The Cost of Cruising

[Randyonr3]

NOT talking about the money needed to GO. but the money needed to do the things you wanted to do..
If Cruising on a small budget is planned, how much are you willing to give up, to stay on that budget..
If all you can do is sail around and not experance the likes of new foods, new places, and new cultures, are you realling crusing, or just drifting around the seas of the world.....
"MARK" just posted on another thread that a day drip for two was a cost of $120.00..
Myself, while sailing the waters of Southern California, we rented a car and took a tour of the Old Missions over a 3 day venture.. we probably spent $500.00 over that 3 days.. blowing a months budget for the wana-be cruiser....
How much are you willing to give up to go cruising? and are you the person that will be using oil lamps and a 5 gallon bucket for a head?

[capt_douglas]

Part of the enjoyment of cruising, to me, is the planning. If I'm heading for a new anchorage I try to find things to do. Sometimes that means excursions ashore. That's part of cruising too.

I'll do the research and budget for the excursion. Sometimes I get an offer I can't refuse or is completely unplanned, but this is life, so if I have the funds I'll do it and go back to the "oil lamps..." next month.

[hummingway]

Cruising my home waters, the salish sea, british columbia, the pleasures are nature and sea food. It is less expensive cruising then not. I don't stay at marinas, except my home marina. My only other experience was Mexico. Both years I played a couple of music engagements and spent time time on the drummers sailboat. I found the same thing there. It is inexpensive to have a night out and you can experience the culture without spending much money but the real experience is being there. It helped though to be performing since you do integrate a bit. I also think I'm a peasant at heart.

[hotspur]

There are different types of cruisers. Some stay in marinas much of the year. Some eat out more than not. With our family of 4, our 'monthly' cruising budget works like this: We have months where we are out in the sticks and spend nearly next to nothing. Other months, we are in larger cities enjoying the sites, provisioning, making a repairs, etc... For me, I see cruising as a life of flux... ever changing... moving, and flexible. I view our budget the same way. Don't get me wrong... our budget is important because we want to continue our cruising... but our YEARLY total is more important to us than our staying within the confines each and every month. I keep track of our spending daily. When it looks like we are nearing $1,500US too early in the month, we sometimes make an effort to cut back on the frivolous expenditures... eating out, wine and beer, excessive trips to the grocery store, buying doo-dads, etc... Overall though, it seems we can enjoy the 'tourism' aspect and stay within our annual budget by occasionally sacrificing a little here and a little there.

[MarkJ]

Where visa duration and seasonal weather are not a consideration then its possabel to go hide in a natural area for a few weeks to let the budget catch up.

As Hotspur says its more about the anual costs made to work in a monthly budget. We are lucky that we get our investment cash monthly.

[hotspur]

Our budget is WAY whacked because we bought this bigger boat and it needs major repairs. However, we got the boat cheap. And we sold our smaller cruising boat in 7 weeks. The smaller cruising boat, by the way, is cruising right now with her new owners while we're baking on the hard! However, I have been doing a comparison of costs to cruise from last year to this year. If you are interested, please feel free to take a peek. It's on my sailing blog.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

we rented a car and took a tour of the Old Missions over a 3 day venture.. we probably spent $500.00 over that 3 days.. blowing a months budget for the wana-be cruiser....

Although we have a fairly generous cruising budget, we never rent cars. If you can't get there by kayak or bicycle, then it's going to have to be bus or train.

My personal preference is to limit my side excursions to the distance I can snorkel.

[Mambo]

One thing I am very curious about is the cost of tying up in various places europe. I imagine we will want to tour and we'll want either a mooring or a dock so that we can leave the boat for a few days at a time. Also having the boat as a home base near major cities will be fantastic if the cost is not prohibitive. This probably merits its own thread at some point but I'd be interested in any experiences y'all want to share here. Thx!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Mambo

One thing I am very curious about is the cost of tying up in various places europe. I imagine we will want to tour and we'll want either a mooring or a dock so that we can leave the boat for a few days at a time.

Ahhh me hearty! There blows the problem!!

Last week we had that delemma when we wanted to visit this important ruin.
The closest town had an expensive marina, no anchorage and was a long way to get back on the rhumb line south.

So we dropped into another port where we could anchor safely for free and take a longer bus ride.

So its not easy to juggle all the perameters... and they are not all budget! There are few places you could leave the boat at anchor for 1 week (or even over night!).

In a few months we will be doing the western Med in mid summer so marinas are just too expensive. We want to see Rome, but how? We are thinking of anchoring in a bay in sardinia and taking the ferry over to the mainland.

but we are not too worried. Why not? Because we found an interesting cruising ture-ism: The closer you get the better information you get. i.e. when we get to italy some way will appear for us to visit Rome and still stay in budget!


Mark

[Mariness]

I know of 1 person who cut expenses on a car by sharing it. He was solo-ing, spending time in New Zealand for the storm season, so he and the folks from another boat split the cost of a rental car and saw the interior together - camping so they wouldn't have to spend for hotels. So hooking up with other cruisers can help too, apparently.

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

but we are not too worried. Why not? Because we found an interesting cruising ture-ism: The closer you get the better information you get. i.e. when we get to italy some way will appear for us to visit Rome and still stay in budget!


Mark

That's the truth -- and half the fun of it I imagine.

Hopefully I am not far behind you, so I will be interested to see how your plans and your expenses play out.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

but we are not too worried. Why not? Because we found an interesting cruising ture-ism: The closer you get the better information you get. i.e. when we get to italy some way will appear for us to visit Rome and still stay in budget!


Mark

That's the most encouraging thing I've read in one of these "costs" threads in a long time!

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Mariness

I know of 1 person who cut expenses on a car by sharing it. He was solo-ing, spending time in New Zealand for the storm season, so he and the folks from another boat split the cost of a rental car and saw the interior together - camping so they wouldn't have to spend for hotels. So hooking up with other cruisers can help too, apparently.

We did that in both Marsh Harbour and Long Island, and have close friends who did it in Cat Island.

Great way to go to cut expenses.

However, in the Bahamas, if you're not really trying to do an in-depth tour all in one swat, and have the time to do some close-in exploring, hitching a ride is alive and well.

Twice I've gone 20 miles each way to the Georgetown airport and back using a cardboard sign (airport on one side, Exuma Market on the other), picked up within 3 cars each time each way, and the most delightful conversations with locals.

Other friends of ours (we shared a car with a different couple) hitched all over Long Island. The bonus there was locals showed them many spots not in any of the touristy brochures or "magazines" - even taking them back on a couple of places, visiting the recommended place with them. They got perhaps a dozen rides in the three days they were doing their exploring.

Generally, if you do all you can to become involved with the local community wherever it is you throw the hook, you'll find innumerable kindnesses developing, from rides, to clues, to invitations and more. If you've not read it, I highly commend "An Embarrassment of Mangoes" - the cruising story of a couple's 1-year trip to the eastern Caribbean. Each chapter ends with a recipe gleaned from their time with the locals of the given island - which recipes were from having been invited to their homes, in each case...

As to "how much does it cost" you might check out the Bumfuzzle site and look at their spreadsheets. It shows very clearly where they spent their money.

We have much more detail, but only 2 years so far, and it's distorted by Lydia's need to go back to her new grandson 2x/year by plane; our spending is ALL out of whack during those trips, but it does give us a ground-floor reference for future years to see if there is anything which has a disturbing trend.

And, all of our expenses include some major refit items - 8-15K each year, so far, as we start replacing all the major systems (standing rigging, including furler, sails and covers, etc.) - but those should not have to be repeated for many years, so, while it's a "current" expense, we tend to look at it in an amortized sense. The only other potentially major item we expect, but perhaps not for several years, is the engine. Two major improvements we have on the horizon is either starting over on or redoing our arch, and a hardtop bimini, along with lots more solar. However, those are anticipated for Cartagena, where word is that it's still very affordable (a sistership had both jobs done in 2007; bimini and panels 2K, arch about the same, easily 1/4 - 1/10 the cost in the US), so it may not be a huge distortion to our budget/cash flow.

We don't have a website or blogsite where our spreadsheets are located for clicking, but if you're curious, and write me directly (skipgundlach@gmail.com), I'm happy to share them.

Note that while we don't do marinas, and rarely do restaurants, and beer is a luxury, let alone hard stuff, given the relatively large size of our boat, along with the out-of-kilter shore trips and major refit items, I'm sure our budget exceeds the ability of many here. OTOH, we stand in awe of many cruisers our age and boat size, as marinas and restaurants, along with lavishly alcoholed get-togethers aboard while at anchor are the norm.

And, that said, last year in Georgetown, we met a guy who'd spent all of $500 for the entire winter because he stayed in the Jumentos, a very remote section of the Bahamas, living mostly on fish/lobster/conch he'd harvested, along with the dry goods he packed on board before going. Most of his expenditures were on gasoline for the dinghy; you can sail anywhere down there in the winter, when the wind is pretty constant.

So, it will depend to a very large degree on your lifestyle preference...

HTH

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

As to "how much does it cost" you might check out the Bumfuzzle site and look at their spreadsheets. It shows very clearly where they spent their money

So, it will depend to a very large degree on your lifestyle preference...

(Richard Bach, in Illusions - The Reluctant Messiah)

This thread was not posted as another "COST OF CRUISING" as to what you needed to go sailing in the way of funds or moneys to go cruising, BUT instead,
what is the cost of cruising, as WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE UP TO GO CRUISING.. are you willing to use public transportation, willing to do without electricty, willing not to have hot water a the turn of a handle.
AT WHAT COST, ARE YOU WILLING TO GO CRUISING.................

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

This thread was not posted as another "COST OF CRUISING" as to what you needed to go sailing in the way of funds or moneys to go cruising, BUT instead,
what is the cost of cruising, as WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE UP TO GO CRUISING.. are you willing to use public transportation, willing to do without electricty, willing not to have hot water a the turn of a handle.
AT WHAT COST, ARE YOU WILLING TO GO CRUISING.................

My bad. I was led down the garden path by the other contributors.

Excellent points, to the degree that I've developed a "FAQ for potential visitors aboard Flying Pig" - which indicates how it's very different from home life.

It's not markedly different in style from my other writings, of course, but if there's interest, I'll put it up for the artillery practice :{))

Meanwhile, I commend to those considering living aboard a tongue-in-cheek look at the experience written by a good friend of mine, a component-level electronics repair guy, and hosted on his website by another good friend of mine, a workboat designer and featured commentator about the Titanic (he's been down there at least twice), seen in some TV shows by, I think, either the History Channel or Discover:

http://www.rogerlongboats.com/Liveaboard.htm

L8R

Skip