Shoestring Sailors (Cruising on $500 per month - part II)

[Jimbo485]

Originally Posted by Wannabe-007

Thanks Jimbo! That link is GOLD and should be made a sticky!

You are welcome, mate. Check out the bumfuzzle blog for more budgets and budget planning ideas as well.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by lunasee

Thought a lot about a dink when my wife and I moved aboard our Cal 30.
Ended up getting a 10' port-a-boat on cregs list for 900$. Only used twice. Best money I ever spent. Verry durable, do not have to worry about sharp rocks when landing ect, can carry me the wife and the warf rat. Best part it folds dowm to 4" flat.
Old sailor

Just wanted to say we've used a 10' portable for the past four seasons. Not full-timers yet (next year), but do cruise for as much of the summer as possible. We're out for 6-weeks at a time, and almost never see a dock, so we use our dink all the time when out.

The portabote has been great so far. Light, tough as nails, easily stowable, and very rowable. It also moves very well with a small outboard (although we row most of the time). It's possible to get back in from the water by yourself. Think like a seal... But if you're swimming with a two people it's very easy -- anyone who's a canoeist will know how.

[sailorchic34]

Well On budgets, I'm pushing $600 a month at the moment. But that includes $65 per month for haulout and maintenance. If I haul out this fall it will be 4 years since the last job. So figure this fall or next spring. No real hard stuff on the hull, but getting more soft growth now. So soon on the bottom job.

The Cat is up to $60 a month but I'm finding ways to cut his fancy non tracking cat litter costs down a little.. That will drop $10 a month by buying bulk. Oh and maybe another $7 savings from buying bulk dry cat food. Caned cat food is tricky for Mr. I don't like this cat food this week.

So my costs per month average:

Slip =$125, 4 to 5 days a month, for trash, laundry, food runs, water, and a long hot showers.
Food =$200 ish, I aim for $170 but then need odds and ends and sundrys
fuel =$40, Some months a little more, some months a little less
internet =$35
medical/drugs $30, no medical insurance, have not seen a doctor in 5 years.
Cat = $60, cat food, cat litter
Boat maintenance = $65, average with money for haul out
boat insurance = $41
misc =$40 (entertainment, restaurants, clothing, odds and ends) Entertainment is normally a few cheap ebooks to supplement the free ebooks I read. Clothing is goodwill or the 70% off clearance racks. two pairs of flip flops per year, etc.

Now that's for me cruising the California Delta to the bay and back. Though I expect that will be doable say on the east coast on the US and central america.

Whats not included:
things I don't use: coffee, alcohol, beer, wine, cigs, etc.
things I don't need: car, house, cable, HOA dues, medical insurance, car or house insurance, yacht club dues, etc. etc.

Food items include, potato's, rice, onion, bread, milk, butter, flour, hamburger, lettuce, spices, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, baking power, tea, tomato sauce, coconut milk (when cheep) cheese, etc. canned chicken, pasta, canned roast beef, popcorn.

I'll buy bulk and split into smaller plastic bags, things like rice or beans (not big on beans). Generally make most meals from scratch, cookies too. Nothing expensive, even fresh chicken is too pricey for me.

If I drop the boat insurance and cat I would be right at $500. Though even $600 is pretty good now a days, what with inflation and all.

BTW, laundry is about $10 a month, but I just use the quarters I get back in change. It sort of comes out of the food budget and well everything else too. Quarters go in the laundry jar (plastic of course). So not really a budget item. Note: I also use the bucket and plunger too for laundry.

Pay a diver on $20 every 6-9 months to replace the prop zinc. Have not paid to have the bottom cleaned since 2009. Zinc's have been coming out of boat stores, but only have a few left. I move around enough that the soft growth falls off with the ablative paint I use. Though the paint is looking a little shabby nowadays...

So that's it in a nut shell for me anyway. As DOJ implied, your mileage will vary. I expect most peoples bar bill to be bigger them my monthly food bill for example.

OK not cruising far off areas, least wise not yet. but still doable in northern cali anyway.

[Wannabe-007]

Ahhh... so Mister Crabby is trying to say that my idea of a budget is low.
Clearly I've been reading too many blogs and forum posts from scroungers and vagabonds!
My 'arbitrary' budget provides for 50k of pre-departure 'fitout' which includes some bigger ticket items like watermaker, solar, and a tender, and I am hoping will be enough to include a solid bit of maintenance. I had considered that the next major maintenance costs would be in NZ (9-12months later), and therefore maintenance is relatively small portion of my intended cruising cost. We can happily cut down on wine & beer, and a few bottles of rum should last a long time. We're not party animals either, so a lot of the bar-hopping that I see in others budgets should be minimalised somewhat.

I'll bump my number to $1500 for now (gotta have some number), and keep on refining it at it as I collect more and more real data.

[Kettlewell]

IMO the thread serves two main purposes:-

1) to say that living on a boat is not only for those who live out of the glossy magazines and with the budgets to match. Peasants are welcome .

2) to swap ideas and thoughts, in general and in specific, with a view to helping folks think through and come up with own answers - that each can live with (and not). One size does not fit all - all the more true the smaller the budget.

Well put. I have always argued and will continue to do so that cruisers spend what they have--period. There are people on the $500 per month budget and there are people on the $5000 per month budget, and that is what they have, so that is what they spend.

[w1651]

I just took this from my boat thread on here. I love nauticle flea markets as you know. Last week I got some really great deals and a lot of the things I needed to get the old girl close to back in shape.
I just wanted to talk more about the Nauticle flea market I went to this weekend. I am a big fan of them and even though I know some of you aren't I wanted to tell you what I got there.
I needed bow chocks for the boat and I got a matching set that fit and that I painted black for less then 6 USD.
I also needed a throw ring for the stern that I got for 25 USD. The gentleman there wouldn't budge on price but it is a coast guard approved commercial throw ring with reflective tape and looks close to new. For 25 USD I couldn't pass it up.
I got three electrical gangs all have 14 positions that have a 3/8 bolt to mount a battery cable to them. So I can use them as negative or positive applications and use battery cable ground and power through them. I found the ones on the boat burned up and I need to replace them as well as move my house batteries to get the electrical system back up and running. These I bought for 20 USD and they are heavy duty, stainles steel, with nylon fiberboard backing 1/2 inch thick and can be linked together or doubled up. They also have mounting holes drilled into them easy peasy to mount.
I also got 8 bronze rings 1/4 inch in diameter and 2 additional rings 3/8 in diameter for 2 USD. Then I got 8 bronze hooks to go with them as well as a 5/8 thimble for 20 USD. The thimble is for my anchor road which I installed last night after painting it. And the rings and hooks are for my life lines. I am going to use them to get more ease of availability to climb on board my boat. As it sits now you can only board her at the stern. I want to be able to choose from the stern the bow and the beam. I will use stainless cable at the middle stanchions but regular 3/8 rope at the bow stern and beam.
That's pretty much it for now. I have lots of little things I still need to get done and I still have tape to remove from painting. I am hoping to get to pull the old girl this coming month or so I can get the bottom job done. When that happens hopefully I can get all the sea cocks swapped out and the hoses resecured with double clamping to make me feel safer sailing her. But all in all I spent 72 USD and got a lot of stuff in good shape.

I also want to mention there were many other things there new and still in the box. I could have gotten everything from a new head for a great price to gauges and electrical equipment. Flea markets are a great resource if your careful, barter, and willing to walk away.
By for now!

[Kettlewell]

In addition to the flea markets, there is a lot of stuff just on the ground and in the weeds in boatyards that you can sometimes pick up for the asking. Durable stuff like anchors, chain, heads, rigging, sometimes whole roller furlers, you name it. You've got to sort of smell it out, but it is out there. I once abandoned a huge spinnaker pole I didn't need anymore, so I just left it next to where my boat had been hauled out figuring someone would take it and make good use of it. A few years later I decided to sell the boat and on the off chance it was still there I went back and the pole hadn't moved from where I had left it on the ground, though it did sport lots of splatters of bottom paint. Stuff like that is around for the asking.

[Blue Crab]

Good story

[onestepcsy37]

sailorchic - coincidentally, my friend lives aboard here in east central florida for $600 a month (social security check) with his cat, although his cat won't touch the 'cheap' stuff.

about your bottom paint; you say it's ablative and it's been on for four years??? got to know what brand that is; my pettit trinidad hard paint lasts four years....

[sailorchic34]

I used Pettit Ultima SR 40. Expensive but good stuff. Had no soft growth for the first 10 months or so. Though I probably spend oh 30-40 percent in fresh water so that has helped too. That was 2 coats and a third coat for the first 2 feet at the water line.

[lunasee]

Well, don't know about 500$ per month being realistic for me but I think it is for some.
Not everyone likes to drink ( I don't care for the taste nor how it affects me) as for eating out it's rare that I find some place that cooks food better that my wife and I can so we just do not eat out often. I was raised in a boat shop so I do not hire work done with the exception of a complete engine overhaul.
I much prefer anchoring in a quiet cove then spend my time tied up in a marina, not that I won’t on occasion. The wife and I have worked hard our whole lives and have reached the point where we are both tired of it and so we will being retiring early this next year to spend the next few years cruising and enjoying as much of the rest of our life as we are still able. So we will live as frugally as we can and still have a pleasant lifestyle. I give not a plug nickel how some cigar smoking stuff shirt thinks of how we will be living nor that our boat is not the latest eye candy, we have earned our freedom.
One thing I have come to realize in my old age is that people are different and it does not make them right or wrong, just different. It’s a big mistake to judge some else’s life style or choice of how to live by mine. I still find I have a tendency to that but I am trying (old habits die hard).
I guess I’d better prepare for the inevitable broadside.
Old sailor

[ArtM]

This thread started April 29th, 2010 - it's approaching it's 3rd year anniversary.

If people who were living on $500 then are spending $600 now, that's a reasonable rate of inflation, particularly since certain items have gone up much more than others.

[charliehows]

Even if used less often than an RV engine (a 454 is as bad as they come, some RV's have smaller engines - mine had a 1400cc 4 cyl), a boat is far less fuel efficient. It seems there are few people (according to my read from this site) who sail exclusively, or nearly exclusively. You have to motor whenever you are near land features, and if you have somewhere to be you have to motor to get there most of the time. And when you do, fuel efficiency is pretty poor.

whaaat? maybe a 60 ft twin engined motor yacht but my 2 cyl diesel yanmar uses less fuel then my bloody 125cc scooter. Sorry but i couldnt leave a blatant piece of misinformation like that sitting without comment.

[charliehows]

[QUOTE=ArtM;1192072]My assertion is that no matter how cheaply you cruise, RVing is cheaper

Even if used less often than an RV engine (a 454 is as bad as they come, some RV's have smaller engines - mine had a 1400cc 4 cyl), a boat is far less fuel efficient. It seems there are few people (according to my read from this site) who sail exclusively, or nearly exclusively. You have to motor whenever you are near land features, and if you have somewhere to be you have to motor to get there most of the time. And when you do, fuel efficiency is pretty poor

heres the reference, mucked it up on the previous

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by charliehows

whaaat? maybe a 60 ft twin engined motor yacht but my 2 cyl diesel yanmar uses less fuel then my bloody 125cc scooter. Sorry but i couldnt leave a blatant piece of misinformation like that sitting without comment.

I also get the impression that many folks motor a fair bit on passage - including intentionally. But with a yacht it's not always compulsory . Likely that on $500 a month you can swap time for cash as no Monday morning work to turn up at . I appreciate that location will also be a factor, but that also a choice.