Cruising on $5,000 / Month

[boatman61]

I love my work... when I can get it
must be mad..

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I love my work... when I can get it
must be mad..

I hate my work. But do it as part of my long term stop working plan. Otherwise I would be on another thread where others could tell me just how happy I am without that evil money.

I have no personal problem with people who want to live on $500/mo. But I always wonder why they seem to have a problem with others not wanting to do it.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I hate my work. But do it as part of my long term stop working plan. Otherwise I would be on another thread where others could tell me just how happy I am without that evil money.

I have no personal problem with people who want to live on $500/mo. But I always wonder why they seem to have a problem with others not wanting to do it.

No Problem here mate...
Just love to wind em up and watch em go...

[Mike OReilly]

Sorry, can't resist...

As me ol' newfie father used to say: "I love work so much, I can sit and watch it all day."

And with that, perhaps those of us of the unwashed masses should leave the gold plated cruisers to their thread. It always irks me when one of these bulls comes charging into our frugal threads and starts saying it can't be done. We can always discuss how unnecessary wage labour is over there.

[sailorboy1]

sometimes I just don't understand who is who as my plans are for being a "frugal" cruiser, just not a delusional cruiser with a math problem

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

sometimes I just don't understand who is who as my plans are for being a "frugal" cruiser, just not a delusional cruiser with a math problem

Don't sweat it.. its all relative and..
If others don't like your budget.. that's their problem.. not yours
Ya rich git..

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Sorry, can't resist...

As me ol' newfie father used to say: "I love work so much, I can sit and watch it all day."

And with that, perhaps those of us of the unwashed masses should leave the gold plated cruisers to their thread. It always irks me when one of these bulls comes charging into our frugal threads and starts saying it can't be done. We can always discuss how unnecessary wage labour is over there.

Some of "US" are more than anything else trying to figure out how you are doing it, specifically what are you giving up in order to accomplish it, so that we can emulate at least some of your successes and try to avoid some of your mistakes.

I think most of "OUR" concerns is once we stop working, most will be on a fixed income, so determining how much is needed is pretty important as once retired, we can't do back to work even if we wanted, pretty much have one chance to get this right.

I think very few are actually $500 a month, and most aren't $5,000 a month either, it's trying to determine what the middles gets you is what we are after, I think.

Do we need to segregate cruisers by financial means? So far most with much newer, way more expensive, bigger boats than mine haven't turned their noses up at me, and I don't turn my nose up at someone with less boat than I have.

It seems the division that has been between the power boat crowd and sailors has gotten larger, do we need to subdivide cruisers too?

On edit, before I really started looking into this if you had asked me what it would cost, I would have guessed at least 10K a month by the time you factored in boat costs. I though only the rich could afford it, and I know I'm not rich so I never really considered cruising.
It has come as sort of a shock to me that maybe I can afford to cruise, if I'm frugal anyway

[In Training]

a64pilot
I thought the same thing that you had to be rich to cruise as I looked at the cost of boats and it was a lot. never thought to look at used ones. dumb me.
Had a friend that cruised for 5 years and showed me how we really could afford it.
Going to be happy now.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

I think very few are actually $500 a month,

Maybe many more than you might suspect, but for many once in a while they dig in somewhere, find some work and put the money into the boat. Then back to cruising again. Leaping into the financial unknown like that must be very difficult for anyone having had the security of a 'real job' all their life.

Sent from my SGP312 using Tapatalk

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

... I think very few are actually $500 a month, and most aren't $5,000 a month either, it's trying to determine what the middles gets you is what we are after, I think.

Do we need to segregate cruisers by financial means? So far most with much newer, way more expensive, bigger boats than mine haven't turned their noses up at me, and I don't turn my nose up at someone with less boat than I have....

I fully agree a64pilot. I find it ludicrous to segregate based on income. It's not the way it happens in most anchorages I've been in. Large or small, old or new, it rarely seems to matter in the real world (although you can find a few "gits" on both ends of the economic spectrum ). I think we're all trying to do the same thing; live frugally. As Phil says, it's all relative. My abilities, needs, and financial capabilities are not yours, but the aim is the same. Unfortunately some people feel the need to "prove" that their way is the only way, for example:

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

sometimes I just don't understand who is who as my plans are for being a "frugal" cruiser, just not a delusional cruiser with a math problem

This is why I suggested heading back to the frugal cruising threads.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

sometimes I just don't understand who is who as my plans are for being a "frugal" cruiser, just not a delusional cruiser with a math problem

LOL, You know Don, I was really bad in math in jr. and high school. But then I learned applied engineering and it all made sense. That and a HP50G calculator (with RPN of course) keeps this delusional cruiser straight with math.

Did I mention I once wrote a 60K line C++ program for hydraulic calculations for complex piping systems, complete with Autocad DXF input/output, 3D screen printing and plotting. For fun of course. After I taught myself C/C++ that is. A wee bit O math there. I wrote it for myself and used it for 20+ years in that engineering thingy.

As to $500 a month, most folks in the world live on less then $500 a month. Its not easy, but its not at all hard either. Yes it limits my cruising grounds a bit, but Gee I'm doing it now.

Guess what Don... I'm sailing today too.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I hate my work. But do it as part of my long term stop working plan. Otherwise I would be on another thread where others could tell me just how happy I am without that evil money.

I have no personal problem with people who want to live on $500/mo. But I always wonder why they seem to have a problem with others not wanting to do it.

Wow, that is sad. I loved my work. Others told me to a great extent that was why I was able to command the level of pay I did.

But I suspect that is also why I wound up being one of those $US500/month cruisers. I was too busy working and loving it to spend my money on expensive things. I was the classic computer nerd wearing a tshirt, jeans, and flip flops and getting stuff done that no one else in the office could do. Now I am the classic $US500/month cruiser and loving it.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

SNIP

with RPN of course

SNIP

I loved Reverse Polish Notation. It required so many fewer key strokes.

[w1651]

Some of "US" are more than anything else trying to figure out how you are doing it, specifically what are you giving up in order to accomplish it, so that we can emulate at least some of your successes and try to avoid some of your mistakes.

The first mistake I think people make is are you doing it for yourself or living some one elses dream. If your at the bar every night and thinking how great it would be to sail and you have never stepped on to a boat you might want to crew once or twice at the local yacht club and find out if you get sick on the water or not.
Another mistake is the boat. Keep it under 35 foot if your single and not over 40 ft if you have a spouse and does your spouse like to cruise. She better or you won't.
Next is Bells and whistles, The less you have the better off you are and always buy with frugality in mind. Never ever skimp on Safety for yourself or other boaters.
Then there is the rigging and sub systems set up of your boat. Is it a coastal cruiser or a blue water boat? You can island hop all the way to Brazil and south and central America with a coastal cruiser here. But the south pacific might be a bit of a leap of faith in the wrong boat. on average 3 months to get to Tahiti. With a 30 or 40 gallon water tank it better rain a lot on the way if you get my meaning. I have to add a tank to my boat as a matter of fact.

I got very lucky. I bought my boat from a charity and it is a well built Blue water cruiser. It comes from Holland and I only paid 2800 for it and I kick myself because I know they would have taken less. So there are ways to get a good boat at a reasonable cost.
As far as 500 a month or 5000. If you can or want to cruise on 500 that's great. If you want to cruise on 5000 that's great. I know what my budget is and I don't really care what yours is. I'll still buy you a beer at the local pub (Which will more then likely be the cockpit of my boat) when I get out there if I think your a decent person. Money is all relative. I know poor people I have a great time with and I know the richer people I have just as much fun with. And besides your budget and your income is neither my concern or my business. And I can live with that.

P.S. If I ever get to Portugal Boatman the first rounds on me.

[StuM]

> That and a HP50G calculator (with RPN of course)

Guess that explains your bass ackward maths