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After 25 years in tech I'm starting to look for my "out". I have a ton of experience with electrical (signals/rf too), plumbing, mechanical, woodworking, finishing, engines, etc There isn't much I can't fix. As far as nautical experience goes, I'm a novice but I recently went through a small boat certification course and planning on being a "trailer sailor" for a couple years or more to build up experience. I grew up near Charleston SC harbor, and I think the ocean is calling me back.
A couple of questions; how do you find work or how does work find you? Do you have a home base where your tools are located or are you doing these jobs in "random" ports you travel to? (You can message me if you don't want to share your industry secrets publicly 😉 )
/edit Found your blog so I got some reading to do.
Work comes around by asking and telling. Once people know you can do something well you'll get more work. You'll have to diversify and lean into your strengths.
Guard your professional reputation with jealousy because once you get a bad name it'll spread around like wildfire and you won't get any work at all AND people will avoid being your friend. Oh sure other shit heals will be your friend but the respected people won't. Water Folk fucking hate shit bricks.
Every single populated anchorage has "A Guy/Gal" who knows the lay of the land. You absolutely don't want to piss them off and you for god damned sure don't want to take work/money from them, so you don't offer what They offer .... Get it? If they scrape and clean boat bottoms, you don't. This person or these people will be able to facilitate you getting work but you got to be on the good side and you cannot dirty their name.
Working In foreign ports without a work permit is illegal, It absolutely doesn't matter who you're doing the work for. The exception to that is if you're a remote worker working over starlink blah blah blah. But if you're turning a wrench or a screwdriver or a spanner chances are you're working illegally, and you're taking money from the pockets from land-based businesses, so you better fly under the radar.
So given the above, 95% of the work you're going to end up doing is going to be for other cruisers. Because you're not out here already, you probably don't know that there is not a group of people on this planet that can pinch a penny harder and faster than the cruisers. So you're going to have to offer work they either can't do or they don't want to do at attractive prices better than what's available on land/in port.
Home base is where my cat sleeps. I have no permanent address anyplace on Earth.
The REAL answer you are looking for isn't the answer you want. The real answer is, you have to get over your fear of not having a paycheque. You have to throw yourself into the flow of life and hope for the best. After living a life of steady, reliable income jumping into The Flow and hoping you don't drown is pretty fucking scary. Your success out here depends on you managing and overcoming this fear.
My blog sucks, and I am sorry about that. My contact info is readily available if you look for it and if you want to text or call me feel free. I would be more than happy to help you in any way I can other than giving you money. :)
[edit] If you want to read a REAL blog, There is a guy named Alex Dorsey who runs a website called Project Bluesphere. He hasn't really written anything in the last 10 years but everything prior to that is still relevant information and he did an absolutely outstanding job. I highly highly recommend it.
Any book written by Fatty Goodlander, especially, Buy Outfit and Sail, and he has another book that's more technical called Creative Anchoring.
I definitely appreciate your words and completely understand what you're saying. I finished reading your blog and like your "raw" perspective. You should update it with an "where I've been, where I am and where I'm going" post. It feels like a short story, over the span of several years, but you have a bit of a cliff hanger there 😉
I had a bunch of other stuff written but I removed it because it was scatter-brained and all over the place. I may in fact reach out to you for conversation. While our bearings might not be the same, I think there's a lot to learn and I like your style.
Thanks man. You're right, I should.