Frugal Cruising Idea Exchange

[Mike OReilly]

valhalla360: True, a balance sheet is a balance sheet. Sometimes cutting is harder than earning. But that is all very theoretical. Each person must make their own choices based on their own needs and skills and opportunities.

I will say (and what sailorchic34 is saying … I believe), being frugal is a skill that does not come easy to most of us who have lived in affluence for long periods. And that includes almost everyone in the West — and even a higher proportion of those who own boats (a few present company excluded). There are exceptions, of course, but growing up in a rich environment, surrounded by wealth and the ever-present messages to, buy, Buy, BUY!! Well, most of us get little training in being frugal. Quite the opposite in fact. We’re trained to be “consumers.”

conachair: Fully agree on the cost of gas vs electric. I can buy a crap load of propane for the price of a solar system needed to run a decent cooker. But it depends on how and why you cook. If cooking is simply utilitarian, then sure, an electric slow cooker will heat stuff. But for me, cooking is one of the pleasures of a slow life. As I said, fuel is pretty darn cheap. And most stove/ovens are pretty darn efficient. But +1 on the pressure cooker. Love ours .

And good point about spending money for entertainment. This is why I suggest staying away from popular ‘touristy’ areas, and generally away from larger urban centres.

Sojourner: Completely with you on the, Go Slow approach. It is so much easier to be frugal when you have the time to understand a place. You get to know where the good deals are, where the cheap entertainment is. But mostly you get to know a space. There is beauty and wonder everywhere. Stay and enjoy it.

Benz: Let me reinforce your point; frugally is not the same as being cheap, or even spending less in the moment. Sometimes the frugal choice is the more expensive option. Quality items that you actually need tend to be ‘cheaper’ over time vs buying crap over and over again.

sailorchic34: You are an amazing example of what is possible. I’m not quite in your league. We (my spouse and I) manage on a budget of about $1,100 US/month. But to be fair, we have a decent nest egg for crisis or big cost items. I’m still learning to be frugal...

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Re low cost cooking: research retained heat cooking. One such product is Wonder Bag. Works great doesnt heat up the boat either.

See item 5.
Sail Delmarva: 100 Best Buys--Chapter 1

However, just wrapping a pot in several folded up fleece blankets is quite effective. Find a stable spot on the floor. I use retained rat cooking for many things at home, just so I don't have to watch them. But it is a super on-boat frugal cooking tip.

Even if money does not matter, I don't have to watch it and it keeps the heat out of the galley.

[stevegerber]

I don't know thinwater, "retained rats", might be a little extreme even for a diehard frugalist like me... I would give roast guinea pig a try if I was in Peru!

[grantmc]

A friend of mine recently returned from sailing around Fiji. He went with a cruising assn who's fleet was 50+ boats, many of them retired Amercians in large cats. It was all sold on the basis that they’d go to places that foreigners normally aren’t allowed to visit (yeah right), but anyway.

My kiwi mate and his wife, not poor by any means, but in their older mono, obviously nowhere near as affluent as the people sailing $US500K+ MacCats. As they travelled from island to island, and anchored off beaches with little villages, they became sickeningly disenchanted and embarrassed with their situation, and eventually pulled out of the rally.

The villagers would usually use this mana from heaven opportunity to sell everything and everything they had to the rich yanks. And the rich cruisers were seemingly oblivious to the harm they were causing and the obvious comparative poverty of the locals.

Another variant of this too is that the richer you look, the more expensive prices will be. You turn up to some little third world village machine shop holding a broken part you need them to fix and you’re dripping with money then expect to pay. For example, many of the tenders used by cruisers are worth more and are better equipped than the boats these local people use for fishing out of sight of land.

So a figure like US$500 per monthly spend, sounding so low to us on the forum, will perhaps be the entire annual income of many families in remote villages in many parts of the third world.

[sailorboy1]

Hang around more, travel less! I find the more my boat moves the more I spend.

The other part is, don't go ashore. The more you go ashore the more you will spend.

[Snowpetrel]

I used a pretty strict budget system for everyday living costs, then made using that most efficently part of the game, along with using the weather systems.

By setting a challenge to live comfortably off $xx per day it actually became quite fun hunting down the cheapest combination of heathy foods and sailing to reduce fuel used and gear breakage/wear. It was satisfying getting to the end of the week or month with a bit of money left over, fuel left over and a good stockpile of food.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Hang around more, travel less! I find the more my boat moves the more I spend.

The other part is, don't go ashore. The more you go ashore the more you will spend.

Geeze Don, you’re starting to sound like me. Maybe you can make it in the $500/month club .

[Jim Cate]

A friend of mine recently returned from sailing around Fiji. He went with a cruising assn who's fleet was 50+ boats, many of them retired Amercians in large cats.

An observation that we can echo, Grant. But even worse is arriving somewhere after the WorldArc folks have been through. They make the Kiwi rally look positively frugal, and are even less thoughtful about their impact on the locals. Been in this position twice now, and been disgusted both times.

Sorry... rant over. There are usually some good folks in that Kiwi rally, and not all of the thoughtless ones are Yanks!

Jim

[DocHolliday]

Find uses for otherwise wasted energy: for example, cooking food in tin foil on top of the car engine while driving is an old 4x4ers trick that could be adapted to inboard diesel engines....

[stevegerber]

Sailing with a big group doesn't appeal to me, especially when visiting various islands. Why would anyone want to be part of a mob arrival? . That does remind me of another tip. If you're trying to stick to a tight budget, hang out with other frugal people who have like-minded spending habits.

Unless you can get the affluent people to buy you dinner! Ha, ha, ha! But that doesn't lead to a very balanced relationship, you end up feeling like you have to reciprocate and treat them to a similar out-of-your-frugal-budget fancy meal and then you've gone and spent several hundred dollars on one meal!

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by thinwater

See item 5.
Sail Delmarva: 100 Best Buys--Chapter 1

However, just wrapping a pot in several folded up fleece blankets is quite effective. Find a stable spot on the floor. I use retained rat cooking for many things at home, just so I don't have to watch them. But it is a super on-boat frugal cooking tip.

Even if money does not matter, I don't have to watch it and it keeps the heat out of the galley.

Yes, retained heat cooking is nothing new. Been around for ages. Wonder Bag is just a fancy insulated bag....ours doubles as a pillow on the sette when not in use. [emoji6]

We like it because it does not heat up the boat and we can leave it unattened...go snorkelling or exploring and return to a cooked meal.



How does one retain a rat for cooking? [emoji38]

[stevegerber]

>> How does one retain a rat for cooking?

There's a Pixar movie, Ratatouille, that explains all about this!

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by stevegerber

I don't know thinwater, "retained rats", might be a little extreme even for a diehard frugalist like me... I would give roast guinea pig a try if I was in Peru!

We tried cuy (guinea pig) in Peru. You can get it prepared various ways, but if you're gonna do it, do it right...get whole roasted cuy on a stick! Once you get past the asthetics (crunchy ears, prominent teeth....), they are pretty tasty.

In Peru many locals keep them as a source of food and fertilizer.

They dont take up much space, you could keep your own small herd (?) of cuy aboard for cheap food and put their output to some good use...maybe dry it and use to cook the cuy. [emoji6]


https://m.imgur.com/t/food/mWzOz9x

[Boatguy30]

A 24 watt cooker? Get a propane exchange bottle for $15 and cook for about 2 months while you're waiting for water to boil on that thing. What a joke!

And healthcare cost aside. The US east coast must be one of the cheapest places to cruise in the world. No clearance fees, cheap food, free food at many boatyards during haulout/ layup season. Mostly free internet at public libraries....

[stevegerber]

>> They dont take up much space, you
>> could keep your own small herd (?) of cuy
>> aboard for cheap food

They're herbivores right? You could fatten them on seaweed, no?