Can you make money whilst living aboard?

[Nostrodamus]

This may be of help to others looking for services or for livaboards like ourselves looking to add to their income or keep their minds active.

Of those of you who actually livaboard do you do any work that helps financially or have you any hobbies that occasionally add a few coffers to the pot.

 

[KellysEye]

It's almost impossible to make a living because the cruising community helps each other, whether it's fixing engines, generators, water makers, water pumps, anchor winches etc etc. There are even doctors and nurses around to give advice and injections. The previous owner of our boat did make a living but he was a qualified shipwright specialising in teak decks, which he repaired and replaced. The only other area I've seen cruisers make money is canvas making. Jane made all our canvas and was often asked to do some work but we didn't have the time.

 

[Deleted member 478]

There are lots of cruisers out there etching a living. As an example, a cruiser that is a qualified Marine Engineer charges US$30 per hour, which is less than half of the local agent's rate. The amount of work that he gets has been enough to keep him afloat for the past 8 years.

At the risk of getting flamed for promoting my own website, do a simple search for Services and have a browse through the skills on offer (you don't need to register to use the search facility).

 

[chinita]

It's almost impossible to make a living because the cruising community helps each other, whether it's fixing engines, generators, water makers, water pumps, anchor winches etc etc. There are even doctors and nurses around to give advice and injections. The previous owner of our boat did make a living but he was a qualified shipwright specialising in teak decks, which he repaired and replaced. The only other area I've seen cruisers make money is canvas making. Jane made all our canvas and was often asked to do some work but we didn't have the time.

I agree.

There are people out there who do make a living. However, they are good at what they do and very good value for money.

Reputation is crucial and for that you need to be reasonably static which rather negates the cruising life. I know a chap in the Mar Menor who is an engineer and hardly has a moment to himself - he is so much in demand.

One area which I believe to be an earner is Marine (12v & 24v) electrics and electronics. Relatively simple and clean work. Too late for the OP but anyone with a qualification, a modicum of spares/tools and access to the web for ordering stuff will quickly do well.

Just think how many skippers arrive at their boat somehere in the Med to find that their GPS/VHF/chartplotter/radar is u/s. By the time local help decides to arrive it is time for their flight back to UK.

A Sparkie with a reputation for doing what they say, when they say is often difficult to find. I speak from experience having paid a guy (or, rather, his employers) €50 (back in 2004) an hour to sit and drink coffee whilst he waited for the batteries to charge.

 

[ripvan1]

A chap i got to know carried compressor and dive gear and made good money wherever he stopped, sometimes with marinas as the customer.

 

[Csail]

I don't do it but swmbo does but if you have relevant qualifications indexing & marking papers is a good earner.Only prob is on the move students don't know where to send stuff.

 

[GrahamM376]

Depends on where you are. Friends had no problem finding work ashore and on boats in Gib for instance. There is sometimes money to be earned with electronics, servicing engines, cleaning and polishing boats & canvas work but most marinas require a percentage of wages and insurance cover.

 

[SeamanStaines]

For what it is worth, and I am just lucky I guess. My work involves maintaining computer systems and Internet sites. Providing I have a connection to the Internet which means I am pretty much stuck to the Med using 3G I can work normally, just as if I was in the UK. All the work these days uses remote control so it makes no difference if I am in an office or working on the boat.

With some careful work telephone hardly costs anything.

To supplement that I do some installation work and repairs on marine electronics (I have never been asked for a qualification) and I have accounts with the main UK distributors.

Finally, I do a line in installing WiFi hotspots that have a charging mechanism. Easy sell to Marinas and cafe/restaurants.

Works for me anyway

 

[The engineer]

The previous owner of our boat did make a living but he was a qualified shipwright specialising in teak decks, which he repaired and replaced.

Adrian??

 

[mandlmaunder]

hairdressers and Dentists are always in demand.

If you can fix 2 strokes then there is still a big demand just about every where.

Livaboard and cruising are different things, if when you start your aboard life style you discover that you need to make money then the transitory life style has to go, you will need to look for work and that takes time.

Unless you have a totally on board business that allows you to move and still earn a living, we have met many cruisers who were planning on writing their adventures down to cover their costs. but not many make anything these days thanks to the web and the thousands of blogs already out there.

There is a large market this side of the Atlantic working on and looking after the boats of the snow bird community who leave their shiny toys for others to watch and polish in their absence.

Mark

 

[Carmel2]

We know a couple who are based out of Port Camargue. He is Swedish and writes crime thrillers in Swedish, limited market I know, but he gets published. She is a GP and she does locum work in French towns that are dotted along the coast, the deal is that the holidaying doctor sorts them out with a berth and pays for their stay plus she gets paid the going rate, now given how the French like their holidays she is in high demand.

 

[maby]

Of course you can - it just depends on your definition of "Liveaboard".

We have multiple friends who simply treat their boat as a replacement for their house and have regular full-time jobs. One is a senior computer network engineer who lives with his wife and young daughter on a narrowboat moored just off the Thames. He commutes to the same office as me every day and designs the networking for major government systems - he makes a very decent living.

Another couple that are good friends live full time on their forty foot yacht in a south-east marina. They have good jobs and also commute from the boat.

My wife is about to start a six month contract that will be based close to the marina where we keep our yacht - we'll live full time on the boat over the winter.

Now, of course none of the boats mentioned above actually move very far - I don't think the narrowboat has left its mooring in a couple of years and the yachts only leave the marina for a bit of a weekend sail apart from a summer holiday cruise. They are floating houses. If you are talking about earning money while living a semi-nomadic existence aboard a yacht, then it is a lot more difficult, but there certainly are examples of people that do it.

 

[Ariadne]

Wife of Ariadne: I am a freelance medical writer and basically funding our trip (we are live-aboards who are moving slowly -- now in our fifth year of cruising). As long as I have internet access, I can work -- this does mean that we tend to chase (and spend a bit more on) internet access, but this has not been a problem around Europe/the Med (mainly via 3G internet dongles); it may be more of an issue as we head further afield. Luckily this is a niche market (and one in which I was established before we left) that pays well, so I only need to work part-time. There are drawbacks -- never relaxing totally as there is always another project/another deadline, being self-employed means that there are peaks and troughs in the work, it is hard to settle to work when the sun is shining and everyone else is off snorkelling, running the laptop is heavy on the batteries, and so on. All in all, however, this has turned out to be a flexible, rewarding career that can be combined with cruising.

 

[wazza]

What about grape picking? Or for that matter any seasonal farm work, olives to apples.. I've done it in the UK so why not somewhere warmer??? Or are there people out there that think its below them??

 

[maby]

What about grape picking? Or for that matter any seasonal farm work, olives to apples.. I've done it in the UK so why not somewhere warmer??? Or are there people out there that think its below them??

Not below me, but I seriously doubt that it brings in enough money to keep on filling that hole in the water with fifties! Actually, at my age I suspect that I might manage one day to be followed by several weeks flat on my back, unable to move.

 

[chinita]

What about grape picking? Or for that matter any seasonal farm work, olives to apples.. I've done it in the UK so why not somewhere warmer??? Or are there people out there that think its below them??

I am not sure you quite understand the profile of a typical British liveaboard.

They have spent years and years honing their bodies to that perfect peak where they are able to consume masses of olives and that liquid which is the result of processing grapes.

Picking same is not below them, just inconceivable

 

[Slow_boat]

We will be joining the cruising community round Europe and the Med in 2013.

I'm hoping to suplement income by busking with saxophone and painting pictures and swmbo is doing courses on jewellery making. We think these are portable skills but will we be able to make enough for a meal out a couple of times a week?

 

[GrahamM376]

We will be joining the cruising community round Europe and the Med in 2013.

I'm hoping to suplement income by busking with saxophone and painting pictures and swmbo is doing courses on jewellery making. We think these are portable skills but will we be able to make enough for a meal out a couple of times a week?

Don't count on it. The cost of licences (or fines if you don't have one) may well exceed profit. Some countries not so tolerant about street selling and busking.

 

[r_h]

I'm hoping to suplement income by busking with saxophone and painting pictures ...

One thing many people would like, but few have (whether owner or charterer) is a pic of the boat they sail. Therefore an idea that might work is water colours (I'm guessing they're the fastest way of painting) of other people's boats when they're sailing.

 

[chinita]

I'm hoping to suplement income by busking with saxophone and painting pictures.

Will be a winner if you can do both at the same time!

On a serious note (!). There was a singlehander on his old wooden boat on the Algarve earlier this year. Played guitar and sang brilliantly; always drew a crowd and seemed happy enough.

Left in May for Tangiers.

If I had musical ability I would certainly give it a go.