Month 30 Expenses of Cruising and Living on the Boat

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

see, I'm frugal :-)

Are you downsizing your boat?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

Are you downsizing your boat?

Why, I have it almost the way I want and 5’ less would hardy save anything

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Well that’s the whole point of the thread series. For 30 months there have naysayers and quitics saying I spend too much and they spend a lot less. But there never are any long term details to back it up.

Far as vacation, life is more than living on a boat. Most cruisers I have met go on vacation they call it different things like “visiting the kids”

I do get a giggle how some of us go on vacations from our cruising..... I'm on one now.

I'm also surprised how expensive these vacations are, bloody lions better put on a show!

[wolfgal]

thank you sailorboy1.

as always, appreciated!


wolfgal

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Why, I have it almost the way I want and 5’ less would hardy save anything

5' more wouldn't cost much more. Have you considered up-sizing? Different size boat with the same cruiser would give us some good data on costs.

[daletournier]

I'm interested in SB costs and have also appreciated Chucks budget postings.

Interestingly enough, if I remember right my costs come in similar to sailor boys, I work in Aud but once converted to usd they are similar. Also I ask other aussie cruiser friends and similarly its about 50k aud pa.

Also it depends on where you cruise. After 2 years away from marinas and good services I arrived in Capetown. I watched fellow cruisers and myself smashing the credit card buying boat stuff, cause we good! The years young and I'm approx 7k over budget already.

Jan was $5,800 and Feb was $8,100 aud, budget blown. I'm upto $5,200 for March so far. The good news is I've left capetown, I expect to come in well under budget over the coming mths particularly when there's a possibility I'll be at sea for 5-6 weeks.

We live well but I don't believe extravagantly BUT of course it's all relative.... Plan is to pull our heads in for the rest of the year.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by kmacdonald

5' more wouldn't cost much more. Have you considered up-sizing? Different size boat with the same cruiser would give us some good data on costs.

I could add a 5’ stern extension to our boat......it wouldn’t change anything budget wise beyond the original build. But it would make a terrible boat an I’d be an idiot........

[Mike OReilly]

We (two adults) live on $22k CND per year, which translates into about $17k USD these days. I know this because that’s our total income. There’s ain’t no more, so that’s pretty much what we spend.

We do have a modest nest egg which we draw on for large one-off expenses. So far there has been one of these expenditures each year (for the past four years now). Last year it was seven new jackstands. Before that there were some big engine repairs. This year it is a new fridge. We use our savings to pay for these, so you can add another ~$2k to our annual expenditures.

As I said, considering Don’s numbers, if I remove his Entertainment and Eating-Out costs, and if I insert our marina costs (which are a lot less), then our actual expenditures start to get pretty close.

We don’t skimp on boat maintenance or critical equipment. We eat well, and somehow we always manage to keep the beer/wine flowing. But we make choices to limit some costs. We avoid expensive areas. We rarely eat out, or spend money to entertain ourselves. We anchor out most of the time, and we do almost all our own maintenance work (as Don does, I believe).

I really appreciate Don’s efforts here. I’m not trying to get into a competition, and I’m definitely not saying that spending less is right, or spending more is wrong. NOT AT ALL!

That right answer is to know what you want and what you need, and then match this to available resources. If the two don’t balance, then change one side of the equation. It’s that simple.

This is why long-term cruisers usually answer the “what does it cost?” question with: Cruising costs what you have. The trick is to make sure it all balances.

[Mplight]

Thanks for all the info- entertaining AND informative, and an excellent value. What more would you ask for.

[thomm225]

Actually, for $3,900-$4,000, you can sail the ICW, have a home, and a couple vehicles as long as they are paid off

If you want to anchor or be on a boat stuck at a marina, vacations would be an added expense.

Things get really slow on the water and there can be lots of unwanted noise at a marina

All this can be learned locally sailing weekends or on vacations if you live near some sort of water.

There is no need to completely change your life to do this.

I was lucky as it was my plan also at age 39 (since I was stuck inland in Tennessee having grown up near the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay) but I was transferred to Pensacola, FL and decided to continue to race Beach Cats (in races from buoy to 100 miles some of which took us 15 miles offshore on 16'-20' boats) and while I did that I got to observe the new cruisers from Biloxi Mississippi over to Panama City Florida for 12 years


It was …..interesting

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

We (two adults) live on $22k CND per year, which translates into about $17k USD these days. I know this because that’s our total income. There’s ain’t no more, so that’s pretty much what we spend.

We do have a modest nest egg which we draw on for large one-off expenses. So far there has been one of these expenditures each year (for the past four years now). Last year it was seven new jackstands. Before that there were some big engine repairs. This year it is a new fridge. We use our savings to pay for these, so you can add another ~$2k to our annual expenditures.

As I said, considering Don’s numbers, if I remove his Entertainment and Eating-Out costs, and if I insert our marina costs (which are a lot less), then our actual expenditures start to get pretty close.

We don’t skimp on boat maintenance or critical equipment. We eat well, and somehow we always manage to keep the beer/wine flowing. But we make choices to limit some costs. We avoid expensive areas. We rarely eat out, or spend money to entertain ourselves. We anchor out most of the time, and we do almost all our own maintenance work (as Don does, I believe).

I really appreciate Don’s efforts here. I’m not trying to get into a competition, and I’m definitely not saying that spending less is right, or spending more is wrong. NOT AT ALL!

That right answer is to know what you want and what you need, and then match this to available resources. If the two don’t balance, then change one side of the equation. It’s that simple.

This is why long-term cruisers usually answer the “what does it cost?” question with: Cruising costs what you have. The trick is to make sure it all balances.

Well said, Mike. I really appreciate SB's taking the time to post his budget.

[a64pilot]

A LOT depends on the boat and where and how far you cruise.
I remember one budget of a couple cruising I think an Amel Super Maramu, and they were circumnavigating.
Their budget was very precise, she kept everything recorded. I think she may even have been a CPA.
Anyway it was about 60K a year I think, but they had a big, complex boat and were World traveling.
Which is of course a whole different thing than what I and many call cruising, in our smaller, simpler boats.

Of course if I amortized the cost of my fit out, it would really skew things.
So does the cost of buying and fitting out a boat count? Of course it does, but almost none of us count that, whether we buy a Million dollar new big Cat or a $3,000 old 30’ Mono.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Of course if I amortized the cost of my fit out, it would really skew things.
So does the cost of buying and fitting out a boat count? Of course it does, but almost none of us count that, whether we buy a Million dollar new big Cat or a $3,000 old 30’ Mono.

and to continue that line of thought... one thing that I've discussed with SailorBoy about before is large expenses you can count on that are not upgrades or repairs that he is not including in his reporting but new cruisers should take into account:

1) Bottom Job. We expect a new bottom job every two years and allocate $1500 a year for that.

2) Insurance. For us, that's between 195 and 200 a month depending on our intended cruising (or not cruising) area.

3) Every five years our insurance requests a hull and rigging survey so we put away $200 a year for that.

4) BoatUS every year. $50ish a year.

5) Standing Rigging potentially every ten @ $500 a year.

6) New sails every 10 @ $1800 a year.

So on and so forth. If you add up all those additional expenses, we are easily looking at an additional $500 a month.

[sailorboy1]

I am including those as they occur. There are no "not counting" in my monthly numbers, if the money left my pocket they are reported.

BTW - $18,000 for sails????

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by zboss

and to continue that line of thought... one thing that I've discussed with SailorBoy about before is large expenses you can count on that are not upgrades or repairs that he is not including in his reporting but new cruisers should take into account:

1) Bottom Job. We expect a new bottom job every two years and allocate $1500 a year for that.

2) Insurance. For us, that's between 195 and 200 a month depending on our intended cruising (or not cruising) area.

3) Every five years our insurance requests a hull and rigging survey so we put away $200 a year for that.

4) BoatUS every year. $50ish a year.

5) Standing Rigging potentially every ten @ $500 a year.

6) New sails every 10 @ $1800 a year.

So on and so forth. If you add up all those additional expenses, we are easily looking at an additional $500 a month.

Like Sailorboy, I am also reporting maintenance costs as they occur. If the money goes out, I’m listing it regardless of what the expense was (including the swim noodle that we purchased last month to replace the one that was lost.) While I do set money aside on a monthly basis for periodic expenses, I’m not reporting it in my posts until it’s actually spent. I find it easier to post that way.

As for refit costs prior to leaving, I consider that an entirely separate category that doesn’t belong in cruising costs. That money was spent when I was working. If I spent more than I planned, I could conceivable delay my departure date to replenish my savings. If you spend more than you planned after you’ve quit your job and are already out there, then something is going to have to be adjusted to make up for it.