Any Advice from the Experts Out There ?

[foolishsailor]

I would love to hear from the ex-charter burn out who decided they wanted the easy life working in IT!

[John Drake]

Well, like any business venture, do the math.

Chartering means investing hundreds of thousands of dollars so that you can spend thousands getting ready so that you can work 7 days a week, 24 hrs a day trying to make hundreds in profit (after all expenses) while having millions of dollars of liability.

You need to ask yourself how much you mind scrapping toxic boat bottoms, unclogging heads stuffed with diarrhea, spending long days at the helm and telling the same stories to people who want to soak up everything you can give them for their money's worth.

Do some market research. Most successful charter operations are either at the very low end, with very low cost boats. Or the very very high end.

Most successful charter operators are the ones offering bare boat charters, using someone else's boat and someone else's money to maintain it. Or the local booze cruise operators that try to get in 2-3 booze cruises a day and then a booze sunset cruise.

And then there is the liability. And no...your insurance company will not shield you from liability when you are the capt.

Do a spreadsheet and show yourself how you will make money. And...don't forget..the cost of fuel and food is rising rapidly. As is insurance and dockage. Make sure you do a cash flow analysis to account for the sunk costs of the boat, expensive insurance, upgrades, maintenance, dockage and your capt license. Account for the cost of that money against what else that money could be invested in.

A better idea: put money away to budget for some period of time for yourself. Buy a reasonably priced, 38-40ft sailboat, equipped and in turn key condition. Go cruising. While cruising, think about what you want to do next. When you return, live on the boat. Think about what your value added is and then find an opportunity that allows you to work online from anywhere. Enjoy life every minute.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.
J