Cost of Living Aboard

[neil1967]

Hi

We are seriously contemplating retiring (we are in our mid 40's) and becoming liveaboards, and are in the fortunate position of being able to afford to buy a suitable (secondhand) 38-40 foot yacht and have a modest monthly income. I am interested in what it costs to liveaboard, sailing from the uk and towards the eastern med, mostly anchoring, but with some use of marinas, and not skimping too much on essentials such as wine and beer I appreciate that costs will vary enormously according to country and personal preferences, but am I looking at £500, £1000, or £1500 per month? hopefully we would stay in the med for 3 or 4 years and then move further afield. We have a number of years experience of sailing in the med and the Solent, so I think we know what we are getting into, but I know there is a lot to learn!

Any (constructive!) advice welcome!

Regards

Neil

 

[Ludd]

Hi

We are seriously contemplating retiring (we are in our mid 40's) and becoming liveaboards, and are in the fortunate position of being able to afford to buy a suitable (secondhand) 38-40 foot yacht and have a modest monthly income. I am interested in what it costs to liveaboard, sailing from the uk and towards the eastern med, mostly anchoring, but with some use of marinas, and not skimping too much on essentials such as wine and beer I appreciate that costs will vary enormously according to country and personal preferences, but am I looking at £500, £1000, or £1500 per month? hopefully we would stay in the med for 3 or 4 years and then move further afield. We have a number of years experience of sailing in the med and the Solent, so I think we know what we are getting into, but I know there is a lot to learn!

Any (constructive!) advice welcome!

Regards

Neil

Bluntly,it costs whatb you've got. Prices seem to be much about such throughout Europe now . You should know what your standin costs( insurancemcomms,etc) are, Marinas vary throughout the year,according to qhat they think you'll pay. Eating aboard= cheap. Ashore= younpays your money and you get what you get in UK----PREMIUM PRICE!

 

[Tranona]

Extract your housing type costs from your current expenditure and you will get close to a reasonable monthly budget. In reality near the top end of your estimate unless you are really frugal. Unless you start with a boat in A1 condition you are likely to experience the high cost of marine parts and services compared with UK. Food and general living costs similar. Mooring and marinas high in the western Med, lower in the east. Fuel (and you will need a lot) in many places more expensive than UK. All assuming your income is in £sterling.

No longer a low cost activity - but if you are realistic and have the budget can be very rewarding.

 

[Mr Cassandra]

Any (constructive!) advice welcome!


Hello
From what I see If you can keep out of the bars, restaurants and Tavernas it is possible to live well on £1,000 a month, for two .It surprising how that 10-15 euro lunch and 35euro evening meal adds up.
( especially when you find your skint liveaboard friends come and join you)


Cheers bobt

 

[NornaBiron]

we are doing exactly what you propose and manage at well with little money. If you don't eat out every night and are happy to sail slowly then you can get by at the cheaper end of your budget.

PM me for more details if you want.

 

[duncan99210]

We get by on about £1500 per month spends (includes fuel, berthing charges, food and at least one meal out per week) but we put by about £500 - 750 a month to cover the costs of a marina berth over winter (Nov - Apr), lift out and trips back to UK. We've kept a detailed account for the first couple of years on MS Money, so could give you a more detailed breakdown if you were to PM us.

You really do need a bit of money stuffed away to cover the unexpected. We had to fork out £1200 earlier this year to cover repairs to the engine and marina fees whilst the work was being done.

Just at the moment, we're really spending very little at all, as we're in Kastos. No mooring fees, too hot to do anything other than take it easy during the day and nothing to spend money on here anyway!

 

[GrahamM376]

Depends to a large extent on your life style - eat out or in, marinas or anchor. Food costs vary quite a bit with Spain and Portugal cheaper than France. Marinas also vary from £15 (Gib) to £26 (SW Spain) and £45 (Algarve) per night, high season. If you avoid restaurants full of tourists and overlooking marinas, eating out can be cheap. We mainly anchor or moor and eat aboard 5 or 6 out of 7, with little marina use particularly in high season, can live for well under £1,000 per month.

 

[Optionpoint]

Neil,

Your blog sounds like exactly the dream that my partner and I are currently planning for. Given the date of this blog, we are interested to see how you are getting on with the monthly budget? How have you found your costs shaping up? We are trying to work out what model, size and age of boat to purchase to get the optimim maintenance costs versus performance and of course still want to have some funds left over for the beer and wine! Would be grateful for any advice you can offer! Kind regards