How much money to cruise fulltime?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by thomm225

The answer is it depends since everyone's idea of cruising is different.

Are you going to cruise full time for a year, 5 years, 10 years, or more?

What is a minimal lifestyle to you? What is moderate?

This is minimal as far as I can tell but this guy also did software programming and built his own autopilot (the pypilot) along the way. And his boat was paid for also. I think he paid $1,000 for it.

https://towndock.net/shippingnews/se...-and-alexandra

As far as I can tell, he has crossed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on his Bristol 27 then he was hold up near here heating his boat with a homemade stove using pine combs when the temps were single digits. As I remember, he had to wait for the ice to thaw before he could continue South

I believe I heard once that his goal was to spend $1.00/day while cruising

Video is of his autopilot with a windshield wiper motor doing the heavy lifting

I'd also like to add that while the guy above sailed on a minimal budget he maximized his time while cruising.

So this is another thing to consider.

Is it your goal to do as little as possible other than sail the boat or would you also want to further educate yourself with a personal project or learning something new like maybe celestial navigation

I'm thinking you need to ask yourself is my plan to totally shut down and be on a permanent vacation or actually cruise the world and learn things in the process?

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Which marina is that?.

RQYS.

There are marginally cheaper places but you'll need to book well in advance if needing a bigger liveaboard berth.
A mate was on a list for well over a year at the slightly cheaper club

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Which marina is that? When I first left Oz in 2011 marina fees by memory were reasonable. When I came back late 2016 they gone through the roof. I was paying $440/week in port douglas early 2017.....it does take the fun out of it.

I hate to think what they maybe when/if I return 2022.

The secret is to hunt down a privately owned berth and negotiate with the owner. Considerable savings can be had, especially if living aboard. Making queries around marinas with privately owned berths can be fruitful.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

RQYS.

There are marginally cheaper places but you'll need to book well in advance if needing a bigger liveaboard berth.
A mate was on a list for well over a year at the slightly cheaper club

I really like my country, even miss at times BUT the expense is crazy.

I'm flying home for 2 mths shortly, thinking Im in for a surprise.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

The secret is to hunt down a privately owned berth and negotiate with the owner. Considerable savings can be had, especially if living aboard. Making queries around marinas with privately owned berths can be fruitful.

But its not a secret, almost everyone is after the same

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

But its not a secret, almost everyone is after the same

Possibly, but they can be found without breaking too much sweat.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Possibly, but they can be found without breaking too much sweat.

No, no they can't,
not in the Brisbane area and not for sizeable boats that allow live aboard

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

No, no they can't,
not in the Brisbane area and not for sizeable boats that allow live aboard

The easy answer is to go somewhere else. Plenty of cheap marinas along the coast. Gladstone comes to mind.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

The easy answer is to go somewhere else. Plenty of cheap marinas along the coast. Gladstone comes to mind.

Gladstone charges $1545/mth for a 20m berth so not much less than Brisbane prices.
Not worth it for the fuel cost to get there and the fallout from coal dust.
But
1) I don't need a marina
2) if I did Gladstone would be useless as family and land based things that need doing are 300km south in Brisbane.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Gladstone charges $1545/mth for a 20m berth so not much less than Brisbane prices.
Not worth it for the fuel cost to get there and the fallout from coal dust.
But
1) I don't need a marina
2) if I did Gladstone would be useless as family and land based things that need doing are 300km south in Brisbane.

Good for you.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

25k less tax and possibly a higher rate of tax taken again if you cruise foreign lands

It will vary by country but in the USA, $25k from your retirement account will result in little to no income tax paid. I believe standard deduction for a married couple is $24k and the first tax bracket is 10%...so 10% of $1k, is a total income tax of $100...that's if you can't find any other deductions to apply.

I would caution against putting too much emphasis on examples of people who have recently done it. We are 12yrs into the longest bull market in history. They could have pulled 10% per year out and still saw their balance increase. Hit a downturn and you may need to cut back on spending.

Marinas are viable but that assumes you are flexible on where you spend time. Prime locations cost prime dollars. Also, if you get outside of the typical 30-50ft cruising boat, prices tend to increase substantially. Many less expensive marinas simply don't accommodate larger boats and those that do will often increase the per ft price.

Anchoring out for a couple days here and there (or when transiting an expensive area) is nice but weeks on end gets old really quick...but that's us. We cruise to see the destination but not from a distance.

[Belezar]

Buy some bitcoin. You’ll be fine.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

My experience has clearly linked dock time to spending more money. When I'm swinging from my own hook it's pretty damn hard to spend much money. But if I'm tied to a dock, in addition to the marina costs, it means I'm also close to lots of other ways to spend more money. Restaurants, pubs, chandler, touristy places to visit, other entertainment possibilities, etc.

Speaking only for myself, I definitely spend more money when tied to a dock.

I certainly get why most people prefer to cruise this way. Indeed, it is the very reason some people go cruising. But there's no way I could do this within my limited budget. And luckily it's not why I went cruising.

Very true I think. We spend very little when actively cruising...maybe $1K/month if that, but we prefer remote anchorages...there is nowhere to spend money except for the occasional provisioning run.

Pull into a marina and many related expenses go up dramatically.

However, while prepping to cast off each season we spend stoopid amounts of money on boat maintenance/repairs/provisioning and related travel because the boat is usually not nearby.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Very true I think. We spend very little when actively cruising...maybe $1K/month if that, but we prefer remote anchorages...there is nowhere to spend money except for the occasional provisioning run.

Pull into a marina and many related expenses go up dramatically.

However, while prepping to cast off each season we spend stoopid amounts of money on boat maintenance/repairs/provisioning and related travel because the boat is usually not nearby.

Yup, exactly my practice and experience, including the "stoopid amounts of money" spent at the beginning (and sometimes at the end) of each season. Once we're actually off the dock we basically spend nothing.

This, of course, is why monthly expenditures are so variable. I prefer to consider annual costs myself.

[joelhemington]

Don't overlook ongoing maintenance requirements when calculating your budget. Things like bottom painting every two to three years ( probably at least $2,500 if you do all the labor yourself) And new standing rigging every ten years ( figure 2k a year for that) As well as the replacement of current equipment that will crap out from time to time.

I'd look into real estate "crowd funding" programs which tend to pay 8% or higher with monthly allocations made to your bank account which should get you about 4k a month before taxes. While this may seem like plenty, it's really not considering all the ongoing maintenance you should be budgeting for. Don't plan to be spending a lot of time in places like Majorca and Monte Carlo on that budget.