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Old 25-01-2016, 23:21   #16
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

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Lots of threads on this or related subjects already. Give those a browse.

The answer is of course..."it depends".
Infuriating but true.
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Old 25-01-2016, 23:33   #17
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

As others have said, it varies.

For comfortable cruising, the numbers seem to fall int he $1500-2500/month range.

Of course there are people who will claim to be comfortably cruising on $500/month and others struggling with $5000/month.

I suggesting taking your household budget and removing the items that no longer exist (no lawn mowing service for example) and adding in the new items that come with cruising full time. This will give you a far more accurate estiamte than anything we can tell you.
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Old 25-01-2016, 23:49   #18
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

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Oops, "I" just became "we" so there goes my $750
That was quick!
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Old 26-01-2016, 00:09   #19
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

Well, as everybody else said, for some not even 10,000 would be sufficient. So many variables.

But FWIW some excellent friends of mine lived aboard 7 years and spent two of them sailing across the South Pacific on a boat purchased for 5000 dollars. They had essentially no savings and no income other than what they made by doing manual labour, mainly on other boats, along the way, and sometimes bar singing etc. He is a very good musician. Totally hand to mouth. They repaired everything, salvaged and sourced what they could from many unlikely places, lived entirely on the hook, and were very happy. I would consider both good and careful sailors, even having a parachute anchor aboard, which they did deploy on several occasions. This was an old airdrop chute they got for next to nothing. Yes they were young (still are!) and were both very resourceful and willing to put up with basic living (saltwater bathing only for example, and eating mainly self caught fish).

I also know at least three other similar, one who is in his sixties and works three months a year as a vet, sailing the rest of the time on his flat bottomed Dory wooden junk rigged schooner. He has no engine, even on his dinghy, and propels the 34 foot dory even uprivers (such as Kotakinabalu) with the use of a sculling oar. I watched him take nearly 2 hours to tack into an anchorage at Vava'u, Tonga, once, which would have taken 10 minutes with an engine. He navigates entirely by sextant, has a couple of electric lights and a handheld radio, switched off unless needed, and one single battery. Most lighting is oil. He makes his own wine, has circumnavigated twice or so, including some fairly high latitudes, and is very happy, and very charming.

Likewise a third boat I met in Antigua a few years back, a lovely 1935 wood gaff rigger, around 32 feet. A couple in their thirties who had lived aboard 8 years or so when I met them 5 years ago. Beautiful pastel washed boat he had rebuilt as was a wood boatbuilder. He plied his trade around the world and she taught yoga. Likewise no electronics or electrics, aside from nav lights, and oil lamps only. They had two lovely children, around 5 and two at the time. Very happy, and had sailed from West Coast Canada to Madagascar and back.

Likewise a family who used to sail aboard the "Black Pig" a 60 foot homebuilt steel double end schooner I would term "unique", which I was aboard in Inverness, Scotland. The vessel was put together by the Husband/Father, who was a professional welder. Fore and aft cabin one at each end. Industrial refinery piping as masts. Most of the centre of the hull was an open hold. They lived aboard for more than a decade along the coasts of Africa and South America, he plying his welding trade, and them using the vessel as a coastal trading vessel, carrying goods in its hold! Amazing! They had 4 kids, most of whom were born aboard, and their two heads consisted of actual, bona fide heads, holes cut into the long overhangs fore and aft, well above deck level!

And NONE of them has a blog. Which is why you have likely never heard of them, unless fortunate enough to have crossed wakes. (Not everybody needs the world to know and follow every detail of their lives, and many of the most remarkable sailors I have ever met live and sail in obscurity. My kind of people, really.)

Just a few I have met "out there".
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Old 26-01-2016, 01:19   #20
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

spend some time in the dollars and cents area of this forum --

we put 6 years of cost data -- I mean everything we spend from a pencil to flights to see family to food bought while visiting family -- our totally yearly expenses

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ta-141717.html
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Old 26-01-2016, 08:37   #21
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

I would get a copy of Voyaging on a Small Income by Annie Hill and give that a read. It's a good resource for folks living on the cheap, and inspirational.

We are going to have about $4,000/month in SS and some small annuities. We will try to get by on that. But we are a,so older, 65 and 63.
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Old 26-01-2016, 08:49   #22
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

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Thanks for the info. I've been reading this site for a couple of years. Just a little background. I used to sail on merchant vessels as a marine engineer.
Lets say that your budget of $1500/mo equals the costs of operating the merchant ship, what happens when the ship goes into dry dock?

Every longer term cruising costs I've seen the cost of maintaining the boat turned out to be a lot more than what they thought it would be.
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Old 26-01-2016, 08:58   #23
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

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That was quick!
IKR?

Somewhere between his 1st and 2nd post he met a nice girl, married her and "I" became "we" just like that

Timeguy:
Sorry I'm joking, but you asked a question you know is more or less impossible to answer even with a LOT of information. You're not even sharing what boat (the 30' you have now or another one?), how said boat is outfitted, where you'll be cruising and how many people will be on board.

Not sure how you expect an answer without giving us anything, at all, to go on.
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Old 26-01-2016, 10:51   #24
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

As they say, it depends on how much you have. However, there is a definite correlation with the size of the boat. If you have a 37 ft boat, you will probably spend twice what the couple on a 30 ft boat do, and half what the couple on a 45 ft boat do. Of course the size of the boat depends on how much you had.
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Old 26-01-2016, 10:59   #25
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

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Spent last 4 years sailing in the Great Lakes. Sold the house, the cars, all the furniture. Have a good solid Morgan, and I have gone through every single nook and cranny. Currently in Florida getting ready to.... Won't get S.S. For a couple years and don't have a pension. What I have is all I have. I'm pretty frugal and can fix anything. I've seen cruising budgets from 1200-4000 a month.
What do you think I need TOTAL to cruise for several years and some left at the end. I know it's going to be all over the place but I would like some comments.
If you are depending on SS I hope you have checked on your quarters and what you will get. other than that?
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Old 26-01-2016, 12:11   #26
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

I have cruised with what I call a Budget Nazi. Having to maintain a strict budget sucks. Spending all of your nest egg in the first two months also sucks. The medium is all your own.

Be realistic and try and maintain the lifestyle you are used to. In my 20's I could easily survive comfortably on far, far less than what I would be comfortable with today at 50.

Boat size and gadgets are the biggest factor. So many people think they need the biggest boat they can afford, whereas true logic dictates the smallest boat you can be comfortable on for as long as you plan on being on it. My opinion is that every ten feet past 30 doubles the costs.

The biggest budget breaker is always a reluctant spouse, in my opinion. From the day you leave the dock until the divorce is finalized. Very costly...
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Old 26-01-2016, 13:30   #27
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

Impossible question. Before thinking monthly budgets you need to have a reserve for significant repairs. Then you can list and estimate your expenses including reserves for regular maintenance and marine insurance. Offhand I suspect $2000/mo is rather light but it all depends on your life style. The last thing you need is to try to do it on the cheap and run into unpleasant surprises. Good luck with making your plan.
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Old 26-01-2016, 14:17   #28
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

I can't say what it might cost you out there, first because we're not out there yet, but also because we're not you, and I don't expect anyone here can. But I will tell you the method we are using to try and determine what our budget might be. We are leaving this fall from Baltimore, MD headed south on a Cape Dory 33, similar in size to your boat.

Our boat is currently undergoing a complete stem to stern and keel to masthead refit and restoration so everything will be either new or in excellent restored condition when we leave. That will hopefully buy us a couple of years of only routine maintenance, but we also have a wish list of things we want to add or upgrade so we are budgeting an additional amount for that into each year. You may not have any such items on your agenda. If you have owned your boat a few years, and you know it is in good repair, you should know what your annual required maintenance costs you, your haul/launch, bottom paint and etc. But I would have at least a couple of thousand $$ above that amount for unplanned breakdowns, repairs, replacements. That's just me, some people are perfectly comfortable without that cushion.

Next we calculated fixed expenses that we know we are going to take into the cruising life with us. That includes things like health, boat, and life insurance; cell phone and/or data charges, a storage room if you are keeping one, mail forwarding service (such at NATO in Sarasota, Fl. or St. Brendan's Isle), memberships and subscriptions, prescription drugs that have to be filled regularly, yearly eye exam and glasses if you wear them, and any other fixed debt payments you might have. It's easy to get hard figures on these items.

Then I started looking at other expenses that won't change much, like food. I have kept all my books in Quicken for years so I know to the penny what we spend monthly on groceries and dining out. I honestly don't expect that to change too much. If we needed to cut back on that figure we certainly could (we eat better than any two people need to), but expect we'll continue to eat the same way we do now, and we do dine out once or twice a week or so. We drink only occasionally so that's not a huge budget, and neither of us smoke.

Those are the things that were easy to figure out. Then things get more challenging, but also much more flexible depending on how much income you have to work with. Fortunately for us we have a pretty good retirement (that we waited a long time for so we're probably a good bit older than you). We know we will most likely spend several months of the winter in Florida and will rent a slip on a monthly basis. I looked into the actual area where we want to be and got prices on what that cost would look like. We are planning a snowbird life mostly plying up and down the East Coast of the U.S. with forays into the Bahamas and Caribbean at some point, and I suspect that we will probably stay in a slip frequently. That's just us. We may rent cars from time to time. But these are all the things that no one else knows about you, but you know about yourself.

Start with what you know, and then figure out what you have left for what you don't know, then see if you can make the things that are flexible fit comfortably into what you got left. The other option is what someone else said, cruise until the money runs out then work and make more.
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Old 26-01-2016, 15:05   #29
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

Interesting question. For two of you, living frugally, you can manage on $1k p/m. Take a back packing tent with you when on shore leave and hike where ever you go, or take local buses. Anchoring and not eating ashore saves you big bucks. Ensure you and your vessel are self sufficient and you'll manage just fine, similar to many others on similar budgets.
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Old 26-01-2016, 15:13   #30
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Re: How much is enough.....$$$$

"take two at low eight" ummmm what's that translate to for a new sailor? a REALLY new sailor . . . JHL
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