Normal Rate

Basically there is no NORMAL rate. You are asked to SHARE in certain expenses...food, harbor fees, fuel, etc. It's what ever the owner and you decide upon. Some share maintainence expense, some owners are trying to make it free for themselves by charging very high rates---one I saw was $50 a day. Anywhere from $8 to $15 a day is pretty normal for expenses. $20 a day is high...$600 a month which means you are paying for much more then your food. If the boat is in a marina then that may explain the additional rate. You should not be paying to feed the owner or make major repairs, even most minor repairs should come out of the skippers pocket. Have the captain explain what you will be paying for...remember it is only a shared expense.

Money should never be an issue on board...If it's a problem then you need another vessel to crew on. There are a few ripoff's and you need to jump ship at the first oppurtunity to get away from this.

This only applies to unlicensed captains...only licensed captains can legally charge for anything. Even with licensed captains the above paragraph is true in many cases but some run a training school underway and charge for that.

It all depends on how much you want to go on the trip. If the trip sounds boring then $20 a day is high. But if you are sailing through the Caribean or Pacific islands its well worth it. I recently went onto webcruiser.com which is a free site and posted a profile. I got a couple of replies from all ranges but one who was free. He let me go on a trip with him to the Bahamas for 2 months and paid for all gas, maintenance and food so I basically had a free trip. These trips cost the owner $1000's of dollars in maintenance, gas and port fees so if they are asking a mere $20 its not going to make them rich. My captain taught me how to sail and scuba dive for free and I had my own room on his $500,000 boat. Now that to me would be worth $20 a day. You also make connections if you are a hard worker and personable. I was offered paying jobs on mega yachts in the Bahamas starting at $30,000 a year. I also have a spot on my friends boat if I want on any of his future expeditions.

I went on that webcruiser.com and it's only a sweepstakes thing. Is that the right address or what?
And thanks for the info guys!

I sailed up the Chilean fiords last year after rounding and landing on cape Horn. the 4 of us on board shared the costs equally - fuel, food, booze, extras like meals out (werent many!) even though we were very varied in experience. Our captain and owner assumed we would all contribute equally in our own ways to the running of the yacht. He had the expenses of maintaining and repairs though. I think equal shares is best. There were some interesting discussions when we came to dividing up the shares at the end - Chilean and Argentinean pesos, $US, $AU.......!

Considering that a night in a hostel is about $20, sailing around the Caribbean or South Pacific or for that matter anywhere for $20 a day is a great deal in my opinion. Every skipper can sail solo on day trips and if he needs crew for an overnight voyage he will not take on board someone with no experience. I've been seeing posts here from people who want something for nothing "free trips on yachts." By what right? What are they offering in exchange?