Cruising, how much $$$?

[timlabute]

Hey all, I know the age old "how much does it cost" is a hot topic, so we made our next episode explaining how much WE will be spending and budgeting. If you're interested, it's here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm3qWSrjUQQ&t=

[David Hughes]

Ok. I watched it. I enjoyed it. A couple things stood out to me that made me really wonder about the reality of your plan. Caveat that I’ve never been a long term cruiser, but I have owned boats for years, from lake bowriders to a large ocean power Catamaran. And I’ve spent as much as 15 days on the boat and as much as 4 days without tying up to a marina or mooring ball.

First was your 1.5% of Hull value for annual maintenance. Maybe Delos with a $300,000 Amel and experienced DIY cruisers could get by for $4500 a year. But thinking that a $30K boat could be maintained for $450 a year stretches credulity. I don’t think it scales up and down like that. In my case, the number over many years has been 10-18% of the $230K boat and about 10% of the $25K lake boat.

Second, even your better half kinda rolled her eyes at you when you said you could both eat for $300/month.

If you haven’t found it yet, take a look at SailerBoys thread on his actual monthly cost last over 16 months.

I don’t mean to sound critical. Just offering one opinion.

[sailorboy1]

There’s a minimum cost to cruise, which is more $ than sitting in an anchorage etc. There’s a simple rule to follow to control costs, don’t go ashore or online!

After that it all depends on how much enjoyment and how much you can afford. But I seriously doubt anything less than $2k/mo for an active cruising couple not living on rice and beans is worth it. Less than that you should be thinking year long stays in places where you can work (lots of service jobs available here in BootKey/Marathon)

[timlabute]

Thanks for the feedback guys. One of the cool things we will be doing is sharing our monthly costs as we go. Total transparency - every penny

We really appreciate you taking the time to watch and share advice. Thank you!

[Delancey]

T.L.D.W. (Too Long Don't Watch!) Save your precious data if you are out are there and pay per MB. Video is click bait by newbies who haven't left home port.

No offense to the OP, wish you all the best but title is totally misleading as you have no experience and therefor no idea.

[timlabute]

Originally Posted by Delancey

T.L.D.W. (Too Long Don't Watch!) Save your precious data if you are out are there and pay per MB. Click bait by newbies who haven't left home port.

No offense to the OP. My two cents, be like sailorboy1 who is really out there cruising and shares real data.

Or perhaps I am interested in a little sailing comradery? Sharing the journey and getting the opinions of those in the know... thanks for the warm welcome.

[letsgetsailing3]

We all already know the answer is "All you've got."

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by timlabute

Or perhaps I am interested in a little sailing comradery? Sharing the journey and getting the opinions of those in the know... thanks for the warm welcome.

Trust me in that sharing true costs wouldn’t bring that here. If you don’t believe me click on user name and start reading threads

[Delancey]

Originally Posted by timlabute

Or perhaps I am interested in a little sailing comradery? Sharing the journey and getting the opinions of those in the know... thanks for the warm welcome.

You know what? I sincerely wish you all the best. I really do.

I hope you are not here to Patreonize us. I hope that you don't turn into all the other vaporware sailors who show up here, proclaim great ambitions about this and that, and then disappear like blue smoke off a warm diesel like so many others have done before.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ees-89655.html

Oh wait, I see you have a Patreon account.

[boatpoker]

No thanks, been doing this for 25yrs and already know what it costs.

[fabgo]

I have no plans to watch the newbie video, but maybe we can turn this into a useful discussion nonetheless.

David, 10-18% of 230K every year sounds very high. If I take the middle of that figure it ends up as 30K/year just in maintenance? What does this include?

I looked at some long-term (8-10 years) cost numbers shared by a few cruisers and also asked some long-term boat owners I know, and the cost was closer to 10-15K a year, although of course individual years vary widely from this average.

This does not include fuel, docking, insurance etc. of course.

Regards,
- Fabian

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by timlabute

Thanks for the feedback guys. One of the cool things we will be doing is sharing our monthly costs as we go. Total transparency - every penny

We really appreciate you taking the time to watch and share advice. Thank you!

Turned on your video this morning and when you said 300 for food the admiral just started laughing - and the more you talked the more she laughed - and when you said 350 for maintenance she said I may not know much but who are they trying to kid.

here is some real world data - 8 years of actual cost data - we are currently working on year 9 and should have it out shortly.



http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ta-179783.html

[conachair]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

There’s a minimum cost to cruise, which is more $ than sitting in an anchorage etc. There’s a simple rule to follow to control costs, don’t go ashore or online!

After that it all depends on how much enjoyment and how much you can afford. But I seriously doubt anything less than $2k/mo for an active cruising couple not living on rice and beans is worth it. Less than that you should be thinking year long stays in places where you can work (lots of service jobs available here in BootKey/Marathon)

Which is a viewpoint from one very small part of a very big world. Maintenance can be a big unknown for sure. Enjoyment being related to how much it costs is a very rich western viewpoint and completely false, jump on a local bus into the mountains with the locals for a few euros, get to know the local fishermen and eat and drink where they do, great food, great fun and costs a fraction of your trip adviser must do's.
Simple boat the maintenance is much less, legs are great - run up the beach for a scrub for free.
I seriously doubt a lot of the long term cruisers I hang around with could spend 2k a month if they tried. The numbers you have pan out to just one style of cruising in one small area, doesn't have to be like that to have great times.

[ranchero76]

This topic discussed so many times, but there is ALWAYS wrong starting point.
The starting point should be - which way you're living now and planning to live on boat?

Everyone is different.
1. Someone spends most of the time in the marinas while others spend most of the time on anchor - big difference. They do not compare.
2. Someone does all maintenance and repairs himself, others pay for repairs - huge difference. They can not compare, not at all.
3. Someone likes to eat out, others (like me) hate it and almost never do that. No even at McDonalds. Some people addicted to food, others look at the food just as something necessary to be alive. Big difference.
4. Someone drinks alcohol (a lot, perhaps), others don't drink alcohol at all. Can be big difference.
5. Age can make big difference. Things look very different from 30yo and from 70yo point of view.
6. How crazy are you about insurance of all kinds and other things while trying to get your ass covered from everything everywhere anytime. This can make big difference too.

Brian (Delos) told some time ago that they were spending approx. $500 per person per month, all (I repeat - ALL!) expenses for people, entertainment and for boat included. Maybe it's different now, but it was so.
I like the way Brian keeps everything under control, with minimum spending. I would definitely carry way more tools, to have ability repair and fabricate more things, and would spend more time on preventive maintenance. But even the way Delos does it is great. Smart spending and DIY rules by far!

O yeah, and I've seen (and asked) question, but never seen an answer to it - how the heck you can spend $30K-$50K per year (!) for boat maintenance?! On 5-year old $500K catamaran? One has to be very talented (or very stupid/lazy/rich/whatever) person.

One more example - "Gone with Wynns" spent 6 months in the Bahamas on Leopard 43, and created video with ALL their expenses, counting every dollar they've spent. $5500 for 6 months. Not bad at all! Yes, after that they did boat refit and repairs, and most work was done by marine, not DIY, but that's another story.

[Sojourner]

Regarding only the food budget, from my experience in another life of living out of my VW camper all around the Med for the better part of a year, 300 is totally doable. Hell I could even get an alcohol budget in there... Secret of life: learn to love Indian food; there's nothing cheaper! We made our own flatbread with flour and water on a gas stove, and between rice and lentils and eggs and a few other things like dried legumes (all super cheap and keep well) plus a big box of spices, you really can chow down for pennies a day without ever being too bored. Then step it up, catch a few fish once in a while, make a curry, go about your day with a on your face