i'm spending so much money it hurts

[rebel heart]

We're three weeks out from leaving the US for a few years, post shakedown cruise. I've already hemorrhaged serious dough, but the bleeding continues. Current crop:

- Repairing (hopefully, please god not replacing) heat exchanger.
- Stern chainplate (has to be fabricated; not just bar stock).
- Shrouds
- Engine spare parts

We saved up for it, but it still stings. I know people don't talk about numbers on here a lot, but I'll probably have dropped about $20K in the last couple of months which to me is a chunk of change. Took a long time to save that up. And that's with me doing nearly everything I can physically do, but I can't pull cables and heat exchangers out of my ass so those need to come from somewhere.

I'm just kind of ranting. It's this insane dichotomy of wanting the bleeding to stop, but also not wanting to be totally screwed in the middle of BFE.

Again, I'm talking *minimum* stuff here. No fancy gear, nothing elaborate, plenty of stuff that can be put off is. It's still crazy money.

[terminalcitygrl]

Damn, sorry to hear you're having to part with so much hard earned cash! Thanks for sharing though, it's important for those of us on a tight/ limited income to be reminded of the costs of the dream from time to time so we can plan accordingly.

[downunder]

All the best and have a great cruise. Feel sure you will.

Are you aiming for $500/month.

[TomandAnitas34]

R.H. What you say is right. Though it's painful, better now than being caught somewhere where it cannot be done at all. Take some silver coins as well. If you're going to be gone for a few years, the US may not be recognizable when you get back.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by terminalcitygrl

Damn, sorry to hear you're having to part with so much hard earned cash! Thanks for sharing though, it's important for those of us on a tight/ limited income to be reminded of the costs of the dream from time to time so we can plan accordingly.

I think a lot of the "just cut the docklines and go!!!" people are either 20 or have extremely deep pockets, or maybe they're going from one sailing mecca to another. No one in their right mind is going to leave for western Central America without solid rig and engine status.

Originally Posted by downunder

All the best and have a great cruise. Feel sure you will.

Are you aiming for $500/month.

I have a wife, a two year old daughter, and another baby on the way, so the $500 a month is a bit of a joke for me. We'll burn that just in groceries and fuel, and unless ultrasounds and child delivery are free I imagine we'll get a bill in there from that too.

It's kind of shifty math anyway because if you drop $5K in supplies before you leave so you don't need to buy as much for a year, did you really do it on $500 a month? I can buy a few impellers and oil filters now, or I can buy them later (if I can find them, for a higher price of course), but if I buy them later it's part of my "cruising budget"? Same money, same item, same bank account, same boat.

[Celestialsailor]

If it helps any...I notice for myself that when I'm slightly stressed out, I feel the same way about boat money. The feeling like everything rests on my shoulders.
Case in point:- Awhile back, outfitting my Ingrid 38, the rigging bill alone was 10 grand. My head was in a good place at the time and I didn't give it a second thought.
Recently, my on demand H2O heater has been acting up and it feels like the end of the world. I'm in the middle of fixing up the house to rent out, working on lease agreements, moving my boat to a new marina and volunteered for a lay-off. A little stress.
It will be fine. So will you and your family.

[Cheechako]

Yeah, the final prep expenditures really snowball. The good news is it quits immediately once your gone. It's very easy to fall into the " I have to have this" trap. I often wondered why I thought I needed a lot of things i thought I did once I left and settled down. The world has a lot of things available if you need them.... unless you're going to Tierra Del Fuego!

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

It will be fine. So will you and your family.

Yeah, I know. I had to achieve an inner-zen state and remember that stress is reserved for when lions are chasing you, not when you need to think clearly and solve problems.

I've actually been trying to workout more physically and concentrate on the things I can get enjoyment out of, like my family and my day-job. I love sailing and voyaging around but dropping cash and busting ass on the boat day-in day-out is a mental meat grinder.

For the folks that spend all this money and never leave the dock, I can't even imagine how they feel.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yeah, the final prep expenditures really snowball. The good news is it quits immediately once your gone. It's very easy to fall into the " I have to have this" trap. I often wondered why I thought I needed a lot of things i thought I did once I left and settled down. The world has a lot of things available if you need them.... unless you're going to Tierra Del Fuego!

I definitely got caught into that a little bit, but I've been at least smart enough to put the rig/hull/engine stuff up front and save the electronics and nicknacks for later.

I have an SSB that I'm not even going to bother installing. It's not that I don't want to install it, but the time and money has to go towards other things. Only so many dollars in the wallet and hours in the day. Plenty of stuff is being left in a less than ideal state. If you sat here trying to make it all perfect stuff would start breaking before you finished. It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.

[minaret]

If it makes you feel any better, we are in the same boat prepping for departure next summer. But the project is much bigger and the hemorraghing is more severe on this end. I'm right in the middle of scheduling a two month haul out this winter. Projects planned include new decks, a new bottom, all new thru hulls and plumbing, all new tanks, and a bunch of cosmetic. Just to give you an idea of the scope of just one of those projects, our fuel tankage is 2 x 225 gal, water is 2 x 225 gal, grey water is 2 x 80 gal, holding is 100 gal. None of them are leaking but they are old, so I'm going to pull them and build new integral tanks, on the same theory that I don't want to be doing this job in BFE. I'd rather do it now and here where I have connections in the industry and can save a ton of money. I too have already done all the engine, rigging, new sails, and a whole bunch of other systems. It ain't cheap but when all is said and done I'll have a boat that is basically new, for a fraction of what it would cost to buy a similar boat new. I'm hoping it'll be quite a while before we have to shell out big bucks on maintenance when we do shove off, giving us more trouble free time on the water and less time spent waiting for parts and stressing while bleeding money in a foreign port. I finally retired full time and have devoted myself to "the project", even rented a nice house for the winter while the boat is on the hard, have the grandparents coming to stay so I can work 24/7 and they can look after the kids, etc. etc. It's going to be an epic project, I'm planning on documenting it well and posting it here...

[xymotic]

Bend
Over
And
Take it

[atoll]

when it comes to boats it pays to" do it properly the first time",with the most suitable materials.
too many times ,due to cost, i have built stuff with inferiour materials,only to end up having to build it again,correctly a few years later.

money can be saved for boat stuff if you have a wish list,and slowly accumulate the various components for the project,as they become available on sites like ebay,2nd hand shops etc,but if you are in a hurry it is very difficult not to spend money like water,paying the marked up prices of marine chandelers,kmart etc.

example: hose clamps from a chandler near my boat £1.76 each
box of ten from ebay £5.60,with £1.50 postage,brings them to 71 pence each!

i dunno if this is any help to you,but it puts in perspective,that with a little bit of forward planning it is possable to save quite a bit of money!

and you are right about having your engine and rig in the best condition possable.
keep your chin up,knowing you did a good job is piece of mind when all hell is busting loose at sea!

[Blue Stocking]

Just paid $US = $BD 4.20 for tinned 2/0 battery lugs, EACH. A LOT of the suckers. Ouch!!

[seandepagnier]

wow


I got my boat for $1000 cruised in and out of san diego and all over new zealand now I'm in wellington and I never burn any fuel. Not even for cooking. I cook on electric and wood stove which I build for free out of an empty lpg bottle. I got a free electric motor which powers my boat off solar panels 2knts without any battery drain, or I can go all night if needed from battery. Built a sculling oar with wood out of a dumpster.. come on people, stop killing the world and your wallets with engines! They are bad for you, but far worse for me as I do not appreciate the diesel exhaust you expel or the dead coral reefs making it harder to catch fish.

Talking about water tanks.. I dont have any. I left mexico with 2 5 gallon jugs and still had a full one when I got to american samoa. Yes I catch rainfall. I catch fish and hunt wild animals on land. I made my chainplates for free, re-rigged completely for $500, 9 shrouds, 1/2" bronze turnbuckles with 7mm spectra. Most sails are $30-50 but sometimes I get a good one I can do 5000 miles or so for $20, then glue it back where it ripped from so many wave strikes with contact cement and do another 2000. Get free bottom paint even though its old it still works ok. Found my anchor chain in a dumpster, and I anchor in 60 knots... really. Its enough that my rainfall gets contaminated from spray and the bow goes under the swells even though its only 200 meters to shore. I still holds but I dragged a little last storm. I even salvaged parts off sunken boats in san diego when I was there but I can tell you one thing for sure:

san diego was the absolute worst place I have ever been. The rules are unreasonable and dont exist anywhere else in the world! they required a permit just for anchoring!! Whoever made that rule should be jailed. Leave that place as soon as possible

[carstenb]

RH. I feel your pain. I'm a couple of years out from cutting the docking lines but I'm spending money like I was a Rockefeller. A grand 3 weeks ago for all kinds of small ****, another grand last week for even more small ****, two grand this week for a kit to make one of my winches electric. Two grand more next month for a new propeller. Gotta 23 kilo Bruce which is too small for serious cruising, gotta but a 35 kilo rocna, oh yeah and 100 meters of high tensile chain. New sails, say ten grand.

Yep the list goes on and on, on the other hand once you spent it and are out there, cost go way down. Gotta look at it as an investment