As we were getting ready to cut the
dock lines, I found Sailorboy's monthly posts listing his cruising expenses were very helpful as a real world example of the costs of cruising. In the interest of paying it forward, I thought I'd list our monthly expenses for those who are dreaming and planning as we once were.
As background, we are a middle-aged couple (I'm 49, Mr. cthoops is 59) and we are cruising full-time on our 1977 Bristol 29.9. This is our second boat and we've spent the last few years sailing her in the summer and refitting during the
winter.
We really slowed down on the boat this month, spending the entire time in
Florida.
The cash outflow was, frankly, painful. However, we knew that it was going to be a very high-cost month. After debating over the course of a few months, we made the decision to switch from our hank-on
jib to a
roller furler. One of the reasons we debated it for so long is because we were knew just how expensive it was going to be to make the switch. It represents just over 50% of what we spent this month. We also spent a lot of money preparing for the trip to the
Bahamas by stocking up on groceries and extra boat maintenance
parts. Finally, we rented a car and took a trip to the
west coast of
Florida to visit
family and friends which was an atypical expense.
We are consoling ourselves with the knowledge that our time in the
Bahamas should be extremely low cost, helping to bring the monthly average down to something that is actually sustainable.
Here's what we spent in January, keeping in mind that Mr. cthoops has congestive heart failure so we don't drink alcohol (his cardiologist says no) and we eat out infrequently (because of his sodium restrictions).
With a deep breath, here we go
Expenses:
Groceries/Non-food Groceries: $956.28
Diesel/Gasoline: $64.91
Propane/Denatured Alcohol: $44.00. *Two gallons of denatured alcohol for the
stove.
Health Care: $176.55.*
Life Insurance premium: $220.75
Cell phone and
internet (2 phones, one
iPad data plan, iCloud
storage, and a
Garmin inReach subscription): $142.66.
Mail: $19.57
Laundry: $8.00.
Ice: $8.50
Netflix: $11.10
Amazon Prime: $12.99
Miscellaneous annual subscriptions: $123.47
U.S. Coast Guard
Documentation Renewal: $26.00
Boat stuff: $5,465.60.* The majority of this - $4,433.40 - was for the
furler, its
installation, converting the headsail, and related costs. We also bought an
SSB receiver, spare
engine parts (i.e. filters, belts, zincs), Fluid Film, Loctite, diagonal wire cutters, an
oil filter wrench, Far Bahamas Explorer Chart, extra cotter pins, 2 Luci lights for
anchorages, a
propeller shaft zinc, reflective
mast tape, a spotlight, a
diesel fuel funnel filter, two squeeze bottles for
diesel, an extra 5 gallon diesel jerry jug, and an extra 1 gallon gas jerry jug.
Restaurants/Entertainment: $90.03
Uber/Bus: $29.34
New York Times subscription: $20.20
Marinas/moorings: $312.98.* This is for 23 nights at Vero Beach City Marina.
Sarasota/Bradenton trip expenses: $415.66
Random: $316.50.* This includes a haircut for Kimberly,
fishing gloves and a small mirror for Jeff,
navigation lights app,
batteries, a cable and lock for the
dinghy, two plastic cutting boards, a bag for our
hatch boards, water repellant spray, an extra 5 gallon collapsible water jug, and a marina tip.
Total: $8.465.09
September, 2018 through January, 2019 monthly average: $5,263.78
I hope this is helpful.