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Old 01-03-2019, 06:38   #1
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Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

As we were getting ready to cut the dock lines, I found Sailorboy's monthly posts listing his cruising expenses were very helpful as a real world example of the costs of cruising. In the interest of paying it forward, I thought I'd list our monthly expenses for those who are dreaming and planning as we once were.

As background, we are a middle-aged couple (I'm 49, Mr. cthoops is 59) and we are cruising full-time on our 1977 Bristol 29.9. This is our second boat and we've spent the last few years sailing her in the summer and refitting during the winter.

This month we crossed to the Bahamas on February 3rd where we remain. Nothing like spending most of the month in uninhabited places to keep the cash outflow down! We may just have to stay here.

Here we go:

Groceries/Non-food Groceries: $327.85

Diesel/Gasoline: $120 (we paid $5/gallon in Hope Town for 15 gallons)

Cell phone and internet (2 phones, iCloud storage, Garmin inReach subscription, $10 in Skype credit, and myislandwifi because the T-Mobile service is so slow in the Bahamas): $247.63. This will go down next month because we had to pay $50 for the myislandwifi router.

Mail: $5.00

Water: $14.10 (approximately .35/gallon in Hope Town for R/O water)

Ice: $4.50

Restaurants/Entertainment: $90.00

Taxi: $40.00

New York Times subscription: $20.20

Clothing: $32.00

DAN Boater Evacuation Insurance: $50

Check-in fee at the Bahamas: $160 (it's actually $150 but I didn't have the exact amount and the immigration/customs officer didn't have change).

Random: $128.54. This includes a haircut for Mr. cthoops, DVD's, a book on the Abacos, and a swim noodle to replace one that was lost.

Total: $1,239.82

September, 2018 through February, 2019 monthly average: $4,594.78

I hope this is helpful.
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Old 02-03-2019, 06:30   #2
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Thanks for the information, ive been following your cost posts some time now and im getting really scared about the amounts. We did spend 3 months cruising in Europe (Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Holland) and we had an average cost of 1400$ a month. Marina every night exept for 3 nights on public moorings. You are talking US$ in your posts?

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Old 03-03-2019, 06:17   #3
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mickejo View Post
Thanks for the information, ive been following your cost posts some time now and im getting really scared about the amounts. We did spend 3 months cruising in Europe (Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Holland) and we had an average cost of 1400$ a month. Marina every night exept for 3 nights on public moorings. You are talking US$ in your posts?

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Yes, the amounts are in US dollars, but I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the monthly average. I had three months which really skewed the amounts upward - the first month where I paid three months of COBRA health insurance premiums, the second month where we had an unexpected $2,000 repair, and last month where we installed a furler. If not for those months the monthly average would be much less.

When Sailorboy1 started posting his expenses when he began cruising, a few people commented that it takes 6-12 months for the expenses to settle down. We have certainly found that to be the case. I believe we’ll average much closer to $2,000/month from now on, barring something unexpected. Of course that’s why we have a cushion set aside.
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Old 03-03-2019, 11:32   #4
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Thanks I was getting worried.. We are planning to go full time cruising in some years and need to have a healthy idea on about how much funds we need.

Br

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Old 04-03-2019, 00:34   #5
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mickejo View Post
Thanks I was getting worried.. We are planning to go full time cruising in some years and need to have a healthy idea on about how much funds we need.

Br

Micke

Here is 10 years of cost data from the USA to the Caribbean to the Med - it does not vary a lot as you can see until we had major work done last year. But after 12 years underway a lot of stuff needed to be repaired or replaced.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ta-213259.html
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Old 04-03-2019, 02:19   #6
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Thanks chuckr, one question though. Do you do any work your selv or you always hire people to do it for you? I have completely rebuilt our HR 36 from -91 and i just spent $41 000 on that, including new engine. You can se what i spent it on here: HR 36 costs | Left the Dock

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Old 05-03-2019, 00:12   #7
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mickejo View Post
Thanks chuckr, one question though. Do you do any work your selv or you always hire people to do it for you? I have completely rebuilt our HR 36 from -91 and i just spent $41 000 on that, including new engine. You can se what i spent it on here: HR 36 costs | Left the Dock

Br
Micke
It really depends on my ability both from an intelligence standpoint and physical standpoint. I am 74 now and have screws holding both my shoulders together. I use to do all my own bottom jobs but now that would take a bit more time as the shoulders don't like to hold the sander up there very long. We had an engine work last year and it was beyond my capacity from an intelligence standpoint. I can still go up my mast and did it last year but the admiral is getting on me about doing that as I use a mountain climbing technique to do it. So summary in the past a lot of it myself now a bit less.
I did put my solar panels, ais, ssb (except the soldering), and a lot of other things and ran my own wiring for those. as above it really depends
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Old 05-03-2019, 06:02   #8
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cthoops View Post

This month we crossed to the Bahamas on February 3rd where we remain. Nothing like spending most of the month in uninhabited places to keep the cash outflow down! We may just have to stay here.
Told you

I have found that the best way to to stay on budget is to be anchored in "uninhabited" places. It works even better if there isn't a cell phone signal or wifi available. Unfortunately after a few months of that there's an up bounce in the budget as you "recover" from it.
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Old 05-03-2019, 06:50   #9
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cthoops View Post
Total: $1,239.82
You guys are such spendthrifts! We could have easily done it for $1,238.99!

Seriously, thanks for continuing to share your expense data. They're quite helpful to us planners. Now that we've closed on Wanderlust, we may need to do the same when we cast off in two years.
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Old 05-03-2019, 08:50   #10
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckr View Post
It really depends on my ability both from an intelligence standpoint and physical standpoint. I am 74 now and have screws holding both my shoulders together. I use to do all my own bottom jobs but now that would take a bit more time as the shoulders don't like to hold the sander up there very long. We had an engine work last year and it was beyond my capacity from an intelligence standpoint. I can still go up my mast and did it last year but the admiral is getting on me about doing that as I use a mountain climbing technique to do it. So summary in the past a lot of it myself now a bit less.
I did put my solar panels, ais, ssb (except the soldering), and a lot of other things and ran my own wiring for those. as above it really depends
Thanks
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Old 09-03-2019, 19:00   #11
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

I appreciate everyone who’s sharing expense data. I live aboard 9 months of the year on the upper Mississippi and average a little over 100 hours per year on the mains. All my boating related cost are supported from my SS monthly check of $1854.00 it goes into a account dedicated to the boat. I’ve found the actual cost is much less and I save money every month, when cruising I normally anchor out and only go to marinas for fuel, water or to buy provisions. I have a pretty decent store of spares that I’ve bought over the years. I do about all my maintenance except what I job out to the marina over winter such as bottom paint, fiberglass or gelcoat work. I imagine I save money by being on the river vs the gulf or coastal areas because slips are less expensive along with some other things.
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Old 20-03-2019, 17:05   #12
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cthoops View Post
Total: $1,239.82

September, 2018 through February, 2019 monthly average: $4,594.78

I hope this is helpful.
Try harder to get yourself under control!!! There are some non cruisers here on cf that feel you could own a house, have an apartment, and still cruise for far less than that.


You said elsewhere no one was commenting, so I didn’t want to to miss out











Btw - all in fun regarding you
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Old 20-03-2019, 18:08   #13
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Re: Our cruising costs - month six for a middle-aged couple in a modest boat.

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Originally Posted by sailorboy1 View Post
Try harder to get yourself under control!!! There are some non cruisers here on cf that feel you could own a house, have an apartment, and still cruise for far less than that.


You said elsewhere no one was commenting, so I didn’t want to to miss out











Btw - all in fun regarding you
LOL! Thanks, Sailorboy.
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