Boat ownership

mattonthesea

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Blimey, if I spent £900 /week on my sailing, I would be living in the rotting doghouse..
Happy memories of sailing the Cadet on the Lea, after school, aged about ten. East coast racing and waking up to the birds up from Burnam. Later, some busy sails down from Portugal to Gib. Lots of fun in little boats off the coast there.
Just feeling the sea as you leave port and the colour changes along with motion.
I should have said that that cost includes the purchase of the boat as I am financially cautious and budget for never getting that money back!
 

LittleSister

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I take it this thread is in furtherance of your pondering, mentioned in a previous thread, the wisdom or otherwise of getting yourself another boat. I was looking for that previous thread earlier, when I rediscovered the following and thought it apposite -

You do it and it works = Brilliant.
You do it and it doesn't work = Tough.
You don't do it = You will spend your life wondering why you did not.
 

Concerto

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Knowing exactly what a boat costs is not worth knowing exactly, especially if a non sailing significant other finds out. My wife does not sail and never asks as it is my money. 8 years ago before I bought Concerto, I could have bought a brand new 32ft fully equipped yacht, but decided I did not need to spend that amount of money. To be honest I dislike the modern boats, so an older boat made sense. So instead of spending about £150,00 I decided to set my limit at £40,000. It ended up with only spending £21,500 on an older boat that I thought I could renovate for about £12,000. Well I have now spent about £26,000 and very nearly finished, so over my budget but spent over 8 years. That figure excludes the running and general maintenance costs, which would have been similar to a new boat. So when I go sailing I know I have a boat now fitted out to my specification and very happy I did not spend anywhere near what I could have spent.
 

jamie N

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The costs are what we make them. The old adage "I bought a boat for £2,000, spent £10,000 on her and she's now worth £2,000" is true for 'most' of us.
For me, it's the time involved, which in my case makes it worthwhile.
I was in ICU last year on a ventilator, and decided that if I lived, I'd 'probably' make myself fully retired, and transfer my efforts into the boat, to try and avoid the certain killer of boredom.
I now work/muddle for about 3-4 hours a day on boat related stuff, including the 20 minute each way to the marina.
Yesterday was a bit of varnishing in the cabin, as well as putting the batteries on charge and fitting a 'desulfator', then home to spray mould remover onto the cockpit tent and hanging it in the garage to dry, followed by beginning to make a stackpack, which led to my 'Singer 527 sewing machine feeder' ceasing to work about 1/2 way through the process, so I've got to address fixing that today, as well as applying the 1st coat of varnish to the boom in preparation for the stackpack, which means getting a 'cleaner than the rest of the garage' area sorted and thinning the varnish and finding the brushes.
It's an ongoing time management effort which I really enjoy, to the point that were I to have the plushest Beneteau, with everything fitted and working, at this time of year what would I do? Likewise, with my own boat, the idea of paying someone to work on it is ridiculous; akin to paying someone to have an affair with the wife, whom you love!
 
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Wansworth

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sitting here in the winter sunshine I can feel the heat of the sun ,the prices of boats is falling in dribs and drabs in Almería or Barcelona but here in Galicia the prices stay the same ,market forces.Soon as the days get a bit longer maybe we can go out boat hunting and be ready to crest the waves in the ria in our new boat?
 

jamie N

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Singer 527 gear parts are going to cost £12.39. Yachting is such a relentless drain on the wallet!
However, if it had been a marinised Singer 527, or "Suitable for Offshore use" 527, add a grand!
 

Sailfree

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Cost is irrelevant.

We are all going to die.

Some will die leaving massive savings and assets to their heirs.

Some will die with debts.

What we all choose is the order of priority in spending our disposable income while we live.

As a 13yr old living in London I read about sailing in Neville Shutes books never dreaming I would ever own a boat.

Over the last 24yrs I have bought 3 new boats and frankly spent lots of my disposable income on sailing.

It has given me lots of pleasure.

Was it sensible- some would say no but I would say what else could I spend my money on that would have given me more pleasure.

Spend what you can afford and in the way that gives you the most pleasure.
 
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Supertramp

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Knowing exactly what a boat costs is not worth knowing exactly, especially if a non sailing significant other finds out. My wife does not sail and never asks as it is my money. 8 years ago before I bought Concerto, I could have bought a brand new 32ft fully equipped yacht, but decided I did not need to spend that amount of money. To be honest I dislike the modern boats, so an older boat made sense. So instead of spending about £150,00 I decided to set my limit at £40,000. It ended up with only spending £21,500 on an older boat that I thought I could renovate for about £12,000. Well I have now spent about £26,000 and very nearly finished, so over my budget but spent over 8 years. That figure excludes the running and general maintenance costs, which would have been similar to a new boat. So when I go sailing I know I have a boat now fitted out to my specification and very happy I did not spend anywhere near what I could have spent.
I agree with your approach. I set myself a budget to cover 10 years of sailing and chose boat, marina and maintenance/renovation with an overall cost in mind. But I have no intention of operating my sailing interest like a business or an economy store. Sailing as a pastime is like enjoying art - you can go to galleries, buy pictures or paint pictures. Each has its own merits.
 

pandos

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How much of owning aboat based on sentiment and how much on rational practicality.In beteenboats thiinking do Ineed another
It's all based on sentiment, backed up by pseudo rational practicality.

Once you won't end up with a boat in a yard that you can't afford to get on to the water, then you should not keep tabs on the cost.

I had more than a decade of financial woes during which I tried to sell my boat several times, always reluctantly.

Whilst I despised the tire kickers, I am now happy no decent buyers came along as I still have the boat that always wanted and happily now the costs are minimal. (Insurance mooring and winter storage 2k.)

Depreciation wise mine had probably bottomed out so I pretend that the purchase price was paid from another life, costs of upgrades are always underdeclared to myself, I do all labour myself so in general self delusion is the order of the day...

But it all keeps me more sane than I think I might otherwise be, so that is possibly a practical benefit..
 

ryanroberts

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Sailing keeps me sane, but keeping even a 10m boat in top condition for both sailing and living on the south coast is not exactly cheap or an easy life. I would just pine for a boat otherwise so make it work.
 
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Watching my son helming faultlessly in a steady 35-40 knots of wind in August or a night sail down the Mull of Kintyre in May are priceless experiences. On a practical level add to this c.6-8 weeks cruising with very low cost accommodation.

The £4 to 5k a year I spend on the boat is the price a reasonably upmarket week’s beach holiday for two.

The sailing is great value for money I would say but the most important thing is the life enhancing nature of the hobby.
I'd say a very upmarket beach holiday!
 
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Cost is irrelevant.

We are all going to die.

Some will die leaving massive savings and assets to their heirs.

Some will die with debts.

What we all choose is the order of priority in spending our disposable income while we live.

As a 13yr old living in London I read about sailing in Neville Shutes books never dreaming I would ever own a boat.

Over the last 24yrs I have bought 3 new boats and frankly spent lots of my disposable income on sailing.

It has given me lots of pleasure.

Was it sensible- some would say no but I would say what else could I spend my money on that would have given me more pleasure.

Spend what you can afford and in the way that gives you the most pleasure.
And I suppose that one can take hear from having helped the economy one way or another.
 

Daydream believer

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In June last year I put my boat on the "for sale" website on a saturday. An hour later a buyer was hooked. The following Sunday he took it away. 2 weeks later I was regretting it. But I still have 3 more . I hate the idea of selling any of those until I really have to. My decendants will have the pleasure. I spent my life working hard to go sailing whenever I want. I do not intend to give up that easy.
 

arc1

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I agree with your approach. I set myself a budget to cover 10 years of sailing and chose boat, marina and maintenance/renovation with an overall cost in mind. But I have no intention of operating my sailing interest like a business or an economy store. Sailing as a pastime is like enjoying art - you can go to galleries, buy pictures or paint pictures. Each has its own merits.
I did exactly this. And then blew it all out of the water by buying new sails and countless other things I had previously decided wasn't necessary. Started separating these as Capital Investment as opposed to running costs, then thought sod it you live but once, I love my boat! It's also meant we've had a lot of pleasure as a family over the last 2 years when other travel options have been limited.
 

Stemar

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Let's be honest, there's nothing rational or practical about owning a boat. OTOH, that boat may help with the sanity, especially one one retires. Either it gives a hobby to share or it gives breathing space; both are important to good relations in a couple
 
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