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sailorboy1 · 05-01-2022, 05:27

For the first quarter of our 6th year cruising and living on the boat (year starts mid Sept) the following were our costs for those interested in real numbers to compare and plan:

General living costs – Food, clothing, alcohol, sundries and other.” - $ 3,469.
Boat maintenance, repair and upgrades” – (639.47) a credit amount as I sold our watermaker for $2750 and have gotten a replacement that is in next quarter numbers
Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) - $ 441.98
Dining and drinking out - $2,523.48
Entertainment - $ 328.21
Communication, storage, shipping - $ 603.92
Fees – check-ins, credit card and ATMs – ($ 164.76) credit amount from credit card
Marina- $ 813.10
Electric -$0
Medical and dental - $ 240
Transportation and travel - $ 1,027.28
Gifts and presents - $ 439.88
Water - $ 6.45
Boat and dinghy registration - $ 0
Insurance - $ 0

That is what we spent $9,103.2, $3,034.40 avg., on the last 3 months cruising and living on a boat this year. If anyone wants the excel spreadsheet with notes etc., they can email me at svrubberducky “at” gmail.com.

Gary_T · 07-01-2022, 04:40

thanks - this info is really useful for those of us in the early planning stages.

cheers

mvweebles · 07-01-2022, 05:10

Thanks for continuing to post updates. This, by far, is the most useful breakdown I've found on the web, at least for me as it represents cruising habits that are sustainable and affordable for my wife and I though we don't track the expenses nearly this closely. While I admire the folks who cruise on a shoestring, we have no desire to compete for top honors. Truth is, cruising has closely resembled our van-camping lifestyle. A few nights of off-grid, a night of hotel for shower/laundry/nice dinner, rinse/repeat. It's a cadence we do by choice, not necessity. Very helpful to see the granular accounting.

Peter

DirtRdEarl · 07-01-2022, 06:39

30 years ago we tracked expenses like you. It worked for us, very rewarding. You can cruise and have fun on a budget.

sailorboy1 · 07-01-2022, 16:35

There is lot more fun to be had if you understand the big picture. I have run into too many shoestring cruisers that the fun to suck ratio gets all wrong because they believed low cost stories. Now mostly they are chasing the suck, and calling it fun because there isn't much choice.

OldManMirage · 08-01-2022, 03:59

Hey Sailorboy1, thanks for the continued updates and - just to clarify - this represents you currently cruising in Florida ?

Thanks again.

ohdrinkboy · 08-01-2022, 05:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

There is lot more fun to be had if you understand the big picture. I have run into too many shoestring cruisers that the fun to suck ratio gets all wrong because they believed low cost stories. Now mostly they are chasing the suck, and calling it fun because there isn't much choice.

Strong wisdom

JC Reefer · 12-01-2022, 19:19

Sailorboy, is 3034.40 the average of all time? Or what?

tennis4789 · 12-01-2022, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by mvweebles

A few nights of off-grid, a night of hotel for shower/laundry/nice dinner, rinse/repeat. It's a cadence we do by choice, not necessity.
Peter

What do you do with the boat when you go to the hotel & guesstimate of what it costs? Do you stay at hotels at different ports? Think I've got the gf interested in sailing. But budgeting for hotel n nice dinner probably make it that much more enjoyable. Although probably when we run out of clothes maybe every two weeks.

Thanks OP for sharing.

mvweebles · 12-01-2022, 20:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by tennis4789

What do you do with the boat when you go to the hotel & guesstimate of what it costs? Do you stay at hotels at different ports? Think I've got the gf interested in sailing. But budgeting for hotel n nice dinner probably make it that much more enjoyable. Although probably when we run out of clothes maybe every two weeks.

Thanks OP for sharing.

Hotel was referring to van travel. Cruising analogy would be anchor out vs marina.