How Cheap Could It Be Done

[weavis]

Originally Posted by SailingFan

Not trying to be mean, mods, but really... there surely must be more material available to actually answer such a question, should there not??

I think I answered this in another thread. After 20 years of working with Chat boards, I have realised that people come to CHAT boards to ask questions ....there is a wealth of information here that can be accessed through google search, no point in reinventing the wheel, they will find minuatae that CF search engines cannot.

CF is not a WIKI although containing many good articles is primarily a chat board.

example... "I have 5k and no experience and want a 40 foot boat to go to Paris from Florida...." The person enquiring will ASK.

I also stated that CF uses the premier proprietary version of vbullitin with many many add ons and adaptions, and the risk is always that a line of added code will break the program in another area...(you dont need to ask me how we know )

All the back room boys here are volunteers.. some of the boys are even girls. In my secular life I work at least double the average hours of employment.... most of the mod squad are similarly placed... perhaps if we could spend less time putting out fires and damping down heated interchanges, we might find time to find a way to link posts on similar topics... it is something we think about a lot..

So bottom line, people ask about their SPECIFIC needs... even if an article is pointed out to them they will come back and ask because the boat in the article was blue and the one they have is green..

[UNCIVILIZED]

SailingFan, I concur with much of what you said. In both posts. And yes, the OP needs to answer some questions first, if only to himself, before anyone can well assist him in his quest.
To which end, there's lots of info & links to help one to self-educate in my post here http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post2206710

As to doing things on the cheap, & learning how to do so early on in life, I'm with you. Though my life was a bit more sheltered by comparison. Still, the skills got acquired along the way.

I'm still aghast at times at how much/many toys some boats & people have. To the extent that the accessories on many cruising boats add up to 2-4x the value of the boat itself, easily. And while many of them are fun, or nice to have, they also represent a lot of maintenance. Which at times surely comes to mean that they own you, & not the other way around. As boats demand enough TLC without them.

Bloody floating ad's for West Marine

[Benz]

To the OP:

The best way to find out is to go. All of us will have contradictory advice about this, and the best I can give is: don't listen to anybody--just go and find out. It is what I have done, and I can honestly say that if I had listened to anybody at any time, I wouldn't have done 90% of the things I've accomplished.
A far better resource for inspiration about small, cheap voyages than an internet forum is to read books by folk who have done it. You can get them used for very cheap, and read them on the crossing! Here's a short list:
Desperate Voyage by John Caldwell
Last Voyage by Ann Davidson
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin
All of Thor Heyerdahl's books
Enchanted Vagabonds by Dana Lamb
Shackleton's Valiant Voyage by Andrew Lansing
We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome
Northern Lights by -can't remember his name--voyage to Labrador in a 30footer

The trip will cost exactly as much money as you have, and no less. If you die, you'll have died living. If you survive, you'll have lived richly.
Ben
zartmancruising.com

[double u]

you kept one of the most important imformation from us: your age!

[Suijin]

It's largely a question of will, resolve, native intelligence and adaptability, and creativity.

You should check out Matt Rutherford's story. I've met Matt a few times and even helped him with a few odd things refitting his current boat, Ault, when it was in the yard next to a friend's. He's one of the most focused and practical people you'll ever meet and I think both attributes have contributed to his accomplishments. His is an inspiring story on many levels, including his relative lack of experience when he started out as well as his very limited budget.

But asking "how much would it cost" or "can it be done" is like asking how long is a piece of string. Of course it can be done, on a shockingly limited budget. But the feasibility of it is not going to be measured in a spreadsheet or a sailing resume; it's going to be measured by your personal qualities and whether you have what it takes to make it happen.

[double u]

or: if you have to ask here...forget it, it's NOT for you!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Lt.

That is why I'm on here, to find some things out. I'll likely have a well typed reply for you in the morning, responding and answering your various questions, but for me it's getting late, so till then, goodnight.

I think maybe wild hair was mistakenly taken as foolish endeavor?

[Pete7]

Here is a thread about living on $500 a month. Hope you like bake beans and grits (what ever they are cos we dont' have them in England )

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-ii-79067.html

[zeehag]

i think cheap=small=WET ride and lotta work.
i prefer larger and more comfy while making long sail passages.
i have done it both ways.
boats can be found cheap--it is rare to find a sound cheap boat.

[double u]

next question:
"buddy": if this does not mean '"romantic" partner' (i.e. same-sex if homo-, opposite-sex if heterosexually inclined): FORGET it, it is NOT, repeat NOT going to work out (maybe, just maybe there is a minimal chance for 2 hetero women..., definitely next-to-zero for 2 hetero males!) (& this is not some unknowing distractor writing...: 3 rtw, 14 years "on the road", we've met them all, all!)

[double u]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Here is a thread about living on $500 a month. Hope you like bake beans and grits (what ever they are cos we dont' have them in England )

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-ii-79067.html

...didn't miss much with the "grits" (whaz in aname...)...even for brit-food standards....(duck-&-run...)

[barnakiel]

I believe a boat will be more than 10k raw and then possibly another 10k in mods and preps. You want some solar power, a reliable engine and healthy sails.

Unless you go to a place with steep entry/cruising fees, you may be able to survive with maybe USD500 per two per month in food and the basics.

So, to sum it up, I think about 30k is required in the first year (buy&outfit a small boat + a year of lazy cruising). In the following years you may do OK with maybe 10k a year, unless you break something down (the boat or your body).

Avoid going in a boat that is very very small as this limits the amt of supplies that you can carry. Pacific is not exactly cheap for food and supplies and so it makes good sense to set off with lockers full buying cheap food in the US or Mexico or Panama.

We sailed in a very very basic 26'er (with huge, for her size, lockers' capacity) and were able to stay up to 6 months out of the babylon, EXCEPT for drinking water re-supplies.

Have fun, never stop dreaming big,
b.

[double u]

so as not to be just negative:
from our own experience I can put down numbers (& so that you have a little homework to do the currency will be Austrian shillings, & the time frame, as down below, a "little" while ago, our own yob '55 & '58:
1.rtw 81-88, homebuilt boat, abt AS 7000/month (this was SPARTAN!!!)
2.rtw 89-93, secondhand 37'er: abt AS 10.000/month, a birth in fr polyn.($$$), 1/2 way with kid
3.rtw 96-99, same boat 3 of us: AS 14.000/month

the doyen of Austrian bluewater cruising spent 1$/day singlehanding 67-74

now make what you will of it
btw: the currency is not chosen out of spite, we are Austrian...

[double u]

"...never stop dreaming big,..."
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hyrdflyr]

"If me and a buddy got the wild notion to sail the Pacific, live aboard a fair amount, how cheaply could we do it?

Looking at as small a budget as possible, a 25-35 foot boat, and the plan bring to sail from Cali to Hawaii and around the SW Pacific, with little need for too many creature comforts, how cheaply could this be safely ccomplished?[/QUOTE]"


Human nature being what it is: It always costs: all you have and all you can borrow.