working under the radar.
personally, i would LOVE a decent pizza delivered to my boat at a reasonable price. dont forget the anchovies.....
in am a lil breakie breads-- we have a french baker here in our locale--very very popular man.
make sure you deliver before scheduled coffee so the gringos dont bitch ye out for tardiness.
now, for logistics--french baker awakens at 0200 daily for baking. earlier for baguette baking. he does that twice weekly, only.
daily he receives multiple calls for where are you. oh i forgot , and can you return to the marina for us we forgot to wake up in time and we are soo spoiled we cannot stand missing you.. etc....will you bring us the XXXX we so very much love and you donot carry daily.. oh yes i forgot can i have a loaf of rye bread. oh you need a week advance time? but i wanted it today...yada yada yada..
and these are only the calls i hear over radio.
might wanna speak with the folks who make pizza over on that side of the world.. i understand it is awesome.... find out what they went thru..mebbe the gringos on the east coast and caribbean are less demanding than those here.....

[l2ridehd]

The better idea to make money while cruising may be for both of you to learn to dive and offer bottom cleaning and zinc replacements. Go to any harbor/mooring location and you would find at least some boats that need this task done.

[Celestialsailor]

Do you actually have a boat yet or is this speculation?

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by chowdan

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I have started to create a budget plan to live by, putting us on a 3 year track to have enough funds saved up and stashed away to allow us to buy, outfit a boat and cruise the Caribbean and maybe the Med.

Our budget plan does allocate enough money + reserves that we wouldn't need to work for our cruise, however we figured if we work when possible, it would extend our voyage by that much more.

We have had some ideas on how/what we'd do for work, however the most promising one that we think might be best for us would be to do some sort of bakery. My girlfriend is an excellent baker(not saying it because i'm her GF), and she has contemplated multiple times about opening a bakery for desserts and such however never really pursed the idea too much. Now that we are looking to move aboard a boat in the next year or two, and once we are under way, we were thinking about selling packaged cookie dough, freshly baked cookies, molten lava cakes, brownies and some other things.

However the BIG question really lies not with what we are selling, rather than WHO do we sell to. Do we sell to cruisers? Locals? Tourists?

We are expecting that cruisers would be best(we could sell the take & bake model, and you/we pick up the jar/container it came in).

The other question that remains is, is there a market for this? Will people want to buy it? Would YOU buy it?

I was looking on line at a bakery for sale on Ometepe Island, Lake Nicaragua. That would be a cool place to live on a boat and sell donuts. There you would sell to the tourists, and eventually, the Chinese freighter crews when they start bombing through.

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[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

I was looking on line at a bakery for sale on Ometepe Island, Lake Nicaragua. That would be a cool place to live on a boat and sell donuts. There you would sell to the tourists, and eventually, the Chinese freighter crews when they start bombing through.

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Ometpe is Indeed a very cool place, but there are no sailboats (least no that I've ever seen) or cruisers there. Nowhere to dock a sailboat really. Certainly no marina. Just a municipal dock for the ferries. So, living aboard would present some logistics challenges. Doubt the Chinese freighter crews will have the luxury of dropping in at Ometepe.

Also, doing business as a foreigner in a developing country can be a nightmare (been there, done that). Buying a small business is always a crap shoot...especially in a developing country.

There are lots of cruiser/tourist venues where good bakery products are a popular item though. I think somewhere with a significant, and growing, expat community is the best demographic for this business. Somewhere like Granada, Nicaragua would be a better demographic (ditto there for sailboats though). One could do much worse than living in Granada though.

If you do run a bakery in Ometepe, you will have to figure out how to protect your product from Magpie Jays...aggressive buggers.

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Ometpe is Indeed a very cool place, but there are no sailboats (least no that I've ever seen) or cruisers there. Nowhere to dock a sailboat really. Certainly no marina. Just a municipal dock for the ferries. So, living aboard would present some logistics challenges. Doubt the Chinese freighter crews will have the luxury of dropping in at Ometepe.

Also, doing business as a foreigner in a developing country can be a nightmare (been there, done that). Buying a small business is always a crap shoot...especially in a developing country.

There are lots of cruiser/tourist venues where good bakery products are a popular item though. I think somewhere with a significant, and growing, expat community is the best demographic for this business. Somewhere like Granada, Nicaragua would be a better demographic (ditto there for sailboats though). One could do much worse than living in Granada though.

If you do run a bakery in Ometepe, you will have to figure out how to protect your product from Magpie Jays...aggressive buggers.

Ya, I had a hairbrained skeem that I never followed through with to somehow ship a small cruising boat down to Nicaragua and figure out some kind of charter or day sailing business. It seems evident you would have to anchor or beach somehow. I think the sailing would be AWESOME on Lake Nicaragua.

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[chowdan]

Hey everyone!

I love the feedback that everyone has given me. I was raised in the Fiji islands. I definitely know what the heat is like when working in the tropics, however is it truly worth the effort for what I'll gain?

Also I would really like to thank everyone for bringing up the question of operating some sort of business in a foreign country(completely blanked on this). Legalities is likely not worth the effort and nor is the effort to "fly" under the radar vrs the reprocusions that would possibly come up if caught however it may be worth looking into.

Then there's the question of supplies and convincing all the cruisers who will be on a budget that spending $X on such items is worth it.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by FamilyVan

Ya, I had a hairbrained skeem that I never followed through with to somehow ship a small cruising boat down to Nicaragua and figure out some kind of charter or day sailing business. It seems evident you would have to anchor or beach somehow. I think the sailing would be AWESOME on Lake Nicaragua.

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Sailing could be good on Lake Nicaragua. I think the reason its rare to see sailboats there is access...you've got to get up the Rio San Juan. Which, at best, is inconvenient, and now the water levels are low which adds to the problem. For example, the regular ferry is not running to San Carols, where the San Juan exits Lake Nicaragua, because the water is too shallow now (as of a few weeks ago).

I'm surprised there are not more small wind powered craft, like Hobies & wind surfers, the wind really honks sometimes, but they are rare too.