Would there be any call ?

[GrumpyOldGit]

A question for the panel, Would there be any call for a service to transport yachts/ mobo's from say, Calais to the Mediterranean through the French canal system, this would be including mast removal ( if necessary) and either carrying on board or organising road transport to Port Napoleon.
This could be either bareboat with a professional crew or as an assisted passage with the owner being aboard for all or part/s of the trip.

All carried out by a Yachtmaster with CEVNI and ICC certs relevant to the trip.

Your thoughts please as I am considering a change of career !!

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

[Davegriff]

Why would anyone need assisted passage through the canals? (apart from disabled I suppose maybe)

Curious rather than critical.....

 

[Lakesailor]

I imagine the cost you would need to charge would be as much or greater than the cost of road transport, plus the chance of damage would be higher and the time much longer. So unless the owner wanted to come along for the trip it wouldn't be in their interest to use this method.
Perhaps there may be the odd boat which would be unsuitable for road transport.
On the face of it I can't see there is a niche to fill there.
Marketing the service would be an intensive exercise.

But what do I know?

 

[AngusMcDoon]

Getting gas trained, getting a van, and being willing/able/certified to work on boat gas systems I think would guarantee you work. There are always moans that there a few people willing to do this work.

 

[maby]

Why would anyone need assisted passage through the canals? (apart from disabled I suppose maybe)

Curious rather than critical.....

Time? Even with the mast down, you couldn't get our boat through, but if it were possible, the idea of spending a couple of weeks in the med is attractive but I don't have the freedom to take enough time off to get it there and back as well

 

[Twister_Ken]

Time? Even with the mast down, you couldn't get our boat through, but if it were possible, the idea of spending a couple of weeks in the med is attractive but I don't have the freedom to take enough time off to get it there and back as well

In which case, truck it down, or just charter something in the Med.

 

[maby]

In which case, truck it down, or just charter something in the Med.

Bit big to be trucked. Chartering is an option, but it would be nice to have our own boat. Not practical with the current boat anyway, so it's all theoretical but if there were someone trustworthy who could take her down to the med for a few hundred quid, I would certainly consider it.

There certainly is money in boat deliveries as some here demonstrate - not sure if you could make a living restricting yourself to just taking boats to the med through the canals.

 

[Seajet]

I imagine the cost you would need to charge would be as much or greater than the cost of road transport, plus the chance of damage would be higher and the time much longer. So unless the owner wanted to come along for the trip it wouldn't be in their interest to use this method.
Perhaps there may be the odd boat which would be unsuitable for road transport.
On the face of it I can't see there is a niche to fill there.
Marketing the service would be an intensive exercise.

But what do I know?

Having worked on the French canals, I think Lakesailor is spot on.

Takes a long time and a lot of opportunities for damage; a chap at our club bought a big modern sailing catamaran in St Tropez then brought her back through the Canals, at the first lock he pranged her - understandable as the boat only has a central outboard despite her size - and dozens of pounds weight of filler fell out !

The French might also make things awkward, even as a deckhand I had to open a bank account there and our 99% British / American run barge did get raided on a weekend for no apparent reason.

If you're handy with engineering how about emergency plumbing ?

I did this for 5 years and made a lot of money - in a conscientious way not a cowboy - but I must say in the end the stress got me.

 

[GrumpyOldGit]

Having worked on the French canals, I think Lakesailor is spot on.

Takes a long time and a lot of opportunities for damage; a chap at our club bought a big modern sailing catamaran in St Tropez then brought her back through the Canals, at the first lock he pranged her - understandable as the boat only has a central outboard despite her size - and dozens of pounds weight of filler fell out !

The French might also make things awkward, even as a deckhand I had to open a bank account there and our 99% British / American run barge did get raided on a weekend for no apparent reason.

If you're handy with engineering how about emergency plumbing ?

I did this for 5 years and made a lot of money - in a conscientious way not a cowboy - but I must say in the end the stress got me.

Intriguingly, I am in fact ( Among my numerous other accomplishments) a fully qualified C&G plumber ! Food for thought indeed. Thanks for the heads up on that one

 

[viva]

Intriguingly, I am in fact ( Among my numerous other accomplishments) a fully qualified C&G plumber ! Food for thought indeed. Thanks for the heads up on that one

I live in France and in my experience plumbers are hard to find.

 

[Seajet]

I got qualified in engineering before getting the chance of a lifetime as an aerial photographer, snag is they aren't in so much demand as plumbers !

I worked for a large national ( UK ) ' Emergency Plumbing ' company easily found in Yellow Pages* - the boss was indeed a cowboy from hell and cheerfully admitted it, I refused his wilder suggestions like ' if the job is going to be over too quickly, cut some pipes ' !

So it was always a balance trying to keep him off my back while doing a good job for the customer.

I always found little old ladies in tiny flats tried to force tips into my hand, while berks in mansions with a fancy car outside quibbled over the last penny as soon as I'd cured the problem, more than once I was sorely tempted to reinstate the water pouring through the ceiling !

I made quite a lot of money at it, but the stress got me and another PITA was people always giving rubbish directions, not knowing their left from right.

A Satnav would cure that nowadays.

*As for Yellow Pages, I always said to people ' why on earth didn't you look in your local paper ? '

When I went solo ( at much lower rates, still fine by me ) I advertised in the local paper and it worked well, also cut down my travel expenses, quite a few times I'd travelled for hours then found it wasn't a plumbing job at all when I got there.

As long as you can take the hassle it's a rewarding job in many ways, I really enjoyed helping people out of a problem.