Moving up. HT to power

[Abundance]

100k a year in boat expenses!? I have to say, I have a hard time accepting that. My fuel expenses are much higher than yours, and I spend tens of thousands each winter on boat work, not to mention moorage and my permit payments. I would calculate my expenses at around 40k per year. Combined with some shrimp money, that gives me enough to make a decent vacation someplace and purchase a few personal luxuries. I could survive on just trolling, but I am single and like to eat free fish and venison, and can do basically all the repair and upgrade boatwork by myself, and it would still be a tight squeeze. The people I know trying to make a living on just crabbing or just longlining or just diving are running into such problems as well. Its hard for a small boat operation to make any money on just one fishery.

[Salty]

Garrett, I know, it amazes me too, but that is what is comes to nearly every year.
Last year after I finished fishing we had to put in a new exhaust system, a new water heater, and I had all my hoses and belts replaced on the engine. Five figures for just those three things.
This fall the autopilot I bought in 1988 gets replaced with a new one and a new compass system. During this summer season I put in two new computers, had the hydraulics rebuilt, installed a new computer program, replaced the monitor in the pit, rebuilt an aluminum bow pole, replaced the front window, and had three sounders rebuilt because some short kept blowing them up during the season. As you know, it never ends.
Another thing adding to my expenses is I usually have two crew members in addition to myself from mid June until September. I am not complaining, I love my boat, enjoy the crew, love SE Alaska, and the challenge of getting salmon to bite. It does not make me a lot of money after expenses is the personal perspective I am communicating.

[Abundance]

I get it. I dont really see how a person could make enough to do all the boatwork that can be done. I acually had a seiner freind marvel over how little stress and expenses we had, compared to his million dollar season. He doesnt live much more extravagantly than me, when all is said and done. Anyway, I guess the point is, dont get big dreams of money from trolling. Getting big dreams of fish bites, bear and deer swimming island to island, and all around adventure and freedom, now thats more like it.

[jlc3]

If you just want to be out catching fish and making money, you don't have to move up to a power troller. Contrary to what most of the forum regulars believe, it is possible to make handtrolling pay. You would have to get a different boat, since outboard vessels tend to use up all their profits on fuel and motor replacement. But not a 40 footer, just a small diesel powered troller. You don't need the capacity for 5 day trips; there are still places to fish where you can sell more often. I like to start in District 8, head out to the "Hole in the Wall" by Noyes I in July, and then finish in Icy Strait after the closure. In the last 16 years, since I settled on this pattern, I've sold from $10K to $30K worth of salmon per summer ($21.6K avg.) while spending less than $7K on average per year doing it. And I am not going out in the ocean where even bigger catches are could be made.
By remaining a HT boat you will never make as much as a power troller, but you can keep a higher percent of your gross because your expenses will be so much less.

[Salty]

Great post jk3. I am envious. My fuel bill, and I burn less than a gallon an hour over the year, is more than 7K.
My boat is hauled out today, the zincs cost over $300.00. The new transducer was nearly $1,000. A gallon of copper paint was over $100.00. Then there were the two guys working on the rudder and bottom of the boat for two days at $80.00 or so per hour. I hired two young people for $100 apiece to help scrape barnacles, and scrub down the hull. The cost of maintenance and improvement for this haul out alone will be well over $3,000.
But, having hand trolled from 74-81, I remember the whole different dimension of both costs and expectations. I am looking forward to going out by myself this winter season for a few hours and hopefully a few winter kings per day. Low expectations, low expenses, much joy.

[Drew]

The quartile table gives you a better idea of averages ( http://www.cfec.state.ak.us/quartile/X_S15B.HTM ). But even this always seems low to me. It seems like there should be more than 70 boats making the top earnings. How do freezer boats factor into the averages? About how many freezer boats are in the fleet? I know plenty of ice boats that make more than the top quarter average.

[Kelper]

How do they even figure out those quarterlies? From fish tickets turned into the ADFG? I bet if the "truth" came out on what guys gross, the PT permits would be worth a lot more than they are.

49 freezer boats in the fleet, last I heard.

[Salty]

Drew and Kelper,
Under further analysis I am not always in the top quartile as represented by the charts. As usual, I think I am doing better than I am.

[paul]

Freezer boats report their fish price as dock price to ADF&G.

[Drew]

Freezer boats report their fish price as dock price to ADF&G.

Meaning they report the ice price?

Is that what they pay their 3% on as well?

[akfish]

What he is refering to I believe is most freezer boats sell to the COOP or Triad and in one case only get 70% of dock price and the other case nothing upon delivery I could be way off but just guessing.

[paul]

That's right Drew. They report dock price for tax purposes. They don't have to pay tax on value added so the gross that CFEC calculates is a lot lower. So that probabably lowers you even further Salty.

[Salty]

Unfortunately this is not the limbo where the lower you go the better you do. I don't think you can go much lower than fishing chums and pinks during the best king and coho summer in 19 years.

[kjwelder]

RIP Garrett...

My 2 cent:
Define success
Have a back up plan
Be flexible
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
Have fun