Low Cost Cruising Details

[AKA-None]

Remember that expenses are not a budget.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

Remember that expenses are not a budget.

no but tracking them over a period of time assists in developing a budget.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by newhaul

just remember you share the same sunsets but spend in a year the months maintenance budget of some of those bigger yachts . The deck hands usually wish they were where you are at :-):-):-)

Um, generally, no they don't wish that (I'm not sure why people think that?). Even deckhands on large yachts are paid well and live very comfortably and with a chef cooking for them. And as a deckhand, you already know how much work it is to maintain a boat, but at least you get paid for it!

So they aren't looking at a small cruising yacht with envy. Most don't want that. They can afford to go on holiday all over the world when on vacation instead, and that's often what they do.

Originally Posted by AmericanVagrant

I have plenty of envy for those that can afford a more comfortable sailing lifestyle but I chose to go now rather than save for later. Maybe one day I'll do it again as a yachtie but for the time being I settle for being the smallest vessel in the anchorage

Despite what I wrote above, there is certainly no shame in being the smallest boat in the anchorage, especially if that boat happens to be a Hallberg-Rassy 33, and that anchorage happens to be somewhere in French Polynesia...

Some people dream all their life about that, you are already there

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Um, generally, no they don't wish that (I'm not sure why people think that?). Even deckhands on large yachts are paid well and live very comfortably and with a chef cooking for them. And as a deckhand, you already know how much work it is to maintain a boat, but at least you get paid for it!

So they aren't looking at a small cruising yacht with envy. Most don't want that. They can afford to go on holiday all over the world when on vacation instead, and that's often what they do.



Despite what I wrote above, there is certainly no shame in being the smallest boat in the anchorage, especially if that boat happens to be a Hallberg-Rassy 33, and that anchorage happens to be somewhere in French Polynesia...

Some people dream all their life about that, you are already there

Funny, not that long ago 33 feet would have been slightly above average for a cruising boat. Wasn't that long ago something like the Westsail 32 was considered the benchmark for a cruising boat and now the fellow sees himself as the smallest boat in the Anchorage.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Funny, not that long ago 33 feet would have been slightly above average for a cruising boat. Wasn't that long ago something like the Westsail 32 was considered the benchmark for a cruising boat and now the fellow sees himself as the smallest boat in the Anchorage.

and to think I thought I was really upgrading when I went from a 24 to a 29.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Funny, not that long ago 33 feet would have been slightly above average for a cruising boat. Wasn't that long ago something like the Westsail 32 was considered the benchmark for a cruising boat and now the fellow sees himself as the smallest boat in the Anchorage.

Yes, and my boat was considered the "Big Boat" back in the day. Much like average house sizes, affluence has driven up what is considered "normal", making it more expensive for people to get in. Luckily there are still the exceptions, like AmericanVagrant, which is why conversations like this are useful. It shows that you don't need $3k+/month to go cruising.

So far, quite a few here have said they happily cruise at about 1/2 that amount. And a few are even less than that. Of course there are many who cruise at higher amounts as well, and that's just great. If you got it, spend it!

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Funny, not that long ago 33 feet would have been slightly above average for a cruising boat. Wasn't that long ago something like the Westsail 32 was considered the benchmark for a cruising boat and now the fellow sees himself as the smallest boat in the Anchorage.

Yes, funny that. Progress I guess, if you can call it that.

But it's the same in the superyacht world too. Back in the day a 50m (165ft) was like "wow". But things moved quickly in the new millennium, especially with the arrival of new money, and soon people (who had never even owned any type of boat) were buying 50m as "entry level, first boat" (I can understand that, it's a good size ). And within 10 years 50m was considered somewhat "small". Now 100m superyachts are common place.

Go figure

[contrail]

In 1982, when I first started on my 33 foot monohull, I had several friends who had circumnavigated, with family, in smaller boats. That was the standard. The Pardeys did it in a smaller boat. The Roths sailed Whisper, a Spencer 35, Earl Hinz cruised an Out Island 41, which seemed huge, the Naranjo's sailed an Ericson 42 (or 40), and the Dashews did in a Columbia 52 which seemed positively decadent. These folks were the Internet stars of the day, except there was no internet so they wrote books and articles. Some of them still do. I was about average with my 33 footer..and very comfortable.



Years later, you should have seen my face when someone came up and asked me about my "micro-cruiser"! And, if it could go offshore? And whether I could live aboard....did so for 19 years. I got my present ride, a 45 foot cat, in 2004, and she was pretty big, back then; but now, dime a dozen.


But, when I am cruising, instead of chartering, and lying at anchor, it's still the small boats that I tend to visit first. I still find those stories and lives and friendships, in many cases, to be more interesting, but the fact that I am on a much larger boat can often make it hard to break through.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by contrail

But, when I am cruising, instead of chartering, and lying at anchor, it's still the small boats that I tend to visit first. I still find those stories and lives and friendships, in many cases, to be more interesting, but the fact that I am on a much larger boat can often make it hard to break through.

Agreed, although in a similar situation in the 1990s, on a 50ft boat, with a watermaker, plenty of tankage, hot water (on deck too), big fridge, big freezer, etc, a friendly offer to crew on a newly arrived small boat of a cold beer, filling a jerry can of water if they needed, and a long hot shower seemed irresistible.

The girls especially would look, incredulously, and say "you mean, we can have a hot shower, and wash our hair, for as long as we want" - Yup, sure (ok, within reason, it's still a boat young lady...). That was normally the best icebreaker ever.

The best version of this was a 24ft scandinavian boat with three young blonde girls and one young boy onboard that had crossed the atlantic to the caribbean. I really admired them, they were really doing it, but that sure must have been cramped.

So, I've never seen three girls get in my dinghy so fast... but I digress

I guess that doesn't work so well now that most boats have watermakers. Pity

[robert sailor]

You remember back in high school there were always 3 guys that hung together.... 2 guys liked each other and the 3rd guy had the car! Maybe that's the way it is with boats with big watermakers and dive compressors....just kidding, lol..

[jmh2002]

No kidding necessary

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by newhaul

and to think I thought I was really upgrading when I went from a 24 to a 29.

In those boat sizes going from a 24 to a 29 "IS" a big upgrade.

[AmericanVagrant]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Funny, not that long ago 33 feet would have been slightly above average for a cruising boat. Wasn't that long ago something like the Westsail 32 was considered the benchmark for a cruising boat and now the fellow sees himself as the smallest boat in the Anchorage.

To be fair there was a (even younger) couple in Taioha'e that had a boat which was a couple feet shorter IIRC. But aside from that I've been smallest, usually by a significant margin.

Originally Posted by newhaul

and to think I thought I was really upgrading when I went from a 24 to a 29.

No doubt, when I upgraded from my Albin Vega to the HR33 it felt like moving into a mansion

Originally Posted by jmh2002

Despite what I wrote above, there is certainly no shame in being the smallest boat in the anchorage, especially if that boat happens to be a Hallberg-Rassy 33, and that anchorage happens to be somewhere in French Polynesia...

Some people dream all their life about that, you are already there

Cheers to that

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

In those boat sizes going from a 24 to a 29 "IS" a big upgrade.

I made the change recently
Went from a 24 and a 42 to just a 29
The Spencer cost to much to maintain

[Jim Cate]

Another observation: when we started serious cruising in 1986, our 36 foot boat (ex IOR one tonner) was often the largest boat in the anchorage. When we finally sold her 17 years later she was often the smallest boat in the anchorage.

But there are still folks out cruising in distant waters in smallish boats. And like someone else posted upthread, we make an effort to meet them, for they are commonly more interesting than the folks in new shiny plastic behemoths.

Jim