Month nine for a middle-aged couple on a modest boat.

[Quadrille in JB]

Back when we had a sportfish, it was SOP to have to bring the boat off of a plane and clean the big Racor filters after nearly every fill up in the Bahamas.
Now we use a Baja type Racor filter and a siphon pump to fill the sailboat from our jerry cans, exclusively. On our last crossing,we fueled up at Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach and ended up with about 2.5 gallons of water in our 20 gal fuel tank. It wasn't a problem until we got on the bank in choppy seas and had to motor as the wind had shifted. I changed both filters 3 times on the bank and then pumped out the excess water at Rosie's on Grand Cay.
We are sure it came from Sailfish as we had just motored down from Ft. Pierce the same day with no problems.
We have had zero fuel problems since we started fueling from jerry cans through a filter funnel.

[William parr]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

We just finished up our ninth month of cruising full-time on our Bristol 29.9.

This month we left the Bahamas and made a beeline north, landing in Cape May, NJ on the last day of the month. We are heading up to Connecticut where we will haul out and do a bit of traveling to visit friends and family before coming back to take care of some boat chores and splash again.

Our expenses spiked primarily because we purchased airline and train tickets for our anticipated travels. We spent quite a bit in marinas, although two days were unplanned due to our getting dirty fuel before leaving the Abacos, resulting in a tow to Beach Marine in Jacksonville Beach. Our fuel costs were also high because we had to replace the dirty crappy fuel when we arrived in the states.

Below is 100% of what we spent in May. I don't leave anything out in these monthly reports because I don't believe "not counting" is particularly helpful for those still planning and dreaming.

Expenses:

Groceries/Non-food Groceries: $464.66

Diesel/Gasoline: $231.40

Propane/Denatured Alcohol: $16.45

Cell phone and internet (2 phones, iCloud storage, Garmin inReach subscription, and myislandwifi because the T-Mobile service is so slow in the Bahamas): $124.12

Mail: $100 (deposit for future costs to forward packages/mail)

Laundry: $13.00

Ice: $9.75

Amazon Prime: $1.99

Restaurants/Entertainment: $376.36

Uber: $9.36

New York Times subscription: $20.20

Marinas: $441.01

Clothing: $64.05

Life Insurance: $767.50 (annual premium)

Plane, train, and bus tickets: $1,084.29

Random: $167.50. (disposable gloves, box of rags, screen material for port in head, DVD's, dock tips, flyswatter, spatula, ATM withdrawal fee, shower sprayer, funnel, small strainer)

Total: $3,891.64

September, 2018 through May 2019 monthly average: $3,807.85.


I hope this is helpful.

Thank you for your monthly budget up date it helps so much to try and get a perspective on cruiseing life

[MorwrMeic]

Thanks CTHoops for original post - great information and sounds like you are having a great time!!!

[SV Delia]

We dealt with bad fuel in the Bahamas a couple years ago. We did not buy contaminated fuel. It was a new/old boat and a very contaminated tank. We rebuilt the fuel system with a dual filter. Now we monitor the fuel pressure and if the filter starts to clog it is just a matter of turning a valve and having a clean filter.

[stimpsonjcat]

I see life insurance, is there health insurance?

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by stimpsonjcat

I see life insurance, is there health insurance?

Yes, we have health insurance through Connecticut’s exchange. We paid the annual premium at the beginning of the year.

[hellosailor]

Life insurance, health insurance, booze and entertainment...really those are all lifestyle choices or options that have little to do with *cruising* costs. Although, granted, for a cruiser the health insurance options may be very different.

Whether they're included or excluded, someone looking over costs is likely to trip over those amounts either way. Just saying.

[stimpsonjcat]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

Yes, we have health insurance through Connecticut’s exchange. We paid the annual premium at the beginning of the year.

Would you mind posting that cost? Yearly or monthly?

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by stimpsonjcat

Would you mind posting that cost? Yearly or monthly?

It's based on projected annual income so we paid $156.24 for the year back in December. We're going to need to give them a bit more towards the end of the year based on having a bit more income than we anticipated, but I'm not sure how much that will be yet.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

It's based on projected annual income so we paid $156.24 for the year back in December. We're going to need to give them a bit more towards the end of the year based on having a bit more income than we anticipated, but I'm not sure how much that will be yet.

If you don't need it, put the "extra" money into a 401k or IRA and that will "fix" your over estimate.

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

If you don't need it, put the "extra" money into a 401k or IRA and that will "fix" your over estimate.

FANTASTIC tip! I hadn’t even thought of that. Thanks!