Make Money While Cruising - List

[Freddy_Vagner]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

blog writer, for other peoples blogs so they sound interesting and can get followers

Commission based pay only, lets say 20%. But 30% if you take photos of other people that look better than us and post them also.

Hello Popeye,

Thanks for your post.

If you could suggest a topic to write about I'd love to give this a try.

I'll have to give the photo shoot a miss though, cos I'm over fifty and not looking too photogenic anymore...

Cheers

[SV Windrush II]

I will be retiring early from the Boeing Company early (47 yr old) and will not be getting any retirement pay until I get to 63. that leaves me 16 years to make it on my own, and also Boeing has stopped pension so the chances if me getting a fat retirement check is pretty much nill, so we are thinking of several things.

2. I have a few clients that I do Engineering design work for that will continue to use my services remotely. I just have to check in with them through skype and email to provide them updates and send them files when I have internet access.

3. My wife loves Photography and creating blogs, so I am encouraging her to use her skills to make money online. (We are still trying to figure that out and how to make money with it).

4. I have built (And rebuilt) many wooden boats throughout my life and would like to set up a wooden boat shop in the Philippines. But of course with that, I cannot build boats and go cruising at the same time. bummer

5. I would like to get into writing and I have started a book "The way of a Dreamer" which I am about half way through. Of course with writing, its kinda like music, usually no money in it unless you have a really good publisher

Thats about all I can think of

[Freddy_Vagner]

Originally Posted by leightonyachts

4. I have built (And rebuilt) many wooden boats throughout my life and would like to set up a wooden boat shop in the Philippines. But of course with that, I cannot build boats and go cruising at the same time. bummer

How about Brazil, instead of the Philippines? You can pick up wooden boats here for free, yes for free, because of the high cost of repairing them. I saw a really nice hull of a wooden sailing boat that had been cut in half so the owner could pay someone to take it away. Unfortunately I arrived too late... Ive seen so many abandoned wooden boats here needing some TLC.

I repaired a wooden project boat already but it was a "Hell on Earth, I want to walk away from my boat" experience for me as my original plan had been to pay someone to do the hard work but in the end "if you want a job done properly you have to do it yourself".

I don't want to repeat that, but if you were around to lend a helping hand I'd certainly be looking for another one right now.

Maybe you could combine teaching English and boat repair as most students study in the evening via Skype.

Feel free to send me a private message if you are interested.

Cheers

[laika]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

I wish the guy that is on a boat and full time IT would give us an update.

Oh, oh, that sounds like me..

I'm actually sitting on the hard this summer doing a refit. Still managing to work full time in IT (sigh..) remotely. I find this more difficult than actually cruising with a full time job

For me, I've found development projects typically turn into long-term maintenance and support clients. I have a handful of core clients who more or less need support/updates on a regular basis already, so I have not been taking on new clients for a while now.

What I need to do is start a company, or at least hire an assistant. I have not been able to undertake passages of more than a couple days in the last few years, which is fine being on the US east coast.

I had no experience in IT prior to 5 years ago and got into it because I was living on a boat at the time and wanted to continue the lifestyle. If I was better at what I did, I would be able to seek out strictly dev projects that have definite end dates: work on a project for a period of time and then take off.

Once you develop a bit of a network with clients and establish yourself as reliable and hard working, you will be bombarded with project offers.

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

blog writer, for other peoples blogs so they sound interesting and can get folks...

Setting up an interest blog aught not to be too hard. I could blog on how people don't understand threads and the stupid things they say to others. But just so Vager and
jostalli understand:
You are trying to make money in a money poor enviroment. You can not do it in a traditional way. You have to get inventive. This man I spoke of made money among cruisers. Not the locals, not illegally. You many not be cruising were english needs to be taught. But if you are among cruisers, you will have some with plumbing problems.
Nobody wants to fix these. But if your good at it, and get at least half payment before you start, you can make money.
So yes, I'm telling you to know boat plumbing. And you can drive up to a yacht with your little tender too. It can be in Canada or Timbuktu. And nobody will be offended that you got to the sh$t first.

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by laika

Oh, oh, that sounds like me..

I'm actually sitting on the hard this summer doing a refit. Still managing to work full time in IT (sigh..) remotely. I find this more difficult than actually cruising with a full time job

For me, I've found development projects typically turn into long-term maintenance and support clients. I have a handful of core clients who more or less need support/updates on a regular basis already, so I have not been taking on new clients for a while now.

What I need to do is start a company, or at least hire an assistant. I have not been able to undertake passages of more than a couple days in the last few years, which is fine being on the US east coast.

I had no experience in IT prior to 5 years ago and got into it because I was living on a boat at the time and wanted to continue the lifestyle. If I was better at what I did, I would be able to seek out strictly dev projects that have definite end dates: work on a project for a period of time and then take off.

Once you develop a bit of a network with clients and establish yourself as reliable and hard working, you will be bombarded with project offers.

Thank you. I plan on taking the compti A+ exams this summer.

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Setting up an interest blog aught not to be too hard. I could blog on how people don't understand threads and the stupid things they say to others. But just so Vager and
jostalli understand:
You are trying to make money in a money poor enviroment. You can not do it in a traditional way. You have to get inventive. This man I spoke of made money among cruisers. Not the locals, not illegally. You many not be cruising were english needs to be taught. But if you are among cruisers, you will have some with plumbing problems.
Nobody wants to fix these. But if your good at it, and get at least half payment before you start, you can make money.
So yes, I'm telling you to know boat plumbing. And you can drive up to a yacht with your little tender too. It can be in Canada or Timbuktu. And nobody will be offended that you got to the sh$t first.

It is illegal to work in a country without a valid permit, no matter who your customers are. Still, some do it.

I don't think to many long term cruisers need to hire plumbers, but this might depend on where you are. It is almost certain to be a good business amongst the superyachts that frequent Timbuktu!

[Capt Rottnest]

Originally Posted by Freddy_Vagner

Hello everybody, if you have read my previous posts about teaching English while you cruise here is an extremely important update...

...

P.S. Yeah Sherlock, choose a relatively large city cos it won't work at a paradisaical island fishing community...

Hiya Freddy, wondering why your location would matter since it is all on Skype. Wouldn't anywhere with net reception do?

(Engrisch teacher from way back)

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

Setting up an interest blog aught not to be too hard. I could blog on how people don't understand threads and the stupid things they say to others. But just so Vager and jostalli understand:You can not do it in a traditional way. . .

What folk who have not been cruising full time outside their home country don't seem to comprehend is that full time cruisers "trade" skills but do not pay money for them. At most you may "earn" a dinner or a six-pack of beer or bottle of rum. It is a very old tradition that full time cruisers do not look to "make money" off other cruisers. Of course, there are exceptions but word gets around and those folks find themselves "outside" the community and usually end up in trouble with the local authorities.

We help each other with whatever our talents/skills are and in turn others help us with their talents/skills. Somewhat like an extended family and you don't charge your brother or sister for your services. Even spare parts are traded or "given" when the need is present.

That leaves the earning of money while cruising to doing things that are valuable to people who are not cruisers. That is, like consulting or web based activities that earn money from folks or firms on land. There has been plenty of examples in this thread of such activities and the common factor is the earning of money comes from activities involving non-cruisers.

However, if you choose to settle down and stop active cruising and you are in your home country where there isn't any work laws to deal with that is possible. In that case you are merely living on a boat while working ashore rather than actively cruising from one location to another after a short period of time.

Or if in another country you can set up a local business that helps the local economy and employs locals which most little countries welcome. Anything that creates jobs for locals. But I don't consider that to be in the category of working while (actively) cruising.

[SV Windrush II]

Originally Posted by osirissail

What folk who have not been cruising full time outside their home country don't seem to comprehend is that full time cruisers "trade" skills but do not pay money for them. At most you may "earn" a dinner or a six-pack of beer or bottle of rum. It is a very old tradition that full time cruisers do not look to "make money" off other cruisers. Of course, there are exceptions but word gets around and those folks find themselves "outside" the community and usually end up in trouble with the local authorities.

We help each other with whatever our talents/skills are and in turn others help us with their talents/skills. Somewhat like an extended family and you don't charge your brother or sister for your services. Even spare parts are traded or "given" when the need is present.

That leaves the earning of money while cruising to doing things that are valuable to people who are not cruisers. That is, like consulting or web based activities that earn money from folks or firms on land. There has been plenty of examples in this thread of such activities and the common factor is the earning of money comes from activities involving non-cruisers.

However, if you choose to settle down and stop active cruising and you are in your home country where there isn't any work laws to deal with that is possible. In that case you are merely living on a boat while working ashore rather than actively cruising from one location to another after a short period of time.

Or if in another country you can set up a local business that helps the local economy and employs locals which most little countries welcome. Anything that creates jobs for locals. But I don't consider that to be in the category of working while (actively) cruising.

Very good post! This is what I love about the sailing community, reminds me of growing up on the farm and why I understand the barter system. Even in the boat yard we swap materials and labor

Sent from my SGH-T999L using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by osirissail

What folk who have not been cruising full time outside their home country don't seem to comprehend is that full time cruisers "trade" skills but do not pay money for them.

Agreed. I was saying one could make a living like that in the US. He was not the only one I have seen do so. As for IT, medicine or other skills, I would never count on making cash in Ecuador by using them. Maybe NZ, but I only have land based knowledge in those areas. As mentioned earlier, the charter crowd would probably be worth some $$.

I do not think you are going to find one solution that will work everywhere. Got to be open minded and see what is going on in your marina. I see a dozen guys in my marina that live on next to nothing- but that's the other half of the equation.

[neonLight]

Originally Posted by Future Vision

I have often thought about buying a small marina maybe one with a small restaurant in a small coastal community. Notice the "small" as in not spending a fortune to get started. What a great retirement job that would ensure I am active in boating.

Has anyone else ventured into the marina biz?

What a romantic idea!

[tbodine88]

Originally Posted by neonLight

What a romantic idea!

A quick Google search shows even fixer uppers cost close to $1M.

16264 State Hwy 160, Isleton, CA, 95641 - Marina Property for Sale on LoopNet.com

Seems I could do quite a bit of cruising for that.

Regards

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by tbodine88

A quick Google search shows even fixer uppers cost close to $1M.

16264 State Hwy 160, Isleton, CA, 95641 - Marina Property for Sale on LoopNet.com

Seems I could do quite a bit of cruising for that.

Regards

Saw a marina in N Florida for sale a few years back. Don't recall the exact number of slips but it was not a huge facility, had minimal infrastructure, out of the way location, lots of empty slips and it was over $1M.

I estimated the total possible income if all slips were filled all the time and with deductions for just the big expenses like taxes, salaries, etc it would taken 20-30 years to pay back the investment before you could make any profit.

Came to the same conclusion. For the same money I could retire and go cruising for a long time, especially on $500/month.

[Delfin]

For what it's worth, the MRCI results on spread trading for 2013 are posted below, and this mimics my results and I expect the results of everyone else following the same model. I believe someone posted that the minimum acceptable risk/return would be 2 x maximum draw down of capital, and if that is what you think, and you were unfortunate enough to start trading on Feb 7 of 2013, your maximum draw down would be $30k and your annual return $60k, so I guess this would still qualify as acceptable. However, if you chose to start trading at any other time your draw down would be between 0 and 15% or so.

Be that as it may, there are only three ways to make money while cruising - labor, capital and welfare. If labor, and you are outside the U.S., it is probably illegal, plus you are taking work away from locals who may need it a lot more than you do. If welfare, well, I don't know what to say. If capital, then I guess you just have to choose what is the most productive use of capital. To those who think discussing the use of a modest amount of capital to fund a cruising lifestyle is somehow inappropriate on a thread titled "Make Money While Cruising", I can only suggest you skip over posts like this one.

To each his own.