‘We feel truly alive’ - Observer article about the newest crop of liveaboards.

[thomm225]

Folks, give it up.

Sailors have rounded the world on very little.

You don't NEED batteries

Autopilots,

computers,

new sails,

bottom jobs,

VHF/GPS/AIS .

Get it?

It's a sailboat so you need some rags to raise to power your vessel, food, and water.

For entertainment books! Plus maybe a handline and some lures....

Bring along a $39 sextant

Work out your way from there.

The point is some could and have done it for very little.

Others though that spend $3,000 -$10,000 a month with their boat parked at a marina maybe not.

[boatman61]

And.. definitely not people who call 40ftrs Pocket Cruisers..

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Folks, give it up.

Sailors have rounded the world on very little.

You don't NEED batteries

Autopilots,

computers,

new sails,

bottom jobs,

VHF/GPS/AIS .

Get it?

It's a sailboat so you need some rags to raise to power your vessel, food, and water.

For entertainment books! Plus maybe a handline and some lures....

Bring along a $39 sextant

Work out your way from there.

The point is some could and have done it for very little.

Others though that spend $3,000 -$10,000 a month with their boat parked at a marina maybe not.

Then of course there is the sweet spot in the center some where. To some $100,000 is chump change. To others a $20 bill means everything. But guess which one gets squeezed the most?

[sjrider]

Did I read that right? 5 pounds a day!!! I must be doing something wrong. Wife and I have been living on a 34 foot mono for almost a year. It was pretty well refitted and we have not had to many things break. We still are spending on average $1800 US. Thats in mexico. Im not sure how we could spend less, and call it life, not just surviving. We mostly anchor out, spend sometime in marinas. We eat out a handful of times a month, tacos are cheap. I'm certain our costs will go up with time. Things will break.
5 pounds a day is not reality.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by sjrider

.
5 pounds a day is not reality.

It is for some
Much of the world , around 25% lives on less.
But that ain't them.

[paralog]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Stopped reading after they said they live on 5 pounds a day.

It you have actually been following them on YouTube you will see that they are living very frugally and doing all the work themselves. If you are very frugal it is possible to live on very little. There is another couple who i have met that manage to live on virtually nothing and are having the time of their live on about the third boat they have rebuilt. Their site on YouTube is called Sailorama, its worth taking a look at to see how cheaply you can live.
I just wish i was a frugal as they are.

[sjrider]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

It is for some
Much of the world , around 25% lives on less.
But that ain't them.

I wont argue with that, there is alot of poor in the world. I have seen people living on less while in Cambodia

I dont believe that they can live their lifestyle on 5 pounds a day.

If anything breaks on the boat they are spending more then 5 pounds a day.
They might be able to eat and survive on that, but I dont belive they are accounting for every expense they have. They have a youtube channel. Camera gear breaks so do laptops and other elecrronics they are using, most editing software you have to pay for.
There are not many things you can fix on a sailboat for less then 150 pounds, which is a month worth of living expenses for them.

[goboatingnow]

I’d take the whole guardian article with a grain of salt. , noone is living on a sailing boat for a fiver a day ( oh and their 60,000 yiu tube supporters ) was to abject nonsense , a litre of acetone is a fiver

I smell cow dung

pS a decent accurate sextant is several hundred dollars by the way , mine was

[goboatingnow]

We spend lots of time on and off in our marina cause wifey loves the town and has loads of friends , we stay on board over the winter and that’s exclusively marina based. Who wants to swing in a remote bay in January , get a grip folks

[Franziska]

Not an issue if you are far enough south.
Don't go by your spending standarts.
There are folks who live frugal even on shore.

I agree though that getting a boat suitable for frugal cruising is expensive and ocasssionaly there are more expensive repairs and replacements.

Guess the 5$ factor in only day to day living costs and only for folks without any insurance (boat&health), and without, in honesty, chocolate addiction, smile...

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

We spend lots of time on and off in our marina cause wifey loves the town and has loads of friends , we stay on board over the winter and that’s exclusively marina based. Who wants to swing in a remote bay in January , get a grip folks

We haven't been in a marina in 6 years
January is a fantastic time to be in a remote bay, be 30c + here most days

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

We haven't been in a marina in 6 years
January is a fantastic time to be in a remote bay, be 30c + here most days

Here it will be 10 degrees raining and blowing hard , thanks I’ll stay in the marina , I prefer sitting in a cafe watching the rain and chatting to my friends

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Here it will be 10 degrees raining and blowing hard , thanks I’ll stay in the marina , I prefer sitting in a cafe watching the rain and chatting to my friends

Than, you picked the wrong location, if you want to really live truly frugal & in a nice spot...

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Than, you picked the wrong location, if you want to really live truly frugal & in a nice spot...

We live on a modest teachers state pension . She even gets a dependency allowance for me !!!

We like to eat out , 2-3 times a week , frugal meals ( mine tonight was 8 euros including a bottle of nice beer ) we cook on board the rest of the time

Weather from April to November is wonderful,in the winter we take language lessons , do cultural stuff , explore inland , so many places and countries to see , Albania this year for example

I certainly like to sail not swing on an anchorage for weeks. If I’m going to be stopped for a while , it’s a town for me.

So yes I’m frugal and yes I live in a nice spot.

Frugally is to a point , no point scrimping to a level dramatically below what you need to. , there’s no attraction in poverty per se.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

We live on a modest teachers state pension . She even gets a dependency allowance for me !!!

We like to eat out , 2-3 times a week , frugal meals ( mine tonight was 8 euros including a bottle of nice beer ) we cook on board the rest of the time

Weather from April to November is wonderful,in the winter we take language lessons , do cultural stuff , explore inland , so many places and countries to see , Albania this year for example

I certainly like to sail not swing on an anchorage for weeks. If I’m going to be stopped for a while , it’s a town for me.

So yes I’m frugal and yes I live in a nice spot.

Frugally is to a point , no point scrimping to a level dramatically below what you need to. , there’s no attraction in poverty per se.

Point is, what feels like poverty to you is not poverty but quite acceptable to others.

You eat out several times per week, many do that 1-3 a month and it's not an issue to them that they don't do it more often.

You want to be in a marina when you visit a town. Surely do it, but others anchor and take their dinghy to town (rowing!) and feel happy.

Some decide they have to have insurance and they would never feel comfortable without, to others that is quite acceptable if they can live their cruising livestyle due to this.

Cruising is not making indefinite holidays for many. If folks go out for three weeks holidays most of them have completely different spending habits than cruisers.

Cruisers on a pension have often very much different spending habits than the ones which work from the boat to finance their dream.
They all do it to a level they are comfortable with.

So frugal vs poverty is a very personal thing and viewpoint.