The $64,000.00 question

[Maverick1958]

The 64,000. question. What will it cost for us to live aboard an cruise? We are already making a dry run of sorts. We have scaled down and now live in a 29 foot travel trailer in an RV park. Don't ask why it is a long and painful story unto itself. No it's not a boat, but the size and available room is similar. Our current expenses should in some part reflect those of living aboard.

Current land expenses

RV space monthly charge (elect. & water included) $ 480.00
Food (eating at home) $ 400.00
Entertainment $ 200.00
Phone & internet $ 125.00
Truck payment $ 372.36
Medical (currently more than I make subject to change shortly)
Motorcycle & truck insurance $ 58.33
Gas and vehicle maintenance $ 185.00
The big MISC. $ 400.00
TOTAL $ 2,220.69


Estimated live aboard/cruising expenses

Marina monthly slip fee for 35ft boat $ 265.00
Electric $ 50.00
Water (included) N.C.
Food (eating aboard) $ 400.00
Entertainment $ 200.00
Phone & internet $ 125.00
Truck payment (paid off)
Medical (insurance, office visits and prescriptions) $ 360.00
Motorcycle & truck insurance $ 58.33
Boat insurance $ 125.00
Gas and vehicle maintenance $ 98.00
Diesel and boat maintenance $ 80.66
The big MISC. $ 400.00
TOTAL $ 2161.99

I am exceptionally handy and can fix anything on a boat that is fixable. My wife and I have virtually no ties to land. Kids grown/estranged and all that. Do any of you see the fly in the ointment here? What are we missing?

Thanks
Maverick

[Architeuthis]

I think you are pretty close, we are about in that ballpark if we would stop working on the boat.

Generally it will cost about as much as it costs on land (cause you already live in a boat size house/room) plus maybe a little more. You've already pared down. Once you start cruising you can sell the vehicles and save money there but I found having a car in someplaces made the extra expense worth it.

The only fly is the unexpected. For us that meant travel, lots of it by air, land and sea to attend to family issues. It is worth it but nothing eats into living on a boat, or anywhere, than traveling and trying to live somewhere else. Very hard to plan for that stuff but there will be the unexpected.

Of course you will have to pull the boat and work on it now and then but that can be planned for.

Looks like one of the best real comparisions I've seen in a while, largely because you are comparing similar lifestyles.

[kd3pc]

Maverick

One of the more realistic estimates, and since you are already doing the food fugal thing, it is about where we are..

YOu may spend some more on visiting other marinas, but we try to hold those to a minimum and anchor out or try to do more day trips.

Best of luck

[scottyt]

i think you can cut the internet and phone down, as most marinas have internet. and a land line phone is a waste, you can get unlimited cell phones for about 50 per month now.

i also wonder what the 200 per month entertainment is, that seems like a lot. heck red box is 30 a month for a different movie every night.

[Maverick1958]

Originally Posted by scottyt

i think you can cut the internet and phone down, as most marinas have internet. and a land line phone is a waste, you can get unlimited cell phones for about 50 per month now.

i also wonder what the 200 per month entertainment is, that seems like a lot. heck red box is 30 a month for a different movie every night.

I have padded the numbers so as not to exceed the budget amount.

[tjvanginkel]

We are in a very similiar circumstance, 30 foot fifth wheel in the back yard, paying for the boat, and our expenses are very similiar except we are also spending $80 per month to do laundry at the laundromat.
So don't forget that part of living on your boat. If you are working then doing it by hand is just a no go...although you might be somewhere warmer and then it would dry outside....
Regards Tanya

[wind_magic]

Maverick, it looks good to me, assuming your pump outs are part of your slip fee. Probably have some initial expenses not shown since your wife will probably need to get the nest in order, she'll need you to go out and fetch some twigs! So I think at least early on your Misc expense will be higher.

Originally Posted by tjvanginkel

We are in a very similiar circumstance, 30 foot fifth wheel in the back yard, paying for the boat, and our expenses are very similiar except we are also spending $80 per month to do laundry at the laundromat.
So don't forget that part of living on your boat. If you are working then doing it by hand is just a no go...although you might be somewhere warmer and then it would dry outside....
Regards Tanya

Tanya, it isn't so bad washing clothes by hand if you wash them every day or two, they just don't have the chance to pile up. You do still have to find a place to hang them, but they don't take up much room inside if you hang them side by side right next to each other (like they would hang in a closet) and keep a small fan pointed at them. It does add a little chill to the air though, /shiver/.

[tommays]

I lived in a 24' Coachman trailer for 3 years and IMHP with it having a REAL but small bathtub/bathroom that you could move around IN along a allmost full size oven cooktop heat and AC that worked ect

It was substantiality BIGGER than perhaps even a 40' boat as the 8'6" X feet of a trailer is about 100% USEFULL

[bubb2]

I think the cost for your boat Insurance is high. Again this depends on the value of the boat and where you plan to cruise. I have coverage for the entire coastal US out to 200 miles including the Bahamas for a little more then half of what you have budgeted.

[sailingdog]

Tommays has an excellent point. There is far more living space in a 29' trailer than there will be on a 35' boat, unless it is a catamaran. A lot of the volume of a boat is taken up by the working systems and non-living areas, like the cockpit. If you figure a 8' long cockpit on a 35' boat, which is not unreasonable, and 7' for the forepeak section of the boat, you're really looking at more like 9' x 20' for the living space on the boat—some of which is taken up by the engine, etc..