Annual cost of our hobby.

[Moodyman]

I keep a separate bank account and transfer £500 a month into it to cover the main costs, but this doesn't include visiting marina costs or fuel. So far.......3 years it just about covers it. Oh, bought new genoa last year which wasn't covered by this, so it looks as though £500 is not enough!

 

[Woodlouse]

Never worked it out. Nor do I want to. I'm happy in the knowledge that all costs are more than offset by the pleasure I get from it all so the money is somewhat irrelevant.

 

[maby]

Never worked it out. Nor do I want to. I'm happy in the knowledge that all costs are more than offset by the pleasure I get from it all so the money is somewhat irrelevant.

I'll second that! We have been giving more thought to the question recently on the basis that retirement is looming and income could be seriously reduced. SWMBO has announced that if it comes down to a choiuce between the boat and the house, the house goes in the blink of an eye.

We haven't told the cat yet - not sure if he would feel the same!

 

[armchairsailor]

SWMBO has announced that if it comes down to a choiuce between the boat and the house, the house goes in the blink of an eye.

She's a keeper!

 

[jac]

Interesting that a number of people are discounting big items. Without stirring up a whole new area of disagreement, standing rigging, sails, engines are all very expensive and won't all last twenty years without replacement/ big bills. Talking to guy re some repairs to sprayhood and he reckoned 7-10 years for that was good lifespan. Electronics will be obsolete in 5 years and probably impossible to repair after 10. Even upholstery, internal bright work will need redoing.

As I mentioned earlier we budget £11k - about half is mooring, roughly £400 insurance, similar for lift in and out, anodes, anti foul. So excluding big things about £7k but if we don't replace / improve the big things on a regular basis you end up with a wreck.

 

[Babylon]

Interesting that a number of people are discounting big items. Without stirring up a whole new area of disagreement, standing rigging, sails, engines are all very expensive and won't all last twenty years without replacement/ big bills. Talking to guy re some repairs to sprayhood and he reckoned 7-10 years for that was good lifespan. Electronics will be obsolete in 5 years and probably impossible to repair after 10. Even upholstery, internal bright work will need redoing.

As I mentioned earlier we budget £11k - about half is mooring, roughly £400 insurance, similar for lift in and out, anodes, anti foul. So excluding big things about £7k but if we don't replace / improve the big things on a regular basis you end up with a wreck.

You're quite right.

The 'true' cost needs to factor in all expenditure from purchase, keeping, using, maintaining, renewing and finally sale - all over the lifespan of your ownership.

The main variables are location, mooring type or marina, size and age/type/condition of boat.

A calculation needs to be done for each scenario, totting-up every last penny spent over the ownership of the boat, including a realistic sinking-fund to cover future capital expenditure, then annualising it.

1st Scenario: a retired person buys a cheap elderly 25' boat for a few grand, it is kept on a drying mooring somewhere remote but within a stone's throw of where the owner lives, uses it regularly for a few years with only basic annual maintenance carried out by the owner himself and the lowest possible level of renewals, then sells it to pay for his elderly wife's nursing care for a little less to reflect its now even tattier condition.

2nd Scenario: a busy, highly-paid professional living two hours away from the coast buys a new 36' yacht of an expensive make, adds a ton of electronics and other extra kit, keeps it in a marina on the Hamble, pays the yard to do all maintenance etc, uses it when he can get away from work and other demands in his life (wife, children, the cottage in Cornwall or gite in France, etc), then sells after a few years it at a lower price to reflect depreciation, and starts all over again with a 42' yacht.

The majority of us on here inhabit a scenario somewhere between the two.

We buy what we can afford, and enjoy it as much as we can.

 

[John 32i]

It's not the overall cost that I object to - it's the lack of use (mainly due to the poor weather) that results in an excessive price per hour.....about £900 so far this year!

 

[maby]

It's not the overall cost that I object to - it's the lack of use (mainly due to the poor weather) that results in an excessive price per hour.....about £900 so far this year!

Then use it! There is such a thing as oilies - and using the boat doesn't have to equate to moving it - we've been aboard for the last couple of days and will stay here till Sunday - quite possibly will not actually move it an inch if the weather is too poor.

 

[pagoda]

You're quite right.

The 'true' cost needs to factor in all expenditure from purchase, keeping, using, maintaining, renewing and finally sale - all over the lifespan of your ownership.

The main variables are location, mooring type or marina, size and age/type/condition of boat.

A calculation needs to be done for each scenario, totting-up every last penny spent over the ownership of the boat, including a realistic sinking-fund to cover future capital expenditure, then annualising it.

1st Scenario: a retired person buys a cheap elderly 25' boat for a few grand, it is kept on a drying mooring somewhere remote but within a stone's throw of where the owner lives, uses it regularly for a few years with only basic annual maintenance carried out by the owner himself and the lowest possible level of renewals, then sells it to pay for his elderly wife's nursing care for a little less to reflect its now even tattier condition.

2nd Scenario: a busy, highly-paid professional living two hours away from the coast buys a new 36' yacht of an expensive make, adds a ton of electronics and other extra kit, keeps it in a marina on the Hamble, pays the yard to do all maintenance etc, uses it when he can get away from work and other demands in his life (wife, children, the cottage in Cornwall or gite in France, etc), then sells after a few years it at a lower price to reflect depreciation, and starts all over again with a 42' yacht.

The majority of us on here inhabit a scenario somewhere between the two.

We buy what we can afford, and enjoy it as much as we can.

Not really in either category, our boat is 25 this year, but in good shape and I do almost all my own repair / maintenance work. I keep a spreadsheet (well out of SWMBO's reach) with all running costs. A little scary at times. However nobody has convinced me that this life is just a rehearsal for another, so I enjoy what we have and don't grudge it too much. No mortgage, no debts, just very careful with cash (Scottish vice/virtue?) .Scaling things carefully for the transition to retirement...etc. My boat is high up the priority list so I have no plan to sell or buy another boat. I have always enjoyed sailing, and don't intend to be stopped

Graeme

 

[Blueboatman]

I submit this as an example of doing the sums another way again: particularly when people ask how many £x000 they might need to take their existing boat off on an adventure..

When I lived on a wee boat and sailed off on it, the net ' after allowances', taxable rental from my ol gaff was so far beyond the boats actual worth, purchase cost, running costs, upgrades and treats lavished on it, well it was absurd..
Mind you I had got used to living, and working too for a winter, on £16 a week - ridiculously, absurdly, healthily well- in Spain and Portugal...
Not so many many years ago either. But you wouldn't believe it until you try ....

When I sold it eventually, that boat had paid me! ( but it was a wee boat that did not require marinas)