Your cost of cruising by area...

[sailingdog]

If you were mostly on the hook, how did you manage to spend $25,000 per year???

[Livia]

Aw come one sailingdog, surely you could think of ways to spend 25K a year

I'm joking of course but it almost seems like to be a "real cruiser" people have to talk about pinching each penny. Some people need to pinch every penny for their dreams to come true...props to them in my book. If one has the cash to open a bottle of wine every night or do some land travel as well as cruising...props to them in my book. Not everyone is the same.

[sailingdog]

Livia-

25K a year, given that they were "on the hook" most of the time, means they're opening a lot of bottles of wine. What does it cost you to operate a boat for a month when you're anchored out... assuming the boat is well-equipped for cruising and has some solar panels and a wind gen. Fuel usage would be minimal... since the solar panels and wind gen should, hopefully, take care of the electrical needs. What else is there... Food... drinks... Chances are they're not shopping much...since they're anchored out. What's a month's worth of food and drink cost... certainly not more than a $1000. That would still leave over $1000 per month for incidentals, repairs and maintenance.

[Freesail99]

What's a month's worth of food and drink cost... certainly not more than a $1000.

You must not know my ex wife. When asked why the food cost were so high, she answered "you want your bagel chips, don't you"?

[capttb]

I just bought $7000 worth of dental work, the "incidentals" can really add up.

[FarCry]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Livia-

25K a year, given that they were "on the hook" most of the time, means they're opening a lot of bottles of wine. What does it cost you to operate a boat for a month when you're anchored out... assuming the boat is well-equipped for cruising and has some solar panels and a wind gen. Fuel usage would be minimal... since the solar panels and wind gen should, hopefully, take care of the electrical needs. What else is there... Food... drinks... Chances are they're not shopping much...since they're anchored out. What's a month's worth of food and drink cost... certainly not more than a $1000. That would still leave over $1000 per month for incidentals, repairs and maintenance.

$1000/month for food seems low to me. My wife and I spend more than that living on shore. FYI I have never spent more than a couple of weeks on board and certainly have never cruised for a year so give my opinion the weight it deserves, please.

I don't think Livia mentions how many people are on board but if, for the sake of discussion, we assume two people, that is $33/day or $16.50/person or a little over $5/meal per person, assuming 3 meals/day and no snacks. That is pretty cheap eating. I could do it for a while but that would get old quick, I can only eat so many instant noodle meals before I get cranky . Where in that budget can one buy a bottle of wine? On first look $1000/month looks like a lot of money but if one goes ashore to eat once a week or enjoys a bottle of wine with dinner three nights a week, it could get much more expensive.

I am sure there are must be areas where eating cheaply is possible. I am also pretty sure those areas are none of the Virgin Islands (US, Spanish or British).

[Livia]

Sailingdog-

We haven't done it ourselves yet so my real answer for us (2 on our boat) is "don't know"! But in our budgeting $25K is only slightly more than our ballpark.

Besides the food and wine, and besides repairs, we are including fixed budget lines for boat insurance, health insurance, and communication. Plus, because for us this is to be a lifestyle not a one year event we are including the cost of airfare back to our families because maintaining family ties is important to us and we can afford to do it.

25K sneaks up quickly for us.

Of course, you can do cruise much more cheaply if you need to or want to.

[donradclife]

We we started out 12 years ago, we budgeted 36k/yr, but only spent 24k. These days we are spending about 50K/yr....most of the reason is that the US dollar has lost half its value in the last 12 years, as the Treasury continues to print more money to pay for wars and entitlement payments.

[westerly84]

lived aboard our 36' sailboat from bahamas to trinidad for past 6 years doing pretty much whatever everyone else did for 15-17000/yr.
s/v