Woman ditches £37k banking job to live on boat she bought on Facebook for £2k

Woman ditches £37k banking job to live on boat she bought on Facebook for £2k Naomi Derbyshire said she was tired of paying £1,500 rent and bills every month A woman has abandoned her £37,500-a-year banking job to renovate and live on a £2,000 sailing yacht she found on Facebook Marketplace. Naomi Derbyshire, 29, got tired of the nine-to-five and ditched her banking job for a life on a self-renovated vintage sailing yacht. Naomi had been working as a business analyst for a bank in London for three years before she gave it up - sick of paying more than £1,500 each month on rent and bills. She had zero experience sailing or renovating, but has always loved the boats and the sea after her family moved to Mauritius when she was 18 years old. In March 2024 she found a 1974 sailing yacht on Facebook Marketplace for £2,000 and took the plunge, spending 10 months and a further £2,000 making DIY renovations before taking it out on the water for the first time. She plans to travel Europe in her newly-renovated home, finally free from the corporate rat race, now spending £1,225 less a month than she used to. Naomi, a boatyard assistant based in Chatham, Kent, said: "It's been such an amazing experience. When I started out, I had no idea how to sail or even use a drill. "Through watching YouTube DIY videos and getting a helping hand from locals at the yacht club, I was able to get my boat floating. I was expecting it to sink right away, so I was very impressed when it stayed up, and it's been floating ever since." Fed up of the daily grind Naomi, born in Nigeria to an English father and Nigerian mother, moved to Kent when she was 14 years old and has lived in England since. She studied economics at Aston University in Birmingham, graduated in 2020, and moved straight to London to start working. After just a few years as a business analyst at a London bank, Naomi became disillusioned with the daily grind, realising she had little money left to save at the end of each month. Naomi said: "It just got so tiring. I was working full-time in a job I wasn't particularly interested in and renting in London meant I rarely had any money left for myself or savings each month. I thought about how much I loved being on the water in Mauritius, so I decided to look for more flexible living arrangements." Naomi was scrolling through Facebook Marketplace when she saw that sailing yachts, which she'd previously assumed would be out of her price range, were being sold for £1,000 to £5,000. Within a week, she spotted a sailing yacht being sold in Kent for £1,900 so she went to see it and made the purchase. Naomi said: "It all happened quite quickly - I'd say from looking online to the purchase it took less than a month. As soon as I realised the boats weren't as expensive as I thought, my choice was made. "I found a boat, which definitely needed some renovations, listed for £1,900, so I contacted the seller and bought it within a few days. My tenancy agreement for my London flat, which cost £1,075 in rent and £450 in bills each month, was due to end in April. So, after a few weeks of owning the boat, I moved in and was only paying the monthly £270 marina berthing fee, saving around £1,225 a month." Moving onto and renovating the boat After moving into her land-bound boat, Naomi quickly got to fixing it up, which she said felt intimidating. She watched plenty of YouTube videos and the older men working around the yacht club would often offer their advice or a helping hand. Naomi said: "It was an overwhelming project ahead of me, but luckily I had help. The men around the yacht club all became like dads to me, helping me out with various stages and telling me what to look out for." Naomi spent a total 10 months renovating the boat, now called Flame Mama, from working on fixing rotten seacocks to replacing the fuel filter. By doing it herself and using cheap or borrowed materials, Naomi's total costs on repairs on the boat came to the same as what the boat cost her, roughly £2,000. About a month into renovations, in May 2024, she quit her banking job and moved to a more flexible role as a pub chef. Naomi said: "It was a time of a lot of change. I was learning so much about the boat that my old job just didn't fit into my life anymore. "I needed something more flexible and needing money wasn't as much of an issue. I took my time with the renovations, saving on any potential labour costs and got a lot of the materials second-hand. Also, while renovating, I joined the crew of someone else's boat from the yacht club, so I learnt to sail whilst out on his boat." Finishing touches Naomi got her boat floating in February 2025 and, after a year-long break, is now making the finishing touches, mainly to the galley, before taking it out to Europe. Naomi said: "I'm so excited - it feels like my dreams are coming true. I have to fix a new sink for the galley, which is essentially the kitchen, and update the cooker. "Plus I have some deck jobs to be getting on with, like replacing the guard rail and fixing the top of the mast. I hope to be on my way to France in May."