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So since this has been a dream of mine for a really long time it should make for a good topic. I remember at 12 years old wanting to be like Robin Lee Graham from "Dove". Sailing around the world having total and complete freedom. Visiting many exotic locales. Finding a South Pacific deserted island and becoming king of it (Gilligans Island). But unfortunately life got in the way of that dream. Now about 25 years later I hope it does happen someday. But what do you think would be the bare minimum cost (including a sea-worthy boat) of a lets say a 3 year round the world sailboat voyage? The route trip probably leaving California, going to Mexico, Hawaii, then head out to the South Pacific. Discover all the islands there. Then onto Australia, Asia, the Indian Ocean, Africa, and Europe. Then over the Atlantic Ocean to the Eastern side of the USA, all the Carribean Islands. Go through the Panama Canal, sail up to Canada and the Inside Passage. Then slowly sail down the Western side of the USA onto to the home port of SoCal. I know you would have to have quite a well-equipped sea worthy vessel for a trip like that!
Whilst the spreadsheet gives an insight into some costs that are not often considered, I have a tough time reconciling some of their numbers with what we spend. OK at this time I'm not even talking about cruising. But we spend less than some of the item lines even living ashore.
Like medical, insurance, mooring fees. An example: our boat is insured for what we paid and have capitalised over the last 6 years plus $1m of public liability cover and we pay NZ$1450 per annum. Now given that an Amel Maramu is probably worth double what my humble vessel is, still their insurance is the equivalent of about $8300 a year which is HUGE by comparison. Their average marina/mooring spend would pay for 133 days in an upmarket marina in downtown Auckland.
$34k to ship a boat?!?! I would have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope for 5% of that and visited another 4 or 5 other countries. That for me is part of the cruising process.
I won't go on - suffice it to say that if that is the "real" cost of cruising then my dream of long-term cruising is dead in the water (excuse the pun)
I'm not sure how a poll would give you the information that you want as the bare minimum cost for my needs are different from anyone else's. Plus, everyone has a different idea of what boat works for them, therefore the cost for that will differ from one person to the next.
Or, depressing, for some of us of more modest means...
Closer to the opposite end of the spectrum, one guy I've always greatly admired is Jack van Ommen... Sounds like his style might be of a bit more interest to the OP...
"You don't have to have a really big boat, mine certainly isn't, and you don't have to be rich. I'm doing my sailing on income from my Social Security plus some writing."
...
When the time came for my boyhood dream to come true at age 65, in 2002, I was broke. There were months that my landlady had to wait a couple weeks for my rent to be scraped up. "Fleetwood" escaped the 2000 business and personal bankruptcy. In 1994 I was still worth over a million. But a new life started with my first social security check. I worked on getting "Fleetwood" ready. She had sat on her trailer for 10 years while I worked hard to try and turn my business back from a hard knock. I am writing this for the benefit of you who think that it needs a lot of savings to go to sea. Keep the boat small and the equipment simple. Choose your seasons and sailing routes carefully.
My boat cost $100k and I spent about $30k per year. Maybe a little less.
Now I'm finsihed the Circumnavigation and 'just' cruisin' it still costs me the same amount But in reality active cruising does cost a little more than doing it very slowly. I did mine in 2.5 years, similar to your plan 3 years. But if you take ten years it coses less per year... but not by much. Overall the quicker the cheaper.
I am one of the $50k to $75k people. This is certainly not our budget since our boat was much more than this. For this price I am picturing something like a Vega properly equipped and a fairly spartan lifestyle with virtually no marinas, few restaurant meals, no insurance, no expensive land travel. The last item would be the one I would most miss as we have really enjoyed traveling around countries as diverse as Ecuador, New Zealand, and South Africa. Two weeks driving to Kruger NP and other parks in SA was not cheap but chance of a lifetime to see lions, elephants, etc up close is a once in a lifetime thing.
When circumnavigated in the 70's I estimated our personal costs at about US$100.00 per person. Insurance wasn't even something one would consider at 1/4 of the value of the boat per year. There were lots of places where a haul out was quite reasonable or free (pilings on a beach). Decent bottom paint could be had for about US$100.00 for 5 gallons from a ship and sails were built to last, unlike the 5 year/100,000 mile "guaranty" of today's sailmakers.
There were not too many expensive electronic aids to break; sextants, stop watches a radio or 2, plotting sheets and a taffrail log, were about it, and not too perishable.
I believe today a couple could cruise comfortably on about a grand a month, but you aren't going to be eating prime rib too many times a month. Keeping damage and wear and tear to a minimum by sailing conservatively and doing haul outs in third world countries would help a lot.
You won't get insurance in that, personal or boat, and things like the Panama and/or Suez canals would probably require a bit of skimping for a few months.
My best suggestion is to get an annuity which would pay you a fixed sum each month, so you know exactly how much income you have each month. Split it into two accounts; one for expenses and one for emergencies.
Working in foreign countries is pretty much prohibited unless you have a skill which they do not, so you can either work for other other yachts or do deliveries to augment your cruising budget. Chartering for cruisers is a pipe dream.
Buying provisions in bulk, if you have the room, can help a lot, but it restricts variety and some folks just can't handle that. Canned butter, cheese, whole chickens and cabin biscuits are good staples and many of the SoPac islands have very reasonable Red Chinese foods in cans.
Always make friends with the crews of freighters; they have washers/driers aboard, free cancelled charts and you'll probably be invited for a meal and a few drinks in their onboard pubs and a game of darts, if it's not a US ship.
But if you can't "live like a local" food wise, it will be very hard to do a trip for that kind of money.
Capta, we lived on not much than $1000 a month a few years ago not including insurance but this was with the boat in very good shape and not being in parts of the world where we wanted to travel inland. Also costs of entry into certain countries can kill a budget. Australia was more than $500 and Panama and Ecuador were more. Costs have gone up ... a lot.
OK, I stand corrected. I never paid for entry into any SoPac country, NZ & OZ included. Indonesia was just a few pennies as was Egypt and most Med countries except Greece. Turkey was US$1.00 for a hundred miles of coastwise travel.
I guess I'm way out of date and I'm sorry about that. Old timer's disease has overtaken me.
On land, some can live in a tent in the wilderness for a few bucks a day, and some have to live in the penthouse in downtown New York. It's the same with boats, some can live in a little boat at anchor eating ramen and drinking water, and some are only happy if they are on a crewed yacht eating steak every day. It's all about expectations.
The juxtaposition of seeing a million dollar motorhome parked in a space at a campground next to bicycle tourist in tents has to be seen to be appreciated. And, just who is creating the better memories depends only on your point of view.
Can't fault the OP for having a dream and trying to feel out the cost of it. As stated by many, others experience will not necessarily work for everyone.
I believe a better approach is to figure out what you can come up with for funding and then determine the boat/lifestyle that will afford and decide if its acceptable.
While cruising can be less expensive than living ashore for us, I don't want to go on an extended cruise, if I have to live on austerity to do it. You may feel differently.
Money means a lot in world cruising.
I just looked back at my website to find a representative photo of what money gives you that is important. There were lots, but also none, if ya know what I mean:
These little cuties dont come cheap! For a start you have to get to Indonesia. Then its a 2 day rented boat, have to leave someone on your own boat for 'security'
The boat trip (cheapest!) is a boat with just yourselves, 3 or 4 crew. all tres romantic etc
It costs more than some poster said it cost for his whole circumnavigation!
Buy who can give up the chance to have this memory in your life:
The thing is that EVERY country has these unmissable things that, yes that hoary old cliché, can change your life or be a life memory. What one cant you have because you decided not to save up for it?
I think a decent way is to figure out what your lifestyle is on land.......because that is what you chose and if you are going sailing you probably want to approximate that as much as possible. While living Gilligan's Isle style is romantic most folks seriously cannot stand the idea of no internet, restaurants, other forms of entertainment. In the old days if you could not afford it ....you went anyway and just enjoyed the things you could afford to do.....You did NOT dwell on the safari you missed, the Superbowl Sunday festival or any of the other things that cost more than you could afford.....Do I need to know where I am to 10 meters.....no really...no....I do need a decent set of charts, a compass, good anchor with plenty of chain, coffee....I really need coffee.....plenty of dried goods with a solar distiller, and for grins maybe some paperback books that i got on sale for ten for a dollar because someone else thought they were worthless........ decent flashlight, and serviceable gear....the kind that certain folks call seconds or thirds.....but that is my style.......what is your style on land?....'cause that is your style on sea. Yes I am gonna skip places that want me to pay for the privilege of gracing their country....but there are plenty of other places of equal value that I can go....learn something new and have adventures.......
Do I need to know where I am to 10 meters.....no really...no....I do need a decent set of charts, a compass, good anchor with plenty of chain, coffee....I really need coffee.....
Actually, if you are attempting to cut costs, you DO need a GPS that will pinpoint your position exactly, and do your navigating relying primarily on electronic charts...
One of the thing that jumped out at me from those folks in Donna's link, was that for a couple averaging over $50K per year in costs, how miniscule was their annual cost for charts and guides... They're obviously relying primarily on e-charts. The cost of carrying "a decent set of (paper) charts" for a circumnavigation today has become astronomical, and those wishing to do their voyaging/navigating 'the old-fashioned way' are gonna pay for it now, bigtime...
The days of doing anything other than a non-stop circumnavigation on the cheap are gone, the fixed costs of fees for entry into various countries have skyrocketed in recent years, they remain basically the same whether you're sailing a 20' Flicka or an 80' Oyster, and will only continue to increase... If one really wants to go places, there's just no getting around many of those costs...
When actual costs exceeded expectations, the root was repair and maintenance. In a few cases, marina fees in some parts of the world were the reason. "Docking fees have soared in the past few years, and services have become more expensive," said Barry Esrig, the owner of a Baltic 51, Lady E. "Croatia often charges for anchoring, while Turkey now requires an agent to clear in and out." Jim Patek of Let's Go!, an Ovni 435, offered a similar sentiment. "On my latest voyage, I observed right away that the day of the shoestring cruiser is gone," he said. "In some of the places where we used to anchor, one must now use docking or mooring facilities."
Cap'n Fatty Goodlander found that on his second circumnavigation aboard his boat, Wild Card, a Hughes 38, costs were occasionally higher than expected due to several factors. "Clearing-in and -out costs are now skyrocketing," he said.
I've been reading Cap'n Fatty articles for years. He and his wife have circumnavigated on a shoestring budget and seem perfectly happy. I know a few people who would require 20 times what Fatty & his wife spend in order to be happy. Where there's a will there's a way, unless you can't give up certain things not related to survival.
I t *could* be done for close to free if you got some old wreck donated by a marina and ate whatever you could catch, but this is barely a step up from bare survival in a liferaft.
IMHO someone not adverse to a lot of hard work and discomfort might do it for $50K all in. Think the Cal 25 that went around a few times
I think the BeBe spreadsheet is at the top end. It all depends on your entertainment budget. If you want to explore inland and do the tourist thing, it would be very expensive, like a vacation for 3 years. If you mainly want to anchor out and cook aboard, and not be flying home every couple of months, it would be less expensive. If you start out with a boat in good shape and experience no large breakdowns, the only expenses in addition to what you would spend ashore would be customs and immigration charges, The Panama Canal, and maybe fuel. Even the fuel would be close to what you'd put in the car at home, especially if you drive a guzzler. Boat expenses occur at home as well. Food may be a bit more but not if you plan well. You're not paying to heat or cool a house. You're not wearing out (depreciating) a car. You're not paying a large electric bill, phone bill. If you have a house, you can consider renting it out which might go a long way to put the whole trip in the black. There's more to figuring out the bottom line than someone's spreadsheet of expenses.
I agree with Minnewaska that doing it on austerity is really pointless. If you can't get out and explore the places you go, what's the point? Not having done this (yet), I didn't enter anything on the poll but I would guess three years would total 120k to be able to enjoy it.
The "cost" question is one of the most difficult to answer in the cruising world. My favorite answer I've heard is that "cruising costs whatever you have".
My attempt to answer the question using examples from some recent cruisers is given here in this blog post: What does it cost to go cruising?
I don't think Mark (or I for that matter) are suggesting you need $300k for a three year circumnavigation that allows for some of the finer things a few meals ashore and inland travel. We spent over a month backpacking in Ecuador and Peru, did it economically and had a great time. Never spent more than $30 a night for a room and travelled by bus. Much more fun and authentic rxperience than staying at the local Hilton and flying.
The original question asked was what is the minimum amount needed. I was in the $50 to $75k group but if you want a few extras I think a couple needs $20 to $25k a year, including boat costs, plus the initial boat costs which go from $20k to $200k or much mor depending on your preferences and wallet size.
Final thought, makes sense to consider the cost of boat acquisition and prep separately from the monthly costs. Once you drink that beer or go see the orangutans that money is gone, but when your trip is over you still have your boat either to enjoy or to sell for a substantial percentage of what you put into it, assuming you have kept it up as you go.
Final, final thought, if you are a very risk-adverse person and worrying about how you will pay the bills in 2040 this lifestyle is not for you. You need to act and plan sensibly but you to be prepared to take a risk or three.
My number for the cost was taking a combo of what was set out in the spread sheet and what Mark mentioned as the cost of his boat. I have no idea what it would cost to sail around the world. I didn't enter a vote.
I don't take issue with people spending money as they see fit for what is important to them. Only with one comment made by Mark that the difference between a bare bones trip and a top rate trip is a matter of saving more money. between the income stopping while on the trip and the cost of the trip IMO, at the levels discussed here, the high end trip is out for most people of average means. Simply put, they don't make enough to save enough.
I'm all for 30 cents on the dollar adventures. I can tell you my average cost for riding a bicycle from New Jersey to Key West Florida was about $30 a day. There are ways to lower that cost but I wanted motels once every few days instead of camping and because you are the engine, ya gotta eat right! Not counting the bike, panniers or camping gear (all useable for other trips) the trip down cost me about $600. I guess i should add in the $300 it cost to get me and the bike back to New Jersey. Still, all in all, a very cheap 3 week adventure!!!
Didn't answer, haven't done it yet. We may end up as "East coast of America loop" people, although the attraction of the South Pacific islands and other locations is very real, brought-on in part through Mark's blog.
There are some must-have equipment items that I'd want, such as solar panels driving a fridge and freezer (and a watermaker). Now that I've read Richard Kollmann's book and installed an electric fridge and freezer on our boat, the cost versus benefit is amazing. A freezer can keep food for a long time and a fridge can keep locally-purchased food fresh. Over 3 years, I'd bet the system pays for itself just in the ability to store leftovers and buy in bulk. (And it's great to have cold drinks!)
So I personally wouldn't backdown from the $1K that I spent on our system. And we do our (currently very limited) cruising with all the tools, gauges, and refrigerant to fix our system or another cruiser's system. -- A possible source of income or at least a free beer or two.
--
From the above, I think the costs go down if you know how to fix your own equipment, and can therefore help others fix theirs.
There are some must-have equipment items that I'd want, such as solar panels driving a fridge and freezer (and a watermaker). . . . . Over 3 years, I'd bet the system pays for itself just in the ability to store leftovers and buy in bulk.
So this is why I don't get the inclusion of the cost of the boat in "cost of cruising" in the poll.
What I spend on my boat (buying and upgrading) is an investment that may or may not depreciate. It is only the depreciation if anything that should be costed into the equation. Unless of course you are planning on donating the vessel when your'e done cruising (stand in line - the Amel is mine). When the boat is sold the difference between cost price and selling price can be accounted for. I note that "the spreadsheet" didn't cost any capital loss/gain into their equation either.
My expenditure for the last three years has been predominantly upgrades and very little needed for maintenance. In fact of the last $30k I've spent I reckon maybe 10% is maintenance. So we reckon we can cruise on a grand a month in 6-monthly bursts, summer in NZ and winter in the islands.
I think a lot of it depends on how many stops you make too. There are no shops in the middle of the ocean, and you'll probably have the same amount of money in your wallet or purse when you reach land as you had when you left it.
I dont really have much of an opinion on the cost of a full circumnavigation but I wanted to see keep up the good work everyone this thread has good intelligent posts from people with greatly different experience and backgrounds. im warming up to the idea of a pacific circle instead of a circumnavigation in 2-3 years then back to society for a year or two while I process what happend what I liked what I didnt and what to change before a longer trip if it happens at all .
I think yall are missing Mark's point here.. He's not saying everyone has to be rich to make this trip. From what I took, he's just saying that if you are planning(and if you are planning you should have planned long before and saved for this) to go on a circnav trip, you plan for things to see while you're doing it. He saying that what is the point of doing it if you stay on your boat and not actually SEE the places you anchor at. What memories you could have made that will be lifelong or life changing. No where did he say you needed millions of dollars saved, or 300k for a trip. Obviously you will have to plan according to your budget(see: budgeting). If you can only spend 20k a year on the voyage, budget in that 20k that you will do something and see places. It's not hard to plan ahead. Yea it will be a lot of work and ahead of time research but this isn't a family beach trip for the weekend. If you can only afford circle voyages or a trip to the Carrib then that is something each person has to decide: Do I take this shorter trip now or keep saving for a bigger trip. So I think yall should re-read what Mark is saying on the subject, he makes a good point. The point of a circnav is to see the world, not to just sail around it.. at least in my eyes.
I think yall are missing Mark's point here.. He's not saying everyone has to be rich to make this trip. From what I took, he's just saying that if you are planning(and if you are planning you should have planned long before and saved for this) to go on a circnav trip, you plan for things to see while you're doing it. He saying that what is the point of doing it if you stay on your boat and not actually SEE the places you anchor at.
Not only that but people's standard cruising cost is roughly the same at about that $1,000 per month the guy said he rode Florida on a bicycle, BUT you have to add boat maintenance.
Look again at Judy's spreadsheet where the costs appear much higher than mine... Hers are the same, she just spent more in marinas, flying home and the one off transport around Somalia( I sailed it the year before and advised her not to sail it and thank God they didnt as she would have when the four Americans were shot).
But the "standard" cost is about the same at $1,000 per month food and beer, $1,000 per month saving for boat maintenance, sails etc and $1,000 per month for rich people to buy insurance, medical and fly home. Then you can add another $1,000 for richer people to stay in marinas, or rent cars, or do extensive land travel etc.
But as Boatyardboy explains, why circumnavigate if you don't see anything?
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