Work life while liveaboard

[Basmith1971]

Hi! I’m Bruce just starting to explore moving south an living aboard. I was wanting find some people who work reg jobs an live aboard. So give me some advise. Let’s talk I’m a noob to all things boating in the ocean

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Lepke]

Maritime jobs offer an easier way to liveaboard and work. Retired now, but early in life was a shipwright and usually kept my boat at the yard where I worked. Also was a commercial fisherman and lived on my boat year round. Owned tugs and lived aboard. Served on ships, etc. Another benefit of the commercial waterfront is dockage was either free or cheap and sometimes included electricity. Docks aren't as nice as marinas.
Sometimes industrial sites will give free dockage just to have someone on the water, looking out for their docks. I once stayed at a sugar mill dock. People had been stealing electric and plumbing parts. They paid me to dock there, put in a floating dock to fit my boat, free electric and water. It pays to look around.

 

[ScottC]

Certain Information Technology related careers can help! If you haven't already, you might want to read news articles about people who managed to continue their work (from home) without missing a beat during this Covid-19 pandemic.

 

[mvweebles]

Hi! I’m Bruce just starting to explore moving south an living aboard. I was wanting find some people who work reg jobs an live aboard. So give me some advise. Let’s talk I’m a noob to all things boating in the ocean

Welcome to TF!

I lived aboard for a few years while a remote worker for a Fortune 500 company. Internet and communications remain a challenge. On conference calls, I would frequently get questions about seagulls in the background. I was lucky- my company was based in NJ and I was living in San Francisco so the hours worked well for me - by 2PM HQ was shutting down and I'd frequently head out sailing with friends.

Clutter is the biggest problem. And with current trend towards Zoom calls, lighting would be difficult on a boat.

I still work 100% remote, but from a home office. I've tried interlacing boat trips with work and it's difficult/stressful due to unstable cell phone signals, though I spend much of a workday in a team environment. If I were a true individual contributor where periodic email access was acceptable, would be fine to head out cruising and stay working.

I'd encourage you to give it a try though. May not work for you, but it's a great experience. Not sure why I stopped.

Peter

 

[boathealer]

Not for everyone, but I chose to stay in the cube farm longer - stashing every dime possible -- so I could LIVE instead of work while living aboard when the time and finances were aligned......

 

[Fletcher500]

Access to a reliable system for email, web, and voip has been our biggest hurdle. I recently retired but my wife is still working and her data needs are very high. The WiFi booster Antenna on our arch is good, but it just wasn’t cutting it when we are offshore or tucked away in an Island cove. Still doing the research, but We will likely go with a Trac Phone V3 Satellite system. Key point, if your data needs are not vey high and you can wait for the next port, than a WiFi booster or just a normal hotspot on your phone may be fine. It’s best to just start off with your phone, and then determine what your needs are before spending a lot of money on gear.

 

[rslifkin]

For cellular data, if you need a lot of it, the best $ / GB option I've found is the Sprint hotspot only plan. $60 / 100 GB, after which you either pay extra or get slowed down to very low speeds. Of course, that only works in places with coverage, and it's an extra cost beyond your regular cell phone plan, so it only makes sense if your existing cellular data isn't enough.

If you need data in really remote places, then unfortunately the expensive satellite solutions are basically the only option.

 

[Shrew]

Working aboard and Living Aboard are mutually exclusive topics. Find a job near a large body of water, buy a boat, move aboard. Even if you got a job in the marine industry, you'd have to leave the boat and go to work.

You first need to define the scope of your objective. If the objective is to live on a boat, then move onto a boat. It is no different than moving from an apartment to a condo, or a condo to a house, or vice versa.

I moved aboard this summer, but I'm renting a 120Sq. Ft office to work from. I don't have the internet data options or a comfortable place to work for 50 hrs a week on the boat. I do work on the boat occassionally.

 

[Fletcher500]

If you need data in really remote places, then unfortunately the expensive satellite solutions are basically the only option.

Our definitions of “really remote places” are different. We are just coastal cruisers And our cell coverage doesn’t work at about 10 miles off shore, depending on where we are.

Also, I agree with Shrew. Working full time aboard can be challenging and we could not have done it when we were both working. We still have a house and are part time cruisers.

 

[kokopelliTim]

I lived aboard for 5 years, was a dock hand in the marina where I lived.

While there other live aboards were teachers, doctors, nurses, active duty military, IT guys (I say guys because most liveaboards are guys), retired and some I really did not know what they did.

All is possible. Adaptation, compromise, controlling all aspects of life is possible.

Live your personal dream.

Tim

 

[Pau Hana]

For cellular data, if you need a lot of it, the best $ / GB option I've found is the Sprint hotspot only plan. $60 / 100 GB, after which you either pay extra or get slowed down to very low speeds. Of course, that only works in places with coverage, and it's an extra cost beyond your regular cell phone plan, so it only makes sense if your existing cellular data isn't enough.

If you need data in really remote places, then unfortunately the expensive satellite solutions are basically the only option.

We went a different route for work at home data usage (thanks to Airstream345!)

We cut the cable, and went with a NetGear Nighthawk MR1100 hotspot paired with AT&T data service from BIX wireless ($85 month for 400GB). the Nighthawk has a low power signal, so it's connected via ethernet cable to an Apple Airport router. It's been flawless, and internet service is available at the dock or underway.

The unit feeds 2 laptops, 2 smart TVS, a smart printer, 2 iphones, our Raymarine network, and VOIP when needed. We've not maxed out the 400GB data cap, nor been throttled.

 

[rslifkin]

We went a different route for work at home data usage (thanks to Airstream345!)

We cut the cable, and went with a NetGear Nighthawk MR1100 hotspot paired with AT&T data service from BIX wireless ($85 month for 400GB). the Nighthawk has a low power signal, so it's connected via ethernet cable to an Apple Airport router. It's been flawless, and internet service is available at the dock or underway.

The unit feeds 2 laptops, 2 smart TVS, a smart printer, 2 iphones, our Raymarine network, and VOIP when needed. We've not maxed out the 400GB data cap, nor been throttled.

That sounds like an even better service option, and one I hadn't found!

 

[Pau Hana]

That sounds like an even better service option, and one I hadn't found!

We purchased the unlocked Nighthawk from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Nighthawk-MR1100-GSM-Unlocked/dp/B07G5KWZ3H

Then purchased an AT&T unlimited data sim form the local market (around $10).

Called BIX ( https://bixwireless.com/ ) , gave them the IMEI number from the Nighthawk and the SIM number, and we were up and running in the hour.

Easy, and excellent customer service.

 

[rslifkin]

We purchased the unlocked Nighthawk from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Netgear-Nighthawk-MR1100-GSM-Unlocked/dp/B07G5KWZ3H

Then purchased an AT&T unlimited data sim form the local market (around $10).

Called BIX ( https://bixwireless.com/ ) , gave them the IMEI number from the Nighthawk and the SIM number, and we were up and running in the hour.

Easy, and excellent customer service.

Sounds easy enough. Any idea how BIX would handle turning the service off over the winter for those of us that can't boat year round?

 

[Airstream345]

Bix is month to month so you should be able just cancel and restart later. An email to them would probably be a good idea just to make sure.

One caution, resellers can and do sometimes get updates to their agreements with the major carriers. Box has been stable for me, but I switched to them after a different reseller got dropped by AT&T and we went without internet for a while. Just something to be prepared for with resellers.

 

[Moonfish]

Not for everyone, but I chose to stay in the cube farm longer - stashing every dime possible -- so I could LIVE instead of work while living aboard when the time and finances were aligned......

To each his own, of course. We are still of "working age" and choose to live aboard while working. That we also happen to work aboard makes it even better as far as we're concerned.

We occasionally post images on our Facebook page of us "at work". Usually a pic of my wife working on the upcoming issue of Latitudes & Attitudes on her laptop while sitting in the shade on the aft deck, anchored in a beautiful, sunny cove in the San Juans. We get lots of comments like "jealous!", "nice office!", etc. Invariably, though, someone will comment along the lines of "I thought the point of cruising was to disconnect from the rat race?"

Our response is usually that if we're going to be working, we'd rather work on the boat in a beautiful place than in a cube farm somewhere...