Annual Live Aboard Budget ?

[chuckr]

if God was not taking care of me i probably would have sunk soulmates a long time ago and been still sitting in miami trying to learn spanish

as for the budget - yea i planned but did not except fuel to double - wow what an expense - really hit hard - but as with everything i will rebudget - actually budgetted for a trip to ohio to attend high school class reunion and came out less than anticipated so paid for part of the diesel -
food is a bit cheaper than i expected but i do not eat out - i really did not care for beer prior to leaving but after checking the prices of mixed drinks at $6-7 and beer at $2-4 - guess what as tom t hall sang -- Ii like beer -
chuck and svsoulmates
ki4sry
anchored in scranton creek nc waiting to get pounded by a thunderstorm

[Brent Swain]

Your personal environmental footprint is directly porportionate to how much money you spend ,period. There are variations on this but they are rare.
Brent

[Chrisc]

We have been living aboard for a while now, and full time coastal cruising for a year and a half - probably not long enough to have an informed opinion of our expenses. We spend two days per month in marinas and for the rest are either at anchor or underway. We live well, on a well maintained boat for NZ$300 per week. I think that would be around US$200.

[Jim St.Pierre]

Thanks for your comment. We plan to sail from Cape Cod to St.Johns next fall. We will be gone for about six months then return for the summer and do the same thing the following year as well. God willing. Anyone reading this thread that would like to share your thoughts of expenses or anything else I will need to know, please reply. Thank You All. Jim..S/V Destiny

[svBeBe]

Originally Posted by Jim St.Pierre

Thanks for your comment. We plan to sail from Cape Cod to St.Johns next fall. We will be gone for about six months then return for the summer and do the same thing the following year as well. God willing. Anyone reading this thread that would like to share your thoughts of expenses or anything else I will need to know, please reply. Thank You All. Jim..S/V Destiny

Which St. Johns? If it is St. Johns, USVI then be prepared to pay $15 per night for moorings. No anchoring allowed except in Coral Bay with the derelicts. USVI recently passed no-anchoring restrictions in the 3 most popular anchorages, so no more anchoring at Christmas Cove. Makes Culebra in SPVI more attractive these days.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by Jim St.Pierre

Thanks for your comment. We plan to sail from Cape Cod to St.Johns next fall. We will be gone for about six months then return for the summer and do the same thing the following year as well. God willing. Anyone reading this thread that would like to share your thoughts of expenses or anything else I will need to know, please reply. Thank You All. Jim..S/V Destiny

Which St. Johns? If it is Newfoundland then plan for a great trip. You may want to think about an additional heater. I ended up installing an Espar/Airtronic D-4. Not that it is that cold but it does get that wet and it can be hard to dry out. I have sailed from Shebourn, NS up to St Pierre and back to Sydney. The North Sydney Yacht Club is the low cost leader.

Once you get past Halifax you are pretty much on your own. The only place I can find to buy "yachtie" stuff is in Lewisporte, sort of NW of Gander about 45 minutes.

Most towns on the South coast have a civic holiday. In NS the whole providence celebrates on one day. In NL they string it out so that every weekend is another excuse for a party.

If you don't break down it should be down right cheap. Take lots of spares including resin and glass. You would think that would be everwhere with all the glass fishing boats but nope.

[Brent Swain]

A friend ,living aboard near Victoria with a couple of kids, said if he can come up with $500 a month he is comfortable. Another couple sailed from Mexico to New Zealand on 35 gallons of diesel. When it was calm, they read. Very easy on fuel.

[wolfenzee]

I live on a "passive income" of aprox $12,000/yr USD and am still working on refitting my boat for extended cruising for two.

[Hal]

I'm going to have about 25K to pay for upkeep and living costs. The boat will be paid for with no bills at the farm. The first time I leave port will be great! No ties to the umbilical cords of the world. No power lines, no water lines, no electric lines and no post office delivering bills. Free at last!

[Captn_Black]

For me, the only thing that makes live-aboard cruising possible is renting out my apartment. After marina fee's and living costs I still have $600+ to play with/month, so hopefully, even major repairs will only set me back a few months.
And of course, while at sea I'll be actually saving money...

[wolfenzee]

This could be put under annual live aboard budget or several other things.
My slip rental+live aboard fees+taxes and more fees & taxes is a little under $300/mo + power usage (using electric heat in winter on a bad month is <$50 in summer <$10) and $100mo for shop space. When I travel it drops down to about $175 with a credit whenever someone stays in my slip (one day off my rent for each day). My base/passive income is about $900/mo + about $100misc. and I have very few costs in life.
In the next couple of months I will be doing a fairly major interior refit to get the boat ready for long range cruising for two as well as more comfortable live aboard. My boat is a "tight little ship" and I don't have to do anything to get it to the point where I can do what I want, I have most of the materiel and will be doing all of the work myself with help from friends. My plan is to take one of those friends on a cruise to AK for the summer and possibly to warmer climes in winter.
One of the most expensive things about owning a boat is paying someone else to do the work for you.

[Captn_Black]

I'd be interested to see how these budgets translate to annual budget/foot.....

[Greenman]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

Your personal environmental footprint is directly porportionate to how much money you spend ,period. There are variations on this but they are rare.
Brent

2 months ago I would have doubted that statement, BUT, I recently took over all the banking (so I could learn how things worked), and because I want to hammer down debt before I retire.

Anyways, since we really started being very fiscally responsible our garbage has gone from 3 bins evey 2 weeks to about 1/2 a bin. The one week we slipped and spent a ton, our garbage tripled. I even commented to my wife about it. Funny when I read this post it was so true I had to comment.

[GordMay]

See Bill Dietrich’s interesting & informative webpage:
Money needed to buy and refit a sailboat and live on it.
Money Needed to Buy, Refit and Live on Boat

[Allan S]

I find it is quite impossible to nail down an actual figure for costs. We live with what our excess folding money allows. Nothing on credit, save for your purchases then buy. You have no idea how hard it is to do that in this culture of instant gratification. Hell, it took us two months to save for the three sheets of marine grade plywood for our deckhead replacement. Every payday we buy something on our "Project List" such as resin on one payday, time bottom paint another....you see where I am comming from.

Money wise, it is the instant gratification mentality that is the hardest to overcome. Change the way your mind works and you'll do fine.

We will apply this magnificent and enlightning philosophy for when we actualy begin cruising and hope that our asses don't get handed back to us in a sling...lol