Cruising - How cheaply can it be done?

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

While I was in the Bahamas I met a 30's couple on a 27' boat. They kept losing oars for their dinghy so I gave them rides ashore (in the end they lost that dinghy). They ran out of alcohol for the stove so I gave them what I had (I had some for cleaning) so they could heat water for pasta (they were out of hotdogs). They still had to motor, when the weather allowed the boat to move and when the engine ran (they got towed back to the US in the end). There was always a bunch of stuff in the cockpit because there wasn't room below.

It didn't match the romantic fun idea people get when they think "I'll get a small boat and sail around", ............................. and they were spending a lot more than $500/mo.

I wish you luck, but ..............

Exactly. I wonder why you would want to live like that. The OP appears to have his mind set on something in the 12-16 foot range. I would suggest buying or borrowing a 16 ft. Rowboat, build a temporary top for it, and try living on it for a month. No trips back to the apartment for showers, bathroom, etc. I mean sleep, cook, live on the boat anchored on a lake or pond. If he can do that he's golden. (I doubt it).

[Dave22q]

Silly question. How cheaply can you live? Also building is never less expensive than buying used. Can you do it on $500/month? Sure. $350/month? Possibly. A lot depends on your fishing skills including catching bait.

[hamburking]

Building a boat would be a great hobby for someone with lots of money and not interested in going sailing any time soon.

There are plenty of decent boats out there for very low prices, some even free. It takes a little leg work to find what you want at a good price, but even $1000 goes a long way buying an old boat these days. Personally, I bought a Paceship 29 for $100 (cdn) and sailed it away. I put in a few dollars and some elbow grease, and had a pretty nice boat to sail. I think I could have sailed it south to the Bahamas, had I felt like it.

I also disagree regarding size. Going too small limits the ability to carry enough basic food and water. If you are constantly in need of shore supplies, your costs will go up. Being able to cook aboard is important. If you can bake your own bread, and cook your own simple meals, you will save dollars. On a 30 foot boat you could easily carry enough rice, dry beans, pasta, and flour to last a year...along with a year's supply of methyl hydrate for the origo stove that would cook it all (no fancy propane tanks for me, thank you very much).

As for gear....how often do your really need new anchors and sails? I've found that being constantly aware of and looking for the items I need, I've been able to find used gear very inexpensively...including dinghies and outboards. My old etrex and paper charts may not be as flashy as a chart plotter, but they do the trick with safety.

I will admit that I am a frugal sailor. What most boats need is care, attention, and cleaning. So much cleaning.

You should be able to live on a boat as cheaply as living ashore.

[zboss]

IMO - if you are single or young and you want to do a short cruise and not make it a full time forever thing... I see no reason why a 27' (or so) boat that is well founded BEFORE you leave would be just fine. There are guys that kayak up and down the ICW. Other people take their microboats throughout the Bahamas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM4ifw7rXCU

If you do all your upfront work to get the boat not just "ready" but almost BRISTOL and extremely well equipped before you leave, you will have better luck living on a very small amount per month.

But there is a catch 22... you probably won't know what "BRISTOL" and "well-equipped" really is until you have some experience.

We started off about four years ago and we did what we thought was important. Knowing what I know now, we would have made much better choices for our style of living. For example, I thought 150 gallons of water was plenty but it turns out that we love using a lot of fresh water - we did not put in a water maker when we fit our boat out. Having lots and lots of fresh water can turn a miserable hot day into something bearable. Being able to take long cool showers before bed for instance.

I also agree with staying out of marinas and away from urban areas to slow the cash roll to a trickle.

[mawtty]

As 'Tulku Tim', I sailes a 26 ft sloop from Cairns to Manus Island and back. The trip took 6 months and I had $129 dollars with me (1983) when I left. I tool two back packers with me and they contributed $10 a day each to cover food.
I came back with $1000+ worth of ebony carvings and still had $20 left in cash.
The back packers left me sailing solo after the first two months.
If you need more information I will write a book.
Stand still you scoffers.

[sailorchic34]

I use to do it for $500, but inflation and rising food costs have me at $630 a month. Of course $100 month is for the ^&*() DeKat (fur type not boat type) for kibble and cat litter. Could I do it for less maybe but not for lots less.

A small boat will not have enough storage capacity to liveaboard full time. Plus that outboard is going to cost in fuel and repairs.

Mind you I had to go out today and buy a new water hose as the old RV hose inside liner collapsed on my old one. So that was $33 (hose plus Lyft to store and back). So that blew my $20/ month maintenance budget

[1Sunseeker]

A lot depends on if you are talking living or existing. And your age. And your basic skills. I know a couple in their 20's will "live" for less than a couple in their 50's. They will also enjoy that life style more. And have more friends same age group. For me I would not consider a boat with out a proper head and galley. I do most of the maintenance on my 32'. All my laundry and most of my cooking. I need my music, books, metal detector, hunting fishing tackle and a few odd treasures. I write short stories, am partially lame, 79 and solo. It gets lonely so I do need other folks around. At least some of the time. Filling all those loose hours can be hard and since I have little need for alcohol the bars are really not an option.


I have lived in big houses, small apartments, and motel rooms. As the years roll by our needs and wants change. IMHO you and yours will have to figure out what is really important and then you will make do. The answer to your question could be, "how much does it cost to cruise?" Answer, "how much do you have?"

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by TBC

I feel I should add a disclaimer. Yes, I am lacking in real world experience, though I am hoping to fix that sometime in the next ten years. This thread is purely for discussion and is theoretical, meant for brainstorming and sharing ideas and opinions.

With that out of the way, I can definitely see where everybody is coming from with the buying is better than building idea, and it does make sense. What I am trying to get at is if someone really wanted to cruise on the lowest possible budget, the simpler and smaller the boat is, generally speaking, the cost to run and maintain it should be lower. Yes, permits, visas etc will cost about the same, but overall the cost of cruising will be lower without expensive maintenance fees. It would be interesting to hear what percentage of people's budgets actually goes into maintaining their boat?

Instead of thinking of cruising as including month long passages across entire oceans, let's narrow it down to a smaller area, like the Caribbean for example. This means smaller passages where things like large tankage, lots of room for storage etc are less essential and allow for a smaller boat. Regarding electricity, wind up torches could be used as a primary source of lighting, and a single battery could be used to run essentials like the vhf. A small solar panel could be used to keep this topped up. Paper charts and a sextant for navigation or perhaps a hand held gps, hand pumps (or no pumps at all) for water and very occasional use of any laptops, phones or tablets would mean a very low power requirement.

Going without an engine could certainly be an option, especially for smaller boats like paradox or tinkerbelle, eliminating any need for diesel/petrol. Gas would still be required for cooking.

I don't know exactly how much it would cost to build a paradox, but I think about $5k would be a reasonable guess. There are definitely bigger and better boats out there for the price, but in the long run, certainly living on an ultra low budget with a paradox would be easier than on that Dufour 26?

Some great answers so far, keep them coming.

Your disclaimer is obvious.

[toddster8]

I was thinking about this thread yesterday, while doing some maintenance on my 30-footer. I can remember at least two crappy little apartments I rented back in college that were smaller than this boat. Those were hard to endure. One that was about the same size as the boat was snug and comfortable. I suspect it was originally built as wartime BOQ. So the designers spent some time thinking about how much space a single person needs. As opposed to little boxes subdivided by greedy landlords. One of those "apartments" was originally the back porch of the house! Should have had a boat back then. May be a good rule of thumb: never live any place beyond navigable water.

I too, went through a long dreaming process. Looking at the prices of boats in the glossy magazines, I sort of developed a mindset that the only way I'd ever be able to afford a boat was to build one. Of course, that mostly was before the internet. One day I just decided that enough life had passed by boatless and was kind of surprised to find so many unused little boats in backyards that people would part with for a few bucks. An immediate way to begin accumulating sailing skills for next to nothing.
Then the crash of 2008 presented some unique opportunities as people were abandoning cruising boats - or boats that could become cruisers - for inability to pay marina fees. Not even worth thinking about building one. Especially considering the lost years of life that construction would consume. And this is from someone who really enjoys building things. Still a buyer's market for old boats.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by TBC

By using boats like the ones I mentioned, engine/fuel costs are practically eliminated (possibly with the exception of Fafnir and the Tiki 21), haulout fees could be avoided by simply beaching, or perhaps borrowing a trailer, maintenance costs will be drastically reduced, and sails will cost less. The next thing to consider would be food costs. By fishing as much as possible, buying a majority of rice and beans and scavenging off the land wherever possible, food would be relatively inexpensive. This is obviously dependent on the cruising location. Visas and port entry costs are pretty much unavoidable, but with care and caution, I think cruising on even less than $500 per month would be possible.

Yes if you dempster dive

[Lrak]

It looks like this couple was trying to cruise the South Pacific on the cheap and simple. Voyage of Minimus

In some ways I feel they were under prepared, but that also added to their adventures. It was a scary health issue that nearly sunk their plans, not the boat or the finances. I'm rooting for them.

[thomm225]

The real answer is ......

You can cruise very cheaply, but it's all about knowing boats, having sailing experience, and being on the water.

You will need a decent boat. You'll need experience to buy that decent boat at a low price

You can forget the above stories about folks on small boats looking for handouts etc. They obviously didn't know what they were doing

The fact is if you have boating and sailing experience and you are the right type person cruising cheaply is not only doable but quite simple

And that's the problem.

If you are smart enough to cruise cheaply say on a good boat you bought for less than $5,000, then cruising will probably get boring really fast unless you have some sort of goal in mind

So, what you need to do no matter whether you live on the coast or inland is to get some sort of sailboat now and start learning.

10 years on the internet talking equals zero experience no matter how many posts you have

Racing helps. So if they race any sort of sailboat in your area get one of those and race it or crew with someone and learn

I have around $8,500 invested in my boat but I "wasted" maybe $3,000 on a brand new main and an old diesel that failed. I was a sailboat racer previously which is why I bought an expensive hand made mainsail rather than buying a used one for around $400.00. The new one was $1,600.00. For cruising you don't need new sails

[sailorboy1]

be sure to believe all the people who aren't cruising or have done it long enough to have run out of ships stores and traveled far enough that things have started to break

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

be sure to believe all the people who aren't cruising or have done it long enough to have run out of ships stores and traveled far enough that things have started to break

How's the beginner cruiser doing?

Is it getting a little warm down there?

You actually don't need to motor 1,000 miles to sail 60 miles and then anchor for the Winter and call it cruising. You can do that locally if on the coast or even get close to that on your nearby lake

We are at 62 degrees right now.

The weekend peak temps will be around 80 degrees during the day and in the 60's at night

Winds are good for a nice three day weekend "cruise." Hiking, kayaking, reading, and fishing are on the agenda

Hopefully it will be as nice as this anchorage and sail were

[thomm225]

This young lady appears to be doing the sailing thing rather cheaply, and learning close to home before cruising long distance which I'm thinking is the way to do it.

You might want to check out her website.

A few lines from her site:

“This is kind of like…a bachelor pad,” one my older sailing buddies said looking into the cabin of my 1968 Pearson Ariel, as the sun set across a sea of landlocked masts.

“Yeah, except I’m a girl.”

“Except you’re a girl. It’s minimalist. It’s not a couple’s boat.”

http://www.dinghydreams.com/