Cost p.a. of keeping your boat

I have been tempted into thinking about this.

Fixed costs are £300 insurance, £600 winter storage and £100 mooring (the joys of owning one's own ...), so a grand in subtotal.

Maintenance costs are £50 for antifouling, £50 for engine bits and £100 annual sailmaker bill. Probably abother £100 for paints, varnishes, flares and other consumables or expirables, so that's £300 in total

To this I really should add three trips to the boat; one for preparation and one for launching in spring and one for laying up in the autumn; each of which costs me about £65 for fuel and ferries. Another £200.

Overall, therefore, my inescapable bills are around £1,500 per annum. Compared to the cost of a holiday cottage for six weeks, that's peanuts.
 
Too much, but cheaper and easeir than a mistress. Just have to say 'I'm off to the boat' Too easy really.

Doesn't drink as much as most women of a particular age.
Hasn't got a mobile to not answer
Never going to be unfaithful
Will not complain if you go and sail another boat.
Never mentions birthdays and anniversaries
Glad of a lick of paint and a bit of TLC, but will soak up all the money you care to lavish on her.......
 
Just checked. It's a bit of lifestyle issue with some expenses but it certainly comes to around 12 000 euro per year.
 
What kind of boats are you guys buying? Never lost money on one yet. Whats depreciation? Is that what happens when you buy a French boat.....hmmm
 
I know pretty near exactly because as a syndicate boat we keep detailed records of expenditure and contributions. Not as much as the OP's cost, we are on a swinging mooring but we keep paying for expensive renewals (upholstery last year, mainsail this). As sinbad says the value for money is however incalculable.
 
Last boat was moody 346 1989, bought in Greece and kept for nine years after which point we sold her for £2,000 less than we paid , the yard costs a thousand euro for hauling,storage ,pressure wash and launch .We spent around four months a year living aboard , I don't add up what everything costs but I'm in the strange position of having to rein wife back from spending on boat .If I think of all great family holidays we have had its worked out remarkably good value I would say .We just bought a Dufour 38 last year after selling moody , if that works the same we shall be very happy but we really don't think about depreciation until the time comes to sell , boats are never going to be as bad as cars and we always run bangers so don't lose much on them .
 
Yes - not only do I know but I can prove that 6/12 months on the boat is so much cheaper than living12/12 in the house that my wife had better shut up:-

Opportunity cost is about 10% of the house, depreciation and maitenance about the same, and I can live aboard for about €500/month where living in the house costs about £1500/month.
 
Malo37 said:
Do you actually know the real cost of keeping your boat per year? There are obviously two figures here i.e. the amount your wife thinks you spend and the actual figure. The latter to include depreciation, loss of interest on capital, insurance, berthing fees, fuel, antifouling, spares and maintenance, cost of travel to boat etc.
I was surprised when I bothered to work mine out honestly, that it is in the order of £1,000 per month and that is with a relatively low cost marina berth.
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What are depreciation and loss of interest on capital when they are at home? And what do they have to do with sailing?
And when you go out for the weekly shop, do you at mileage to your shopping bill?

If you worry that much about the 'cost' of owing a boat, maybe it's not for you.
What do you plan to do with all your cash when you kick the bucket? Take it with you?
[/rant]
 
Just did the maths for the last couple of years. This is after refit costs but including general running repairs. For those who don't know me / my boat, Paean is a 1961 wooden 25 footer.

Berthing circa £4k @ MDL
Annual lift, paint, annode, seacocks, etc, about £750
Professional help £1000
Engine spares, winterising, etc £100
New tools to add to my collection £250
Sail modifications, replacement budget and running rigging £250
Clothing to replace what kids have grown out of £300
So total about £6900
 
I have a Club mooring (one of many advantages of being a club member) which costs about 1 k£ / year.
A commercial walk-ashore pontoon mooring might cost about 4 k£ / year.
I have therefore made a profit of 3k£ / year to spend on whatever I like.

If you can find any flaw in the above logic, there is no need to feel you have to tell me.
 
Sailfree said:
Most of these costs are meaningless without details and size of boat

eg antifoul £10 pa yes its only for a tender!!
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My £50 antifoul is for an 8m long keeler. One coat of whatever is cheap on eBay does me fine and costs £40, and the other tenner pays for brushes, solvents and a roll of masking tape to replace the one I invariably forget to take with me.

I thought of coppercoat, but since it would cost as much as thirty years of antifouling, need replaced every ten years and involve just about as much work each year, I have decided against.
 
JumbleDuck said:
My £50 antifoul is for an 8m long keeler. One coat of whatever is cheap on eBay does me fine and costs £40, and the other tenner pays for brushes, solvents and a roll of masking tape to replace the one I invariably forget to take with me.

I thought of coppercoat, but since it would cost as much as thirty years of antifouling, need replaced every ten years and involve just about as much work each year, I have decided against.
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Sounds fine to me.
In the first couple of years we spent a lot on refurbs. New Sails eventually, new cooker, safety gear. It will probably flatten out about £4000 PA. I did collect receipts and run a spreadsheet for a while, but SWMBO was not impressed. Canned that and we feel we get value for what we spend. I may move to a summer mooring at some point. That will cost a bit to install, then cut costs a fair bit. Swings and roundabouts!
 
It is such a delight to own my present boat which has taken best part of 3 years to refit and upgrade, and it she is a pleasure to sail and spend time on her.

It would depress me to know how much it had actually cost, as my enjoyment of ownership and the joy of sailing her is beyond monitory value.

Long my I continue to be able to afford to enjoy her. :encouragement:
 
OR4751 said:
I can afford a boat - it's everything else I struggle with.
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It certainly doesn't have to be the sort of massive figures mentioned above. Just going through the sums in my head for the last five years, our expenditure comes to about £1200 per year. That's for a 25 foot boat and happens to include, over that time period, quite a lot of equipment upgrades.

Now, even in a bad year, the boat serves as holiday accomodation and activities for my family of five for at least a total of fourteen days per year, sometimes substantially longer. So, if really doing these sums properly, I should presumably look at what we'd spend on two week's alternative holiday accomodation and activities, often in peak season, for five of us, if we didn't have the boat. That's got to be at least £2000 per year. So I reckon keeping the boat saves me about £800 per year :)

There, I knew it made sense!

Cheers
Patrick
 
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