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What should I budget for annual maintenance costs?
[Still accumulating information as we count down to 2005 for the move to Florida and buying "the boat."]
I have heard many different accounts of what sailors spend to maintain their boats year after year, and thought I would poll this group. Often cited is a percentage figure based upon the boat''s value (e.g 10% of the boat''s value annually). I fully realize that any simplistic number like that is going to ignore specific situations. For example, a like-new boat may not have anything major wear out for a number of years, so the annual maintenance cost would be low for a while. Conversely, a very low-value old boat in sad shape would potentially need a lot of money every year to replace equipment and repair deterioration.
To keep the replies relevant, how about those of you with a 5-15 year old sloop near 40 feet with no or minimal exterior wood. Our boat will be sailed year-round, but not likely to see any real offshore duty for the first few years (and maybe not even after that).
Ballpark estimates will be gratefully accepted. Hope it doesn''t cause to much pain to tally it up. Other comments welcome, too.
TIA,
Duane
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