Sailing Uma Lithium Install

The previous post was just Patreon, on top comes advertising revenue based on engagement, and sponsorship etc. This is estimated to bring the monetary value of their earnings to somewhere between $20k-$30k per month, but obviously this is not all cash.

Analysis here ...

Best YouTube Sailing Channels - Katamarans

The Top 5 Sailing Channels (by Followers)​

As of 2025, here are the top sailing YouTube channels based on subscriber count:

Sailing La Vagabonde – ~1.8M+
SV Delos – ~900K+
Sailing Zatara – ~600K+
Gone with the Wynns – ~580K+
Sailing Uma – ~500K+

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Estimated monthly earnings for top channels:​

La Vagabonde: $50–$60K+ from all sources combined.

SV Delos: ~$30–$40K+

Zatara/Wynns/Uma: Likely $20K–$30K depending on uploads and sponsorships.

It’s a steep sided pyramid. The top channels will earn a large slice of the overall revenue pie, enough to fund full-time travel, boat upgrades (or even loans to purchase), and even save for the future. There’s a lot of work involved in this – producing the content, editing, optimising, commercial deals, PR, follower support etc.
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Baggywrinkle said:
The previous post was just Patreon, on top comes advertising revenue based on engagement, and sponsorship etc. This is estimated to bring the monetary value of their earnings to somewhere between $20k-$30k per month, but obviously this is not all cash.

Analysis here ...

Best YouTube Sailing Channels - Katamarans
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and of course they are likely to get far more views from the full reconstruction of their old boat with all the tears and broken nails than buying a nice shiny new one.


The hard part is that the upside seems to lock in successful ones to a life that becomes hard to get out of. When you are earning 300k+ per year having jacked in your old job it is very hard to give up when peed off with it.

Sailing Cadoha is a good example for me. They started with lots of enthusiasm and intents to travel the World and found they got seasick. Then modified it to 'cruising a small bit of the UK'. They had to stop for other reasons that they spoke about in their final video. But if they hadn't been caught up in making their living from it I imagine they would have gone back to the 9 to 5 way earlier.

Mads and saillife is another. His partner clearly wants a landlife and their viewing figures dropped a bit when theywere actually sailing. But he is about the best handyman/restorer to watch in the whole of youtube and has cracked it by buying another huge project to get his teeth into. "oh glorious sanding" seems to have gone into popular vernacular.

There are some cycling youtubers i follow who have similar followings and you get the impression from a couple of them that they are sick of spending their life cycling round and filming it.
 
Moodysailor said:
they are entertainers (content creators), not teachers
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True of some, not all. I used to have a channel teaching stuff as it was easier than teaching my customers directly. Instead of explaining to my 4 customers I recorded and reached 40,000 customers. That channel was not entertaining in the slightest 😂
Baggywrinkle said:
they are declining from a peak in 2022
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Almost everyone declined from the Covid peak. That was inevitable and says nothing about the channel in and of itself. I’m not saying their channel hasn’t also declined for other reasons but it’s impossible to tell from those stats alone.
 
lustyd said:
Almost everyone declined from the Covid peak. That was inevitable and says nothing about the channel in and of itself. I’m not saying their channel hasn’t also declined for other reasons but it’s impossible to tell from those stats alone.
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... I only said it had declined, the reason is immaterial, and the other content creators suffering the same is also immaterial - the drop in their earnings since 2022 is real. (It is also, apart from a bump in 2023, a trend that continued until the end of 2024 when they turned their Patreon stats private.)

Furthermore, if their peak popularity depended on an event like covid, which is probably true, then if all other things remain equal, they need a repeat of covid to get back where they were - and that isn't going to happen any time soon. (At least I hope it isn't.)
 
Another way to look at it
“ Don’t buy a manky auld boat, new ones are much better in so many ways”

Not so for Uma . Are we up to Uma mark 7 yet?😄
What I liked about their efforts was the initial concept : Get educated, but go! Go Now!
Or as they put it ‘Don’t buy a couch’ 😎

Then they did things like overwintering in Scandinavia afloat and putting in an appearance at the Southampton Boat show.
There is, for better or worse, energy and commitment there. And an architects view to using or reusing space in a not so manky old boat.
There is a saying that you don’t want to own a house designed by an architect who has never built a house . Because college can only take it so far
So,as I see it, this lithium Uma lark and income stream, when all is done,is the groundwork for European residence and building what will be a very interesting house.. in about 30 years time .

Wouldn’t that be smart thinking?
 
Baggywrinkle said:
... I only said it had declined, the reason is immaterial, and the other content creators suffering the same is also immaterial - the drop in their earnings since 2022 is real. (It is also, apart from a bump in 2023, a trend that continued until the end of 2024 when they turned their Patreon stats private.)

Furthermore, if their peak popularity depended on an event like covid, which is probably true, then if all other things remain equal, they need a repeat of covid to get back where they were - and that isn't going to happen any time soon. (At least I hope it isn't.)
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Of course it could be the opposite. More people will donate to people not earning much so hiding earnings is sensible above a certain amount. Pretty sure they’re doing just fine, they even sold tickets to join them on a cruise in the caribbean this year and filled two boats.
 
Baggywrinkle said:
... I only said it had declined, the reason is immaterial, and the other content creators suffering the same is also immaterial - the drop in their earnings since 2022 is real. (It is also, apart from a bump in 2023, a trend that continued until the end of 2024 when they turned their Patreon stats private.)

Furthermore, if their peak popularity depended on an event like covid, which is probably true, then if all other things remain equal, they need a repeat of covid to get back where they were - and that isn't going to happen any time soon. (At least I hope it isn't.)
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Dont start pointing out the true facts..........you will be called a troll............... it seems to make some on here uncomfortable
 
shanemax said:
How can it be a big audience by Utube figures when only 1 out of 50 people enjoy boating. Just common sense.
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Well watching people boating and enjoying boating are different metrics.

They are in the top 1% of channels by subscribers.
 
stopped watching Uma a long time ago.

I loved it in the beginning for painting the boat afloat and fixing the keel etc

I stopped loving it when they just got a free electric drive, and free batteries etc etc

sailing around the world in a boat with kinks in the side of the hull was a bit reckless even by my standards.

the final straw was the 20 second feature of the crinan canal and Scotland.

The Duracell project is the gold standard of sailing youtube.
 
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