Maintenance Costs Boat verses RV Cruising

[sailorboy1]

Why is there a internet "battle" to be won going on for such a simple question?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Why is there a internet "battle" to be won going on for such a simple question?

What we have is an American site with a Brit member who lives in Europe with more road/vehicle regs toll roads and much higher fuel prices..
VS
Lower marine labour costs and equipment prices, cheaper marinas, tons of anchorages and the ability to work on our own boats..
If you wanted it restricted to the USA you should have said so..

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

If you wanted it restricted to the USA you should have said so..

I don't see what difference that makes as maintenance is maintenance.

I'm pretty sure it's just that people want to argue and they will look for anything to do oit.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by boatman61

What we have is an American site with a Brit member who lives in Europe with more road/vehicle regs toll roads and much higher fuel prices..
VS
Lower marine labour costs and equipment prices, cheaper marinas, tons of anchorages and the ability to work on our own boats..
If you wanted it restricted to the USA you should have said so..

Sort of except for comparison sake, I was looking at European RVing with European prices...and the RV still comes out cheaper.

But hey, if you want to come up with a weird scenario, you can live cheaper in Monaco than Dehli.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Sort of except for comparison sake, I was looking at European RVing with European prices...and the RV still comes out cheaper.

But hey, if you want to come up with a weird scenario, you can live cheaper in Monaco than Dehli.

Example please, and pics or it aint true..

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Example please, and pics or it aint true..

Already did.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I don't see what difference that makes as maintenance is maintenance.



I'm pretty sure it's just that people want to argue and they will look for anything to do oit.

I don’t think anyone has come out and said maintenance is more expensive on an RV.
Maybe for a real expensive Diesel pusher, but not a normal RV.

That question was answered at the beginning, the discussion has become total cost of RV living Vs living on a boat.

The point of contention is whether “cruising” in an RV can be as cheap as a boat. My experience is Southeast US, and I say you can’t, not by a long shot.
However I conceded that if you want to cruise the great out west, Nevada, Wyoming, maybe North Dakota etc, where there is a lot of BLM land, then yes I assume you can boondock.

The cheapest we have lived on the boat so far was the Bahamas, reason is we brought most of the food with us and didn’t stay in a Marina or on a mooring

It’s the having to pay for a place or stay that is expensive, for both, not the maintenance.
On both you can get good prices, if you don’t move, but is sitting on one spot cruising, or just living?

Been a few years ago, but I lived in a Motorhome in Ozark Alabama while I attended the AH-64D maintenance course, likely $500 or less in today’s prices, with electric and all other bills included, cable, water, garbage etc.

But I bet it’s $50 a night, pricing just like a Marina, stitch a bunch of one nighters together and it’s expensive.
People that live in RV’s due to not being able to afford a house, are most often doing so illegally, and get real stealthy, move around spend one night in this parking lot, then move a little etc.

I don’t want to live like that, I like anchoring out and it not being illegal, and not having to hide or be stealthy.

Just Google the cost to own a car, and you’ll come up with between 8 and 10,000 per year. Think an RV is going to be more?

But there are many articles on the subject, it seems and this is just my opinion, but the American Dream is either becoming more difficult for the average person to achieve, or maybe the desire is less, or maybe both, but many people are exploring alternative ways of living, the tiny house thing for example. I don’t understand the tiny house thing myself, because you can buy a much larger and nicer 5th wheel for much less, and you really can pull the 5th wheel across country.

This is just one of many articles
https://wandrlymagazine.com/save-money-by-traveling/

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

Already did.

More mushroom tea huh.!!!

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by Davy J

A night in an RV park...... $30 to $50 bucks. A night in a marina..... $70 to $100 bucks.
....

Depends on the place... Stayed much of the winter in Mallorca, Spain, for about 18 euros a night. For a 53 ft boat. Summer now I'm anchoring 95 percent of the time free. Middle of palermo arranged for winter, 3000 bucks for 6 months all inclusive. That's 16 euros a day, including water, electricity and high speed WiFi. That's hard to beat in an RV anywhere.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

Depends on the place... Stayed much of the winter in Mallorca, Spain, for about 18 euros a night. For a 53 ft boat. Summer now I'm anchoring 95 percent of the time free. Middle of palermo arranged for winter, 3000 bucks for 6 months all inclusive. That's 16 euros a day, including water, electricity and high speed WiFi. That's hard to beat in an RV anywhere.

Yup.. My 39ft Van de Stadt was costing me €1600/yr in Fig da Foz with water and elec.. and seeing as an RV park up in a field with elec costs from €20/night and a proper hard with all amenities from €40 upwards theres little comparison..
High season is when marinas empty to the anchorages leaving tourists to pay the silly money..

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Boat maintenance/repair/upgrades are my big budget killers really. For those that have done both how do the long term RV and Boat maintenance/repair costs compare?

I'm years away and just wondering.

Just read an article that says RV maintenance/upkeep is $1410/yr.

That's cheap compared to a boat (at least my boat)!!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Just read an article that says RV maintenance/upkeep is $1410/yr.

That's cheap compared to a boat (at least my boat)!!

Well.. guess that's the thread closed, you found your answer..

[bobfnbw]

Not to add to any argument, but just to add my 2 cents. Have owned 2 monohulls, a Nor'Sea 27 and a Endeavour 40 Center cockpit. I now own a 40 foot Foretravel Class A diesel pusher. I have limited experience in cruising / traveling with any of these, but know what each has cost, and what each would cost to travel with. Especially on contingnancies. For maintenance cost alone, which is the original point of this, I think the RV has it. Sure you will have to replace the tires every 6-8 years, and oil changes and filter changes will run over 1000 each time. But yeah I think it will be cheaper with the RV.
BUT overall, the cost to live aboard a boat and travel vs the RV will be lower imo. And other costs lower too. Don't even want to think about replacing my engine / trans on my RV. Will cost almost what I paid for it. 1/4th the price ona boat. I know cause I have done it. Cost to live cruising is lower as well. And then there is the toad. That costs a bit. Sure you can go out west, stay on BLM land and not move much. Nothing to it, except whats the point? If you want to travel, costs in the RV will be much higher. My 190 gal fuel tank costs $550 to fill and that is texas prices, and will go 1500 miles. If I follow the 2/2/2 rule that would be ~$1100 usd /month to travel plus fuel for the toad. Since I can't drive 24 hours per day, I need to park somewhere to sleep. The 30 days in a RV park paying day rates will be $1500 per month.
Then food. Eating out in a RV is a lot easier, so figure you will spend a lot more for food and entertainment.
Living on a properly fitted boat, I can eat for a lot less, go more miles for a lot less, and not have to deal with the constant hassle of driving on miles of highways and roads.
I paid about the same for my 40 foot RV that I did for my boat. Selling it would net me about the same as long as I keep it up. The cost of maintaining these things is a wash. Sure you need stuff on a boat you don't need on a RV, but that is the cost of doing bizness so to speak. You don't HAVE to have it, but it makes life better.
In the end it just depends. What do you like doing? I can nap while my boat sails along on autopilot, and anchor out while grilling a nice mahi mahi that I caught myself, but a RV doesn't move up and down and side to side quite as much as a boat...
Missing boating quite a lot. Thinking of selling the RV and go back to sailing, but only if I lived aboard and was in the med or SE Asia. Then I could live well on my SSI taking little from my retirement fund. With the RV, I will have to tap into the retirement fund more.
At least that is how I see it.
BTW the 2/2/2 is 200 miles/ every 2 days/in by 2pm. A good way to travel in a RV. That would be around 3000 miles per month at a cost of ~1300 USD for fuel depending on the market with 5 months a year just sitting.
I can park my RV in my driveway (and do) can't park a boat there.
In the end I think both are good ways to travel, but with the increasing congestion on the roads, the increasing cost of RV parks and the older the RV is the more it will cost to maintain, I am leaning towards the boat.
My wife is gonna slap my silly...