Cruising a financially efficient way to see the world?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Group9

I guess, I should have mentioned I was taking into consideration the last time I went cruising for a year.

Plus, I live a lot closer to the Keys than you do. It's about a three day sail for me.

I used to live in NorthPort. near Port Charlotte and Charlotte Harbour. (West Coast Florida). U.K based now.

Fast Passenger Cat down From Naples and 5 days in Key West was $800 plus food and drink...

I traveled down several times on my boat, 42 foot Motor offshore fisher... 60 gallons an hour at speed.

I aint never went cruising for a year.......

[Bulawayo]

errrr, no. We have our home with us. It has proper beds, proper sofa, a good sized galley, two decent bathrooms complete the picture whilst our 'garden' is simply huge and everchanging. It is not camping by any stretch of the imagination. You could compare it with self catering but we have all our 'toys' with us and it is ours, not rented nor mortgaged. We have our two cars (dinghies) as well. Where does this mindset of marina's keep cropping up from? I agree that in parts of the world they are almost unavoidable but many other places they do not even exist, thank-goodness. If you are marina people then perhaps cruising on a global scale shall be disappointing, although everyone we meet prefers to avoid them like the plague.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by weavis

naah.

The average person does not have months to go on vacation. They have 2 weeks a year.

Add in the cost of your boat, the maintenance, the insurance, the fuel, the etc etc... and use it for 2 weeks a year.

Does this mean you can only come visit us for two weeks?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Does this mean you can only come visit us for two weeks?

"coffee spurt*

Nice one Mr O'Mac.......(reaching for the cloth and screen cleaner.)

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

errrr, no. We have our home with us. It has proper beds, proper sofa, a good sized galley, two decent bathrooms complete the picture whilst our 'garden' is simply huge and everchanging. It is not camping by any stretch of the imagination. You could compare it with self catering but we have all our 'toys' with us and it is ours, not rented nor mortgaged. We have our two cars (dinghies) as well. Where does this mindset of marina's keep cropping up from? I agree that in parts of the world they are almost unavoidable but many other places they do not even exist, thank-goodness. If you are marina people then perhaps cruising on a global scale shall be disappointing, although everyone we meet prefers to avoid them like the plague.

I guess you've never heard of an RV?

[dwedeking2]

There is soooo much on this subject that depends on the individuals wants/desires/needs.

If you just want to get to a location to take a selfie in front of the local landmark, make sure to have all your "needs" (read Air conditioning, fine dining, etc etc) and then pop back to your rat race job then cruising or living on a boat probably isn't for you. There's easier and probably less expensive ways to do this.

Personally I get frustrated with a week long vacation in a location. I'm normally frugal (read cheap) so feel I have to do as much as possible to maximize the dollars spent. I get frustrated that you don't really get beyond the surface in that time frame. Digging deep into culture/local people etc can be overwhelming at times, and I find I need a break (it's the anti-social in me) especially in foreign countries. I feel guilty "wasting" a day on rest while on a one week vacation.

As such the last 7 years, I've started doing what I call "travel in slow motion". I move to a location I want to explore and live there for a period of time (Hawaii 5 years, Las Vegas 6 months, and currently Ensenada Mexico). As such I keep things I own to a minimum (one back pack and one large duffle bag, so I can fly to any spot in the world). Turning to owning a boat has been a way to minimize the restart costs at each location (pots pans etc) and also keep that comfort level (meaning you have familiar surroundings etc) with me. Also a boat allows me access to remote locations that are either difficult or impossible to get to using public transportation. I'm more into going to places people don't normally travel to vs hitting all the tourist landmarks.

In regards to efficient/inefficient use of money, I've found that the more you try to bring your suburban lifestyle to remote/exotic locations the larger amount of money you will need. If you eat and live more in line with what the "natives" do the easier time your pocketbook will have. This doesn't necessarily mean you have to live primitive, even in Hawaii I noticed a drastic difference in the price of food that was eaten/produced locally vs if you ate a pre-processed/packaged diet.

[zboss]

Financial Efficiency Travel Vs. Actually Seeing/Experiencing

Travel via "traditional" means vs. a sailboat is a completely different experience.

Because I am still working, my wife and I have not really paid for a "vacation trip" in about 15 years. At least not a substantial amount of money. Instead we use hotel points, airline miles, and rental car points to pay for just about everything.

However, if you look at how much we would have spent on Mortgage, car insurance, car repairs, etc... we have easily broken even or beat out the vacation type travel, which the caveat that our travel has been limited to the east coast of the US. However, we have been places and seen things and had experiences we would NEVER have had on "traditional" vacation - who knew we could have those experiences so close to "home"?

As a result, I've not taken any vacation time in two years, outside of the occasional day off, and I don't feel like I need to. We are pretty darn happy. However, we are planning on taking a Disney cruise with the extended family this fall to celebrate my in-laws 50th, and if we wanted to go to Europe or Africa again we have all those points just sitting around. To bad they don't collect interest points

When we eventually do go outside the US on our boat, it'll be much cheaper than maintaining a dirt life and associated 2 weeks of vacation travel costs.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by weavis

I used to live in NorthPort. near Port Charlotte and Charlotte Harbour. (West Coast Florida). U.K based now.

Fast Passenger Cat down From Naples and 5 days in Key West was $800 plus food and drink...

I traveled down several times on my boat, 42 foot Motor offshore fisher... 60 gallons an hour at speed.

I aint never went cruising for a year.......

Then if I told you I only used about 60 gallons to come from GeorgeTown, Bahamas, back to Pensacola, would that be rubbing it in?

We're leaving on another long cruise May 1. I hope this one lasts a lot longer than a year!

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My wife figured this out last season. The minimal cost for us to live in an inexpensive hotel ($130 per night or less) and eat in cheap restaurants or prepare our own food would be approximately $40,000 for five months excluding all travel and transportation costs.

On our boat, we spend less than $1500 per month on everything, diesel, food and local transportation. We do have the addition cost of the boat itself and the 7 month storage fee of $6000 plus any maintenance costs to incure. We can certainly spend more on the boat if we choose to do so, but we prefer to prepare most meals ourselves, anchor 99 percent of the time, and travel via wind power as much as possible.


I know you're looking at an Oyster 45 (oops, wrong Julie). Hotels vs yachts, not the same thing. Compare your past hotel experiences with this video, click on the link to watch on youtube:

What was the cost of the boat and maintenance overall? I'm guessing an Oyster 53 is not a cheap boat to own.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by weavis

naah.

The average person does not have months to go on vacation. They have 2 weeks a year.

Add in the cost of your boat, the maintenance, the insurance, the fuel, the etc etc... and use it for 2 weeks a year.

This "particular"ising of one part of the costs doesnt work in real terms. Not to mention that it would probably take you months to get there if you lived in Vancouver and needed to sail there first!

I'd certainly agree that only using your boat for two weeks per year would not be cost efficient.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by JulieMac

I'll pose the question to those with voyaging experience. In comparison to "normal" means of travel (plane/hotels/cruise lines), how does owning and sailing your own boat compare?

Does it come down to the length of time you intend to travel? Does the number of places and distance factor?

Forgive me for behaving like a smartass, but noticed your presence on the Gunboat dismasting thread. For the owners of Rainmaker, it was not at all cost effective. They could have had a return ticket from the US to Bermuda, and more money in their pocket.

ann

[Group9]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I'd certainly agree that only using your boat for two weeks per year would not be cost efficient.

I agree. I like sailing, but I wouldn't keep one around that I only used two weeks a year. I'd charter before I'd do that.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Group9

I agree. I like sailing, but I wouldn't keep one around that I only used two weeks a year. I'd charter before I'd do that.

Isnt that the point?

Members are saying how much cheaper it is to sail than to have a holiday on land.

Lets do it this way on a ten year period.

Boat: 150K
yearly expenses JUST for boat. (Excluding sailing costs or major refits) 15K

10 X 15K (excluding inflation) 150K
boat cost (Excluding depreciation) 150K

total is 300K

Divided by number of days sailed. Lets say 60 days a year.

That is 500 a day excluding ACTUAL travel costs and travel repairs: food, mooring, repairs, on shore travel expenses etc. So DOUBLE the daily rate for these costs and now its getting close to reality.

Some protest that you cannot count the cost of the initial purchase in figures, I disagree. The vessel has been purchased as an upfront depreciation cost.

Some protest that you cannot count it over 60 days. I disagree. But Ok.. its 83 a day over 365 days a year even if you dont use it.

So it seems to me, that it necessitates a frugal boat purchase and a purchase of the right vessel for resale at the end of the 10 years to recoup all the upfront costs, which will be swallowed up in re engine, new sails, rigging, refurbishment, hull repairs etc. etc.

So..... ultimately for 30K + over 10 years, it seems that the boat had better be used for long periods to justify the cost. Its costing you a minimum of 83 a day plus whatever.

These figure will vary up and down but ultimately, an expensive boat is part of the loss depreciation from the beginning.

My Centaur costs over 10 years, using the same model as above are 38000. (3K a year expenses excluding sailing expenses)
3800 / 60 days use = 63 a day
or 10 a day over 365 days a year.

Moral of the story? Holidays are way cheaper unless you live on the boat as sole residence.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by weavis

Moral of the story? Holidays are way cheaper unless you live on the boat as sole residence.

1) If you ignore the costs, they don't count.

2) If you keep an old boat long enough, you're going to be replacing some boat stuff, and the costs are going to be related to the boat quality and size. If you have a high quality boat, and want to keep it nice, you may want to replace quality furnishings with quality replacements.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

If you ignore the costs, they don't count.

I guess you have to.