getting tempted!

[jams]

So the yacht is going back on the water in a couple of weeks. Seriously thinking about selling the house and naffing off. Thing is im only 31 so i dont have a pension to live on. Cant use the money from the house because i will eventually come back and need a house! Not banking on selling the boat when i get back because i would then be back to square one, house and no boat!

So, i think i can live on about 400 a month, average (no including boat troubles). How do i earn that whilst sailing. Thought about the TEFL cert and stopping off every few months to teach English. Thought about doing medical trials, but dont fancy that in a foreign country! Thought about trying to start a podcast and get some sponsorship from that, dont think thats gonna happen really though! Bar work, hope my trade gives me some work...??? Any other ideas?

James

 

[Gerry]

You can put the money in the bank today and maybe(but not certain) it will be in there tomorrow but you can't do that with the days of your life.

You are 31 for goodness sake. Go on live dangerously, sell the house, take off in the yacht and see what life brings you. There are no certainties in this world of ours. Live now I say!

Who knows whats going to happen over the next year or next decade. At your age I imagined a comfortable job for life, pension and early retirement. Boy was I wrong! Why do you NEED a house to come back to, why do you think you'll want to go back? I've been 'out' nearly 10 years now and feel that the adventure has hardly begun....

Seriously if you have a skill like sail repair, canvas work, computer repair you will find a steady market....up to now but again who can tell what the future will bring.

IMHO sell up, sail away, live the life.


www.gerryantics.blogspot.com

 

[jams]

You can put the money in the bank today and maybe(but not certain) it will be in there tomorrow but you can't do that with the days of your life.

You are 31 for goodness sake. Go on live dangerously, sell the house, take off in the yacht and see what life brings you. There are no certainties in this world of ours. Live now I say!

Who knows whats going to happen over the next year or next decade. At your age I imagined a comfortable job for life, pension and early retirement. Boy was I wrong! Why do you NEED a house to come back to, why do you think you'll want to go back? I've been 'out' nearly 10 years now and feel that the adventure has hardly begun....

Seriously if you have a skill like sail repair, canvas work, computer repair you will find a steady market....up to now but again who can tell what the future will bring.

IMHO sell up, sail away, live the life.


www.gerryantics.blogspot.com

Everything you just said is why im tempted!

Go on then, how do you pay for day to day living, food, clothes etc?!

 

[V1701]

Is there any difference between what you'd achieve in rent and what the mortgage costs? Partial income from that? How much would you make if you sold? How long would that keep you going without any income? FWIW I sold up in 2005 and went back to South America and for a while I was able to live off the interest - I was living very cheaply mind. Got a dive instructor ticket on the way which helped but not cheap initially to do the courses and buy the gear. Now the interest rates are appalling though so no income to speak of there, but that could and probably will change. I came back here last year and bought my boat, after a year or two more (max) here I want to go again, hopefully on the boat I have or another more long legged one.

Anything that might increase your chances of getting an income no matter how small or infrequent will help. Be prepared to do anything within reason for money. Don't worry about selling your house and going, I don't regret selling mine, so what if I don't own property, and I'm getting towards the age (44 now) where even if I wanted one (which I definitely do not), I would find it very difficult to get a mortgage. You (at 31) could come back after 10 years and still go down the mortgage road if that's what you decide, still plenty of time to get your 25 years NI in for your state pension if you want and by then you might be able to buy a property for less than 10 times your salary - ha . To me mortgage = millstone round your neck and slavery in the meantime, unless you're very lucky and enjoy your work greatly, which most people don't. The UK has a very unhealthy obsession with owning property which combimed with the way the house prices have been manipulated have resulted in the housing situation here being well and truly bu**ered. This is not good for the national psyche so living on a boat even if you stay here is a damn good idea...

If you want it badly enough you'll find a way to do what you want to do and if you end up not doing it, you either didn't want it badly enough or found (very easy) a reason or reasons not to. If you don't do it you may well regret this later in life. Lastly, beware the naysayers!

Just my 2p...

 

[Gerry]

Well when we left we knew that we had enough savings to cover maybe 10 years and then we would have to do some work...

So for the past two years we have been developing a software product which we finally launched 18 months ago, the aim being that we can continue to cruise whilst servicing the customers. We will see if it works out!

Software is definitely an industry that lends itself to life aboard!

I don't regret the decision to go, just wish we had done it sooner. Quite honestly you can try and ensure you are impervious to problems, get a mortgage, keep a job etc but as we have all seen the banks can go bust, the jobs disappear, the pension fund fold and they are all out of your control...

What's so great about cruising is that you make the running, take control of your life, well excepting the weather of course!

Good luck!

www.gerryantics.blogspot.com

 

[mandlmaunder]

Hi James
What is it that you think you need out of life??

If it's a guaranteed life style and a mortgage and all the trappings of a "successful" modern life then you are probably to late already to achieve what you want.

But if you want to watch sunsets and drink interesting drinks with interesting people then it's time to get going.

Have you thought of renting your house for 2 or 3 years and go sailing, then in 1 or 2 years you will know what is important to you and you can return home without losing your home or sell up and continue on your odyssey safe in the knowledge that what you have is what you want.

As to earning a living you will need transportable skills.
The most popular new arrivals in any anchorage are dentists and mechanics and hair dressers are always popular but you wont make much money from most cruisers as we are on budgets too.

Any construction skills? or sailing qualifications?.

There are many opportunities where ever you go if you are prepared to ask around and turn up on time when offered a job, your reputation will grow with your attitude and the more you put into the jobs you get the more jobs you will get out of it.

There is no limit to what you can achieve whilst living on a boat, but if you choose to keep moving every week or 2 then it will be difficult to get any sort of work unless you have a highly sort after skill (mechanic-dentist).

Good luck on your travels

Mark

 

[vyv_cox]

We have met a surprising number of Brits in Greece who were cruising, stopped somewhere, got to know locals such as charter companies, boatyards and other yacht related folk. Next thing they are delivering boats, fixing them, just helping around the place with flotilla berthing and such like. There seems to be no shortage of work for skilled people, or even those who can get along with others and be helpful.

No doubt the same applies to other countries but we have noticed it far more in Greece than elsewhere.

 

[Squeaky]

Good evening:

You haven’t mentioned your skills or location so it is difficult to comment.

I retired at 42 and lived on a pension of about £300 for the next 17 years but which was not much but it did ensure there was enough for beans on toast. However during those years I worked for various periods at a number of jobs including managing a flotilla company, foreman of a construction gang, commis chef in a restaurant, disco manager, charter/delivery skipper and web designer. Other pensions kicked in at age 60 and I became less interested in working however as others have said there are jobs out there but there are certain rules about finding and getting them.

You have to become “known” to people who might offer work – this means hanging around places long enough to become known and respected/accepted. For example charter companies sometimes need part time help for delivering yachts from A to B which if done competently might lead to skippering jobs. Probably best done by letting people know you are available to crew on short notice so word gets back to managers and later word that you knew what you were doing. Most marinas and harbours will already have lots of “hangers on” who are looking for work so no one will rush you with offers of work – in fact, some might well cut your throat if you try to take their work.

The negative of this is that you must stay in one place for long periods which isn’t why you will have left in the first place. I have met lots of sailors who left their home countries and ended up settling in some god forsaken place simply because they had to earn a living. Working at a steady job is what most were trying to avoid in the first place.

I personally would not sell your house if there is any way to hang on to it - you might well find that the live aboard life is not for you and it would be nice to have someplace to return to plus the value of the property will increase over the years no matter what the doomsayers say today.

The TEFL lark has been done to death plus again you would need to establish roots to find students etc.

Cheers
Squeaky

 

[djk]

Overheard a couple guys ( one Greek the other German ) talking about yacht deliveries in Corfu last week where we keep our yacht. Apparently there's a fair amount of boat movements out of season and the going rate is €3 per mile.

 

[mandlmaunder]

Overheard a couple guys ( one Greek the other German ) talking about yacht deliveries in Corfu last week where we keep our yacht. Apparently there's a fair amount of boat movements out of season and the going rate is €3 per mile.

The qualified/insured skipper gets paid and most crew get return airfare and may or may not have to contribute to the food kitty depending on the skipper or owner arrangements.

Yacht delivery is very difficult to get into and doesn't pay well for anyone, 3 euros a mile sounds good but you don't get paid while setting the boat up with stores and anything it lacks for a longer voyage, there many skippers who make a reasonable living, but most of the good skippers have spent years working up their reputation. It will take many trips without pay to start getting the offers that will pay for your lifestyle, this means basing yourself some where for a longer period of time than the traveling boat gypsy can alot in one place.

Most yacht deliveries are for one of three reasons-
1- the owner doesn't have time to get the boat where they want it, so a time restraint is implemented that means you have to get the boat there no matter the weather or availability of good crew.

2- the boat or the owner are not upto the rigors of the journey, if it's the owner then fine, if it's the boat there are many consequences and they can be huge.

3- It's the wrong time of year to be heading into the weather that is the norm for that area and the owner doesn't want to be beaten about in their boat and are willing to pay 3 euros a mile for the privilege of not getting beat about.

When we(my wife and I)do a delivery we charge $3 a mile and food costs and travel expenses , with many riders on the written contract about time and weather constraints and layover days due to not being able to sail because of weather or boat ability.
And heres my personal favorite, if the owner wants to come along we charge $4 a mile, as I want to be payed to teach/instruct.

Mark

 

[jams]

Cheers for the input. I work as a fibre optic installation tech. Suppose i could take my tool kit along and see if anyone needs some fibre cable terminating!!

I have to sell the house, i re-mortgaged to get the yacht so now rent wont really cover it.

Quite happy to sell up and go, however i probably will return at some stage i doubt i will become a life long nomad, so dont want to live off the money i will have left over from selling the house. It will be needed for a deposit in the future. Also something expensive is bound to go wrong with the boat at some stage......She is an old Open 50, built like a tank, but costs a bit when something goes wrong.

I have heard of so many people going traveling and running out of money, that i want to have some good idea as how to earn abit whilst mooching around the world.

Having to stick in one place for a while doesn't bother me. Doing bar work for a few months at a time would probably suffice. But actually getting a job in what is probably a touristy location might prove hard.

James

 

[SpottyDog5]

Memories are better than dreams....

 

[Freshbreeze]

Sounds like you really want to travel. You have already organised your finances, you have not mentioned any ties, and mentally you want to go... follow your dream, and savour every moment - for many of us the dream never really stops!

As you do Fibre-cable work, I would assume you know a thing or to about electrics. This would be extremely useful - I have had to sort out a few boats now with only minor faults.

Thats my 2p

Good Luck