Month 11 Expenses of Cruising and Living on the Boat

[sailorboy1]

This past month we traveled ……………. nowhere and are in a slip in Brunswick GA. Been here a month already to sit out hurricane season and do various maintenance. Nice having all the electrical power I’m willing to pay for in order to run the air conditioning!

Got a lot of stuff for the boat to do maintenance and small living upgrades to make life better. The most expensive thing we got boat related was new foam for the settee cushions and that was $158, but well worth it.

Didn’t dine out all the much and over 1/3 of the costs was 1 good meal with our daughter. According to the group pizza delivery is eating out so those are in the total.

Communication is mostly cell phones but I also spent $70 that was computer related and decided to put it into this line total.

Entertainment expenses were for some Kindle books, movies, and some local sightseeing.

Marina costs are for 1.5 months of dockage. Haven’t paid electrical yet but expect it to be close to the extra ½ month, so next month I expect the total to be about the same.

No courtesy car here so transportation includes Uber rides, gas for when we used our daughter’s car and a tire repair.


The total was $ 3,034.53, which was close to the $3,000 budget and breaks down as follows:

Food, soda, alcohol, clothing, sundries - $ 835.90
Boat upgrades, repairs, maintenance - $ 662.28
Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) - $ 15
Dining out - $ 331.16
Entertainment - $ 97.81
Communication, storage, shipping - $ 198.05
Bank Fees – ($ 72.68) using my cash back card saves money
Marina - $ 851.05
Medical - $ 22.27
Transportation - $ 93.39

[MV Wanderlust]

Very reasonable and within an acceptable range of being on budget. Good breakdown. These are fun and helpful posts.

...although I could have done it for $1.53 less.

Seriously, thanks for continuing to post these, SB. You're helping more people than you know.

[sailorboy1]

I'll try to do better

[sailorboy1]

I see that basically making it on budget greatly reduces the thread attacks

[Navicula]

great job......I will now convert Canadian dollars....and I agree these are fun posts

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I see that basically making it on budget greatly reduces the thread attacks

I don't think they are attacks just differing points of view.

It's like with budgets. Should the price of the boat be added in and divided up by how many months a person cruises? If so, that could boost one's budget quite a bit if say one guy paid $8,500 for his cruising boat and the other $208,500.

There's a guy at our dock that has a $1,000 sailboat that's cooling it with a small ac unit he bought at Home Depot for a couple hundred bucks. He marina fee for his 25' sailboat is $300.00 as a liveaboard plus electric ($200.00 for slip only)

Also, many have a different idea of what cruising is or what they want it to be.

You are enjoying cruising while docked at a marina with air conditioning for the last month

A budget for that shouldn't be that hard to put together if you are already a boat owner with your boat at a marina presently plus a bit of research

As far as the AC, those of us that have sailed "Down South" know what it's like from Mid June til sometimes late September and beyond, but it seems no matter how often it gets mentioned folks don't seem to hear it until they are actually cruising down there

Yesterday, I "sailed" for a few hours waiting for the predicted 10-15 knot SW winds. The winds peaked at around 5-6 knots out of the NE while I was out there and the temp was 95 degrees when I got back to dock.

I sailed 5 miles out in fluky winds while setting stuff up for my 30 mile sail which never occurred.

The point is air conditioning was a welcome thing when I got back to the dock, vehicle, and apartment, but I must say it was quite a bit cooler offshore and if there were more time I may have stayed and sailed on

My engine is overheating a bit and I need to change the impeller but I sailed anyway. I had to remove the cover to make it back in other wise it would over heated and stop

Its all about what each person wants out of his or her cruise. It will take some time also to acclimate to no AC when one works and lives in AC for years especially if your work involves old style mainframe computers where they keep the temp at 66 degrees

[Capt.Don]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

This past month we traveled ……………. nowhere and are in a slip in Brunswick GA. Been here a month already to sit out hurricane season and do various maintenance. Nice having all the electrical power I’m willing to pay for in order to run the air conditioning!

Got a lot of stuff for the boat to do maintenance and small living upgrades to make life better. The most expensive thing we got boat related was new foam for the settee cushions and that was $158, but well worth it.

Didn’t dine out all the much and over 1/3 of the costs was 1 good meal with our daughter. According to the group pizza delivery is eating out so those are in the total.

Communication is mostly cell phones but I also spent $70 that was computer related and decided to put it into this line total.

Entertainment expenses were for some Kindle books, movies, and some local sightseeing.

Marina costs are for 1.5 months of dockage. Haven’t paid electrical yet but expect it to be close to the extra ½ month, so next month I expect the total to be about the same.

No courtesy car here so transportation includes Uber rides, gas for when we used our daughter’s car and a tire repair.


The total was $ 3,034.53, which was close to the $3,000 budget and breaks down as follows:

Food, soda, alcohol, clothing, sundries - $ 835.90
Boat upgrades, repairs, maintenance - $ 662.28
Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) - $ 15
Dining out - $ 331.16
Entertainment - $ 97.81
Communication, storage, shipping - $ 198.05
Bank Fees – ($ 72.68) using my cash back card saves money
Marina - $ 851.05
Medical - $ 22.27
Transportation - $ 93.39

I'd say you met your budget for the month. Next month you'll be $35 less! It all works out.

[sailorboy1]

I wonder how the title and subject leads to some posts with the same thread drift each month.

[SSgtPitt]

Thanks for the posts. Are those typical fees for a typical marina in that area?
Air conditioning is a luxery that I'd give up alcohol for.

Are you going to put up some boat / travel pics? Men like pictures. Here's one to help get you started.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I wonder how the title and subject leads to some posts with the same thread drift each month.

There's an episode on Gunsmoke about it.

Btw, was it mentioned that you can stay at marinas a bit further north this time of year for $6.00/ft with the same amenities as the more expensive ones along the narrower sections of the ICW down south

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by SSgtPitt

Thanks for the posts. Are those typical fees for a typical marina in that area?
Air conditioning is a luxery that I'd give up alcohol for.

Are you going to put up some boat / travel pics? Men like pictures. Here's one to help get you started.

I'm no marina price expert because I don't stay at many, but the price here appears to be the same to a little less than most in the area and doesn't have a liveaboard fee .

I tried to add a photo but the internet here is down and my phone didn't like the idea.

[a64pilot]

It's about average for down South, down South meaning Panhandle Fl etc.
It's the live aboard fee that often is the equalizer. Don't forget that when shopping.
My old Marina was I think about $350 a month, but if you lived aboard that adds $150 or so. Sometimes power is a flat rate that is a steal, sometimes its highway robbery, nice when you pay only for what you use.

However comma, there is sometimes more to it than that, some Marinas make a killing with their washers and driers, $2 ea or so a pop and sometimes that won't fully dry a load.
Are pump outs free? Is there a pump out boat, or do you have to go to the fuel dock each week to pump out?
What about other amenities? A nice big clean shower is a wonderful thing, a dirty tiny one with only warm water isn't.

I hope to leave for where SB is next week, I had planned to be off the coast of Charleston for the eclipse, but won't even leave here before it's over. Best laid plans an all.

[sailorboy1]

And the point of going to ground during hurricane season is to be in safe place.

Another about marinas is that what is good to a cruiser without a car is a lot different than someone keeping thiier boat at a marina who has a car.

[Kenomac]

I'm a little confused by 64pilot's previous post.... You don't have a washing machine onboard? What's a pumpout station?

[BandB]

Budgeting has a couple of great values.

The first is obvious and that is helping manage your expenses.

However, the second one is probably the most valuable. It is knowing where your money is going.

We've always budgeted and I think it was a huge contributor to early retirement, although a lot of luck was involved. On our boating budget, we're under budget again this year. However, that's somewhat bogus as I have continued to budget fuel prices above where they are. Otherwise though we have a good feel for what will impact it.

We definitely didn't budget a trip to Spain or chartering a boat there this year. A bit like sailorboy's sitting at the dock. We were doing something entirely unplanned and unusual for us. Our boating costs were much higher for the month with the charter included, although shown in another category. Airfares were not budgeted. Ultimately we know what that trip cost us so if we do sometime visit our friends there again, we've got a good feel.

I applaud sailorboy.