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

[newhaul]

Its more about sharing ideas on sailing cheaper and saving money where you can .
Mike this thread is where we met back in the day caused me to send you the sailing the farm book .

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Alas even I has moved out of $500/month land. Now I bask in the richness of social security. Why I atually own two pair of shoes. Still have flip flops too of course.



My skills at living at the $500 / month, serve me well even now.

congrats kiddo you finally made it
Love the new hair color.

[asistephen]

Originally Posted by lolarose

yes,yes, i remember that one.. only i forgot to mention that i have house in dubrovnik with lemon and orange trees around and can jump from my balkony in the sea or walk down the road five minutes to the beach.

not to mention another one on the peljesac peninsula with wineyard(quite good anual income) and quite BIG plot of land. if that is in OUR dear uk it would be wort probably few million pounds.
and i am not on food stams. i am on jobseakers alowance (presently on sick note)
but do not you vorry, i will not use your tax payer money after this july. my daughter finishing year 11 this summer and she is goin to live with her mother in tampa, and i am leaving Uk, going back to adriatic sea summer...... tampa in "winter"

i hope i clear it for you



love

I’m I getting this right ? your not from Uk and here on benefits yet you boast you have land and income abroad.

Am I wrong ?

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Alas even I has moved out of $500/month land. Now I bask in the richness of social security. Why I atually own two pair of shoes. Still have flip flops too of course….

Bourgeois capitaliste .

My spouse and I were just musing about how rich we’re going to be once first she, and eventually I, get old enough to qualify for CPP (Canadian equivalent to social security). We’ll be rollin’ in the dough by then.

Originally Posted by newhaul

Its more about sharing ideas on sailing cheaper and saving money where you can .
Mike this thread is where we met back in the day caused me to send you the sailing the farm book .

Exactly right. It’s about living well with less. Frugality is a set of skills which is not something our culture teaches (just the opposite). It would be nice to get this thread rolling again.

Sailing the Farm … I still refer to it . Just finished making the solar dehydrator. Hope to put it to use this coming season.

[sailorboy1]

A real shoestring sailor would keep using this perfectly usable dingy for another couple of years. And don't say it isn't possible as my wife and I took it back to the boat and then back to shore just the way it is in the picture.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by asistephen

I’m I getting this right ? your not from Uk and here on benefits yet you boast you have land and income abroad.

Am I wrong ?

you do realise this is a very long lived thread and the post you quoted is over 7 years old

[Tricolor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

The Shoestring Sailors have either died, stopped sailing or moved elsewhere.. too few left here to waste our time commenting.
Its Leather Belt and WM Sailors these days.. rain catchers n beanz are outa fashion.

Don't know, remember even Old Jersey showed his face in January. ...

[roverhi]

We spent a year in French Polynesia and spending the grand total of $1,200 including some boat parts. Before you get too excited, this was in 1976 which works out to about $5,500 in todays money. We'd built the boat so nothing was older than 2 years. No maintenance issues of any consequence. Boat was super well provisioned and that cost not included in the cruising years expenses. Went out to dinner twice during the year to very disappointing meals. Didn't hang out in bars and only occasionally bought a cold brew at the local grocery store. Caught most of our protein either spear fishing, trolling or Lobster during the first 6 months. Tahiti and the Isles Sous Le Vent were largely fished out so thrown on the local economy later in the cruise which greatly increased food expense.

We could have gone several more years without doing any boat maintenance. Easy to clean the bottom in the tropics. Sails held up well. Because of broken mount bolt, had to hand crank the Volvo MD2. Wasn't a big cost item to get the bolt stub out but required pulling the engine to get at. The engine was so easy to hand crank never considered fixing till we sold the boat 10 years later.

We didn't miss much of what cost money. Days were filled with snorkeling/spear fishing and hiking. Never been fitter in my life and weight dropped to lowest in my adult life despite dining on lobster neuberg and other delicacies regularly. Thanks to wife who is a great cook and Joy of Cooking ate very well almost everywhere. Certainly better than the restaurants we found there. Only thing we missed were fresh veggies. Made do with shredded green papayas and sprouts.

Costs would've gone up as time passed but easily dealt if money was put aside for the inevitable. Original sails were getting a bit worn after 10 years and the reacher drifter was a blown out bag. The engine made two more trips to SoPac under subsequent owner before it finally gave out. The Avon Red Crest did five years of heavy use before the leaks got too numerous to repair. The hard dink that I picked up out of a trash bin with a hole in the bottom was still going strong 30 years later. and may still be rowing around Kona. The British Seagull outboard is at the bottom of Oponohu Bay on Moorea after I deep sixed it when it quit one time too often. Rowing was great exercise and often covered miles exploring with the Red Crest.

Could cruise on $500 a month if boat maintenance wasn't included. Would probably have to add at least a $100 a month in a separate fund to cover costs of improvements/repairs to the boat. That's assuming living on the hook. Forget it if you are marina bound.

[sailorboy1]

Hell even I could cruise on $500 with enough “not counting”. I bet I could even get below $100

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Hell even I could cruise on $500 with enough “not counting”. I bet I could even get below $100

Well with the misses, lets say $800/month. it's easy, allow for $300 for food per month, $50 for cell phone / internet, drop medical, eating out, booze, entertainment, etc.


Of course, it gets real easy if all you have is $500/month. Food, a bit of fuel, porpane and $100/month for the boat. Everything else is a luxury. Though I still spend $100 year for boat insurance.



Now a days, I'm rich. Why I even purchased a mppt charge controller. It does work better then my old $25 charge controller. Alas at that old$500 level, a $25 controller was a streach.

[Ballenxj]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Though I still spend $100 year for boat insurance.

That's probably a good idea.

[a64pilot]

We are spending on cruising the Bahamas, less than $1,000 a month.
However it’s not sustainable, because we stocked the boat with just about everything we needed before we left, so we buy just some fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, and milk when we can find it.

So if you do the don’t count game, it’s easy.

[Mike OReilly]

Here’s a fairly simple project that is rolling around in me ol’ noggin.

I want to use our dinghy as a rain catcher when anchored. Catching rain is no problem, but transferring it to our tank is. Ultimately, I want it to end up in our tank which we drink from, so filtering will be required.

I was going to start with something like this simple pump



I’m thinking some sort of pre-filter, and then a finer exit filter. I’m assuming the rainwater is safe enough to drink, which should be a reasonable assumption in the places I cruise. But it will have chunky bits, and fine particulate, that I want to remove.

I know there are inline filters for garden hoses. That’s where I was going to start. But I’m sure the collective wisdom out here can come up with better ideas.

[Buzzman]

I suspect it will have salt dissolved in it from the spray that lands on the dinghy prior to the rain event, so wil be saltier than pure rainwater, so amybe not good to go in the tanks? Perhaps store in cans for deck washing or bathing, or washing up dishes, clothes washing?

Filter particulates might be OK with a filter, but getting dissolved salts out will take osmotic membranes.

[Ballenxj]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

Filter particulates might be OK with a filter, but getting dissolved salts out will take osmotic membranes.

A desalinization machine. And you're right about the debris.