Well, it doesn't seem my 15 year career will get any better. I have been dreaming of what to do next and should be something I love and how often does a man REALLY chase his dreams?

I have made enough scrap to buy a 150K six pack type boat with cash with ease. Understand I am no captain, but had an offshore boat and went 2X week for 4 months and loved it in 2004. Learned alot about sport fish and bottom. I do know I love the outdoors and religiously fish and hunt. So, should I buy a boat hire a captain and be the deck hand until I am ready to captain myself? Is there any money in such an adventure? My wife fully supports me for I have always $upported her and yes I must go back to AL to do this for I love that place.

Any feedback would be helpful. If a captain could give some insight I would be thankful, in fact I would come deck hand for you for a couple of weeks and let you have the tips. Money is no issue for me at this time, but I am scared to invest into something else I have no passion for with this economy it might be my last for awhile.

A years worth of food storage and the rest in Silver and Gold. Non-numismatic bullion silver and gold. Keep your money liquid and safe - its too hard to get. No precious metal stocks - just the hard metal. Yes, in this economy which just got worse, much worse yesterday, you are NUTS!!! GO BE A DECKHAND FOR A YEAR OR TWO. Learn what you can and get on the water time (I think required for your license anyway). Preserve the cash for the next couple of years.

+1

Have you ever looked at 2coolfishing.com This is a great site. Seems like you have your ducks in a row. Boats are as cheep right now. Maybe start on a smaller scale. Good Luck!

No but will now. Understand I still need a job and was thinking of creating my own since they are hard to find. Don't need to make a fortune for now. I can wait out the economy crises for a few more years surely it will turn around when office does.

Short of it...can I clear 60K a year as a boat owner and deck hand, then 90K as a boat owner and captain?

Heck Obama might kick in a little money something for trying...lol

Why not get a sportfishing boat? Get your captains license, get your experience. Do jetty trips on bad weather days, offshore on better ones. I think you would love it. Your total cost could be under 30K. You should make your money back quickly on this investment. If you do like it, upgrade. Get the big boat and the license. Look at all your options. Good Luck! Obama-WHAT!!

A buddy of mine walked away from his families electric contracting biz to become a deckhand. Eventually he went to the Sea Academy and got a capt. lic. then hired on as a personal capt to some big wig with a big boat. He makes 6 figures just as a capt. He takes the boss & bosses buddies out on the bosses big arse boat to catch fish and win tournaments. He takes the boat wherever the boss wants it for the next trip or tournament. Sometimes that means sailing out of Port A, across the gulf to Florida, the Yucatan or through the Panama Canal to the Pacific side. Sounds like a darned fine job to me.

+1000 - Totally agree. Worst case scenario: spend 30k, doesn't all work the way you planned (like client list, personal injury, etc . . . ) your only out a portion and you learned a lot. If you put all your eggs in at once, without the license, it's too big of a risk in my book.

Work your way up, like Big_Fin_Fish said, get your license, and learn tough "first timer" mistakes on a smaller scale. Good luck either way though!!

Well, the hard part for you might not be captaining/owning/operating/deckhanding/etc. You might not be able to get your Federal permits (headboat/charter, reef fish, coastal migratory & HMS) ... last time I checked, NOAA had a moratorium on new charter boat permits. On the other hand, that was awhile ago.

On yet another hand (anatomically interesting if nothing else), there are current permit holders willing to sell their licenses from time to time. $7,500 seems to be the going rate on the sites I checked tonight.

If you have the means to pursue this, then GO FOR IT!!!

Sponser me (BFF) and jeepthing, and we will have you going in no time.

Great jeepthing!! I agree.

Get to know some of the guides on the Texas Coast. I'll bet the AVERAGE GUIDE doesn't do 10 charters a month, and with the economy going like it is and likely to get MUCH WORSE, the EXPENDABLE MONEY to spend on guides drops precipitously. I make about 100K a year figuring in all of my non-taxable disability income. I can afford MAYBE 1 trip every 6 months with a guide. Just got a "NEW TRUCK" to me at least (a 96 Ford Ranger 4x4) so I can fish the surf more often. A non-guided trip for 3 days to Corpus costs me 250-300 bucks without a guide, $750 with a guide. BTW, Obama just stuck most of you young guys with at least $2,500 a year in Medical Insurance costs - where will that money come from in your budget - I doubt from your drawer of excess money??? ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you are doing it right, " the way to make
a small fortune in the charter buisness is to start with
a large fortune "

good luck
MO

do it life can change in a second!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me

Right now yes you are Nuts!

No amount of advice will stop you from following your dream. I am from the north Texas area and at 36 I sold out and took my wife and two small children with me amd moved to port a. I owned a 24' Grady that was a great boat and had a lot of time on the water and ended up getting a six pack and a 100 ton masters license. I found a 32 ' wellcraft and decided that was what I needed to run charters. It had gas motors. Spent over 30 grand and countless hours just trying to keep that thing running. You know, a hundred here a thousand there. Anyway, I finnaly started running another guys boat and was able to make some money while I worked on my boat. In the mean time I kept also busy with my const company.

When summer was over and the fall winds started up, I had to find more plentiful work. I started travelling to and from the Dallas area just to keep the bills paid and food on the table.(I had used up most of my savings on the boat) I sold my Grady and kept that junker thinkin that it was still the better boat for the job. Ended up renting out my port a house andoving back home so I could provide for my family in the style my wife wanted. Traveling back and forth for charters. (leaving my supporting wife alone with the kids while I worked my life away)

Finally ended up taking out the gas motors and spending an aditional 50 grand putting in yanmar diesels. By now all the money I had saved and all I could borrow was used up and my wife was left alone way too often. I had to find more and more construction work in an ever dwindeling market for contractors.

Found out my wife had plans for a different life that did not include me, lost her, the kids, the house and most of my dignaty. I kept trying to run charters because that was the stubborn side of me, but that came to an end one day and I ended up selling that boat for way less than it had cost me. The day she pulled out of the slip without me on it, I wept like a child.

Are you nuts, you ask? I am 48 now, I own a new house that I built out of the ashes that was my former life, I bought a 23' Baystealth and my son has lived with me the last two years now. The house, boat and my truck are paid for and all is good here in Combine Texas. But I will tell you, I don't miss anything more than my life in port a. I hate that my dream was crushed and i had to come home. I do not regret one minute or one dollar that I spent chasing that dream and the friends I met through that experiance are basically family to me now. I SAY NO YOU ARE NOT NUTS!!! But after reading this you probably think I am.