Extra Cruising Cost for a "Big" Boat

[sailorboy1]

Space of course is greatly dependent on the boat. I used to have a 39’ boat, my 41’ feels twice the space.

[zstine]

I think the main cost of a bigger boat is dock space. We spent 16 months cruising and 0 (zero) days paying for dockage. I would also think fuel would be a wash since you can sail faster in the larger boat and won't run the engine as much.. also 6knots motoring the big boat could be 50% throttle, while you would motor at 80%throttle on the small boat. Maintenance costs will be high with a bigger boat as everything bigger costs bigger, but certainly you get more for less living costs on a bigger boat.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Really close to double the boat size.

Yes it probably is.

I was about to correct my original calculation of 32% since that was only based on the 10' difference. The 41' boat has a substantially much larger interior than the 31' if you also add in the extra beam.
The beam on Sailorboy's H410 is just under 14' while a typical 30-31 has ~10' beam. That extra 4' difference in the beam makes a much more livable interior for full time live aboard status.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by Dpackie

I wonder if making the jump from 40-50 would be a linear increase in cost. Also, I wonder about long term ownership. New sails. Replacing rigging. Motor. Electrical ect. Do these systems increase exponentially with size? How do new sails and rigging compare in price between a 30 and 40 foot boat?....

Yep, linear increase in cost. We are 63' and just in the last year we spent about $5,000 on a new Maxwell 3500 windlass and another $10,000 (and counting) on new roller furlers for the staysail and the jib and four winches. And that doesn't count the sails we'll need when all is done.

This is just purchase price, we installed the windlass ourselves and are currently installing the furlers.

But...that being said, we've lived very comfortably aboard for the last six years, absolutely no complaints. And she sailed well before, with the 30 year old equipment, I can't wait to see how she moves with all the new gear.

But, be aware that a larger boat just lets you accumulate more "stuff" and we are just as crowded in the storage compartments as any 36' boat. If I had to do it again, I would buy a 50 footer with more upgrades and try to contain my urge to collect doubles and triples of equipment, saying "oh well, we have the room". That's just self delusional.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by zstine

I think the main cost of a bigger boat is dock space. We spent 16 months cruising and 0 (zero) days paying for dockage. I would also think fuel would be a wash since you can sail faster in the larger boat and won't run the engine as much.. also 6knots motoring the big boat could be 50% throttle, while you would motor at 80%throttle on the small boat. Maintenance costs will be high with a bigger boat as everything bigger costs bigger, but certainly you get more for less living costs on a bigger boat.

Marina fees were bleeding the previous owner of our vessel dry, its a big part of the reason we got her cheaper than most boats that were smaller and offering far less in comfort.

Because of this comfort, ability to carry large quantities of supplies and carry a larger than normal tender to go and do resupply runs, we have not been in a marina in 4 years.

That cost saving alone is more than our maintenance costs including cost of lift, hardstand and paid labour.

[Fore and Aft]

Sailorboy it's not much of an increase but it's enough for people like myself with a family to stick with our 32 footer that we can just afford. Like a previous poster said it's replacing the big ticket items that's going to hurt eventually. If for some reason our motor seized or a sail shredded itself it would not break us financially to replace it.
30-40 is not much of a jump, try 50' or a cat. When I survey boats that size the money some of the guys pay is huge. The anchor winch is a good example, I know l almost fell off the dock when a client told me what he paid for a new winch and installation on his 55 footer.
Cheers

[kmacdonald]

I guess we know why the 40 footer is the sweet spot.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Squanderbucks

Having been in boating all of my 70 years and from a family that built boats and owned a marina ( rack storage) - for those interested in the power boat side of that equation I would definitely say things go up more like exponentially. Not really liner except in the smaller boat ranges. Say 16 to 21 ft. All about the same. 22-26 slight operational increase. 27-31 now starts the steeper incline of the expense graph. 32-38 feet also Considerably up quite a bit more especially if inboard engine(s) are in the mix.
But making the step up from 40 feet I would say costs and maintenance would likely double with every 5 feet in length.
No hard figure to quote like the OP. But I have owned boats in every one of those ranges at one time or another.

I think you are closer to reality. Big is subjective.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Depending how you look at it the 10' jump between 31 to a 41' is ~32% more boat than the 31.
I believe your numbers and your final was 3.5% increase of budget for 32% more boat doesn't seem that bad to me.

On a size basis there are relatively high baseline costs for any boat (including a 31'). IMO you have shown that there isn't a 1:1 proportional increase of cost for the larger boat, but really much less.

Which would you be rather living on full time, the 41 or 31' for the better comfort factor?

Actually, the 41' boat is almost twice as much as the 31' boat because increases in length increase the volume / displacement by the cube of length. Example:

Catalina 30 displacement - 10,200 lbs
Catalina 40 displacement - 19,700 lbs

[C Paton-Gay]

When I bought mine I was told that to properly keep and maintain her (excluding significant upgrades) that it would cost approximately 8% of her replacement cost as new. 71 footer turned out to be approximately $107,000 per Year all in. Actual cost while cruising never varied more than up or down 5% over the years. I would suggest a 50' would be somewhere around $48,000 a year ... depending on the boat. Still around the 7-8% of full replacement cost. That's our experience for what it's worth.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Sailorboy it's not much of an increase but it's enough for people like myself with a family to stick with our 32 footer that we can just afford. Like a previous poster said it's replacing the big ticket items that's going to hurt eventually. If for some reason our motor seized or a sail shredded itself it would not break us financially to replace it.
30-40 is not much of a jump, try 50' or a cat. When I survey boats that size the money some of the guys pay is huge. The anchor winch is a good example, I know l almost fell off the dock when a client told me what he paid for a new winch and installation on his 55 footer.
Cheers

Did he get ripped off?
Not that it should ever need replacing but cost for a new Maxwell 3500 for ours is around $7k and install is easy, would take me less than an hour to replace

An expense for sure but big boat for us is working out far cheaper to run compared to a smaller boat + marina berth, car, house repayments etc

[seandepagnier]

I remember a boat that was 105ft overall length and could take 30 passengers. The captain informed me his budget for the last few years average $35k per year and mostly this is buying food and to pay for the charity work he was doing. It did have 3 steel masts.

[Boatguy30]

32-38' is about the sweet spot.

[Joli]

We seem to average about 1 1/2 ~ 2% per year of new replacement cost. Two years ago we were about 5~6% (sails, rigging, hulls repair) this year will probably be in the range of 1 1/2%. Next year we don't anticipate hauling or anything major so maintenance costs will be minimal. The boat is 61', new replacement cost is about $2,000,000. We've owned it for 20 years and the 1 1/2~2% seems to be pretty consistent. We budget 1 1/2%.

[sailorboy1]

The point i was trying to make wasn’t whether or how much more larger boats cost to maintain. The point I as trying to point out is it isn't as much as people believe for cruising. The extra costs of cruising on a larger boats barely matters in my case.

Maybe this part of the reason you don't see a lot of 30’ boats cruising anymore.