Owning a Boat is EXPENSIVE!

[Lostmt]

Indeed it does, and thank you for posting that breakdown. Everyone's cost is going to be different based on location, condition of the boat when purchased, whether your slip has luxuries or is basically some floating wood with a cleat (my marina Im currently in is great - showers, store, secured, etc). But still, I think $100/day to own a 23 footer is still a pretty serious cost that maybe someone doesn't anticipate. Thats all I was trying to get across.

I'm sorry I don't see where it cost $100/day to own a 23 footer. Me I couldn't hardly afford a quarter of that figure. My total income is SS and I own a 22 footer. A life long dream. Started back when I was a kid and my mother and I would talk about sailing around the world. My dad built sailboats in N.O. before WWII and never touch another boat after he came home, died in 59. mom passed in 63.

Sure this month I am set back some. Didn't buy a single Christmas present. I gave them to me what Christmas is all about. A little 4 letter word. Love Some nice person stole my 82 motor off her and I had to buy another used motor.

Spending my last years sailing with my wife to me is priceless. Anchor out dinghy in and walk the beach in the sunset. Priceless. Memories that she will treasure long after I'm gone. Priceless. She's 14 years younger than me. I wouldn't go back to the 18/20 hr days working on a ranch for Gates income.

Point is. We all have our reason to sail and we can do it as cheap or expensive as we choose.

My slip fee is $93.00 per month with a bunch of great dock mates. Nothing fancy but nice.

Fair winds

[WaterView]

Captain Fred, Welcome to Sailnet.
Don't take some of these guys to heart. They treat most new people the same way. It's their way of welcoming you to the site and hoping that you stick around.

[petmac]

Owning a boat is expensive. Yes it is.
Depreciation 30 % first year, 20 % second year. Thats a pretty general statement. Not so for all boats.

[SimonV]

I live on my boat so the marina fee of $5280 is in theory, nil as I would have to pay rent if I lived on land. I have allowed $4000 per year for maintenance and in the first year it has cost me less than $1000. This coming year I need 1. one tiller pilot @ $500. 2. five single block @ $69 = $345. 3. one double block @ $102. Haul out and bottom paint @ $1000 and maybe a roll and tip top sides paint at the same time $400.(diy) total $2347 If I can keep it at this I will be happy.

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by TxLnghrn

Fred,

Nor am I an accountant. I mentioned the potential tax opportunities as an aside. The majority of my post dealt with a faulty premise in your original assumptions re: the cost of ownership. Yes boat ownership is costly, but these costs can be mitigated and/or justified if we compare them to the cost of chartering or for that matter therapy.
I agree with you that a neglected boat is a waste, I have said this in another post. If you indeed came to Sailnet with the intent to help educate future boat owners, thank-you and welcome to Sailnet. I'm sure you will find this community receptive and educational. But if you came with the intent of boosting your blog hits....You can see where that path will take you from the previous responses.

Michael

Ouch, does that mean you lost the bet you made in the AFOC thread?

Receptive and educational. Yep. The AFOCs strike again.

[Danny33]

Right On Captn Fred..

Im selling my boat now ....I did not relize untill now how living dreams cost so much !

[therapy23]

CFG,

Here is a recent (this fall) figure for chartering a 34ft cat for 7 nights out of the Ft. Myers area, 2 1/2 hrs from home.

Boat, insurance (required), trip cancel insurance 2739.00

We did not factor food because it is about the same as our local stores. More for beer though.

The worst part, except for having to return on a schedule (last day motoring against head wind and tide = yuk) was hauling all the stuff off the boat up to the car. It seemed so much easier when we were loading the boat even though there was a lot more food and beer on the "to" trip.

I have been figuring what I would like to have and never will, but if I become a little realistic then a realistic figure for me to own and keep this same boat would cost about 10k a year. So I could charter 2-3 times a year.

If I owned the boat I could use (does working on it and scrubbing it count?) it a lot more than that in the same general area/type of sailing.

One bit of data for you.

[CalebD]

Y'all better lay off Cap'n Fred, ya' bunch of disagreeable disagree-ers! If it is web hits he wants then he shall probably get them. I tend to agree with Cam that he is prolly just a good ole sailor who is trying to share something with the web-public. Hey, at least he is as web savvy as Al Gore but does not claim to have invented the internet!
As others have mentioned, I too take issue with the 'depreciation schedule' CFG laid out. I suspect that his numbers are closer for new boat buyers. We bought our 35 year old Tartan (1969) around 2002 for $4K. Was there any depreciation left to depreciate? I doubt it, in fact the thought never occurred to me that I could depreciate a 35 year old sailboat. Depreciation is for people who buy stuff that is brand new or close to it. I can only hope that one day I will still own a 'Classic Plastic' vintage sailboat that is in good enough shape to get more for it then we paid for it.
That said, Cap'n Fred speaks the truth that there are a lot more costs that some people may not think about (SeeWhich? not withstanding - I think someone peed on her Cheerios). After owning and maintaining 'this old boat' for 6 years I can safely say that we have spent about $16K between mooring/wintering/repairing and minor upgrades - and we do all the work ourselves. That seems to work out to about $2500 per year including (cheap) club dues.
If I had to figure out a dollar amount for every day sail or longer trip I am sure that I would probably gag but I do it because I love owning, caring for and sailing my own boat and that in and of itself is priceless (as stated previously). It seems that I also own 2 smaller sailboats so I am a real glutton for punishment but the costs of operating the smaller boats are significantly less per year then a keel boat which cannot be easily trailered.
As for the rest of you nattering Nabobs of negativity, get a life. Cap'n Fred was just passing along his subjective experience to people who might actually benefit from his experience. His numbers may not add up but his heart (and words) are in the right place.
I think I am gonna' need a few painkillers after this.

[sailingdog]

Simon—

Don't forget what an airline ticket from SFO to OZ would have set you back.

[poopdeckpappy]

So after reading all this I pulled out my refit log, tallied it up and it came to a total of $7,300.00 add to that $15,100.00 for slip fees & insurance and I have a grand total for 2008 of $22,400.00.

Now that's roughly what I figured I'd spend over the next 5 yr period until I was complete (to our satisfaction) with the boat, but in reality it may remain this amount and maybe more.

Now here's the funny part, ( well, I think it is ) my wife is sitting here knitting me this bitch'n sweater, she just got up for another cup of coffee, walked by and asked what that was, I said it's what we spent last year on the boat and slip fees.

She return to her knitting ( while watching Ironman ) and didn't say a word, a few minutes later she said " that's not to bad " and I just smiled,

She said, " remember, this is our home and lifestyle, OURs and it sure beats the 100,000 you spent racing them stupid dirtbikes "

I just smiled some more, ................if she only knew


Is owning a sailboat expensive ??...............I don'tknow, what do ya want to campare it too ??