4 ms·

How do you support yourself?

sdfjkl 5y ago
Mostly savings, small rental income to supplement, some stock trading. The trick is to reduce spending, mostly by not buying too big a boat. People have ideas about remote work on board, but for various reasons this rarely works out in practice. Internet connectivity is poor and intermittent, your schedule is ruled by the weather and having to work seriously distracts from the fulltime job that cruising is by itself.
- imglorp 5y ago
  How well would Star Link work on a rocking boat? Is its aiming good enough to keep a lock? Is there a problem moving around where they don't expect you?
  - driverdan 5y ago
    It wouldn't work well since the hardware isn't designed for this purpose and coverage is focused on US land.
  - sdfjkl 5y ago
    It doesn't work at all. Even in marinas (stationary) it has issues - out at sea or even at anchor you can forget about it. There are also problems with them not liking you moving around. Related article: https://seabits.com/using-starlink-aboard-and-in-a-marina/ https://seabits.com/using-starlink-aboard-and-in-a-marina/ There may be a mobile base unit at some point in the future, but it will be comparable to the current Fleetbroadband units and therefore too power hungry and too big for your average cruising sailboat. Essentially you need a motorized dish which tracks and counteracts boat movements the entire time it's active. That's what is inside those Inmarsat domes you can sometimes see on big racing boats with satellite uplinks like the Volvo Ocean Race.
    - emilecantin 5y ago
      > Essentially you need a motorized dish which tracks and counteracts boat movements the entire time it's active. Not at all true with Starlink, it uses a phased array antenna to aim the beam at the satellite; everything happens in software. What _is_ needed is an accelerometer which can "know" the boat's movement and then adjust its aim based on that. Seems like they're not quite there yet, but there's no reason this can't work.
jbkiv 5y ago
Plenty of ways. In the past being a good mechanic was handy. Today being an engineer is highly valuable: Electrical: 110v 60 Hz, 220v 50 Hz and 12v for 12v DC for electronics while you run 24v dc for the rest. Networking radars, GPS, AIS, plotters has become incredibly complex. Sewing: having a commercial sewing machine has proven to be useful (to make friends). Repair sails, awning, various canvas Digital media: most popular boats have satellite com on board and produce one quality youtube video every week. Photos, blogs, manage fans on Instagram. You were hoping to get away from the hustle? You will be back in it quickly. Refrigeration skills: get yourself a set of gauges ($50), vacuum pump, several cans of refrigerant, soldering equipment. Whomever can produce cold (freezer, cold beers or ice cubes) is king in the tropics. I can add to this list. The world of handymen is incredibly unskilled. Come with a mechanical engineering or EE/CS background, you will be making friends faster than you can think.
- entaloneralie 5y ago
  Vessels with fridges are the kings of the happy hours
- blorpledorple 5y ago
  > Digital media: most popular boats have satellite com on board and produce one quality youtube video every week. Photos, blogs, manage fans on Instagram. You were hoping to get away from the hustle? You will be back in it quickly. There is a subtle assumption here in your aside remark that you think those interested in sailing are also interested in being popular doing it, probably because you’re interested in being popular doing it, and are very, very comfortably the outlier in the global sailing community. I’ve heard this from some hands, too, who are obsessed with the appearance of the vessel when near harbor. When I bought my boat I didn’t see Instagram fan management nor sailing for others in the requirements of taking care of it. That’s your interest, and casting it as an inevitable future of boat ownership is almost as insufferable as what’s happened to camping and vans. Please keep in mind that most do pursue this hobby precisely to avoid getting on with that faff, and your experiences make you unique, not representative of ownership. The experience is for you. Share it with those you love. That’s my take, and we will clearly disagree, so don’t think I’m trying to convince you. I say that because you’ve just become an advocate for sailing in this thread, and I’d rather the vast majority of people who find that type of thing intolerable don’t come to think it’s all sailors do and get turned off the hobby.

Mostly savings, small rental income to supplement, some stock trading. The trick is to reduce spending, mostly by not buying too big a boat. People have ideas about remote work on board, but for various reasons this rarely works out in practice. Internet connectivity is poor and intermittent, your schedule is ruled by the weather and having to work seriously distracts from the fulltime job that cruising is by itself.

imglorp 5y ago
How well would Star Link work on a rocking boat? Is its aiming good enough to keep a lock? Is there a problem moving around where they don't expect you?
- driverdan 5y ago
  It wouldn't work well since the hardware isn't designed for this purpose and coverage is focused on US land.
- sdfjkl 5y ago
  It doesn't work at all. Even in marinas (stationary) it has issues - out at sea or even at anchor you can forget about it. There are also problems with them not liking you moving around. Related article: https://seabits.com/using-starlink-aboard-and-in-a-marina/ https://seabits.com/using-starlink-aboard-and-in-a-marina/ There may be a mobile base unit at some point in the future, but it will be comparable to the current Fleetbroadband units and therefore too power hungry and too big for your average cruising sailboat. Essentially you need a motorized dish which tracks and counteracts boat movements the entire time it's active. That's what is inside those Inmarsat domes you can sometimes see on big racing boats with satellite uplinks like the Volvo Ocean Race.
  - emilecantin 5y ago
    > Essentially you need a motorized dish which tracks and counteracts boat movements the entire time it's active. Not at all true with Starlink, it uses a phased array antenna to aim the beam at the satellite; everything happens in software. What _is_ needed is an accelerometer which can "know" the boat's movement and then adjust its aim based on that. Seems like they're not quite there yet, but there's no reason this can't work.

jbkiv 5y ago

Plenty of ways. In the past being a good mechanic was handy. Today being an engineer is highly valuable: Electrical: 110v 60 Hz, 220v 50 Hz and 12v for 12v DC for electronics while you run 24v dc for the rest. Networking radars, GPS, AIS, plotters has become incredibly complex. Sewing: having a commercial sewing machine has proven to be useful (to make friends). Repair sails, awning, various canvas Digital media: most popular boats have satellite com on board and produce one quality youtube video every week. Photos, blogs, manage fans on Instagram. You were hoping to get away from the hustle? You will be back in it quickly. Refrigeration skills: get yourself a set of gauges ($50), vacuum pump, several cans of refrigerant, soldering equipment. Whomever can produce cold (freezer, cold beers or ice cubes) is king in the tropics. I can add to this list. The world of handymen is incredibly unskilled. Come with a mechanical engineering or EE/CS background, you will be making friends faster than you can think.

entaloneralie 5y ago
Vessels with fridges are the kings of the happy hours
blorpledorple 5y ago
> Digital media: most popular boats have satellite com on board and produce one quality youtube video every week. Photos, blogs, manage fans on Instagram. You were hoping to get away from the hustle? You will be back in it quickly. There is a subtle assumption here in your aside remark that you think those interested in sailing are also interested in being popular doing it, probably because you’re interested in being popular doing it, and are very, very comfortably the outlier in the global sailing community. I’ve heard this from some hands, too, who are obsessed with the appearance of the vessel when near harbor. When I bought my boat I didn’t see Instagram fan management nor sailing for others in the requirements of taking care of it. That’s your interest, and casting it as an inevitable future of boat ownership is almost as insufferable as what’s happened to camping and vans. Please keep in mind that most do pursue this hobby precisely to avoid getting on with that faff, and your experiences make you unique, not representative of ownership. The experience is for you. Share it with those you love. That’s my take, and we will clearly disagree, so don’t think I’m trying to convince you. I say that because you’ve just become an advocate for sailing in this thread, and I’d rather the vast majority of people who find that type of thing intolerable don’t come to think it’s all sailors do and get turned off the hobby.