Go Back   Cruiser Log World Cruising & Sailing Forums > Free Sailing Crewfinders > Crewfinder Archives
Cruiser Wiki Click Here to Login

Join Cruiser Log Today

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 01-11-2008, 01:41 PM   #1
Retired Mod
 
Lighthouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Home Port: Durban
Posts: 2,984
Default

This interesting observation just to hand:

Quote:
I have just read the chapter from Jimmy Cornell's "Passion for the Sea" covering many surveys of average cruising costs, including his very own which were very carefully recorded.

His came out very close to $20,000 per year including all boat and living expenditure - including such items as a new mainsail, cooker, 120AH alternators , battery charger and gel batteries in New Zealand. Also included were various alterations such as a new charging system.

On this basis his total monthly average (inclusive of all boat and living expenditure) comes out at around US $1667 (for 8 months = $13, 3600) Whereas, if someone is asking a single member of the crew for US 4,800 ($20 per day) just for food (for 8 months) … i.e. .. a "food" contribution from ONE crewmember equating to 35% of the total cost of the boat and living expenditure - it is excessive.

NB: The average number of people on Jimmy's boats were never less than 4.
Personally, I could not eat a HUGE, prime steak every day (certainly not on passages) and my guess is that US$10 per day would more than adequately cover my food consumption - even at today's prices.

Food for thought?
__________________

__________________


The World Cruising & Sailing Wiki

Help to build this free, online World Cruising Guide.

"Built by cruisers, for cruisers''

I've Contributed to the Cruisers Wiki: Most sections
Lighthouse is offline  
Old 01-11-2008, 04:29 PM   #2
Ensign
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lighthouse View Post
This interesting observation just to hand:

Personally, I could not eat a HUGE, prime steak every day (certainly not on passages) and my guess is that US$10 per day would more than adequately cover my food consumption - even at today's prices.

Food for thought?
Its ridiculous what some captains request financially for "food" costs, some of them boarder on being esentially paying passengers. $20 is nuts, perhaps Jimmy likes to eat lots of imported things bought in remote locals? Lots of people eat differently.

My personal take on crew food budget is: Do your own shopping, buy your own food. That way they control how much or how little they spend. If they want prime rib every night, they buy it and pay for it, if they want to live on rice and beans, likewise. Personally I like to splurge on some things crew may not want to, so I would never expect them to pay for that. Splitting a grocery bill down the middle simply isnt fair and neither is asking for a set daily contribution. An oft asked question of crew is "how much approximately will my food costs be?", well, I tell them its hard to judge, depends on how you like to eat! It can be dirt cheap or ultra expensive.

Thats my view at least. Personally I probably spend about $300US per month on food (not including shore meals and alcohol) but that varies a lot depending on where I am and I do by a large amount of imported things, but I am a vegetarian so I save a lot not eating meat.
__________________

__________________
russeasby is offline  
Old 01-11-2008, 10:54 PM   #3
Wanabee
 
Peter Owen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Home Port: Wirral
Posts: 138
Default

I thought that I saw a post here about an Australian boat asking 10AUD a day to cover everything along with a URL.

Have I finally lost it completely, or was it (re)moved?

See ya!
__________________
Peter Owen is offline  
Old 01-12-2008, 04:23 PM   #4
Ensign
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 5
Default

Hello all, greetings from S/V Juno in Durban, SA.

I currently am looking at $450 USD per month, or $15 per day for food and operating expenses. It is essentially a flat fee that I modify depending on how long crew intend to be onboard, their experience level (special skills like perhaps a diesel mechanic or electrical guru) and how many of us there are onboard.

I spend a bit more on fuel costs than other cruising monhull smy size as I do not have solar panels, and I do keep a freezer going 24/7 so I use a fair bit of electrical power. On average over the past 8 months in travelling from Thailand, Maldives, Chagos, Seychelles, Mayotte, Mozambique to Richards Bay in South Africa, never hooked to shore power, I averaged just at $300 USD for fuel costs per month for the boat. I spent some money on propane and oil changes but not eough to really matter in these calculatations.

I had three crew some of the time, two crew for the majority, and for a two month period, only myself. I did not keep tight records, but my cut is that around $10 USD per day is about the minimum cost for food per person. For folks with lots of experience or who have been on the boat a long while, I have charged as little as $300 even if they are the only other person on board.

You can certainly do food for less, many boats do, but I try to keep frozen chicken, beef, pork and lamb on board, and buy (barter for) the occasional fish, shrimp or squid from local fishermen. The availability of the meats and the price determines what is kept on board and what is bought. The biggest expense items are rather unexpected, cheese for example is in spots hard to find and expensive. But it is almost a staple. Canned food in spots is very expensive, and some crew, like the ones I have on board now, use three to four cans of stuff (ie mushrooms, corn, soup, peas, tomatoes and perhaps a can of mystery meat) plus cheese and pasta for a casserole lunch. One meal for three, a simple lunch, can easily runs $7-10 bucks depending on where the cans were purchased. This does not include the cans of soda water and fruit juice that washes everything down. Dinners tend to run more as that is when we tend to use the frozen meats. We seldom buy top quality cuts of meat, but on special occasions like birthdays the roast leg of lamp and prime rib are welcome events.

If you travel by yourself, and have to live by your appetite, costs are easy to control, but when you have "volunteer crew" who are doing the cooking, it is harder to dictate without being a Capt. Bligh. Not all crew are willing to eat only local veggies, they want Idaho baking potatoes regardless of the costs and rice is only occasionaly seen with these crew. I do not drink milk, but some crew expect UHT milk for coffees and cooking, powdered milk won't do. Some will not cook squash or pumkins or eggplant but expect green beans and ice berg lettuce. Each set of crew is different, and the skipper can only set some guidelines and work to control the costs by limiting meat portion sizes and buying only lower quality cheeses, but my belief is that you really should not stop the creative cook from bringing out the can of aspargus spears, water chestnuts, anchovies, spanish olives, etc.

The other issue is storage, particulary of fresh items, those that require cooling and those that should be bought in bulk to help on cost control. If you have constantly changing crew, and let them shop for themselves, you have more issues with storage of these tyes of items.

So I almost always do the shooping with crew the first few times out, just to get them in the mood of buying by the 10 kilo lot of potatoes and such, and to help sort of show the way that I want the money they have given me spent for food. I allow them to choose their cereals since I do not eat those, but encourage things like wheat bran and muesli rather than the othe stuff, it just is better value and takes less bulk than cocoa puffed rice or similar products

A final note, shopping trips almost always mean hiring a taxi when away from the USA, so the cost of everything goes up a bit there as well. We have not mentioned, salt, pepper, paper towels, jell, jams, butter, margarine, prepared sauces that you really can not make from scratch easily in many spots (pesto or mint sauce) and so on.

So my perspective is that $10 per day is just a minimum for these costs, $3-5 per day for fuel works out about right, depending on number of crew. When on passage, you eat less of the frozen, but you whip through canned, dry goods, cheeses and juices in a big hurry, especially if the crew is young active folks. Older folks do not eat so much, but they expect meals of a higher quality.

Wish I had kept better records to support my thoughts, but that is a summary of my experiences.

Regards

Tom Hildebrandt
__________________
tomandpatt is offline  
Old 01-12-2008, 05:09 PM   #5
Retired Mod
 
Lighthouse's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Home Port: Durban
Posts: 2,984
Default

Hi Tom

This topic has been discussed in GREAT detail HERE

I am closing this topic as I (and I'm sure most of us here) do not wish to engage on this somewhat emotive, long-running issue all over again. To continue here will serve no purpose at all.

My final word on this thread is, quite frankly, the following:

* If you require crew to assist you - pay them (or at least feed them), as they are "working" for you.

* If you want crew for company - pay them (or at least feed them) for their company.

* If you want a bigger contribution than THEIR SHARE of food - you are needing their contribution to assist in the running/upkeep of the yacht. In this instance - use commercial advertising and check the legal implications. (see the link to the thread above)

This thread is now closed. Thank you.
__________________


The World Cruising & Sailing Wiki

Help to build this free, online World Cruising Guide.

"Built by cruisers, for cruisers''

I've Contributed to the Cruisers Wiki: Most sections
Lighthouse is offline  
Closed Thread

Tags
food


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The 12 Meter Trimaran "monoah" Washed Up On Uonuku Island Trim50 General Cruising Forum 6 12-21-2014 02:02 PM
Anchor Chain Cleaning Device Aka "gunk Buster" redbopeep Other Equipment 6 02-17-2010 05:05 PM
Things That Go "bump" Well...sometimes "squeak" In The Night redbopeep General Cruising Forum 0 12-13-2009 05:21 AM
Yacht " Illusion " Abandoned Off Australia East Coast Lighthouse Overdue & Distress Reports 1 11-12-2008 08:45 PM
Humor And Dealing With The Potential "stressors" Of A Voyaging Life redbopeep General Cruising Forum 2 09-22-2008 09:20 PM

Our Communities

Our communities encompass many different hobbies and interests, but each one is built on friendly, intelligent membership.

» More about our Communities

Automotive Communities

Our Automotive communities encompass many different makes and models. From U.S. domestics to European Saloons.

» More about our Automotive Communities

RV & Travel Trailer Communities

Our RV & Travel Trailer sites encompasses virtually all types of Recreational Vehicles, from brand-specific to general RV communities.

» More about our RV Communities

Marine Communities

Our Marine websites focus on Cruising and Sailing Vessels, including forums and the largest cruising Wiki project on the web today.

» More about our Marine Communities


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
SEO by vBSEO 3.6.0
×