Newbie intro. / Sailing Costs

[Concerto]

We aren't particularly adventurous - mostly pottering around the Solent and using anchorages, some free, some a small charge.
Club membership and mooring - a bit over £200, maintenance on the mooring average £100
Insurance (3rd party) £80
Footwear maybe £30 a year, but I use then day to day as well, clothing - my oilies cost a horrendous amount, but they're 10 years old, so cost per annum so far about £55
Fuel - maybe 100l a year.
Lines all a few years old, but I buy ends of reels and splice 'em myself. some of my running rigging came with the boat 18 years ago, but it gets washed every winter, so typhoid free

For many years I had an unfair advantage - a mate who did boat repairs for a living, so I got a lot of free stuff from boats that were upgrading - including an engine, but I think I've covered most expenses apart from the maintenance, most of which I've done myself, so I don't think my guesstimate of £1500 a year is far out.

A true DIY'er. I would not call you a PBO'er as in my language means Poor Bloody Owner, which does not seem to fit.

 

[Daydream believer]

We aren't particularly adventurous - mostly pottering around the Solent and using anchorages, some free, some a small charge.
Club membership and mooring - a bit over £200, maintenance on the mooring average £100
Insurance (3rd party) £80
Footwear maybe £30 a year, but I use then day to day as well, clothing - my oilies cost a horrendous amount, but they're 10 years old, so cost per annum so far about £55
Fuel - maybe 100l a year.
Lines all a few years old, but I buy ends of reels and splice 'em myself. some of my running rigging came with the boat 18 years ago, but it gets washed every winter, so typhoid free

For many years I had an unfair advantage - a mate who did boat repairs for a living, so I got a lot of free stuff from boats that were upgrading - including an engine, but I think I've covered most expenses apart from the maintenance, most of which I've done myself, so I don't think my guesstimate of £1500 a year is far out.

I was really trying to get people to think about the ancilliary things that make up the cost of sailing. Some forget the club fees. Some forget the weekly drive to the boat. Many travel up to 150 miles( taken both ways). Would they do that if they did not have a boat? It is part of the cost. I have been a club member for 57 years & it is part of my social life & I have 2 other boats there . So I do not count the membership for my wife or myself or the cost of the other boats towards the cost of my cruiser, as I would be a member anyway.

 

[Marquee]

Very much a piece of string!

Seems to be the correct answer (Post 2) as with much in life. The different scenarios painted though have been very helpful. With regard to a newish boat in a marina 6-8k seems to be the ballpark, it then becomes a question of how often I would want to sail. 6k or thereabouts would get about 30 days midweek sailing with flexisail with no hassle and even no fuel costs. If I want more than that then ownership starts to make more sense. Also, if I just want to go sailing, well 6k buys quite a lot of sailing trips so I could get my fix that way. We’ll see how thing’s pan out and how strongly I feel about being the boss. Thanks all - it’s been an education.

ps. why do I keep googling Contessa 32s ??

 

[pvb]

ps. why do I keep googling Contessa 32s ??

Are you amphibious?

 

[awol]

ps. why do I keep googling Contessa 32s ??

Shows an aesthetic appreciation of line and form. You could do a lot worse. Even YM in a comparison of a CO32 and a more modern Bavaria put the Contessa ahead.?

 

[Praxinoscope]

Shows an aesthetic appreciation of line and form. You could do a lot worse. Even YM in a comparison of a CO32 and a more modern Bavaria put the Contessa ahead.?

awol is spot on, beautiful lines, a good heavy weather boat,....but relatively cramped accommodation for a 32' boat, compared with later designs.

 

[pvb]

awol is spot on, beautiful lines, a good heavy weather boat,....but relatively cramped accommodation for a 32' boat, compared with later designs.

... and very wet...

 

[Concerto]

ps. why do I keep googling Contessa 32s ??

If you like the CO32, then follow my example and check out Westerly Fulmars. Similar length, but more internal volume with a traditional layout. They are excellent sailing boats, available in fin and bilge keel versions and a few lift keels, ¾ rigged for an easily handled sail plan, and is almost vice free. They were used for racing (including international match racing), sailing schools and for just cruising - a very versatile classic cruiser racer. More information in the Westerly Wiki for the Fulmar. To see my Fulmar Concerto and the work I have done to her, Concerto will be at the Southampton Boat Show in September.
Fulmar - Westerly-Wiki

 

[Stemar]

awol is spot on, beautiful lines, a good heavy weather boat,....but relatively cramped accommodation for a 32' boat, compared with later designs.

And the bog is practically in the bedroom. They're lovely in so many respects, but I reckon there's better around for anyone who wants his missus to come with him

 

[Marquee]

Seem to be getting rather pricey also. One on SE Yachts £65k.

 

[Tranona]

Shows an aesthetic appreciation of line and form. You could do a lot worse. Even YM in a comparison of a CO32 and a more modern Bavaria put the Contessa ahead.?

By a very biased smidgeon (and all the points losers were fixed in the revised 33). Imagine if they put it up against a real 21st century equivalent such as an Elan 33 or 333.

 

[awol]

By a very biased smidgeon (and all the points losers were fixed in the revised 33). Imagine if they put it up against a real 21st century equivalent such as an Elan 33 or 333.

Och, it would trounce them as well. But if you want somewhere to scatter your scatter cushions the latest plastic fantastics fits the bill.

 

[Tranona]

Och, it would trounce them as well. But if you want somewhere to scatter your scatter cushions the latest plastic fantastics fits the bill.

In what way would a boat that was designed and built to a particular brief "trounce" a much more modern boat that was built to a similar brief? I would guess that there are several 10s of thousands of cruising boats in the 30-33' range around the world and less than 1000 CO 32s. If it really is such a fantastic thing that you constantly claim it is I wonder why so few share your view.

The whole "comparison" exercise is a fraud perpetrated by those who are so determined that the world should stand still at a particular point in time and are incapable of accepting that the world moves on.

 

[awol]

You did notice the ? emoji, didn't you? I don't think I have ever claimed the CO32 is "a fantastic thing" but I do enjoy your predictable response when I reminisce on the wholly objective YM comparison between one and a Bavaria AWB. I missed you when you were self-isolating!

 

[bpbpbp]

There's a lot of choices being made in these figures.

Our boat was nearly twenty years okld when we bought it. We've had it fifteen years and although we replaced the autopilot computer when we bought the boat, we are still mainly on the instruments I fitted in the orgininal 'new to us' fit out. I've had the course computer mended by Raymarine once as it kept claiming that there was a 'low battery voltage' when there wasn't.

One complete new suit of sails in the fifteen years.

We kept her for most of the time on swinging mooring in Plymouth for a few hundred £/annum. We anchor a lot because we like the peace and quiet, but we're not averse to going into marinas when we are away cruising.

The standing rigging was replaced when we bought the boat and we replaced it again last year. Running rigging is on a rolling 'when it needs it' program.

I rebuilt the engine myself for about £700 twelve years ago and it was me that removed it and installed it. It's started first push of the button ever since.

For many years we used to treat the boat to about £1k per year 'upgrade'. So over the years we added warm air heating, a feathering propellor a chart plotter, a. completely rebuilt fridge and galley worktops, new windlass etc etc.

Boating doesn't have to cost half as much as some people spend. If I think its expensive, I look up the cost of foreign package holidays and it puts it all into perspective.

This is encouraging!

 

[Fimacca]

I have played at both ends of the yacht budgets. Started with a coromandel from eBay for £800, worked on her for 2 months in a friends field to get her up to speed, and kept her on a swing mooring for £120 a year. I now have a large yacht in a marina and pay lots of cash in fees (as well as a large outlay for the boat, but thankfully before the prices went silly). I managed 25 days of sailing a year in the bottom end, and 40 days this year gone in the bigger boat.
So what was better? Well you can sail very cheaply if you want to......
So it's Horses for courses really - i enjoyed both ends and as someone said on here - you could be dead next year!

I don't add up the costs. it would depress me - i just get out sailing as much as i can, and teach various crew how to handle a boat. I must do too good a job, as they keep dumping me to buy their own boats !

 

[steve yates]

The £15k is made up of 2 parts. Approx 50% is the fixed cost of a marina and simple maintenance as I explained earlier. The other 50% is an estimate of the loss in capital value plus a notional element towards upgrading and replacements. There is some truth in this in principle if you have a boat of high capital value (simple sum £100k boat losing 5%pa is £5k gone already!) and the time horizon short - I consider 5 years short.

Depreciation isnt a real cost and a bit pointless when considering the costs of running a boat.
boats are not investments, they are hobbies. So you dont spend 15k pa for a 30ish foot boat in an east coat marina. Youspend the marina fees plus any ongoing maintenance costs.