Month 10 Expenses of Cruising and Living on the Boat

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I'm on vacation, I just call it living!

Cheers back at ya!

[weavis]

Here is the deal.

We got tired of the sniping. I removed posts. Not all removed posts were bad in themselves but either were responses to posts that had to go. Sorry for that.
You can complain to me directly if you feel aggrieved or phone 1-800-WAILING WALL.

Definitions of sailing? Complaints regarding writing styles? Comments regarding Europeans? Telling the OP he is spending too much money?

A little reminder, Im a European, A lot of the mods are European, a few of the mods who are not European live in Europe....... The world does not stop at the borders of the USA. May of the posters here prefer to sail in Europe for their own reasons and I find it intolerable that people criticise other peoples cruising choices both for location and in the way they spend their hard earned income WHEREVER they sail. Many USA and Canadian sailors find sailing out of American territories is quite nice despite the fear of not finding a Macdonalds...(though its harder to NOT find a Mickey Ds anywhere...)

If you cant be nice, please dont post. If its not nice the post WILL be removed.

Who are you guys? Somebodys mother?

Enough already.

Get a grip.

weavis going back to his multi culture existence of drinking Colombian coffee, having Spanish Orange Juice, eating Irish bacon on Italian bread and eying the French wine for later with Lebanese Hummus to be made. All the time wondering if he can get the mooring costs down on the Cat he is negotiating on buying..

[weavis]

Those of us who have been around Cf for a while, will have watched Dons progress to this retirement plan of his.

Purchase of the vessel, learning to sail, jobs that had to be done, finishing his secular employment, arranging pension, selling up and finally doing it.

It took years.

He kept the eye on the prize and did not deviate.

For others, me included, the journey has been a lot more convoluted. Huge business changes, Financial changes, Personal relationship changes, change of countries, obligations that delayed water plans etc etc.

Many of us come to the dream unable to do it right now or screwed in the attempt by divorce or death or other things.

Its life.

Don has worked his whole life to get here. He also gets to choose what to do with his life and money.

If it bothers you about him spending $3500 a month then..... YOU do it different. I for one do not begrudge a single cent he spends because a) its nothing to do with me and b) gosh darn it, he is living his life and a lot of people are envious a little.

I dont want to sail where he sails at present, but I would enjoy it if I was forced to...

Kenomac chooses his lifestyle. Mikey O chooses his. Each involves a different vessel, different location, different income level and different attitudes toward how to do it. Take what you will from each of their descriptions of what they do.... and disregard what does not suit you.

We have one guy on here in a vessel with no engine and little money who is sailing around the world. He is living the life he wants. There in lies the difference. Most cruisers have a little money to buffer the bad times. Some of us dont have a lot but still want to cruise. Some can cruise and not change their lifestyles at all. Others have to do it on a budget.

Does it matter? They are all out cruising. Isnt being on the water what counts?

The guy with the 1 million yacht in a lovely location will wake up one morning next to the guy with the $10k yacht from Bradford in the UK who decided he wanted to sail around the world on his small pension and saved up money after a lifetime of working in the coal mine.

Worry about your own lives and let others live theirs.

I love CF for the diversity of characters and in general the generosity of Spirit and shared information. We have world travelers here with money and world travelers with not so much. We have Drs and lawyers and electricians and builders and truck drivers and pilots and retirees......... Lets take their sailing experience that they give freely and use it to benefit ourselves.

Lets try to Appreciate instead of criticise. Let us also try to not ram our experience and preferences down others throats...just lay it out there for the taking.

[Kenomac]

Question for Sailorboy Don,

Is your wife Mrs. Sailorboy enjoying the lifestyle change? How has she adapted and is it everything she thought it would be? Who chooses the restaurants? Any missing of the folks at home? I know this has been an issue for Mrs. Kenomac, which is one reason why she makes frequent trips back to Massachusetts.



Ken

[Mike OReilly]

Nicely put Dr. Weavis.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Question for Sailorboy Don,

Is your wife Mrs. Sailorboy enjoying the lifestyle change? How has she adapted and is it everything she thought it would be? Who chooses the restaurants? Any missing of the folks at home? I know this has been an issue for Mrs. Kenomac, which is one reason why she makes frequent trips back to Massachusetts.



Ken

My wife and I are on the same page and like the boating life about the same.

Like me she wishes it was more like the "the dream" but so far it is nice
enough and we are glad to be doing it. Our standard answer when people hear we live on a sailboat and say "that sounds real nice" is "when things are nice they are real nice, but when they suck they reaaaaaallly suck".

WE chose restaurants. If no one really cares it starts as "where would you like to go", but if someone has a place in mind it goes " I would like to go here, hows that sound". But for the most part there aren't a lot of choices in walking distance. Now you got me thinking and I realize we are in a marina and have only dined out once this week and it was just $35 so maybe it is time to eat out tonight.

We moved a lot the last few years so we don't really have "folks back home". And we have phones with facebook etc. Actually my wife has seen her Mom waaay more the past year than before since she lives in Fl. Now my daughter is in FL and that just leaves our son up North who doesn't really care to see us anyway.

There are basically a series of questions that can be asked to couples to find if cruising will work out for them. I don't remember where I saw it but dreamers should search for it as I find they truly did ask the key things (none of it really has to do with boating).

[Hoosiersailor]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

There are basically a series of questions that can be asked to couples to find if cruising will work out for them. I don't remember where I saw it but dreamers should search for it as I find they truly did ask the key things (none of it really has to do with boating).

I have been trying to find this series of questions but haven't. If anyone knows where to find it, I would appreciate if you could share. Would love to see how my wife and I would fare.

[weavis]

Don.
If you dont mind a question.

Is there anything in your year of cruising that has really sucked or disappointed you on the scale of tarnishing the dream?

For me its a common chore. I hate the smell of Diesel. I REALLY REALLY take care when filling up and everything is washed down after. The engine room and tank space is well vented rearward.

Trivial? probably. I just dont like the smell. My boat always smells of Febreeze...

[weavis]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

My wife and I are on the same page and like the boating life about the same.

Like me she wishes it was more like the "the dream" but so far it is nice
enough and we are glad to be doing it. Our standard answer when people hear we live on a sailboat and say "that sounds real nice" is "when things are nice they are real nice, but when they suck they reaaaaaallly suck".

WE chose restaurants. If no one really cares it starts as "where would you like to go", but if someone has a place in mind it goes " I would like to go here, hows that sound". But for the most part there aren't a lot of choices in walking distance. Now you got me thinking and I realize we are in a marina and have only dined out once this week and it was just $35 so maybe it is time to eat out tonight.

We moved a lot the last few years so we don't really have "folks back home". And we have phones with facebook etc. Actually my wife has seen her Mom waaay more the past year than before since she lives in Fl. Now my daughter is in FL and that just leaves our son up North who doesn't really care to see us anyway.

There are basically a series of questions that can be asked to couples to find if cruising will work out for them. I don't remember where I saw it but dreamers should search for it as I find they truly did ask the key things (none of it really has to do with boating).

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

My wife and I are on the same page and like the boating life about the same.

Like me she wishes it was more like the "the dream" but so far it is nice
enough and we are glad to be doing it. Our standard answer when people hear we live on a sailboat and say "that sounds real nice" is "when things are nice they are real nice, but when they suck they reaaaaaallly suck".

WE chose restaurants. If no one really cares it starts as "where would you like to go", but if someone has a place in mind it goes " I would like to go here, hows that sound". But for the most part there aren't a lot of choices in walking distance. Now you got me thinking and I realize we are in a marina and have only dined out once this week and it was just $35 so maybe it is time to eat out tonight.

We moved a lot the last few years so we don't really have "folks back home". And we have phones with facebook etc. Actually my wife has seen her Mom waaay more the past year than before since she lives in Fl. Now my daughter is in FL and that just leaves our son up North who doesn't really care to see us anyway.

There are basically a series of questions that can be asked to couples to find if cruising will work out for them. I don't remember where I saw it but dreamers should search for it as I find they truly did ask the key things (none of it really has to do with boating).

Excellent! I'm glad to hear it's working our for both of you, it's important to be on the same page most of the time. My wife usually has the final say on where to eat due to her limited dietary tastes, so I try the local cuisine when she's back home.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by weavis

Don.
If you dont mind a question.

Is there anything in your year of cruising that has really sucked or disappointed you on the scale of tarnishing the dream?

The most sucky thing has been the weather, especially in the Bahamas. I'm sure almost all potential cruisers in the US Northeast have the Bahamas on their dream list of warm sandy beaches etc. But the 3 months we spend there we pretty much had to hide from weather every week and between the running and hiding (and 1/2 the time "hiding" met just got pounded less) it just got old. Finally we just left and we did it in a few hard sails in conditions that a couple months earlier we wouldn't even have gone out in, that's how much we had had enough.

Everyone should go as you learn a lot etc, but it wasn't what we were looking for overall.

I get tired of fixing boat things, but there's nothing on the boat that really is bugging me too much. If there is I just find a way to solve it (I don't just accept them).

[weavis]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

The most sucky thing has been the weather, especially in the Bahamas. I'm sure almost all potential cruisers in the US Northeast have the Bahamas on their dream list of warm sandy beaches etc. But the 3 months we spend there we pretty much had to hide from weather every week and between the running and hiding (and 1/2 the time "hiding" met just got pounded less) it just got old. Finally we just left and we did it in a few hard sails in conditions that a couple months earlier we wouldn't even have gone out in, that's how much we had had enough.

Everyone should go as you learn a lot etc, but it wasn't what we were looking for overall.

I get tired of fixing boat things, but there's nothing on the boat that really is bugging me too much. If there is I just find a way to solve it (I don't just accept them).

Yep.
Weather is a bummer. Right now its 89F with 50% humidity. I consider it good because its been...111 with 80% humidity...

We get what we get. Do you have the A/C on the boat? Apologies if you said but I dont remember...

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

The most sucky thing has been the weather, especially in the Bahamas. I'm sure almost all potential cruisers in the US Northeast have the Bahamas on their dream list of warm sandy beaches etc. But the 3 months we spend there we pretty much had to hide from weather every week and between the running and hiding (and 1/2 the time "hiding" met just got pounded less) it just got old. Finally we just left and we did it in a few hard sails in conditions that a couple months earlier we wouldn't even have gone out in, that's how much we had had enough.

I've read with interest your comments (now and previously) re: the Bahamas, and I suspect that we may end up feeling the same way when we take off next year. I've read too many accounts of people having to sit out multiple cold fronts and wearing long sleeves and pants. Long sleeves and pants is NOT what I'm looking for. We're planning to skip the Abacos entirely to try to minimize the chances of being chilled, but if the Exumas are still too cool we're out of there.

Thanks for sharing, Don.

[sailorboy1]

I never had to wear long pants in the Bahamas (that would have made me leave). Yes I have air conditioning. But if you get trapped fuel becomes an issue. We left Georgetown in bad weather (the 45' boat in front of us turned back) and went into emerald Bay as that was the nearest fuel dock we could get to and it had been over a month. Well then we were stuck there 8 days till I couldn't take the surge pounding to the point of running the bad conditions at the entrance to get out. Once we did the next 2 nights at anchor were so bad with the wind and surge that when out on a crossing in 30+ winds justifying that it would behind us (still turned out to be kind of foolish)

Our Bahamas time was like what you read of people's first cruise where they come back and sell the boat!

[Kenomac]

Put some stabilizers on next months expense list.

Check out my Magma Flopper Stoppers review and youtube videos.