Am I doing the right thing with liveaboard??

[Tranona]

If you are in the Med then £10k will cover your boat costs for, say a 12m comfortably if you don't have a permanent marina berth and anchor as much as you can (easier said than done in the Western Med). loving costs - basic food will be much the same as at home so will vary according to your lifestyle. Boat fixing as Vic says is a moveable feast depending on how good your boat is in the first place and how good you are at fixing things yourself. Discretionary expenditure can be a killer - trips home, inland sightseeing, eating and drinking out. There was a time when these things were cheap particularly in the eastern med, but ni longer. In short you will be frugal (and lucky!) if your annual expenditure for a couple is even close to double the amount you mention.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Yes the world isn't what was and probably never will be again, for sure it's nothing like it was some years back .
Two thing hit me in your posting ,
1 that you can work remotely, that's a big plus , many do now although doing means some are stuck for period of time in marinas working , it suit some, basically they swapped office for a boat, which is fine, although take note depending where you are working off a boat in heat like today 32c isn't very comfortable.
2 there away a rental market, it's never a good solution to sell a property to buy and go off cruising, boat go down in value, property just keep going up ,
And one day like it or not your going to have to return to land and having that option will be a relief when it happens,
We have a few friends who don't have that option , both couple in there mid 80s three out of four having some kind of mobile problem, all on a pension,
boat in bad shape because they can't afford to maintain properly,
Can't afford to move back on land.
Not a good position to be in , there is not an unusual situation.

As for 10k PA , just to show how far it goes.
We did a shop to day €110 we have to top that up at some point to get us through a week.
Our boiler pressure valve needed replacing , the valve €18 , no where to send it to as we cruising, train fare to pick it up €25 each way,
We could had used a marina address but most marina are only willing to do that if your there,
Even here in the Netherlands its €20 a night by the time you pay three nights at less it was cheaper to go by train.
If we was still in the Med marinas this time of year you looking at 80 to 150 a night .
The engine was also due for an oil change, bits €105
We needed fuel €60 give us 28 lts .
This is just one week . €343 .
Now I sure your saying , the engine won't need servicing every week or valve replace and your right,
But using a boat as a livaboard get 10 fold the wear and tear of a weekend boat.

 

[sailaboutvic]

l be frugal (and lucky!) if your annual expenditure for a couple is even close to double the amount you mention.

And more .

 

[Wansworth]

Yes the world isn't what was and probably never will be again, for sure it's nothing like it was some years back .
Two thing hit me in your posting ,
1 that you can work remotely, that's a big plus , many do now although doing means some are stuck for period of time in marinas working , it suit some, basically they swapped office for a boat, which is fine, although take note depending where you are working off a boat in heat like today 32c isn't very comfortable.
2 there away a rental market, it's never a good solution to sell a property to buy and go off cruising, boat go down in value, property just keep going up ,
And one day like it or not your going to have to return to land and having that option will be a relief when it happens,
We have a few friends who don't have that option , both couple in there mid 80s three out of four having some kind of mobile problem, all on a pension,
boat in bad shape because they can't afford to maintain properly,
Can't afford to move back on land.
Not a good position to be in , there is not an unusual situation.

As for 10k PA , just to show how far it goes.
We did a shop to day €110 we have to top that up at some point to get us through a week.
Our boiler pressure valve needed replacing , the valve €18 , no where to send it to as we cruising, train fare to pick it up €25 each way,
We could had used a marina address but most marina are only willing to do that if your there,
Even here in the Netherlands its €20 a night by the time you pay three nights at less it was cheaper to go by train.
If we was still in the Med marinas this time of year you looking at 80 to 150 a night .
The engine was also due for an oil change, bits €105
We needed fuel €60 give us 28 lts .
This is just one week . €343 .
Now I sure your saying , the engine won't need servicing every week or valve replace and your right,
But using a boat as a livaboard get 10 fold the wear and tear of a weekend boat.

Very salutory account

 

[mattonthesea]

Cant see the link, can you send it to me please

A Year at Sea: Sailing Solo Around the North Atlantic eBook : Hughes, Matt: Amazon.co.uk: Books

 

[Kelpie]

We've just passed the one year mark so I'm going to sit down later and see what we've spent.
The basic costs are not that much, especially compared to land life. Not running a car is a big saving for us.

We've spent a total of 153 nights in marinas, which includes various stops on the journey south where it was the only option, and a three month stint in the Algarve while we flew home for family reasons. You never know what's going to come up at home so you need a contingency budget. Our last marina stay was 109 days ago.

So far the only major boat expense has been replacing our inverter, which some would argue is discretionary.

We've taken on diesel four times, plus two small top ups. Probably about 750l total. Surprisingly, we've only bought ten litres of petrol for the outboard (who says 2 strokes aren't economical?)

Eating out is not really an expense we bother with. It's not entirely parsimony - dragging a small child around restaurants loses its appeal quickly. I don't think we've had a sit down meal since April. I'm sure you could burn through a lot of money if you wanted to eat out a couple of times a week.

We don't intend any more trips home, mostly due to the cost. I'll report back when I've looked at our actual figures for the year.

 

[mattonthesea]

Our costs this summer run at about £1000 pcm. Mind you, we are cruising in the Baltic which is not cheap. No major equipment failures this year but over 5 summers of 3 month cruising we've had engine failure ((gearbox damper), tiller pilot failure, urgent lift out for stern gland repair, replacement of Aries (charter boat insurance), the list goes on. And that's on top of usual maintenance. She's less than 10m.

Caveat: she's an old boat and we're the first ones to sail her more than day sail. And she was not used for the several years before we bought her.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Our costs this summer run at about £1000 pcm. Mind you, we are cruising in the Baltic which is not cheap. No major equipment failures this year but over 5 summers of 3 month cruising we've had engine failure ((gearbox damper), tiller pilot failure, urgent lift out for stern gland repair, replacement of Aries (charter boat insurance), the list goes on. And that's on top of usual maintenance. She's less than 10m.

Caveat: she's an old boat and we're the first ones to sail her more than day sail. And she was not used for the several years before we bought her.

Mat if I may ask you say 1000 , do that include going out ,the odd meal out, explore land be that by bus,train or car hire,
Did you manage to socialise with others on board your or there?
We just started crusing Northern Europe after many years in the Med , at the moment we in the Netherlands.
Denmark next

 

[Tranona]

You can live frugally if you choose to or are forced to. During the 2 years of Covid with long periods of enforced inactivity my everyday outgoings fell by £600+ a month - no travel, no eating out, basic foods only by delivery and so on. Much the same with a boat IF you can keep clear of marinas and don't have major failures. However increasingly people want all the home comforts on boats which means bigger boats and more bits of kit (mostly domestic) to go wrong and give you big bills.

 

[EOS2022]

HI
this is good information, the boat is a 2007 beneteau, my intention is to buy 2 smaller properties and be left with around £400k with a salary of around 20K a year working 2/3 day a week. pension will not kick in for a few years yet.
As for the heat, i do have A/C but will need to be in Marina or run the genni all day, I really dislike the Marina life, as its boring until changeover day, i am if it does not work out i will move back into one of the properties, and continue renting the other out, i will always have a property in the UK. I also plan to setup a business in the Med, with my tech skill, and be very transparent with prices, as i think the transparency is missing in the yachting world ) watch this space

 

[EOS2022]

A Year at Sea: Sailing Solo Around the North Atlantic eBook : Hughes, Matt: Amazon.co.uk: Books

purchased

 

[Tranona]

HI
this is good information, the boat is a 2007 beneteau, my intention is to buy 2 smaller properties and be left with around £400k with a salary of around 20K a year working 2/3 day a week. pension will not kick in for a few years yet.
As for the heat, i do have A/C but will need to be in Marina or run the genni all day, I really dislike the Marina life, as its boring until changeover day, i am if it does not work out i will move back into one of the properties, and continue renting the other out, i will always have a property in the UK. I also plan to setup a business in the Med, with my tech skill, and be very transparent with prices, as i think the transparency is missing in the yachting world ) watch this space

If you are UK resident, not so easy nowadays to love in the Med and cruise, nor to set up a business unless you become resident in one state, which in itself does not give you any extra rights to visit other EU states.

 

[capnsensible]

I reckon if I'd have spent aeons worrying about it and analysing it, rather than getting on and doing it, I might have lasted two days rather than 23 years living on my yacht......