Boy have I got myself into a mess, I have all the wires in the engine room torn apart and I’m rewireing the whole can of worms.
The little kubota is installed in the lazerette and running well. I still need to hook up the fuel lines as it is running off of a gravity fed coke bottle. I also need to bring it’s alternator into the shop tomorrow and hook up a throttle/kill so I can control everything from the main saloon as well as get a new starting battery, finances are getting slim.
If I don’t book a charter soon I’m going to run some backpackers to Colombia in a few weeks. It’s not such a bad way to make a few bucks, I would rather sail around the San blas though.
Cheers from Panama.
Alex
Published in Alex Dorsey
Alex, My wife and I have been interested in your charters for awhile but cannot afford a bunch of $$, what are your average rates? Is there any kind of trades we could work out to help cover the costs?
Oh man… Wiring. Panacea was lost in the Caribbean with the last owner for the past 17 years. He had a ball making the big circle from Florida to Trinidad over to the Yucatan to Florida, over and over again. He said he put about 30k miles just floating around.
Well during that time, he added and took things out. In his own style he wired everything by stripping the wires, twisting them together and then putting whatever tape he had laying around on the connections. Most of the tape is a plastic detailing tape. Whew!
I’ve done a bunch, but I’ve got a bunch to do too. Wiring is just so tedious. I had a wiring guy in to help me with my inverter and he said if I could give him two days he could take about 400 pounds of old wiring out of the vessel. I’m saving my pennies.
Have fun. Give me a call when you hit the states and we’ll take care of things.
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
Warren,
I ask $1500 a week (7 days), I cant really do it so much cheaper as I have a few travel days (diesel) to get back and forth and my Kuna Yalla cruising permit has expired, I’d need to get a new one? As far as trades what are you thinking? I love trading. I don’t need much, all I’m looking for at the moment is to build a new computer to edit HD video, I’m looking for a solid working iphone, and I’m trying to scrape some money to put into the new camera fund. I’m looking at the new canon eos for making my next film on. I could probably shave off a few bucks if you want to chat you can call me in Panama 507 680-87187 there is an extra digit.
Take care
Hey Alex,
Just out of curiosity, does one need a Captain’s license to be able to conduct charters or take on paying customers on their boat??
Thanks in advance,
Sebastian
Seb,
in the states you do. It’s better to have experance tho. Anyone with a few hours of boat time and $800 bucks can get a capt licence, internationally the license is a bit of a joke, that being said there are good licensed caps, but not necessary. There are about 40 boats here, international cruisers doing charters.
hey dudes. i hear ya. i’m more than a little overwhelmed with projects at the moment. with little or no funds to blow through said projects with ease, i find i have to reinvent the wheel at every turn. i figure it’s good for me. i find that when i’m flat broke, i learn a lot doing the same job i’ve done a hundred times. when i make my own motor mounts, build a new galley, etc, using scraps and makeshift or even homemade tools, i feel like a million bucks at the end of the day. money is a lie and my own sweat and bloody knuckles are truth, i figure.
i would much rather be sailing down south, but if i make it through this hurricane season unscathed, i will be down there before next ‘cane season. i might have a decent paying job lined up for december to help get me to cuba and on down the line. let’s hope it works out!
keep on keepin’ on.
Darren,
If you can make it down here there are no worries mate we can be broke together. If i have over $400 bucks laying around I get too comfortable and take the girls out to a restaurant.
Sail far and only ask for what you need.
need more sanity, maybe. meh. never been a fan, really.
i’m down with broke fish shooting insanity any day.