Reality of switching to making a living as a tradesman on sailboats?

[fschaefer4]

Considering the times, I'm lucky enough to have a pretty decent job. However, said job is in an office behind a desk and it's killing me. So I'm considering a career change. The wolf isn't at my door and I have the luxury of time and some money stashed away. And, with COVID, Im not doing this anytime soon.

I'm sick of sitting in a building behind a desk. I want to get back to working on actual interested physical things.

So my question is, how realistic is it that someone can get into a trades job that involves working on boats? FWIW, I was a residential/commercial general contractor for 10 years. I did all the demo and carpentry and managed all the other tradesmen around me. In my current gig, I'm a Head of Facilities and have overseen some decent size construction projects, risk management, event production and all other duties as assigned. I've always done maintenance on motorcycles and in the distant past was an "engineer" on a commercial fishing boat in AK.

I'm not great at diagnosing electrical or diesel issues. I'm the DIY guy that can narrow things down and replace and hope. In other words, I couldn't sell myself as a tech. Just being realistic. But I'm sure I could get there.

Vast majority of stuff that isn't super techie? Absolutely.

I don't have to make much money initially. I could have a nice long runway to get ramped up. I'm a quick-ish learner, a hard worker and pretty decent at marketing myself. I can definitely show up on time, be honest about what I can and can't do and communicate professionally.

So what are the chances that a guy like me can make the career change? And what would that path look like?

As always, thanks in advance for your insights.