I'm broke, are quests the only way to get money?

[CENIC]

I went a little upgrade crazy, and then I burned through all my money while sailing around uncovering the map (crew wages, food, etc)

 

I literally have 0 gold! What do? Can I declare bankruptcy to the Vailian bank?

[Voss]

Don't buy food. The game throws it at you.

 

Sell the giant piles of stuff the game hands out. I've got a giant pile of superb and extraordinary equipment to sell off, I doubt I'll need money for anything at this point.

[FecklessFool]

Piracy is a way to make money. Go after  unaffiliated merchants and other weak ships.

 

No one will mind if the Watcher turns to piracy. Party members who can be classified as good won't mind you killing innocent merchants for loot, and factions won't mind that you've sunk their ships outside of flavor text when talking to important faction people telling you what a meany you are.

 

Notice how pirate ships, well actually all ships, don't attack any one else but you? That's right matey. You are the only true pirate in the Deadfire archipelago.The rest are poseurs. 

 

I wonder how these so called pirates put food on the table when everyone of  them is fixated on getting the Watcher's ship. Surely they would prefer an easy target like an unaffiliated merchant ship, but no.

[DragonWiz]

Here is a tip, crew only consume wages and supplies when on sea. So, try to spend most of your time on land, exploring and finding loot. You will accumulate more loot and be able to handle those long voyages on sea. Also a little math can help you plan out those long sea odysseys. For example try to figure how much gold a crew consumes then multiply that by the amount of days you think you are going to be on sea. 

If are you are desperate for monies, you can always use a pickpocket character to steam money from others. Or you can use a lockpick character go to each house, then lockpick all of their goodies.