Cost of cruising for two years - advise required

oliverkinchin said:
I am sure nobody will be able to give an exact figure:
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After careful research I can tell you that £220,438.22p (I measured it) will cover two of you for two years (ie about 9k a month) spending with reasonably uncontrolled wildness, new sails anytime you think of them, chandlery sweeps to the extent that you have more stuff than most if not all chandleries, plenty of ipods and airbook stuff, losing 3 telephones per year, moderately mental clothes shopping incl 1 new pair of £400 designer sunglasses per month, *some* marina fees altho mostly at anchor, buying lots of charts of places that you *might* go to but haven’t done yet, buying a decent dinghy and then another dinghy cos the first one got wrecked (by you) on the beach, and two outboards 15hp and 25hp cos the first got stolen and the second was a bit gutless and you did a lousy trade-in but what the hell, losing 2 wads of cash in the washing machine or in the wind per year, getting mugged (£150ish) once per year, buying a spare £3k musical instrument (eg violin) cos you left one of them outside in a rainstorm and it fell apart, flying to UK bizclass three times a year, one new (cheapish, whatever is in the shop really) washing machine cos you rammed in “just one more towel”, buying loads of beers for "everyone in the bar" twice a year, massive yet somehow reasonable lunches on average three times a week, medical bills for otherwise healthy-but-clumsy types, plus smoking and drinking your head off 24/7. This figure INCLUDES the cost of freeloading ybw forumites landing on your boat - and of course also assumes that you reciprocate with a fair bit of freeloading on them in return.

Add 10% if you drink decent champagne (and nothing else will do) instead of wine etc.

Hope this helps.
 
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We have been full time live aboards for 16 years. Gosh dosn't time fly. We have met many people who have quoted rather low sums for their life style. Annie Hill is certainly one. When asked, these people choose to ignore lots of essential expenses. We only have 1 account so that all our income shows in 1 column and all our expenses show in the other. No fibbing. No ignoring necessary flights home. No ignoring fenders, which have have burst. AND MOST IMPORTANT. How is your health insurance? Visits to the hospital can be very expensive. We live well, we eat and drink well and we certainly would not like to live on £1k per month. We probably could but, for us it would be no fun. We live this life because, mostly, we enjoy it. We are retired and do not want to be too restricted after a lifetime of saving. It depends solely on what you want to do. Sailing is fun but not all the time. Ocean passages are either booring or frightening. We would need to get out and about. Buses. taxis, hire cars. Enough preaching. Have a great time and enjoy.
 
tcm said:
After careful research I can tell you that £220,438.22p (I measured it) will cover two of you for two years (ie about 9k a month) spending with reasonably uncontrolled wildness, new sails anytime you think of them, chandlery sweeps to the extent that you have more stuff than most if not all chandleries, plenty of ipods and airbook stuff, losing 3 telephones per year, moderately mental clothes shopping incl 1 new pair of £400 designer sunglasses per month, *some* marina fees altho mostly at anchor, buying lots of charts of places that you *might* go to but haven’t done yet, buying a decent dinghy and then another dinghy cos the first one got wrecked (by you) on the beach, and two outboards 15hp and 25hp cos the first got stolen and the second was a bit gutless and you did a lousy trade-in but what the hell, losing 2 wads of cash in the washing machine or in the wind per year, getting mugged (£150ish) once per year, buying a spare £3k musical instrument (eg violin) cos you left one of them outside in a rainstorm and it fell apart, flying to UK bizclass three times a year, one new (cheapish, whatever is in the shop really) washing machine cos you rammed in “just one more towel”, buying loads of beers for "everyone in the bar" twice a year, massive yet somehow reasonable lunches on average three times a week, medical bills for otherwise healthy-but-clumsy types, plus smoking and drinking your head off 24/7. This figure INCLUDES the cost of freeloading ybw forumites landing on your boat - and of course also assumes that you reciprocate with a fair bit of freeloading on them in return.

Add 10% if you drink decent champagne (and nothing else will do) instead of wine etc.

Hope this helps.
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Having met TCM in a Caribbean bar, this really is his genuine expense/lifestyle list.:D
 
Dont forget buying really cool Manchester United mugs for your mates, especially the special one by Wayne Rooney, must have cost a bloomin fortune, Ta.
 
ukmctc said:
You need £2K per month for your boat and the two of you, thats the minimum to live off and travel. (£48K for 2 years) If possible you also want £10K sitting in an emergancy fund when required.

Sounds alot but in practice less than that is just dreaming, I've been travelling and living aboard for the last 3 years, sometimes you don't spend the monthly amount, other times you do and more, We don't drink or smoke, we like to eat out but not expensively, you also want to sightsee, and we that without car hire, using buses and walking.
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So we are living the dream then!
 
tcm said:
After careful research I can tell you that £220,438.22p (I measured it) will cover two of you for two years (ie about 9k a month) spending with reasonably uncontrolled wildness, new sails anytime you think of them, chandlery sweeps to the extent that you have more stuff than most if not all chandleries, plenty of ipods and airbook stuff, losing 3 telephones per year, moderately mental clothes shopping incl 1 new pair of £400 designer sunglasses per month, *some* marina fees altho mostly at anchor, buying lots of charts of places that you *might* go to but haven’t done yet, buying a decent dinghy and then another dinghy cos the first one got wrecked (by you) on the beach, and two outboards 15hp and 25hp cos the first got stolen and the second was a bit gutless and you did a lousy trade-in but what the hell, losing 2 wads of cash in the washing machine or in the wind per year, getting mugged (£150ish) once per year, buying a spare £3k musical instrument (eg violin) cos you left one of them outside in a rainstorm and it fell apart, flying to UK bizclass three times a year, one new (cheapish, whatever is in the shop really) washing machine cos you rammed in “just one more towel”, buying loads of beers for "everyone in the bar" twice a year, massive yet somehow reasonable lunches on average three times a week, medical bills for otherwise healthy-but-clumsy types, plus smoking and drinking your head off 24/7. This figure INCLUDES the cost of freeloading ybw forumites landing on your boat - and of course also assumes that you reciprocate with a fair bit of freeloading on them in return.

Add 10% if you drink decent champagne (and nothing else will do) instead of wine etc.

Hope this helps.
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Are we supposed to be impressed?
 
Not necessarily cost related but every long term long distance sailor I have talked to lists boat maintenance as his biggest headache / cost issue. Boats are simply not built to the necessary standard for 24/7 liveaboard.
 
oliverkinchin said:
Thank you for your comments. I have to say that we have just purchased two new heavy duty sales, replaced the engine and pretty much replaced everything on board, basically we brought a Rival 32 and replaced everything on it including water systems new water tanks, all deck fittings have been replaced and all naviagtion instruments, the rigging will be done before we depart and new self steering gear added. I do believe there will always be something that can go wrong but I am hopeing most of the expensive jobs should not come up. I will let you know. Our plan is to leave next June head down to Canaries to meet the ARC then spend some time in the Caribbean, We then want to head into the South Pacific and complete a circle and head back to the Med missing the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean. I have only just started planning this phase. I see that no-one has mentioned the cost of charts, how much of your budget would you expect to pay for these items?

Thank you again.:D
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make sure you have a cruising chute for light winds you'll use that more than heavy duty sails when heading along in the southern waters.
buy big charts, and use your chart plotter for smaller places, find someone who's a merchant sailor, get a hold of a roll of world charts cheap, they renew them every year and generally throw away the old ones.
buy Browns Almanac, covers entire world and gives endless info and data.
 
The other thing is pilot books, cheaper than charts.
But all joking aside, 2k a month is your basic figure, I have just circumnavigated the UK and had to use marinas, harbours and buoys, I also used anchorages when possible. The fact is you will use marinas and harbours alot because youre on holiday and want to go ashore, use toilets and showers, its not an endurance test you want to get the best and most from your trip and see the sights.
Hope you have fun and enjoy it as much as we are.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/boatingdreams/
 
>We then want to head into the South Pacific and complete a circle and head back to the Med missing the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean.

A two year cirmunavigation is tough going. We know a boat who did it and they were absolutely knackered when they got back to the Caribbean. Half the problem was getting held up by bad weather and boat problems so they could only stop for one or two days in many places.

To keep chart costs down try to find second hand charts or people who will let you photocopy them. You will find that when yo leave the beaten track many navigation marks are missing and lighs don't work due to lack of maintenance. Thus don't bother with updating the charts. Also don't trust charts many are wrong, for example the Venezuelan coast is half a mile out the out islands are three quarters out.

Also bear in mind that boat kit is designed for weekend sailors so carry spares for everything that can break plus the appropriate tools. It doesn't matter how much you prepare the boat you will have problems simply by using things 24x365..
 
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Good value for money would be a solid state drive netbook, GPS dongle, Open CPN & CM93 charts as back-up navigation system for the whole trip for a couple of hundred quid...
 
djbreeze said:
Good value for money would be a solid state drive netbook, GPS dongle, Open CPN & CM93 charts as back-up navigation system for the whole trip for a couple of hundred quid...
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NGA sailing directions http://msi.nga.mil/MSISiteContent/StaticFiles/Images/SDLIMITS.jpg

http://msi.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=msi_portal_page_62&pubCode=0010

Even if you're not going RTW, then http://msi.nga.mil/MSISiteContent/StaticFiles/NAV_PUBS/SD/Pub191/Pub191bk.pdf might worth a download (3Mb pdf)
 
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