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Old 08-17-2006, 05:58 PM   #1
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Default Cruising costs

Finally,can afford the long awaited boat, time and dream !

At 57, healthy and reasonably fit, with the kids doing their own thing, I am almost there. Although I have done some monohull sailing (Day Skipper RYA)but have limited experience, I am considering a live-aboard, cruising catamaran, about 5-7 years old,38-45feet (My budget allowance)

However, I have no idea how much above the purchase price it's going to cost me to run and live aboard. Was thinking of the Med to gain some experience (I live in Scotland) and if I like it and can do it...maybe further afield perhaps SE Asia. Can anyone advise me (Apart from not getting a Cat !!) Appreciate your help.
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Old 08-17-2006, 08:03 PM   #2
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Hi, sounds like a daunting plan, errmm. And one that I have also just signed up to! I'm also a novicey day-skipper with little experience, and have just ordered the live-aboard cat to take through Med next year and then on down to Thailand. Crazy, aren't we both? But sounds like there might be mileage in our comparing trials and tribulations encountered along the way. I'm in Sussex. Email me if you want to compare notes on the info gleaned thus far. Barry
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Old 08-17-2006, 10:07 PM   #3
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We spent two years sailing west from Guam to the Caribbean via the Red Sea. We figgured it cost us (the wife & me) $750 USD per month and we weren't consciously trying to be frugal. We did, however, avoid marinas.

We always ate well, always had cold beer in the fridge and a bottle of wine to share. And, I'll admit, we cranked-up the engine whenever our speed dropped below three knots.

Oh!... and we had a LOT of fun, too!

Our boat was a 37' cutter and (luckily) we suffered no major break-downs along the way. The only thing we're gonna do differently next time we set out is take more time to travel inland... and further off the rhumb line.

$750 per month for two people - easy!

See you out there,

Kirk
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Old 08-17-2006, 11:25 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by name='Converted Post'
Originally posted by arkouda

Hi, sounds like a daunting plan, errmm. And one that I have also just signed up to! I'm also a novicey day-skipper with little experience, and have just ordered the live-aboard cat to take through Med next year and then on down to Thailand. Crazy, aren't we both? But sounds like there might be mileage in our comparing trials and tribulations encountered along the way. I'm in Sussex. Email me if you want to compare notes on the info gleaned thus far. Barry
Thanks for the reply Barry. Sounds like you are a bit ahead of me. What type of boat have you ordered and how did the insurance work out. Have you done any estimates on costs above the purchase cost of the boat.Did you get much experience sailing cats before you bought one?

Good Luck with the trip.
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Old 08-17-2006, 11:30 PM   #5
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Thanks for the reply Guys. $750 sounds very do-able. Was that including repairs, insurance,replacement 'bits' etc.

How much sailing experience did you have before the blue water stuff from guam to the Med?
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Old 08-18-2006, 01:53 AM   #6
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We jumped around, somewhere between $500-1000 U.S. after all it was mostly food and (hic) drink! Money was spent on the boat before we went and we were only gone for two yrs, probably just getting back before things started to go.

If we had have left without preparations and then did repairs and maintenace on the fly it certainly would have been different, read "more expensive".

Must admit, I was a bit of a hardass about "sailing". We would sail directly to our anchorage, get close to shore (catamaran) then set the hook by backwinding, when leaving we would sail out too. It really was fun for me as a challenge. Went weeks without firing up the engine....my motto "if it weren't blowin we weren't goin!"

Bought $18 in fuel on a monthly avg and stayed at docks two days out of the two yrs.

Know sailors who did it on much less too.

good luck finding your cat , hope to see ya some time when I get back out there. Duckhead.
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Old 08-18-2006, 02:15 PM   #7
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Hi, We have found that the annual boat cost to be about 10% of the purchase price. Years ago we were told that this would be the case by an old cruiser who is now a yacht chandler. We did not believe him at the time.:0)

Everyone seems to find their own limit/budget for living costs. These costs vary as you change your cruising area. The Med is more expensive than say SE Asia.

Happy Sailing.

Stephen
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Old 08-18-2006, 03:07 PM   #8
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Hi Will

No real experience, just started sailing (now I've had to give up serious climbing, deep diving etc etc - yep, those middle fifties are here!) I also had the same dream of one day cruising around exotic islands, and rather than buy a place in Thailand I decided to become a snail and take my house around with me.

I have looked at a lot of cats in the past 18 months or so, mostly in the 40ft - 50ft range. I suspect there will be people in this group who can give you much better advice than I. But we sailed a Lagoon 44 round the Sporades in June - nice boat, bit MFI, easy to handle and twin engines make parking easier, but it's still a bit tight in tiny Greek harbours. Also sailed a 50ft aluminium cat round Phang Nga Bay and southwards in March, didn't much like that boat, but probably because of bad cockpit design. Ally cats have good performance but this one also seemed to have a lot of sharp edges, and the booming of the waves resonated throughout the hulls in a night time blow. Bit like being in a destroyer below decks, lots of sharp metallic bulkheads and the like.

I'm going for a Privilege 495, which is a bit of floating house and heavy to boot, so I suspect no 'proper' sailor would look at them. Oh, but the comfort! The missus is dead scared of the water, won't go in a dinghy without a life vest, so it had to be a boat that was awfully stable. So, no gimbals on the cooker and no spilling of the G&T. And when we test drove one in a 25 knot wind and a good Solent swell, there she was, sitting in the pulpit with glass in hand, happy as Larry. Sold, methinks!

Best of luck with the hunt. Rather than clog up this thread, I'll email you soon re my own estimates on costs, but I am working a bit in the dark like you

barry
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Old 08-18-2006, 04:39 PM   #9
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The cost of cruising depends on how much or little money you have to spend. Using marina's eats very hard into the kitty as does motoring when the wind isn't good enough to sail. Food costs, fuel and just about everything else varies so much from place to place it isn't possible to give a 'basic costing'. I eat a lot of fish and buy local produce where I can and don't hang out of marina's or drink more than the odd one. I can live on about 30% of what I 'needed' on land. But again it all depends on how you want to cruise. If you want to it can be done very economically with a little thought about preperation and where you buy WHAT you need. For example an oil filter in Australia for my yacht motor is bought at an auto shop and not at a chandlers saving about 40% and is the same filter number and listed for the motor.

Regards

Peter
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Old 08-18-2006, 07:03 PM   #10
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Have you ever made a list of what you spend on your land life? Telephone, electricity, heat/aircon, mortgage, property taxes, TV, ....?

Not much goes for food compared to everything else, eh? Get rid of all those expenses and life is easier right away!

Food prices: cheapest in SE Asia (most everything else also reasonable to cheap). Most expensive in the islands (since it all has to be imported). The Caribbean is extremely convenient in all ways - easy sailing, good access to chandleries (such as Budget Marine), good anchorages, and a few islands where bargains are to be had in food and dutiable goods.

Although I think that 10% of boat purchase per year for boat maintenance is a bit steep, to budget that much is probably a good idea, provided you put it in a savings instrument of some sort so that it's there when you DO need the money, such as for a refit with all new standing rigging, etc. The more you do yourself, the more carefully you care for the boat on a daily/weekly/monthly basis the less your out of pocket costs will be.

When we went looking for a new boat, which we had already decided was to be a power catamaran, we thought that about 42 feet would be nice. It turned out that 42 feet was, for us, just too big. We delivered our friend's 37-foot sailing catamaran many times, and would have been happy with a power cat of that size, but unfortunately we couldn't find one to suit us. The 34-foot power cat we now have is a compromise (isn't that always the case?) that we can live with. It is certainly roomy enough for the kind of cruising we are doing now, but if it were 2 or 3 feet longer it would be perfect. The "perfect" boat was just over the horizon and we didn't want to wait for it to appear. I think that for us this was the right choice.
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Old 08-18-2006, 07:42 PM   #11
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Sounds like you had some real fun and a great experience. If you were to do it again, wouold it be monohull, or Cat?

Thanks for the advice Duckhead

Bill

Quote:
Originally Posted by name='Converted Post'
Originally posted by Duckhead

We jumped around, somewhere between $500-1000 U.S. after all it was mostly food and (hic) drink! Money was spent on the boat before we went and we were only gone for two yrs, probably just getting back before things started to go.

If we had have left without preparations and then did repairs and maintenace on the fly it certainly would have been different, read "more expensive".

Must admit, I was a bit of a hardass about "sailing". We would sail directly to our anchorage, get close to shore (catamaran) then set the hook by backwinding, when leaving we would sail out too. It really was fun for me as a challenge. Went weeks without firing up the engine....my motto "if it weren't blowin we weren't goin!"

Bought $18 in fuel on a monthly avg and stayed at docks two days out of the two yrs.

Know sailors who did it on much less too.

good luck finding your cat , hope to see ya some time when I get back out there. Duckhead.
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Old 08-18-2006, 10:34 PM   #12
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Hi Bill

JeanneP is right, there are so many things you pay for on land that just doesn't exist on the water.

As for the boat? Maybe I'm a physics freak or something cuz I never considered anything but two hulls. It would bug the hell out of me to to see a gust coming and have your boat tip over rather than accelerate.

That and the best anchorage spots are always available for you.

The ability to get into any kind of skinny water for protection should the need arise. In areas of hi-tide we even scraped and painted our bottom while beached. Run aground? no problem jump off and push.

Go out and have fun! Duckhead
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Old 08-23-2006, 06:47 PM   #13
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Good luck with putting the plan into action.

We only cruise summer months and the med is not cheap - but the others are right. You could do it easily on $1,000 pm if you were penny wise - or a lot more if so inclined. $2,000 per month would see you living very well with no shortages of anything.

If budget is important to you, I'm sure you've already considered that your catermaran marina costs are going to be much higher than a monohull?

I appreciate most cruisers avoid marinas but some areas of the med are short of protected anchorages, so often a marina is the only alternative. In some places summer months you could be charged up to $250 for a night - which would blow a big hole in anyones spending money!

Also please consider the equal importance in the Med with is crowded summers, when you want to get in anywhere high season - they'd probably give 2 x monohulls the space instead of a cat!

Go for it - good luck

JOHN
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Old 08-23-2006, 08:18 PM   #14
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Quite shocked at that one John. $250 !!!

Reason for the cat. is that at my age and with limited sailing experience, I thought it may be more a comfortable live aboard. Perhaps a 'beamier' mono could be a consideration. What do you drive?

Thanks for the input

Will

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Originally posted by Swagman

Good luck with putting the plan into action.

We only cruise summer months and the med is not cheap - but the others are right. You could do it easily on $1,000 pm if you were penny wise - or a lot more if so inclined. $2,000 per month would see you living very well with no shortages of anything.

If budget is important to you, I'm sure you've already considered that your catermaran marina costs are going to be much higher than a monohull?

I appreciate most cruisers avoid marinas but some areas of the med are short of protected anchorages, so often a marina is the only alternative. In some places summer months you could be charged up to $250 for a night - which would blow a big hole in anyones spending money!

Also please consider the equal importance in the Med with is crowded summers, when you want to get in anywhere high season - they'd probably give 2 x monohulls the space instead of a cat!

Go for it - good luck

JOHN
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Old 08-23-2006, 08:44 PM   #15
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My personal opinion is that a monohull is a more forgiving sailboat than a multihull. Make a mistake with a catamaran and you could bring down the rig. A monohull will lay down, mast and sails in the water, and come back up again. A bit scary, but not the end of your sail.

A 45-foot catamaran is a house! It has two or more heads, 4 cabins, it's just a monster. How much room do you need? Admittedly, more than 17 years on a monohull, and now we have a small power catamaran, space is not a big issue with us.

Although I prefer to anchor out, sometimes we like to go to a dock to do a good cleaning on the boat, charge the batteries and wander around for a day or so. We only did it once this year because they wanted $3.00 per foot for a side tie (no slip, we were too wide). That's $102 for the privilege of tying alongside a dock buffeted by the wake of every boat that went by. Pah! And this was a friendly marina with plenty of space. I hear the Med is 'way more expensive.

Not to discourage you, but I suggest you start small. That first adjustment, whatever the size of the boat, is the most difficult. I think that if you do it significantly small the first time you'll reset your expectations so much that the next boat will feel incredibly luxurious. Of course, I've been playing "bait and switch" with my head for years. Some people are harder to fool than I am.
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Old 08-23-2006, 11:28 PM   #16
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Hi Will,

We've a shiny (well almost new) Hanse 461 which has more space than two people really need - but it suits us perfectly.

At 46 foot - IMHO it is about as large as I'd want to boat when handling in heavy weather or indeed, parking it up in a small space with a strong breeze.

Re those high Med marina costs - no exaggeration. We've been hit with 220 euros for one night in Pt Sabinas / Formentera with our 46' mono in 05 - and had no option but to pay as we had repairs that needed dockside access. Even relatively bigger facilities on Mallorca / Ibiza / Menorca charge as high as 3 eu plus per quare foot in high season.

A 13 x 6 metre cat would equate to 78 sq metres so work it out yourself.

I would not argue a cat has a huge amount of room on board but the big question is do you - especially if sailing solo really need it all - bearing in mind what it will cost on all fronts?

The other guys, suggesting something smaller - might be an option to look at.

Cheers

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Old 08-25-2006, 09:22 AM   #17
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We bought a Hudson Force 50 with the idea that we had family to take with us. Now one died (don't be sad, she was 90 and at least got to dream of cruising with us!) and the other is off on his own, so it's essentially Michael and me. Which is rather nice, really, as we can have any one or more of the kids and friends come for a visit. We do enjoy the space. And the fact that our hefty old gal can really handle the sea.

Do think cost when you consider length or width. In the Sea of Cortez--which is a great place to live on the cheap as long as you don't set foot on a marina dock--we paid to do that based on the added length of our bowsprit. Now, a bowsprit is a great way to have lots of smaller sails--she's a ketch--but having to pay for six feet of non-liveable space made me say "ouch!"

A catamaran at dock will be just as problematic.

If you avoid the Med and just anchor out, and if you avoid storms that could tip you unhappily, then a cat certainly has lots of room. But if you can find a pilothouse monohull (I love having a pilothouse--I can really see out and it's great in the rain) that isn't too big, you still have a feeling of space because of all that light, without the huge cost.

We all have different ideas, based on what works for us and what we know. We'll be living on a limited budget in nine weeks--whether we like it or not. So, our limited budget is what it will take us to cruise this time out!

Blessings,

Normandie
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Old 09-01-2006, 06:21 AM   #18
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If you want more information on cruising costs including budget breakdowns, I suggest you check out the sailnet articles. They have several indepth articles on what people have spent and their decision making on weather or not go get insurance, etc which greatly affects costs.
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Old 09-01-2006, 07:06 AM   #19
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Thanks to everybody for the advice. I certainly needed it, and have taken it 'on-board' (Excuse the pun)

It's nice to be in the company of such friendly, knowledgeable sailors.
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Old 09-12-2006, 05:23 PM   #20
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Hi,

There's a lot of useful information here which is confirmed by long terms sailors. The truth is - there is an intangible thing about how much it costs - YOU and YOUR attitude. I am a minimalist and I have learnt to live on the smell of an old rag. Differentiating between what I need and what I want. Those concepts are themselves loaded and vary enormously from one person to the next.

My lifestyle is not one that I would recommend to everyone. But by keeping things simple and being very disciplined about that you can do all the things that you want. I learnt that early as a poor student. I had to find ways to make each buck stretch and the experience has stood me in good stead. I took to cruising like a duck to water.

It has enabled me to indulge all those facets of my nature that enabled me to be seduced as a hippie in the sixties. Sadly I left that behind for a professional life that has enabled me to aquire substantial wealth. Ok ok I hear you say so he's a millionaire what the hell. Believe me when I say THAT is NOT what it is all about.

I absolutely adore living the simple life and I indulge that on my modest yacht. I could easily buy the expensive yacht with all the bells and whistles which means complication and expense but that is not why I chose this lifestyle.

Living modestly is all about a state of mind. Although I will say making people understand that has been the hardest part. Not with fellow yachties but landlubbers and the so called normal people who just cannot uderstand why I would want to force myself to live in what they see as penury.

The truth is my life has been enriched by living on a yacht. I am healthier and happier than I have ever been.

What started me off was Annie Hill's book and especially the yarn (which she cites as a true story) about the ten pound millionaire. It gave me confidence to know that you can live simply to achieve what you want and and (wait for it) I have no difficulty living on my yacht comfortably on $50.00 a week here in Australia. Sure you can't afford marinas for that, or have boat or health insurance, you also have to go without nights out on the town, grog, videos and expensive hobbies and pastimes - things I certainly don't have. Meals are of necessity mundane and based on what is cheap and available but you will be amazed how far a little rice and spice can go. The $50.00 per week does not cover capital expenses or even major breakages or haulouts. So far though (touch wood) after two years none of those things have been substantial.

Some might see my lifestyle as pathetic after years of hard work and acbievement. And I can understand that. I guess it is a bit like those business tycoons who after years of hard work give their billions away. It is hard to fathom. Hey but if the money doesn't make you happy....why not?

The bottom line for anyone embarking on the lifestyle is that it can be whatever you make it. If you want to keep it cheap then you have to understand that you will have to be very disciplined and keep everything - and I mean everything - simple. That may be a successful business adage but it works in other areas too.

The cruising lifestyle is not the life for everyone and not everyone wants to do it. Those that do and succeed find a whole new dimension in life - again it is a personal perspective that transcends all the competetive, selfish and materialistic mores that are part of our socialisation.

OK, so now you think I am a space cadet too. Not so - but if there is anything in what I have said that resonates in you then you too may have what it takes. Yes - the money is important but only to a limited extent. Most people don't realise that they have more than enough money to go sailing full time. Again it is all about your state of mind.

The eastern mystics have a wonderful approach to the sort of negativity that plagues us when we try to make such major decisions -its called "monkey mind". You have to learn to put that (pesky) negative "monkey mind" behind you and take control of your life if you want to move on.

Still concerned? Remember only $50.00 per week! Not much really and probably a lot cheaper and more benefical for you in the long run health wise. So whaddoyasay????

Let the naysayers and disbelievers begin. I hear them cracking their nuckles in eager anticipation to pound their responses already....

bring it on....as they say.

RdotC....
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