Make Money While Cruising - List

[Celestialsailor]

Freddy_Vagner
Thank you for your great post. It was spot on and informative. Having gone to thailand so many times in the past, I looked at TESL courses there. About $2000 and a few months. It seems like a good investment. On one of my trips, I was invited to teach for 2 days in a classroom of 6th graders. It was a lot of fun and my Thai friend felt I was a natural. The pay (if you're lucky is about 30,000 baht a month. Approximately $1000 a month US. You could live on it well but the boat may suffer financially for it...I don't know. You do need to make a commitment for this. they would not want you bailing on them after a few months.

[tbodine88]

This probably wasn't what was intended by the original poster, but:
Senior Software Applications Developer, Java, C#, and LabVIEW This is a seagoing position.

https://tamujobs.tamu.edu/applicants...=1353444402250

[gettinthere]

Originally Posted by osirissail

I have to correct myself - I was cleaning the bookshelves in my boat and found a good way to make money to support your cruising - - produce and market DVD videos of your travels or of the cruising life.

Paul and Sheryl Shard (Canadians) have for years supported their cruising worldwide by making travel or educational videos of their journey and the places and cultures they visit. The sell them to educational TV networks, travel networks, and also directly to the public. I have most all of their dvd's and they are excellent and for a cruiser or potential cruisers very inspiring.

Of course you need the talent and ability/equipment to shoot, edit, and produce the stuff, but now-a-days most pc computers come with the editing and composition applications for putting together such programs. Then all you really need is some decent cameras and some personality traits that make the productions interesting and inspiring. And - when you show up somewhere with professional video equipment it is amazing how much special treatment and how many "extras" are offered to you for free if you include the local's pub, cafe, etc., etc.

I recommend their cruising DVD series to all, especially those dreaming of taking up the cruising life.
Distant Shores HomeThe Shards
Southerly - News - Paul and Sheryl Shard are currently filming in the Solent
Travel Channel United Kingdom | Our Presenters: Paul and Sheryl Shard

The Shards had over 20 years experience in writing, producing, shooting, editing, presenting for CBC before striking out in their cruising. Just a little bit of experience under their belts besides a camera and a computer.

[osirissail]

Which doesn't mean you cannot also learn how to do it.

I have other friends cruising on a small motor yacht that are avid scuba divers and have been producing scuba videos of Caribbean diving locations for sale to/by Caribbean hotels and operators selling diving tour packages. However, the better your equipment the better chance of producing a marketable product - if you have some skill and determination to learn.

[ArtM]

Originally Posted by tbodine88

This probably wasn't what was intended by the original poster, but:
Senior Software Applications Developer, Java, C#, and LabVIEW This is a seagoing position.

https://tamujobs.tamu.edu/applicants...=1353444402250

The link is gone. I have LabView... but I have kids on shore. Ultimately, that is what's keeping me grounded. Still, it's a curious requirement - I guess it must have been a research ship.

[Graceunderway]

Originally Posted by Age

Why not make a travel agency that charges people cost of food and expense plus a little bit extra to go on a vacation aboard any registered liveaboards with your company. Registered liveaboard teaches the client to sail (and charges the client), they cook for the client, they take them fishing, and drop them off at various islands to have fun. Gives them the experience of living aboard without having to buy a boat. You then have another component of the business that sells live aboard boats to the people 'sold' to the idea of living in one as well as giving them a discount if they participate as a free tour giver to attract new clients.

Can be marketed as a wild adventure that money cannot buy and targeted to middle aged people and college students who either are seeking adventure or lived a life without and are hitting a midlife crisis. You'll have a wide array of places to visit and could in theory provide a lot of business to people who live aboard.

It is personalized and has more freedom than a cruise boat because the client will eventually be able to sail it themselves and decide where they want to go. It can be pulled into a system that runs itself, and so many people who liveaboard who are starving will have a good source of income.

Hows that Agility?

We are toying with this idea for quite some time. The question is what kind of people would you let on your boat/home and what is the price you'd charge??? What is your privacy and time worth!!! We are trying to figure this out in last year and half. Tough one!

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by Graceunderway

We are toying with this idea for quite some time. The question is what kind of people would you let on your boat/home and what is the price you'd charge??? What is your privacy and time worth!!! We are trying to figure this out in last year and half. Tough one!

Well, here goes,

needed - commercial captains license (you're sailing with paying passengers)
needed - heavy duty insurance (what if a passenger drowns?)
needed - Big enough boat to accommodate said passengers (+45 ft)
needed - Are you competent to teach sailing/navigation?
needed - Are you prepared to have a licensing body (USCG?) go over your boat, inspect it and license it for commercial use/passengers etc?
needed- a hell of a lot of other things

This has been discussed any number of times. If you are going to do it legally, start at the top of the list. If illegally, you will run into problems you've never dreamed of - f.eks. what will you do when some legal outfit drops the local authorities a note saying you are operating illegally and several big cop types come and impound your boat?

forget it.

[ArtM]

Originally Posted by tmoandj

Good to know, thanks! Seems like I have a endless portfolio of unmarketable skills!

Typically cruisers are looking for spot work and remote work that can be done on a mobile computer.

The modern difficulty with that is that we are competing with 3 billion people who are (a) overeducated, (b) underemployed, (c) capable of living on a few hundred per month, and (d) highly mobile

This is not a permanent situation, but it is not going away in the next few months. It will gradually improve, though, as China and India become fully industrialized nations.

[Travelnik]

Originally Posted by tmoandj

Good to know, thanks! Seems like I have a endless portfolio of unmarketable skills!

I know the feeling. Four useless doctorates.

Sometimes I feel like Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man" and the world is telling me that I'm OB-SO-LETE!

[catakate]

Tough one putting together all I gathered in this area, but here goes..
Background: self taught, computer passionate, skilled electrician, own my own business in security and surveillance systems (enough to pay the bills in this economy), overhauled a Peugeot 2 l. diesel engine last month just because I can (now have a friend's Ford waiting for parts in the garage), Eastern Europe based, employed a few months my entire life.
I wandered around Europe since 17, too free of a spirit for a closed border communist country, 16 days breakaway trip to Germany across 3 state borders in that January almost rendered me legless. Lived in various towns, paying rent, with only a backpack of clothes and a laptop. Always got back home, just to get away yet again. Enough self praise though
Happiest life was living on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, building websites for clients from Canada to South Africa, having enough money to fly to Croatia for a week "vacation". No own company, just outsourced work, tax paid at source, money transferred by Paypal to own bank account. Things are definitely easier on land, but doable with today's technology near coast. Also, big difference between US and Europe.
Now, for ideas, all touristic areas are filled with people looking for souvenirs. For a skilled sailor with access to exotic places, I imagine handcrafting some small eye catching items from what the sea provides would be fun, street sellers would be happy to grab something exotic and exclusive in bulk.
More practical, in a boating economy perspective, I managed to put together a small datacenter, have the skills to put any business online but lack the market. How about a joint venture?
Girls are always eager to listen the stories, and I always joke they will have to wait till I publish and pay for the book. I might!

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Travelnik

I know the feeling. Four useless doctorates.

Sometimes I feel like Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone episode "The Obsolete Man" and the world is telling me that I'm OB-SO-LETE!

1977 - Me- Graduated HS - SATs top 10% in US - recruited by some very serioius colleges - I am thinking Law school
1977 - Depression era Dad - 7 kids no money (maybe) and no interest in "sharing" his financial situation with student loan folks. Won't fill out loan apps. "Why don't you go get some useful handskills. If you do that you will never starve and you will always know what you are out of work from."
1979 - Me - Graduated aviation school with a plan to work in aviation long enough to fund Law School.
2013 - Ultimately got a degree in Aerospace Engineering. Still working in Aviation which has taken me globally around the world and is still the best job I can think of.

Point being - If you can do stuff you may never get rich but I think my Dad was right, you'll never starve. I have never worried about losing my job. I can do anything from plumbing, to electrics, to electronics, to mechanics on just about anything I can think of. I think my absolute worst case scenario may have me in Midas doing brake jobs. But at least I am eating.

I have met people doing most of the ideas posted. The difference I see is that the ones dooing it are completely comfortable doing it without a net. They tend to be younger with fewer commitments behind them (kids, houses, aged parents), they tend not to have too much "stuff" (houses, furniture, cars, bikes and boxes of memories), many are quite comfortable doing this and then getting "serious" about work later.

The issue in this day and age, I think is that it is a much more competitive place. I interview folks that graduated 5-7 years ago and went in search of "self" - unless they have specific skills I need I tend to lean towards the person that graduated last year and is ready for me to mold them into something useful. A graduate engineer with 5 years of experience teaching Scuba is not really my first profile choice for a number of reasons.

I never think that I can make a living while cruising. I am over 50 and have too much baggage. My cash flow needs are way too high and for the most part cruisers are also a pretty self sufficient lot. I would say more than 50% that I have met do all their own work. Of the other 50% the majority will use the local boatyard wherever they are at.

Another barrier is that if one is to sell skills "off the grid" one needs word of mouth. You don't cruise into a harbor, hang out your shingle and make tons of money. I know several guys who ran out of money, are stuck in one harbor and make a "subsistence" in that place because of word of mouth. I don't see any of them as cruisers any more as they don't ever go anywhere - they have converted to liveaboards. They spend all their time surviving. Albeit living on a boat in pretty cool places.

[Vino the Dog]

The writing a book part has now gotten a lot easier with Print On Demand self publishing, but to make any money, you have to have some niche market and access to your own customers. I just finished two books on my art through Createspace.com, which is the cheapest POD printer, subsidiary of Amazon.com. Took two years to learn the desktop publishing programs (I used Scribus, free open source program) and write the content. Then submit to createspace.com and they review and you get a proof, or several, fully printed just like the finished product except the last page says PROOF on it. If you like what you have written, click the Approve button and it is immediately available on createspace.com web store and Amazon.com. Whole thing up to that point cost less than $50. A far cry better than tens of thousands for traditional printing. But - you still have to sell them and build your own market. Mine are aimed at people who like my art, sold through my web site and at exhibitions just like a musician with his CD's at a show. Can work for some people, unlikely you will make a killing, but a good repetitive product to carry for a little spending money.

[boatsail]

My old business coach and mentor authored six books.. They would sell for around twenty five dollars each...he would make under five dollars each....he can now make e books and sell for five dollars each and profit the same....much more profitable

[boatsail]

I'm starting to put together the chapters for my first eBook as we speak

[Freddy_Vagner]

Originally Posted by Vino the Dog

The writing a book part has now gotten a lot easier with Print On Demand self publishing, but to make any money, you have to have some niche market and access to your own customers. I just finished two books on my art through Createspace.com, which is the cheapest POD printer, subsidiary of Amazon.com. Took two years to learn the desktop publishing programs (I used Scribus, free open source program) and write the content. Then submit to createspace.com and they review and you get a proof, or several, fully printed just like the finished product except the last page says PROOF on it. If you like what you have written, click the Approve button and it is immediately available on createspace.com web store and Amazon.com. Whole thing up to that point cost less than $50. A far cry better than tens of thousands for traditional printing. But - you still have to sell them and build your own market. Mine are aimed at people who like my art, sold through my web site and at exhibitions just like a musician with his CD's at a show. Can work for some people, unlikely you will make a killing, but a good repetitive product to carry for a little spending money.

Hi Vino,

Wow, thanks so much for your information regarding POD and this site:

Createspace.com

Just checked it out and am very interested. Exactly what the doctor ordered. Maybe we will never get rich like you say, but the prospect of money trickling into the bilges (along with the brine and engine oil) while cruising is very encouraging. Plus we can write more while underway off course. (Intentional typo...)
I already have a book written but shelved the project cos the publishers offered such a pittance that it would not even have paid for the artwork! As soon as it is online will include a link for all to see (and buy, LOL) if that is allowed on CF...
Hope lots of other people follow suit and if anybody does make any cash then please comment on this thread to motivate others.