Sailing away for a Dollar a day???!!

[Rangiroo]

Originally Posted by Divecoz

Hard to imagine anyone living in a G8 country and not having several hundred thousand dollars in the bank and some sort of retirement check coming in every month. No doubt that most of us here have a lot more than the $250K and surly few are foolish enough to have much of it in a CD.

What the hell?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!....what kind of parrallel universe do you live in???...I wish I lived in it!....good grief....

[Ex-Calif]

The problem with this thread is we really haven't defined the goals specifically enough.

I have a friend who married a Filipino girl. He went native. He lives in a grass hut raises chickens and pigs, grows some veggies and lives on some sort of $500 a month military disability check. Cool guy, great wife, "making" a living in this world on his terms.

If he worked his ass off for a bit, he could buy "some" sort of boat, park it in the lagoon and essentially live the same way as he did on land.

Is he going to make a circumnavigation in it - hell no.

So I guess my put is this. Find the country with the cheapest cost of living, buy what ever boat you can afford and move it to the low cost country. As everyone says you have to source stuff from shore so live where the shore stuff is cheapest. BTW - the tropics becomes the only logical choice based on weather - no heating bills.

It's all a matter of how "cheap" you are willing to live.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I should perhaps make clear that I am not planning on sailing off into the WBY anytime soon. And would not be counting on doing so on only a Dollar a day. Also I figure generating income is a seperate topic (although also interesting), I am more concerned here with minimising expenditure.

I should also make clear that I do not beleive that 100% free cruising is actually attainable (but would be happy to be surprised!), but in my book "failing" at 80% (or even less) is still ok.

It's ideas and also the thinking for living simple (with a boat to match) is where I am trying to get at. I reckon some ideas I (and others?!) may not have thought of - or at least not thought through in the context of lowering day to day living costs.

Of course their will be compromises to be made, some of which will not be acceptable to yours truly, but I am someone who is ok with a simple lifestyle......as long as I know their will be the odd blowout down the line!


A couple of points mentioned which seem to make sense........

- A smaller boat (albeit not too small) = less maintanence and costs involved to do so.

- Rowing. and in a rigid dink = No outboard maintanence & no worry of punctures.

- Moving with the Seasons = I guess in practice maybe not always the summer, but certainly missing out any weather with a MINUS figure in front of the Temp gauge

- Saltwater - can be used for a lot, especially if not in a Marina full of And not everywhere in the world charges for fresh water via a hosepipe. So I figure decent tankage would be useful. As well as an ability to top up from rainwater.

- Buying staples in Bulk (rice / beans / pulses) - of course not the whole diet.

- Fishing! - the big one The last fish I caught was......in a tin But how hard can it be? If in doubt stick the line out must up yer chances, but I appreciate that one cannot rely on fish being to hand when wanted - so I reckon an ability to store fish for future use would be very useful to maximise this resource Fridge? Pickling? Canning? (smoking?!).

- Bean sprouts? - that's vitamins isn't it? Green ones

- Lobster Pot - that's a cool idea and no reason why not.


I would also figure that intended cruising area / circuit would be important, no point in trying to live cheap in Monaco - inside the Marina or not.


Sullivan,

It's always annoying when someone who has "been their and done that" confuses a thread with fact based stuff ......but I think what I am thinking has a couple of different fundamentals to your experiances - a) the Boat would be cheaper (smaller and not so smart) and b) the cruising area may well have cheaper onland resources. But I do agree that anything major (Engine Probs, Standing / running rigging etc) would blow a hole in the budget.......not saying the plan would be to keep one's fingers crossed (not plan A anyway!), but that when the boat set sail she would be in good order and the hope would be that maintanence would prevent most sudden failures (and sudden large expenses) occuring that required immediate cash to fix - rather than could wait until cash arrives / is scraped together.

PS money for "Haul outs"??? I thought that was what Tides were for. and boats that do not fall over when the tide goes out

[Divecoz]

You know what?? I just assumed we were all talking about a time in life when we might chose to just call it quits.( that's what I did @ 56) If your a young guy or a young guy with lots of toys or a trophy wife you may well be short on cash and long on debt. I am sorry I assumed we were all around 50+ . . . .My bad.

[sluissa]

I'm 21, and I've been going to school for the past 15 years. I feel like it's about time to just call it quits and go sailing. Unfortunately after college I'm still supposed to get a job. Before that I'll probably spend a month or two(or more if I can manage) doing the low budget cruising similar to what's mentioned in this thread.

David: Not everywhere has tides like you do up in the UK. Where I am, even at the most extremes, discounting hurricanes, there's never more than about a 2 foot difference between the highest high tide and the lowest low tide. You might be able to get to most of the bottom of my boat if you were to ground it on the highest spring high tide of summer, wait till winter, and do your work on the spring low tides of winter, but I know of few people patient enough to sit in one spot for 6 months just to deal with bottom paint or something. It'd be quicker just to travel to some area like yours that has the necessary tidal range. Or, more likely, just find a cheap marina and pay the haulout fees.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by sluissa

I'm 21, and I've been going to school for the past 15 years. I feel like it's about time to just call it quits and go sailing. Unfortunately after college I'm still supposed to get a job. Before that I'll probably spend a month or two(or more if I can manage) doing the low budget cruising similar to what's mentioned in this thread.

I hope you post up your experiances. Can be very easy to get sucked into the thinking of "I only need a little bit more $$$ / £££ before doing X Y or Z" and then one day you wake up dead...........

David: Not everywhere has tides like you do up in the UK. Where I am, even at the most extremes, discounting hurricanes, there's never more than about a 2 foot difference between the highest high tide and the lowest low tide. You might be able to get to most of the bottom of my boat if you were to ground it on the highest spring high tide of summer, wait till winter, and do your work on the spring low tides of winter, but I know of few people patient enough to sit in one spot for 6 months just to deal with bottom paint or something. It'd be quicker just to travel to some area like yours that has the necessary tidal range. Or, more likely, just find a cheap marina and pay the haulout fees.

Yeah, I know not everyone has tides same as here - partly a bit of lighthearted fun with Sullivan, but also to say that some things can be sorted with a bit of forethought, whether one would wish to choose this particular option is a different question. In warm water with no tides the "answer" may include a snorkel, mask and a scrubbing brush on a regular basis......in which case perhaps less than 50 foot may be a blessing!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Divecoz

You know what?? I just assumed we were all talking about a time in life when we might chose to just call it quits.( that's what I did @ 56) If your a young guy or a young guy with lots of toys or a trophy wife you may well be short on cash and long on debt. I am sorry I assumed we were all around 50+ . . . .My bad.

I am also under the impression that many folk here are as you describe, and I also get the feeling that at least some of these are financially "sorted".........

But I didn't originally think of this thread as specific to any age or even to those simply without any money in the bank - as after all just cos' someone has money in the bank does not mean that they may not want their boat / lifestyle (or at least some aspects of it) to be as cheap (efficient?) as possible - at whatever age.

Me, is maybe a bit younger than the average But not sure if 42 this year counts me as a "Young Guy", but I'll take it I will admit to not being as financially "sorted" as some, but then again I have no debt, not usually short of cash, the "toys" I get are always paid for up front.......and no Trophy wife!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

if 42 this year counts me as a "Young Guy",

Goddamn whippersnappers! You yougins ourta respect your elders.... I'm 48 and you should be respecin me! I'm older and grumpier and more bitter an all!

An Trophy wife???????? Get serious! I am the trophy boy!!!







Mark

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Goddamn whippersnappers! You yougins ourta respect your elders.... I'm 48 and you should be respecin me! I'm older and grumpier and more bitter an all!

An Trophy wife???????? Get serious! I am the trophy boy!!!







Mark

I used to be a "Toyboy", of someone younger than I am now!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I used to be a "Toyboy", of someone younger than I am now!

Us ToyBoys should stick together ... at least all the others will have something to spit chips about!


Who else thinks they are hot enough to be a ToyBoy???

[Ram]

One of the things I do to save money and help the envierment is not paint the bottom every year or 2 , I snorkel and scrape & clean it once or twice a month, this saves a lot and I dont mind doing it. I do haul it out yearly to change the oil in the sail drives, and I use the tides if Im in a place where I can. Last year I paid $68 usd to have my cat hauled out pressured washed & sit on the hard for 9 days in Tunisa- so that saved thousands $ This year in Greece it will cost 300 euros still very cheap!

I also anchor out a lot and digny in in many places, On my cat I only run one engine at a time and sail as much as possable. My costs are runnin about $1000 a month for everyhing, thats food, fuel and what ever for the last 2 years for 2 people, excluding airfare. I pick up a charter once in a wile and that has been covering my costs so far the last few years. So in fact I may be living on a $1 a day(almost) and in the Med , im not really trying to make money , just trying not to spend any, and crusiing all over wile doing so.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Ram

im not really trying to make money , just trying not to spend any, and crusiing all over wile doing so.

This is what I was thinking (rather than a fundamentalist approach to lving on a dollar day). Where the USD1k a month comes from is another matter - but IME USD1k is always easier to obtain than..........USD2k


BTW, I do reserve the right for my next thread to be along the lines of........installing an Internet ready Washing Machine that also cooks Pizza

[Divecoz]

Originally Posted by Ram

I also anchor out a lot and dingy in, in many places, On my cat I only run one engine at a time and sail as much as possible. My costs are running about $1000 a month for everything, that's food, fuel and what ever for the last 2 years for 2 people, excluding airfare. I pick up a charter once in a wile and that has been covering my costs so far the last few years. So in fact I may be living on a $1 a day(almost) and in the Med , I'm not really trying to make money , just trying not to spend any, and cruising all over wile doing so.

How about going over that list for us and giving us a real world view.
Here ya go guys what a $1000 a month buys you .......

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Ram

One of the things I do to save money and help the envierment is not paint the bottom every year or 2 , I snorkel and scrape & clean it once or twice a month, this saves a lot and I dont mind doing it. I do haul it out yearly to change the oil in the sail drives, and I use the tides if Im in a place where I can. Last year I paid $68 usd to have my cat hauled out pressured washed & sit on the hard for 9 days in Tunisa- so that saved thousands $ This year in Greece it will cost 300 euros still very cheap!

I also anchor out a lot and digny in in many places, On my cat I only run one engine at a time and sail as much as possable. My costs are runnin about $1000 a month for everyhing, thats food, fuel and what ever for the last 2 years for 2 people, excluding airfare. I pick up a charter once in a wile and that has been covering my costs so far the last few years. So in fact I may be living on a $1 a day(almost) and in the Med , im not really trying to make money , just trying not to spend any, and crusiing all over wile doing so.

Ram, this is definitely the way to go. I used ablative paint and found it was a waste of time/money. I look forward to using old fashioned "stick to the ribs" bottom paint this time around and doing as you do.

I also figure the tides will come into play with a catamaran - as David says. I plan to toss it up on a sand bar (or at least pebble bar in Maine.. ha ha) any time any "haul out" is required. I figure this will help getting toward a less expensive existence.

We also found $1000/mo to be the magic number. In the G8's not many people can survive on less than that. The food alone eats up a fair portion, not to mention fuel. That was our lowest possible amount too.

Lastly, I wanted to say in general (not to Ram), that I think having a boat all ready to go is great, but every day you are sitting out there at anchor, your boat is deteriorating. Anchors are corroding, chains are corroding, rigging, sails, etc... etc... it's all degerating. My figuring is that it would be wrong not to include these very large and very real expenses in any "$1 per day" spreadsheet because these are the significant costs of owning a boat if you are not at a marina.

Now maybe if we were all paid in GBP's, we could live on 1 GBP per day?? ha ha (just messing with you David). I do see your point about locating in the right spot... good weather, cheap cost of living and it would also have to be out of hurricane zone and allow you to live at anchor within rowing distance of shore.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places like this???

I can't seem to find one, but would be very happy to do so. Usually it's the "anchoring close to shore" bit that wrecks the idea. We have found half of the stuff, but we need the outboard to get into shore, which is typically 4-6 nautical miles from where we anchor because they don't allow you to anchor or stay anywhere for long in the northern USA. (Not an ideal place to live, but we still need to work for many years)

[Divecoz]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

I do see your point about locating in the right spot... good weather, cheap cost of living and it would also have to be out of hurricane zone and allow you to live at anchor within rowing distance of shore.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places like this???

I can't seem to find one, but would be very happy to do so. Usually it's the "anchoring close to shore" bit that wrecks the idea. We have found half of the stuff, but we need the outboard to get into shore, which is typically 4-6 nautical miles from where we anchor because they don't allow you to anchor or stay anywhere for long in the northern USA. (Not an ideal place to live, but we still need to work for many years)

Panama and Nicaragua are two. In Fact I am waiting to hear back from a fellow I did a hotel for in Mexico concerning one or the other as our next project location. Would I ever want to actually live there ? I'll let you know when and if this project ever lands...