Cruising on $5,000 / Month

[Jim Cate]

Costs for slipping vary widely with geographical location... at least in this part of the world. For our 46 foot yacht, Sydney area prices would run well over a kilobuck for in,out, blocking, pressure wash and a few lay days whilst I labour away.

In March, I did it in Hobart, and the yard bill was 171 AUD. The supplies (paint etc) are about the same, but what a difference in yard costs! Besides, summer in Tasmania is very pleasant, and the cruising grounds are wonderful.

Cheers,

Jim

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

This is a little out of context and I'll elaborate.

3. I'd make a bet that the vast majority of the $500 a month group are in fact not really very mobile at all, they can't afford to be, give them another $500 a month and they would be more mobile I'd bet.

True, At $500 a month, touring socal is so not in the budget. Nor are many places alas. Myself I'm waiting to when I qualify for SS at 62 (alas only 3.5 years away). Then I'll have about $1300 after taxes and other fees. After living on $500 a month, $1300 will seem very posh for sure. Then I'll have far more areas to cruise, though still not the med, or other areas. Figure I'll head to the east coast then and cause all sort of problems on that coast.

Mind you I'll still put a lot of that largest away. I've failed at the whole material girl thingy.

BTW, Yes I could get a job in a big city somewhere doing engineering at $80k a year or so. I just can't bring myself to stoop down to that level of suffering. The car, clothing, expensive liveaboard fees if I was lucky to liveaboard and other expenses with a land side job is really too much and takes way too much of the income just to support working again. So I'll do odd jobs or take a $10/hour job now or then for a month or three and get another 8-10 months O sailing, living large.

[sailorboy1]

that's great, but another thread

it's interesting that you are putting off your plans for 3.5 years to wait for SS, but not willing to work 1 year to go sooner

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

that's great, but another thread

it's interesting that you are putting off your plans for 3.5 years to wait for SS, but not willing to work 1 year to go sooner

Don, I've been living and sailing full time for 4 years now. I lived aboard for 6 years before that while working too and sailed weekends etc..

No, the SS in 3.5 years will allow me to broaden my horizon a bit. That's all.

I've actually did spreadsheets (engineers love spreadsheets) and working for a year is not economically viable. Say I work a year and make $80k. The tax man will take 48% for state/fed taxes, SS, obamacare and medi, perhaps more. SF will take 1% in city taxes.

That leaves $40k. But I need a car, gas, insurance, liveaboard slip, work clothing, etc. (flip flops generally are not going to work for business attire). Long story short after working a year, I'll save about $6K to $10k if I'm lucky.

But I'll never get that year back. Nor would I sail and live in nature in a generally low stress lifestyle, which engineering is not. Engineers work 50-60 hours a week, some much more. Not my idea of a fun time.

So doing odd jobs and living on ~$6000 a year, that I pay no or less then $100 a year in taxes on, allows me to both enjoy sailing / nature today and to wear flip/flops. Big win.

Come to the dark side Don.....

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Come to the dark side Don.....

Why? My current side is paying for my land living and boating (more for the boating than the land living), with monthly savings going into my cruising kitty to stop working and sail off at age 56 with more than $3k/mo to spend.

And based on your posts, I sail more miles and go to more different places a week than you do with my boat.

So my side is living better than you now, sailing more, building a cruising kittery, and will be able to start my cruising life sooner.

Sounds like you just don't want to work. Afterall that $6-10k in savings would be a year of living, plus you didn't have to spend any savings during the year. That's 2 years of sitting around spending savings that are now in the kitty. So if you worked 1 year you could go at the end of it instead of waiting.

BTW - I'm also an engineer with a MBA, maybe you need help with those spreadsheets!

[hpeer]

After an argument with the Wife about "work" I kinda got into thinking about what " work" is and what it means. Got to the point where I gave a lecture about it to a group. I don't want to go too deep here but, in short, "work" is an over used and miss understood word.

Rest assured Sailorchick is working alright, every bit as much as you are. And her work is just as valuable as yours. If I were to go into all the logic, which I won't, I actually believe that her work is harder yet more valuable than your work. After several years of thought on this matter I'm pretty impervious to value judgements about someone wanting to work or not. It's a personal matter and should be respected.

I too work, part time, because the Wife wants to keep at it a bit. I find city life, working, very expensive and difficult. I firmly believe that my Wife's working actually costs us money, simply because we have to owner occupy the apartment and can't rent it out. But, because on our retirement weeks we live on the boat, we have that expense also. I've looked into retiring before the Wife, but I can't make it work. We can both work, or both retire, we can't split it up.

I make a pretty good buck so my working has paid for some pretty heavy uplifts on the boats. I'm doin a partial refit in my off time. We put the engine back in today, next I'll finish inverting the keel to integral tanks. It just keeps going on. Also I've taken a sabbatical and done a cruise. But just keeping our insurance set us back $2,450/month. That hurt.

BTW.... I'm an engineer also, a PE, and I know spread sheets answer only the questions asked, they don't reveal the truth.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Why? My current side is paying for my land living and boating (more for the boating than the land living), with monthly savings going into my cruising kitty to stop working and sail off at age 56 with more than $3k/mo to spend.

And based on your posts, I sail more miles and go to more different places a week than you do with my boat.
!

Gee Don, your probably right. I've only sailed about a 1000 miles in each of the last four years. I'm sure you sail lots more. How many miles did you sail today. Myself alas only 4. But I've done 80 miles in the last two weeks .

I don't have any type of degree at all having never attended any collage, etc.. But I do have a engineers PE license that I passed the first time I took the test. Yes I could work a year and save 6k, but that year is gone with little sailing at all. I'd rather work 2-3 months and sail 9-10 months then the way most folks do it. But I'm blonde, so there you go.

It's ok you'll probably enjoy sailing more when you retire. Myself I've had to suffer through four years of sailing already and I started at 54 years of age. well 48 living aboard.

Luckily, there is not just one way to happiness. I'm sure you'll be just as happy as me when you sail full time.

[hpeer]

That's funny. I've a BA, which the board would not recognize. So I had to do the experience route also. Passed first time, barely. But the pass rate was 38% that cycle!

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by hpeer

That's funny. I've a BA, which the board would not recognize. So I had to do the experience route also. Passed first time, barely. But the pass rate was 38% that cycle!

All that matters is you pass... I knew a few guys with engineering degrees that took the test 3 times for one and 4 times for the other. Mine was about a 38% pass rate too. I think most states now a days have stopped the non-degree engineers from taking the test via experience. Pity.

Really it depends on what questions are on the test anyway. I got lucky that most of the questions were doable for me that time Still took all day. Never want to do that again. Three months of 3-4 hours a night studying, after working all day, many times at a job site. Good times then. It was very worth it in the end.

Back on thread:

Myself, I feel that I have somewhere between one day and twenty years left on this planet. Call me crazy (many have), But I'd rather enjoy the days now then fight another year in the rat race. Had I been driven by money, I would have been a partner in a firm ages ago. Actually I was once, but gave it up as the projects were too boring...

But then, I've always wanted to play in the sunshine more anyway. Not everyone is cut out to be a crazy cat lady flipflop wearing hippy chick.

[osirissail]

For the $500 per month folks there is no "special math" there is just spreading the cost of the bottom job whenever it is needed over the year by either saving up for it or by paying it off in small monthly payments. Just because they chose to live frugally to the extreme doesn't mean that they don't have incomes or savings that exceed the $500/mo ($6K/year).

And sometimes, in my case when in the D.R., it just wasn't feasible to spend more than that per month for a normal cruiser lifestyle unless you chose to do something outrageous like buying a round of drinks for everybody in the local hang out every night. There are places where a normal frugal lifestyle costs significantly less or a fraction of what it costs in a 1st World country.

[Sondor]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Why? My current side is paying for my land living and boating (more for the boating than the land living), with monthly savings going into my cruising kitty to stop working and sail off at age 56 with more than $3k/mo to spend.

And based on your posts, I sail more miles and go to more different places a week than you do with my boat.

So my side is living better than you now, sailing more, building a cruising kittery, and will be able to start my cruising life sooner.

Sounds like you just don't want to work. Afterall that $6-10k in savings would be a year of living, plus you didn't have to spend any savings during the year. That's 2 years of sitting around spending savings that are now in the kitty. So if you worked 1 year you could go at the end of it instead of waiting.

BTW - I'm also an engineer with a MBA, maybe you need help with those spreadsheets!

The Parable of The Mexican Fisherman And The Banker:

An American investment banker was taking a much-needed vacation in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. The boat had several large, fresh fish in it.

The investment banker was impressed by the quality of the fish and asked the Mexican how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.” The banker then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican fisherman replied he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman replied, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos: I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The investment banker scoffed, “I am an Ivy League MBA, and I could help you. You could spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats until eventually you would have a whole fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to the middleman you could sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You could control the product, processing and distribution.”

Then he added, “Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City where you would run your growing enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You could make millions.”

“Millions, senor? Then what?”

To which the investment banker replied, “Then you would retire. You could move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

[weavis]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

• Gee Don, your probably right.
• I'm sure you'll be just as happy as me when you sail full time.

1/. no
2/. no


You rock Lady. For some one to find value in life for lifes sake and take each day and enjoy it, and find a way to make the dream happen by a value judgement and being content in the choice, I applaud and support your right to do so.

The fact that you dont need ANY thing from us is further proof of your involvement with life on your terms.

Thank you so much for being you and a role model of what a real woman is.

[sailorboy1]

sometimes it is just zen meets a bull, which leads to ..............

[Hudson Force]

Not working is working for me!

[conachair]

Originally Posted by osirissail

Just because they chose to live frugally to the extreme........

OR alternatively, since nearly half the people on the planet exist on $2. 50 a day or less, and about 4 out of 5 people alive have to get by on $10 a day, five hundred a month can actually be seen as extraordinary wealth as opposed to frugal in the extreme. Just add a boat in fairly decent condition and the ability to recognise and cut through a lifetime of social conditioning then you can be one of the luckiest people on the planet

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