Cruising on $500 / Month

[SURV69]

The problem here is not the size of the budget . . . even MarkJ has acknowledged straining
his admittedly, sizable budget.
The budget is nothing more than a "willingness" to live a certain lifestyle and everything works
out fine until a change of attitude or an occurance disturbs that acceptable lifestyle. That "change"
in attitude or "occurance" can happen wherever you are . . . it can follow you.
So the problem is not only whether or not you have funds to weather a disaster, but also
whether or not you have "support" to weather the disaster.
If I move from Akron, Ohio to Atlanta Georgia, I can expect certain "supports" to likewise follow me.
If I drive my camper to Prescott, Arizona and have problems. I can either seek aid, get help from various
agencies, or even get a job to help me through, to get me back home . . . if I wish.
The support and aid a person can expect within the country of his/her choice can usually be expected and available
anywhere in that country. In my case, it's one of the nice things about America.
America has 5000 miles of east coast America, 3000 of "American" coast on the Great Lakes, 1500 miles of west coast,
5000 miles of Alaska coast and the Hawaiian Islands to cruise and enjoy. Almost 15,000 miles of cruisable water.
Additionally, I'd have Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. Bermuda, Dry Totoga and a number of other places to
cruise if I wish. GOOD . . . SAFE . . . ENJOYABLE . . . SAFE(politically speaking) . . . and . . . VERY BUDGETABLE
(even on the short), cruising. ALL available to me.
THERE'S so much cruising for me within American waters, that I could cruise a couple lifetimes and still have
more to go . . . more to see. if I slip and hurt myself, I can find myself in a V.A. hospital. If I run out of
funds, I can ask for food-stamps or some other form of aid, or I can look for a job and earn some money until I
can continue my cruise. An American can't do this in a foreign port. Virtually no one can do this in a port foreign
to their own.
If I were British, I'd be looking at this from a British viewpoint . . . French, from a French viewpoint . . .
Spanish, from a Spanish viewpoint and . . . . Argentinean from an Agentine viewpoint.
I don't personally care if I don't drink Champaign in Champaign or I don't eat squid in Japan.
I don't care if the waiters in Grand Rapids, Michigan speak "American" or the waitress in Augusta, Maine, understands
my questions about the "strange" things on their menu? If I need a French-speaking waiter, I'll cross Lake erie
to Canada. If I need a Spanish waiter, I'll cruise to southern Florida.
At 60 years of age, 10 or so years(15 or more if I'm lucky and in health) is not even enough time to fully enjoy
and discover the Great Lakes, let alone the east coast of America or the world's ports-of-call.
Any trips down the east coast or on the intercoastal will to keep warm and would be just a little more icing
on the cake for me. If I don't want to make the trip, I'll stay in one of those northern Ohio hotels that are booked
up in the summer and near-empty in the winter . . . and probably enjoy it . . . immensely.
I will pick the cruising I can truly budget, afford, be relatively safe and still offer a lifetime of fun and enjoyment.
I'm not about to stick my neck into what might be a $2000 a month enterprise on a $500 a month budget plus a lot of hope,
for the sake of seeing more foreigners than I care to see or eating more strange foods that my body can cope with.
I will look forward to posts by MarkJ(and others) about travels, good times and smiling pictures while daydreaming
about faraway places that I'll probably never see.
I will wince at posters who shoot their budgets in the worse of places, I will be empathetic to those who endure unforseen
disasters and I'll wish there was available help to those who get caught-up in areas of political turmoil or what appears to
be truly unfair circumstances because of a lack of funds.
BUT . . . sorry . . . I'll be sitting in my cockpit, sipping my Rum & Coke and enjoying my life of cruising . . . on my budget.

[Trebek1]

Sounds your living the dream just as well as the circumnavigators are living theirs.

I do agree, that if you go broke or have a catastrophe, it's better being in your own country's waters. First time I left the US, I got stuck in Heathrow airport w/o a cent, and the airline came up with some $50 fee I needed to pay. I wound up living in the airport for a week, eating whatever I could find. I was only 20 years old and I will never forget how scary it is not being able to get back to your own land.


"US Bermuda" eh???

[Stillraining]

Nice post SURV!..Common sense point of view.

I'm in agreement totally...I will follow with great interest and some admiration those whom have the moxi to venture out on a shoe string..I am just past the ability to weather it myself.

Would have been a possibility for me to contemplate at 20 but not now.

[SURV69]

well maybe not U.S. Bermuda . . .

[Trebek1]

Wasn't trying to embarrass ya, but felt a need to correct.... Its the teacher in me.

[SURV69]

Somehow, I thought an island in the Bermuda group of islands was "American". I remember this "revelation", actually wondering how such a thing could came about and felt it was very interestingly odd. I wondered if it had something to do with the war of 1812 . . . which we kinda won, and the fact that the British attacked Washington D.C. from there.

ANYWAY . . . scratch Bermuda . . .

BTW . . . I also taught years ago. Obviously I didn't teach the fifth grade.

[Trebek1]

Obviously I didn't teach the fifth grade.

I didn't mean anything by your geographical "Mistake", sorry I hurt you by pointing that out to you. I am a high school teacher, didn't mean to offend. So sorry.

[Trebek1]

Never taught the fifth grade either. Most fifth graders wouldn't have thought Burmuda as being part of the US would they...

[Trebek1]

Actually, the Brits really did kick our arses in the war of 1812. They burned the friggin White House down for fook sakes! Yes Andy Jackson, did manage to save our faces in the battle of New Orleans, but that was after the bloody "Treaty of Ghent" so learn your history, and your geography, then come back to me and apologize. I was just pointing out your faux pas, and I tryed not to make a big deal of it!

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

the picture !

It would be very slippery if any of that silicon ended up on the deck.

[Springbok]

Pink Lady after being properly set up with cruising gear has covered 8500miles in 73 days
Re cruising on $500p/mnth Jessica is managing on well below that
No check-in fees, no marinas, no restaurants, no booze (taking up the entire quarter-berth ), just plain sailing, having FUN
As for her distracters on another thread
WELL DONE Jessica GOD'S SPEED many are with you and your dream
Clyde

[goprisko]

Hi,

Take a look at the thread I am chaperoning... The focus is on how to actually cruise on this sum..

INDY

[osirissail]

How to is really easy - stay in your home country's waters and stay away from large population centers. As soon as you start moving your boat costs start increasing as equipment wears, fails, or new versions are needed (wanted). Crossing borders costs money so avoid or minimize that. There are numerous very economical places to live on a boat but you have to get to them which costs money.
- - Also you need to be young and inherently healthy as medical costs can be budget busters. AARP last year surveyed and found that retiree's in the USA spend on average $5K to $20K per year on medicines alone. Of course that makes transiting "expensive countries to get to an economical one very cost effective in the long run.
- - But basically the more you move your boat the more it costs.

[roverhi]

So the best way to cruise on a budtget is to put your boat on the hard and liveaboard, preferably in an area that doesn't freeze but also doesn't have much sun to cut down on UV degradation. Guess you could solve the UV problem with a full cover but those are expensive and don't last forever.

AARP is the last organization I'd rely on for data. They are about selling expensive insurance policies to the unsuspecting elderly.

[goprisko]

Hi,
This thread is about "CRUISING" not about living aboard in some backwater...

That is why the budget I suggested has $50 per month set aside for customs expenses

You can enter and clear in any French terr for free, ditto for Trinidad...

You can eat for a fraction of the US cost in the DR, SE Asia, China, Phillippines, etc..

Your medical expense in any French Terr will be ZERO ! and you can buy insurance
at Bumrungrad Hospital, Thailand's finest, for $ 200 / yr which covers EVERYTHING !

You will not find the answers you seek at AARP... look for them here...

And an earlier poster was spot on... the boat needs to be KISSed and yiou need to know how to FIX IT...

For example, spoiled by the service I got overseas, I had a local firm, well reputed R&R my starters... they charged $450.... in one case to replace a Solenoid costing $15, with a new, defective one. He paiinted the bendix, which caused problems due to it binding to the flywheel., and on the other installed a Kit costing $45 at a price of $ 200. Once I found out, when the first starter failed after 10 starts, I stopped payment on his check for the second, and disassembled the unit to examine it, and found a website, National Starter and Alternator where I could get the parts, and did order sufficient parts to R&R both starters, including solenoids for $140.

To cruise on a budget as low as this, you need to examine whether you need an engine at all... because keeping one running will consume much of your boat expense... you need to discard notions of lots of electronics.. because they break..
you need to be able to repair your own sails.., varnish your own woodwork.. paint the boat yourself... you must be skilled... and that includes sailing skill...

None of this can you get at AARP... or on this blog... you also must have a boat
small and nimble enough for you, yes you, to sail on to moorings, up to anchor, off anchor, up to a dock......

You get those skills quickest in a day sailer between 12 and 19 ft on deck..

A sailing dink, the Rhodes 15 CB, Rhodes 19, Lightning, Snipe, Laser, Optimist Pram, these should be your training ground...

You cannot afford to zoom around in a RIB with a 15 Hp outboard either, you must have a hard dink that is easy to row, or better yet, sail wherever you want to go....

INDY