General Info: Am I crazy?! Cruising budget 400, 420 or 440?

[alctel]

a 40+ foot cat is a huge amount of space - have you looked at boats? You may find you can do just fine with a lot smaller one, which would free up a huge chunk of change. Easier to handle as well.

Also $2500 a month is not just doable, but extremely comfortable.

[Dave22q]

congratulations on your good financial condition. You might consider starting from a less than all or nothing approach. For example start with a used mono hull in the 35' range and find out how well you like the live-aboard life.
The best of boats is still cramped compared to a large studio apartment.

after a year or so living aboard you can then more knowledgeably decide on upgrading or changing your plans. As for affordability, you have plenty of income but may need some more experience of living within it.

[sveinutne]

Hi
I have been looking at the Lagoon 420 and the 440 myself. You can get both for about $250k, but the 440 might have to be a bit older. Some say the 440 sail better than the 420, and it got the fly bridge.
I like the fly bridge, but some are telling me, that when you have friends onboard, you are not able to speak with them, but have to sit up on the fly bridge by yourself all the time. Of course, you can invite some to sit with you up on the fly bridge, but most of the company will be downstairs.
I think I will go for the 440. It will give you more space, and I plan to charter it part of the time. My dream is to sail around the Greece islands in the summer, and go down to Egypt and the Red Sea during the winter. My concern is the visa or work permit in Egypt. I am a Norwegian citizen, so Greece is OK, but Egypt is something else.
Even if you got two engines on a cat, you do not have 3 or 4 tons of led in your keel, so I am not sure if you need to burn more fuel. Also if you like sailing, you only need the engine going in and out of the marinas, and when the wind is calm. I have sailed a 41 mono hull for 5 years, and I have only 150 hours on the engine. If you accept to sail at only 3 or 4 knots, and not start the engine every time the speed drops below 5 knots, I do not think your fuel bill will be the problem.
So good luck to you.

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

The difference in cost varies from cat to cat. Our 38 fp Athena's standing rigging costs half of what our prior Leopard 38 did.

Warning, thread drift!
Why was the Leopard twice as much? Just curious.

[David Chrissy]

Advise ...........Modestly start, do, learn .....and then decide whether to commit.The first years will be when you make the most mistakes and spend/waste the most money. Headspace, norms, values and needs/desires will change. If you are happy with what you have you will always be happy...if you are not you never will be. D&C

[svhydra]

ha ha, good one Trim.....in 1994 my juniour hockey team went undefeated......

[duefocena]

After reading the replies here denouncing the quoting of your GPA, trying to talk you into a mono, telling you a 38 is fine regardless of your choices here's my 2 cents.

Yes $2,500 is doable. If you are in a marina deduct $1,000 for the slip. Insurance shouldn't be more than $200 a month. With $500 a month for repairs and maintenance you get $200 a week to live on. If you can camp and are willing to cook your own food you can do it.

Get the 42'-44' over the 38'. Anyone who says they are about the same size hasn't lived on both. Safety, the ability to charter comfortably and the motion in the ocean will make it well worth it.

Don't wait ! And don't count on the $10k a month 20 years from now being enough. Especially from rentals.

Really good advice in living a month with zero eating out, don't drive !!! Walk, bike, mass transit and if you really want to make this work.... don't deviate.

Take the money you would have spent going out to eat as two unmarried millennial's in reasonably expensive area and physically put it in your boat account.

Go charter a cat somewhere at least once and study every diesel repair, glass repair, inflatable repair etc. that you can find. Get on electrics and solar.

My close friend, ( a maxio facial surgeon), constantly tells me that he wishes he would have done what I did. Take a cat in my late 20's and start traveling. Does he have more $ than me? Probably. Would he trade it for my experiences on the water? In a second.

You can't get the time back. At any price. Could you lose some money...? Absolutely ! Will you? Who knows, probably not. Don't wait... don't let mooring sitting neh sayers slow you down. What could you lose $300k? In the grand scheme of things and the insecurity of the global financial status it is a cheap price to pay.

I live 90% on my cat and I spend what I need. You can do this, and on $2,500 a month. What you can't do is buy one day, week month or hour back at any price. PM me if I can be of any help.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

Warning, thread drift!
Why was the Leopard twice as much? Just curious.

More substantial rig, larger diameter wire, larger sales to push a heavier boat etc, sail quotes were 11k vs 75OO. Std rigging 1Ok vs 5K.

Sent from my LG-LS980 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by duefocena

Yes $2,500 is doable. If you are in a marina deduct $1,000 for the slip. Insurance shouldn't be more than $200 a month. With $500 a month for repairs and maintenance you get $200 a week to live on. If you can camp and are willing to cook your own food you can do it.
.

I whole heartedly agree with this post, EXCEPT the insurance price.. My real world experience with insurance for an unexperienced captain is about %1.5 of hull value/year. So for a 250K boat, expect $315/month!

[jreiter190]

Material World? What the hell is more material than a $250 thousand boat? Get a grip!

[laika]

To the OP, once you hit the water no one is going to mock your choice of a boat or the path that got you there. IME, this appears unique to the online forums. Cruisers are an eclectic and inclusive bunch in the real world and it usually doesn't matter if you have a 20' mono or a 60' cat. If your boat is in seaworthy condition and you know the sea from the sky you'll be at home wherever you go. That's my experience so far at least.

95% of the people you meet are more than willing to help if they can because they know they're essentially just paying it forward for the time when they need the help. The community of cruisers you meet on the way is one of the best parts of the experience.

[Tingum]

Some very good advice here! Listen to the folks that are out there sailing or have been! Everyone we met cruising said the same thing, "we wish we had started sooner"! Good luck!

[tuskie]

I hope you're glad to hear such diverse responses. Without repeating it, I wholeheartedly agree with Duefocena's sentiments.

The big issue is that if you don't follow your dreams NOW, you may not be able to do so later. You and your partner may forever regret not giving it a go. To quote and rebut a previous post; you may become a very bitter and regretful suburban dentist in your 50s!
If your dream doesn't work out; what have you lost? A bit of cash due to a lower resale of a boat? Easily replaced as you resume your place in the workforce.

We are early retires living on Lagoon 400 in Australia, so I can't really comment on your financial planning except to point out that cruisers on very limited budgets tend to steer towards countries with lower costs of living. If cash is tight, our cruisers spend time in wonderful anchorages in SE Asia, or for you, somewhere closer such as Mexico?

I'm interested by the number of monoholers who dismiss your choice of a catamaran. Especially as you posted in the Lagoon forum. Yes, cats cost a bit more, both to buy and to keep, but not too much on your budget. The space, stability and comfort of a cat is important to us. The two engines give superior economy because they give the option of only running one when half power is enough. The redundancy advantage alone, is worth the expense.

In our experience, comfortably happy live aboarding is greatly enhanced by having plenty of electricity, water and space. Cats win hands down. We have cheaply installed over 1000 watts of solar to give plentiful power, try doing that on a 40- 50 ft mono sailer. We have huge water catching deck areas and a watermaker as back up, powered by that free electricity and plenty of space on board that guests actually like to spend time on our boat. The last point, I'll admit, is a mixed blessing!

Good luck making your dream a reality.

[Symphony]

thanks to all you experienced cruisers who are willing to share their living specifics, $$, challenges. CF is a gift for all.

[mowerandy]

Excellent thread - got the popcorn out, and havin fun - thanks for the trigger! I particularly like the one about the undefeated hockey team - wry bastard! Don't take offence tho - I think they just mean to say that confidence is good, but overconfidence can be lethal - you will be the best judge of whether your confidence was justified, generally right after it has nearly been lethal
My tuppence worth (and the number of hours I have spent aboard in the last decade is embarrassing I hasten to add) - if your GF is enthusiastic just go go go. If ya don't you will never know, and probably die wondering about what might have been. Smart people usually land on their feet when things go tits-up - sometimes it takes a while. Just make sure everyone lives to laugh about it later (ie: pay much closer attention to safety than comfort aspects).
Good luck! and don't forget to post on your progress, so we can all dip an oar again and do the congrats and I told ya sos - hahaha