The Cost of Sailing / Cruising

[Saltwannabee]

Dont know What meds would do that John, But im loaded with them as well and plan to Do away with a few after i get AWAY from all this STRESS here on land..
Cant change the Epilepsy But the High BP, PTSD , Sinusitus and a few others will Deffinitly get better if im out at sea or Near it.. .... ..... I hope :-0
I KNOW my skin will get less flakey after a few Saltwater swims ..
and, those lil cleaner fish on the reef, if I hold still, will scrub all the parasites from my schmekel

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by John A

Great response !!

Three fourth of the threads on this forum can be answered with the words 'it depends', what worked for me may not work for you.

.

Yes they always goes to the "depends" answer then the topic comes up. But it would be helpful for people who have done it/doing it to put a number to what their "depends" equal. I spent a few hours tracking down various cruisers blogs and few have budget stuff on their site.

[John A]

Originally Posted by Saltwannabee

Dont know What meds would do that John, But im loaded with them as well and plan to Do away with a few after i get AWAY from all this STRESS here on land..
Cant change the Epilepsy But the High BP, PTSD , Sinusitus and a few others will Deffinitly get better if im out at sea or Near it.. .... ..... I hope :-0
I KNOW my skin will get less flakey after a few Saltwater swims ..
and, those lil cleaner fish on the reef, if I hold still, will scrub all the parasites from my schmekel

It ain't the meds so much as getting on the long side of 70 and discovering the joy of a couple of pre-school grandkids.

[John A]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

Yes they always goes to the "depends" answer then the topic comes up. But it would be helpful for people who have done it/doing it to put a number to what their "depends" equal. I spent a few hours tracking down various cruisers blogs and few have budget stuff on their site.

We sometimes feel intimidated and put down by people who must have everything. Those who must live in a marina and those who never live in a marina can't seem to agree.

Go with what you're comfortable with, and don't burn your bridges behind you, incase you need to do a 180* course change with your life.

[Hampus]

We're doing it right now. We're slowly making our way down the coasts of Europe to the Canaries where we'll cruise throughout the winter and make it back to Sweden next spring via the Azores. We were heading for the Caribbean but a few expensive repairs cut our budget short and we're staying in Europe.

We keep a financial log on our blog. It's not 100% accurate though. It's written with the currency of each country so you'll have to convert it to your own. We have a 41ft boat, 50 if you count the bow sprit, and the marinas sometimes do. We stay at anchor when we can, but anchorages are few here and we do spend a lot of time in marinas. Our daily budget is $45. That includes food for two persons, marina fees, insurance, boat maintenance, diesel and everything else. We are over our budget though, due to the marina fees (this month we actually came in under budget!!). If we cruised an area where we could anchor most of the time, say the Caribbean, we would have no problems at all cruising on $30 a day for two persons.

Link: Gone sailin': Financial log

/Hampus, currently in Portugal

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by John A

We sometimes feel intimidated and put down by people who must have everything. Those who must live in a marina and those who never live in a marina can't seem to agree.

Go with what you're comfortable with, and don't burn your bridges behind you, incase you need to do a 180* course change with your life.

Ya gotta burn some bridges else its to easy to give in and run home to Momma...
As for marina's.. well some folks need the 'security' the marina seems to offer.. whereas others try to maintain they're independant... but if we are truely honest we all use marinas at some time... fuel/water/lift-outs etc....
Never feel intimidated or put down.. the insecure always shout the loudest...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Hampus

We're doing it right now. We're slowly making our way down the coasts of Europe to the Canaries where we'll cruise throughout the winter and make it back to Sweden next spring via the Azores. We were heading for the Caribbean but a few expensive repairs cut our budget short and we're staying in Europe.

We keep a financial log on our blog. It's not 100% accurate though. It's written with the currency of each country so you'll have to convert it to your own. We have a 41ft boat, 50 if you count the bow sprit, and the marinas sometimes do. We stay at anchor when we can, but anchorages are few here and we do spend a lot of time in marinas. Our daily budget is $45. That includes food for two persons, marina fees, insurance, boat maintenance, diesel and everything else. We are over our budget though, due to the marina fees (this month we actually came in under budget!!). If we cruised an area where we could anchor most of the time, say the Caribbean, we would have no problems at all cruising on $30 a day for two persons.

Link: Gone sailin': Financial log

/Hampus, currently in Portugal

Where in Portugal....?

[Hampus]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Where in Portugal....?

At the moment in Lexioes. Tomorrow we'll head for Isla Berlinga and then Cascais or Lisbon. Where are you?

/Hampus

[jackiepitts]

Originally Posted by Hampus

We're doing it right now. We're slowly making our way down the coasts of Europe to the Canaries where we'll cruise throughout the winter and make it back to Sweden next spring via the Azores. We were heading for the Caribbean but a few expensive repairs cut our budget short and we're staying in Europe.

We keep a financial log on our blog. It's not 100% accurate though. It's written with the currency of each country so you'll have to convert it to your own. We have a 41ft boat, 50 if you count the bow sprit, and the marinas sometimes do. We stay at anchor when we can, but anchorages are few here and we do spend a lot of time in marinas. Our daily budget is $45. That includes food for two persons, marina fees, insurance, boat maintenance, diesel and everything else. We are over our budget though, due to the marina fees (this month we actually came in under budget!!). If we cruised an area where we could anchor most of the time, say the Caribbean, we would have no problems at all cruising on $30 a day for two persons.

Link: Gone sailin': Financial log

/Hampus, currently in Portugal

It is good to see some figures from Europe. I also really like that you have budgeted a certain dollar amount per day.
The marinas really take a chunk out of the budget for us too especially in the high season.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Hampus

At the moment in Lexioes. Tomorrow we'll head for Isla Berlinga and then Cascais or Lisbon. Where are you?

/Hampus

Hi Hampus,
I'm in Figueira da Foz.. well the boat is.. I'm dossing down in Coimbra 38km up river...
Cascais has a good anchorage in the bay just past the Marina entrance, just need to watch out if the wind swings NE, you can get a kabatic effect off Cabo Roca.
If you think of heading into Fig da Foz go careful... a big fishing boat hit the sand bar and sank last week, so time it for near high water and minimum swells... also keep at least 1 mile of Cabo Mondego.
Will you be going along the Algarve..?

[AllezCat]

Do you guys feel more healthy on the water?
Have incessant ailments mysteriously disappeared?
Especially interested in those that lived in large cities.
At least less colds and flue I would assume...
Insurance or not that would reduce cost, and life enjoyment...

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by jackiepitts

It is good to see some figures from Europe. I also really like that you have budgeted a certain dollar amount per day.
The marinas really take a chunk out of the budget for us too especially in the high season.

The marinas around here are $60-90 a night. Don't come here.

[Brent Swain]

Skip marinas altogether . I have for the last 26 years. I can cruise full time for what most pay marinas.

[beowulfborealis]

Originally Posted by kehalm

nobody here mentions health care. While we're still healthy we're going cruising, but what if...you break a leg, or whatever...Unexpected health costs. I'm not sure what it's been like, but we'll be sailing in 2012, I need some background..still not sure I can come up with a health care figure.

I have travelled all over the world and at this point, I would say that if you pay cash, you can get what you want, when you want it, and its quite affordable. But if you need some serious cancer treatment or surgery on something critical like a knee, you better get the best doctor you can afford in a modern facility. And some countries are kinda goofy like Denmark or New Zealand which have these national health care systems. You might not be able to get treatment at all unless you are part of the system already.

If I were you, I would just keep a supply of cash for medical emergencies that would include money for evacuation. Even just having a credit card with a fat credit limit would be good enough in my book. Anything serious problem is going to be cruise ending anyway.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

Skip marinas altogether . I have for the last 26 years. I can cruise full time for what most pay marinas.

As time goes on this is even more evident. Marinas are being forced to upgrade due to various "eco" requirements, liability requirements and a hundred other imposed this and that. It all ends up making marinas more expensive year after year. What used to cost $300/mo now is up in the $600 to $1k per month. And that is significant money.
- - Finding anchorages is not easy either and especially if you want to stay for awhile.