Our cruising costs - month 24 for a middle-aged couple on a modest boat.

[Cthoops]

August was our 24th month of cruising full-time on our Bristol 29.9 - time flies.

August found us tied to the dock on the Chesapeake with the exception of an escape to a well protected anchorage for Tropical Storm Isaias. We have a few larger annual expenses due each August: boat insurance, Chris Parker subscription, and mailbox rental. Those three items alone were over 1/3 of our expenses this month. Additionally, we've been taking advantage of the convenience of the dock to focus on small boat projects and maintenance, so a fair amount of money was spent on boat stuff.

Here we go:

Groceries/Non-food Groceries/Alcohol: $503.86

Gasoline/Diesel: $35.13 (filled up the jerry jugs on August 31st in anticipation of our September 1st departure)

Medical: $14.34

Cell data, iCloud storage, and Garmin inReach subscription: $112.68

Mail: $300 (one year paid in advance for the UPS Store mailbox)

Laundry: $4.50

Restaurants/Entertainment: $30.02

Boat Insurance: $313 (annual premium)

Maintenance: $552.52 (replacement windlass chain guide and spare, replacement cowl vents, replacement snubber hook and spare, bottom cleaning, replacement deck brush, spare fuses, brushes for varnish, deck cleaner, rust and stain remover, replacement USB charger and spare, replacement telltales, replacement shaft zinc and outboard zinc, replacement outboard spark plug and spare, smoke/CO2 detector, replacement gas can, replacement galley sink assembly/plumbers putty, replacement dinghy line floats, Camp-a-chem, endoscope, shipping costs)

Subscriptions and Random Items: $449.56 (Netflix, Amazon Prime, newspapers, one year of Chris Parker, gloves, yarn, Bees Wrap, replacement Luci lights, marina tips, etc.)

Total: $2,315.61

2020 Monthly average: $2,726.83

2019 monthly average: $3,457.97

2018 monthly average (September – December): $4,465.95

Monthly average since starting to cruise: $3,382.25

I hope this is helpful.

[thomm225]

Read your Blog.

Cobb's is a good place to haul out. Most people go there.

https://cobbsmarina.com/

Looks like you will be a bit early for their deal though.

They usually offer $8.00/ft storage from Nov-Feb.

If you want an adventure you could haul out at Deep Creek Marina on the Eastern Shore. It's out in the boonies. Not sure if you can get transportation from there are not and you can only come and go on High Tide.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...!4d-75.7507665

There's also Cape Charles Yachting Center. They have (or had) a crazy low Winter storage rate of haul out and Winterized paid for the entire Winter Storage!

Chesapeake Bay Marina & Boatyard in Cape Charles, Virginia

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca...!4d-76.0145334

There's also Deltaville that has some very good rates.

Boatyard – Deltaville Yachting Center and Chesapeake Yacht Sales

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Read your Blog.

Cobb's is a good place to haul out. Most people go there.

https://cobbsmarina.com/

Looks like you will be a bit early for their deal though.

They usually offer $8.00/ft storage from Nov-Feb.

If you want an adventure you could haul out at Deep Creek Marina on the Eastern Shore. It's out in the boonies. Not sure if you can get transportation from there are not and you can only come and go on High Tide.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...!4d-75.7507665

There's also Cape Charles Yachting Center. They have (or had) a crazy low Winter storage rate of haul out and Winterized paid for the entire Winter Storage!

Chesapeake Bay Marina & Boatyard in Cape Charles, Virginia

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ca...!4d-76.0145334

There's also Deltaville that has some very good rates.

Boatyard – Deltaville Yachting Center and Chesapeake Yacht Sales

Thanks for the suggestions! We are actually on the schedule to haul out at Cobb’s next week. We’ve heard good things and it’s always nice to have that confirmed by others.

We’re not going to be out of the water long enough for their monthly rate - I guess that’s fortunate and unfortunate.

[sailorboy1]

Cheap month

But I think you need to start changing clothes more often when in "civilization" and get up to a 2 load/month level

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Cheap month

But I think you need to start changing clothes more often when in "civilization" and get up to a 2 load/month level

Laundry is cheap here.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

Thanks for the suggestions! We are actually on the schedule to haul out at Cobb’s next week. We’ve heard good things and it’s always nice to have that confirmed by others.

We’re not going to be out of the water long enough for their monthly rate - I guess that’s fortunate and unfortunate.

I think you'll like Cobb's. Plus it's gated so usually no worries about vandalism.

I know 2 guys that have their boats in slips there. One has a late model Hunter 36.5 and the other a Westsail 32.

Also there's a guy that sells new and used sailboat stuff nearby at Salty Dog. The guy is quiet a character......

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sa...!4d-76.1917429

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

Medical: $14.34

Medical insurance is one of the largest expenses stopping me from retiring early. Are you relying on Medicare or some other insurance that you paid in another month?

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Also there's a guy that sells new and used sailboat stuff nearby at Salty Dog. The guy is quiet a character......

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Sa...!4d-76.1917429

Cool! Hopefully we’ll get a chance to check it out.

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by NPCampbell

Medical insurance is one of the largest expenses stopping me from retiring early. Are you relying on Medicare or some other insurance that you paid in another month?

We use our home state’s health exchange for medical insurance. Mr. cthoops will be able to get Medicare in 4 more years.

[Otium]

Thank you for the update! Very helpful.

If I may ask; Who do you have your insurance through? Is it Liability only? I pay twice that, annually, and I have $300,000 liab and 8k hull coverage. Boat is a 31' 1978 Ketch. I would love to cut my premiums in half!

Thanks again!

[Cthoops]

Originally Posted by Otium

Thank you for the update! Very helpful.

If I may ask; Who do you have your insurance through? Is it Liability only? I pay twice that, annually, and I have $300,000 liab and 8k hull coverage. Boat is a 31' 1978 Ketch. I would love to cut my premiums in half!

Thanks again!

We use BoatUS/Geico. They hit older boats hard with depreciation unless the boat is a total loss, but the premium is low enough that we basically consider it liability/total loss insurance.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by NPCampbell

Medical insurance is one of the largest expenses stopping me from retiring early. Are you relying on Medicare or some other insurance that you paid in another month?

You can certainly retire early in the US and get affordable health care. I am only 60 and have been retired 4 years and have health insurance via an ACA silver plan. The secret of how to do/get this with a good subsidy is all based on your income and what is met by "income" far as meeting ACA reqts..

healthcare.gov has gotten much better at explaining how to do this and you should check it out as it has the rqts and some calculators etc where you can find out what your out of pocket costs would be

I have done a few threads on how to do etc. such as the below. Don't let this be the only thing stopping you from retiring!!!! If you need help let me know via PM

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ca-211528.html