Monthly Expenses Living on Land vs Living on a Boat in a Marina

[delmarrey]

It's all relative.

Per sq. ft., houses are cheaper.

Per maintenance costs, houses are cheaper.

Per utilities, boats are cheaper.

Per insurance, houses are cheaper.

Comfort, houses are cheaper.

On boats the neighbors are closer but usually friendlier.

Security, depends what neighborhood your in.

Weather, boats are wetter in the rain and hotter in the sun w/o AC and sometimes leak (back to maintenance).

But there is no replacement for the warm fuzzy feeling like living on a boat, UNLESS your house is next to the water and the boat is parked just off the beach.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Ocean Roads

. . . Anything you thought you could live without, but ended up needing?

From the OP - living space should be considered in making the shift. And as Wolfenzee alludes to - a lot of times we accumulate too much space especially when having a house. As opposed to normal folks in Europe, folk in North America typically have a fixation of having to have mega-square footage of house/home. Most of which is never used for anything other than storage.
- - Being forced by economic considerations or just plain smarts to "downsize," it is not uncommon to come to the realization that all that square footage was more of a burden than an assistance - other than to use as storage for stuff you must have but have never used more than once.
- - Some folks, especially males can much more easily downsize to a compact, efficient living space. It is nice to be able to reach out in various directions to get what you need at the moment without having to walk 5 minutes from one end of a house to the other. The other side of that advantage is the huge reduction in the amount of "stuff" you can cram into a small boat.
- - Even amongst active cruising couples, those with 40 ft or less LOA boats many usually end up with piles of "stuff" stacked in each cabin and the main salon. Living for them is a matter off constantly moving a pile of stuff from here to over there so you can get space to sit or do something.
- - So for some few folks a small living space is a godsend for the reasons that you were forced to shed piles of stuff accumulated over the years that you never really used or needed. For others, it is cruel and unusual punishment as they really need the psychological comfort that having excess "space" to show off or demonstrate by their lifestyle their economic status in the social world.
- - Now-a-days whenever we get to a major population harbor I can enjoy wandering through shopping malls window shopping without fear - as I know she cannot buy anything because the boat is already full to the gunwales.

[boatman61]

To put it more simply....
Expense's/Cost of living is in YOUR HANDS when living on a boat...
and not at the whims of others...
If its expensive... its because YOU made it so..

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - Now-a-days whenever we get to a major population harbor I can enjoy wandering through shopping malls window shopping without fear - as I know she cannot buy anything because the boat is already full to the gunwales.

And that's one of the reasons (most) woman and boats don't mix. My first wife and I lived on a 40' power boat while she worked for lawyers. She constantly complained about not enough wardrobe space. So I rented a storage space close to the boat so she could swap out clothes every week but that only worked for a couple months. Everything was just too much trouble so I sold the boat.

I wandered like a lost animal for a few years until she left and then I went back to boats but not as a liveaboard. I accumulated too many tools by then as part of my trade. A business rental will bust you if your not making real good money.

Living aboard, one has to be very organized, hygienic, and willing to sacrifice the conveniences of a spacious home/shop.

The thing I hated the most was having to move stuff so I could get to something I needed and then having to move it again to put it back. And that goes for working on stuff inside the boat. Next thing you know everything you own is up on deck while your deep in the bilges, then it starts to rain. Personally, I would NEVER live on a boat that required a lot of work!!!
And that's life in the boat world.

[mrohr]

Hi all: Have lived and cruised at significantly reduced costs from my land based life style ,but only if avoiding marinas and expensive larger cities etc. .However to live on the hook it will be necessary to have excellent ground tackle and a higher level of seamanship ; it was often necessary to walk long distances when/ and if I could find a place to land a dingy and to live at a camper level and do almost all my own maintanance of a craft outfitted in a most basic manner.
I had many wonderful times but today ,my wife and I would require much more in terms of creature comforts and conviences for any longer term and have no doubt that
any potential savings would be lost.
There is a reason that most of humanity lives on land.

[Hudson Force]

It's my great fortune that my wife of forty years has enjoyed living aboard for the past thirty-nine years. She always enjoys the thrill of shopping, but matches it with a thrill of gifting and discarding. The space left vacant by our two children moving off the boat has not been filled and they left more than ten years ago. Somebody has to be the lucky guy, Aythya crew

[serah]

It'll be a big difference for us, but perhaps not for reasons so obvious. We don't own currently, so rent in a one bedroom (without roommates) can be had for probably 850. We're paying a bit of a premium at $950. If we were to move wayyy out to the 'burbs instead of the medium distance 'burbs, it may drop. Moorage around here for our 32' is $3600 and change for the year, so roughly $300 a month. At that rate, we're putting the $12000 a year that would have gone towards rent directly into the cruising kitty.

Here's where our catch is; we've acknowledged that we would be paying for the moorage anyway, as well as all the boat repairs. Because they are non-negotiable for us, they're effectively overhead costs. Everything else remains the same; same vehicle, same transit pass, same insurance, same food costs. So for us, once the last few projects to make her truly liveable *cough* shower *cough* are done, onboard we go.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by osirissail

1. Marina slip rent versus apartment rent - sometimes higher in upscale marinas; lower in dumpy, rundown marinas

One thing I did not realize until a different thread on this site is the VAST differences in slip fees in different places. In my part of the world for a 40' slip in a nice Marina you pay $300-$400 a month (including live aboard fee). That is about half what an apartment of any quality costs.

I know form other posters that slip fees in other parts of the US and Canada are easily twice that.

[delmarrey]

The cost of living ashore just went up drastically for me this week. A broken water line 200' long, 2' down, between the water meter and the house under asphalt is going to cost me about 5 boat credits. No thanks to the cheap ass contractor 20 years ago.

[adriadream]

Now how much would you pay for a waterfront apt or house? Or how much will you pay for all the dr. visits that you will do so you can manage you anxiety and panic attack because you are on the land trying to make the living, trying to have a "normal" life! You placed a bug in your ear about living aboard and I promise you wont let it go until you have done it. If you truly enjoy the water, stars, wind and salty taste in your mouth, you will go even if is more expensive. But it is not! It depends how big of spender are you! If you know how to manage and live simple, you can really save thru this lifestyle. Plus you can move where ever you please, you can live and work in different cities every season

[wolfenzee]

My cost of living on a boat does have one major expense (20% of my income) that living in a house wouldn't have.....refitting the boat so I can cut my land ties and sail off into the tropical sunset, living on next to nothing.

[capt_douglas]

Since most marinas charge by the foot, until you know the size of your boat and know its gear, thinking you're going to be saving on a place to sleep may be premature.

Many marinas charge by the power used. Those that don't will charge more if you're using AC instead of fans.

Many marinas are requiring waste hookups and some charge for each pump out.

Many marinas are requiring liability insurance.

Wifi may be free but at low speeds. You may have to pay for the connect.

[wolfenzee]

The marina where I am living now has slip rental fee, lease hold tax. live aboard fee, lease hold tax again, environmental fee, power hook up fee, and metered power and sales tax. For a 30' boat with a permanent slip, using electric heat to keep nice and toasty in the middle of winter, computer, refigerator freezer, etc that doesn't get above $350/mo). If you have a "proper head" there is a pump out fee, just liability insurance is actually pretty cheap, laundry and showers cost too, but not that much really. It is actually alot less than renting a room in a "house to share" arrangement or renting a space for a travel trailer (nicer neighbors too).

[Ocean Roads]

Talking with my dock landlord where I keep my work boat tomorrow about the "new" sailboat and $$.

[capnorv]

Ours is in the good months. We're just north of the Harstine Island bridge in Howards Cove, where are you, if I may ask.