Live Abourd Cruising Costs

[Otis B]

Anyone out there who is currently living aboard and cruising I would be interested to know (a range is fine) of what a person looking to cruise permanently could incur. Not a high-life lifestyle but comfortable 46 foot boat anchoring in most harbors beginning cruise with Central America. Any input would be helpful as there really is nothing published recently that covers this. In 2000 (the most recent numbers I have been able to access) seemed to be in the 1500 to1800 US$ range. Is this still possible?

[ssullivan]

You can certainly do it on the budget you suggest above. The true answer is "it will cost as much as you have to spend." This isn't a joke either. Unless you are highly accustomed to living on the cheap, there are limitless "upgrades", eating out, and luxuries.

[GreyDawn]

From March 06 we are going to do the same. However, I intend to budget around 400 bucks a month.
We won't be eating out!

[ssullivan]

From what I've read (and budgeted for our liveaboard)... it really can't be done on $400/mo.

Reason? Provisioning and maintenance will cost more than this. What are your expenses that add up to $400/mo?

[Talbot]

Quite an interesting survey on budgets available from http://www.stingo.co.uk/ .

I guess if you never go into a marina, never eat out, exist primarily on sea food caught by yourself, go naked so you dont have to purchase clothes etc, never use your engine, and have no maintenance bills then existing on $400 may be possible - but would it be worth it!

[Euro Cruiser]

Otis, you´ll find a great deal of info on this topic presented over the months in Latitude 38, and of course it´s free and published on the Left Coast and so much of the reader feedback on cruising costs is relevant to your initial cruising grounds.

OTOH there´s no real answer to your question beyond noting that you are planning to cruise a relatively large boat and that alone will push up your cruising costs, especially longer term, greatly. For an excellent discussion on boat selection as it relates to cruising costs - and on the whole topic of financial issues related to cruising - see the relevant chapters in Beth Leonard´s _Voyager´s Handbook_.

You don´t tell us if the approx. $2K is an annual or montly estimate; I can only presume it´s a monthly figure. If you leave home port with a well equipped, well stocked, properly maintained boat, my guess is that you´ll find your $2K/month budget workable for a while...and then find it slowly increases due to maintenance, repairs, replacements & additions due to dissatisfaction with some gear, and ultimately changing your cruising venue (since Central America is about as cheap as it gets).

Jack

[sv_makai]

If you cuising the Caribe, the Bahamas, Turks, Leewards and windwards are very expensive. Trinadad is cheaper but IMO dumpier (we wil never go back)You can live on what you outlined. Many people cruise Venezuela and the out islands which are beautiful, not crowded and so cheap people can't belive it.

We saved alot of money this way which extended our time without cutting out the experiences.

Diesel 7 cents per gallon US
gas 10 cents per gallon
superb resturante mixed grill for 2-3 (w/leftovers), wine, salad 12 dollars.....
Semi skilled varnisher 12-18 dollars US per day

The last 2 months coming from the Grenadines to the Gulfo de Caricao we spend less than 100 dollars in total. we went out a couple of times and went to a get provisions.