Monthly Sailing Expenses? (Estimates or Guides)

[vveerrgg]

I'm trying to put together a budget or idea of what it would cost to sail the Caribbean for a year on a Catamaran. The boat costs are obvious, but I can't seem to find any information on the monthly expenses ppl have for cruising/sailing.

Other then reading up on Bumfuzzle I haven't found any blogs, or posts that really speak to the expenses of owning and traveling by boat. Can anyone suggest a site, book, or source that can help me estimate this out.

As always... any info is better then no info

[AnchorageGuy]

Try here

http://sea-trek.blogspot.com/search/...Class%20Budget

and we are putting together a breakdown of our recent trip but it is all coastal cruising. Will be posted some time later today. We are currently dealing with gale conditions from Fay.

[Hud3]

I didn't really keep detailed information, but my guess is that we spent about $1,500-1,600 a month cruising the eastern Caribbean in the 2004-06 time frame. That's for food, a modest amount of eating out, clearance fees, a few marina stays for provisioning, water, fuel, and rhum. Doesn't include boat repairs (minimal), medical expenses,nor health insurance premiums.

Trim50 posted some data here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ost-18438.html

Two more links:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...osts-2034.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ily-11081.html

[Woods Designs]

It all depends on your lifestyle of course. Do you expect to eat out regularly, stay in marinas a lot? Or buy local food and anchor out?

In general fuel, food and marinas are not going to be cheaper than in Canada. So what you spend on food a week right now will be a good guide.

Clearance costs mount up (in and out at every island, USD300 cruising permit in the Bahamas for 6 months etc). You can get a guide to those prices from Noonsite.com

Assuming you are getting a new boat you won't have any repairs or maintainence costs. BG

I found that my biggest expense on land was the car. Although of course I am from the UK where we pay USD10 a gallon for fuel. (CAN2 per L) Or put it another way, if you can afford a car you can afford to cruise.


Hope this helps - go for it

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

[Paul Lefebvre]

Beth Leonard's article will give you a good idea of the range of cruising costs , based on your lifestyle:

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/costofcruising.pdf

Of course, her recent 2nd edition has more current numbers and relvent info.

[schoonerdog]

When we were cruising in the caribbean for a year in 2001 to 2002 it cost roughly around 1100 per month, excluding boat repairs, insurance and boat mortgage (if applicable). We went to the bahamas, down through ragged key in the Jumentos and then a month in Cuba. We were also completely solar powered and tried to always anchor out except when we needed engine repairs (which was far too often), so no generator costs or repairs, which could in and of themselves be substantial. Anchoring out is extremely cheap and your best insurance plan is to get as much technical experience on your engines as practical as engines were by far our most significant cost.