Month 3 Expenses & Costs of Cruising

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Me thinks you misunderstood my lighthearted posts, I respect what Sailorboy has accomplished.

yes indeed a misunderstanding - as we think it is great that someone has cut the dock lines and sharing the cost information -- anyone who cuts the dock lines has our respect -- and yes we do it on about 3k a month or slightly less too

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Thomm,
You sound awfully jealous, stay the course, one day it can be you out there, until then how about backing off SB?

Sorry, not jealous at all.

I could never spend three months motoring the ICW. I'd go nuts with boredom

I never liked sailing down the ICW either. I get away from creeks, main channels etc as soon as possible when I go out. (as an exracer, I like clean air on my sails)

I like crossing areas of open water. I just enjoy when all you see is water. It's a very interesting feeling. Then finding a secluded anchorage

My normal weekend "cruise" here though is about 20 miles across so you can usually see something on the land. When I sail 70 miles or so North there are areas where you can only see tall towers if it's clear

When we raced to the islands off the coast of Mississippi (on beach cats) which are maybe 12 -15 miles or so out, you could not see them.

On the way in, if you had the lead, you could use the Beau Rivage Casio to guide on which took you back in the channel at Biloxi

I'll probably end up being a guy that cruises for a week or two at a time. Maybe a month max. It still gets slow for me after a few days. When I do my weekend and vacation cruises, I'm always near a spot where I can hike, run, walk the trails, etc......and where the fishing is good enouh to feed you

Cruising is a big adjustment to some of us sailors that are used to 100% sailing hard while on the boat due to racing for 15 years.

Example, buoy racing is totally nuts, with the constant tacking, gybing, raising and lowering the spinnaker, calling the tacks, making adjustments between races etc especially as a single hander. Then there's the craziness on the start/finish line plus after race arguments (and sometimes it gets heated. Think off all off us buoy racing each other on sunfish or lasers!)

Even during distance races where you aren't tacking and gybing as much, you are still watching all the other boats and planning. When there are 40-80 boats in sight, it gets interesting

[boatman61]

For someone who's done it as much as you say you have this is doubtless true.. however.. for someone doing it the first time its quite challenging and everything/day is a new adventure..
Remember my first days in and around Pamlico Sound and motoring down to Beaufort.. and the subsequent sail back up and into Whittackers Creek (dead engine) in Oriental from Taylors Creek anchorage.. that was fun.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by boatman61

For someone who's done it as much as you say you have this is doubtless true.. however.. for someone doing it the first time its quite challenging and everything/day is a new adventure..
Remember my first days in and around Pamlico Sound and motoring down to Beaufort.. and the subsequent sail back up and into Whittackers Creek (dead engine) in Oriental from Taylors Creek anchorage.. that was fun.

Sure it's fun for a beginner.

I was just "giving back" to SB trying to keep the board evened up.

Running the ICW from Morehead City to Cape Lookout there used to be several really quaint old marinas etc where you could get beer, bait, food etc

Another exciting trip was rounding Emerald Island. (I was 20 and the "old lady" was 16) Coming into that Inlet near Swansboro can be exciting. Normally if it was rough in an inlet back in the day, we'd just select a nice wave and ride it in

Another time coming out Beaufort Inlet, it was so rough the old lady started to cry. She was the only sensible one on the boat at the time. I was able to make the turn though without sinking the boat

I wouldn't mind stopping by Cape Lookout again one day

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by smj

Funny, as someone slightly higher on the food chain than you would probably consider your budget as just getting by, where theirs would be enjoying themselves. Guess it's all relative?

Absolutely its relative, when we were kids, if I had the assets I have now I would have considered ourselves wealthy, and yet we are no more happy now than then, in some ways we were happier then driving Volkswagons and staying in rest stops when we traveled because we didn't have Motel money.

To someone that is wealthy, they could not get by on my income now. Truthfully I see friends and neighbors etc., just throwing money away and I have to think, what is their plan, do they intend to work until they die? Point I'm making is that many if not most, spend what they have, double their income and they will spend it. Within reason the reverse is true, decrease income and you adapt. I know how, we got pretty good at it as kids

To some extent Retirement for us will mean we go back to living like we used to as kids, Wife commented the other day, used to be we saw something that cost $20 and we wanted it, we looked at the checkbook to see if we could afford it, now we just buy stuff and not even think about it.

But when someone breaks down their monthly expenses, then you can decide if its about what it may cost you, maybe they spend a grand a month on Marina's and another grand eating out, well you can then decide what you will spend on both and adjust.
Its the blanket statements that it costs X amount to cruise that sometimes are not helpful.
Like the cruising on $500 a month thread, it was very, very helpful to me as it pointed out may ways to save money, but in truth while I could live on $500 a month, I hope I don't have to.

Four or five years ago if you had told me I could retire on a "Yacht" and cruise the world, I would have laughed, cause I knew that had to cost at least a half million or so a year to do?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Having been actively cruising for a lot of years now, I've got a good handle on our expenses. For personal reasons I prefer not to share that info

If other cruisers read this thread they will also know not to share

[TheThunderbird]

I stay with Jim Cate
Spending is a very personal issue.

I would appreciate details on MAINTENANCE COSTS only, and other items strictly related to cruising, to plot against areas of cruising and sailboat sizes.

That's it... and anyone can see why.. since e.g. a can of bean fills you up equally well as caviar, and a bottle of whisky can range from 8 to 88$...

Regards

[Steadman Uhlich]

To SAILORBOY1:

Thanks for posting the costs for your trips or cruising AS YOU DO IT.

I think it is silly for anyone to criticize you for spending your money as you wish to, though I understand it is human nature to criticize others who do things differently than we do ourselves. We all tend to think we know what is best, as that is human nature too. The fact is: Some cruisers may spend less, and some more.

I really appreciate that anyone who shares their experience here is doing so voluntarily.

I also don't expect that my experience or life (or as some call it "lifestyle") will match theirs.

But, I can learn something from anyone, and in these cases where sailors provide some insights to what THEY spend on their boats or cruising, I can learn what it might cost me if I did something similar.

So, thank you ALL for providing the data you share here on CF, especially when done so in the spirit of sharing helpful information, and not as one-upmanship or criticism.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

I stay with Jim Cate
Spending is a very personal issue.

I would appreciate details on MAINTENANCE COSTS only, and other items strictly related to cruising, to plot against areas of cruising and sailboat sizes.

That's it... and anyone can see why.. since e.g. a can of bean fills you up equally well as caviar, and a bottle of whisky can range from 8 to 88$...

Regards

Yeah but.... whose beans are they?

[weavis]

Here is why there should be no criticism of how a person spends their money.

1/. Its is their money.
2/. They want to.

For me, as a single person, it is often easier and cheaper to eat out. When I had company, mostly we went out.

On a boat in Florida, when traveling down the coast, I could often get a 3 course meal in a family restaurant in the evening for under $10. A lunch for $5.

sometimes I could spend a lot more if the mood struck me.

Its better to worry about your own money than someone elses...

[TheThunderbird]

I use a Damascus decorated Bob Kramer designed knife by Zwilling, which cost me some 250US$, to cut just (carefully bargained for) fresh onions.

Please feel free to criticize, comment, skip over at leisure...

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

I use a Damascus decorated Bob Kramer designed knife by Zwilling, which cost me some 250US$, to cut just (carefully bargained for) fresh onions.

Please feel free to criticize, comment, skip over at leisure...

Sounds like you got a bargain to me . It will hold a good edge and cut those onions really frugally thin to make them stretch
I use a 150 dollar simple ulu to do the kitchen duty

[Hudson Force]

Weird to me! I can slice and dice an onion with a $1.50 knife.

[weavis]

ah but...

I like coffee. I can go buy Folgers or similar in the UK however I prefer some varietals...especially Colombian. I used to buy coffee in the sack and then roasted the seeds myself... The cheap home roasters didnt give me the taste I was looking for so......

I reckon each cup of coffee I drink costs me $10

But I do like the coffee... a lot.

Is it worth it? Heck no but I like it...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by weavis

ah but...

I like coffee. I can go buy Folgers or similar in the UK however I prefer some varietals...especially Colombian. I used to buy coffee in the sack and then roasted the seeds myself... The cheap home roasters didnt give me the taste I was looking for so......

I reckon each cup of coffee I drink costs me $10

But I do like the coffee... a lot.

Is it worth it? Heck no but I like it...

I just toss em around in a wok.. how dya think they did it before all these rip off machines came along.. all that's needed is heat em enuf to sweat..