"Voyaging on a small income"

[TiggerToo]

\"Voyaging on a small income\"

I am just reading Annie Hill's book that has this title. It is a great read and it has some interesting ideas about reducing costs on sailing. Has anyone of you REAL liveaboard/full-time cruisers read thsi book? What do you think? Is it really as extreme as it sounds? Can you really live and cruise with ca. £15 / week on a 35ft boat with two people on board?

 

[Salty John]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

You have to be pretty obsessive to be that cautious about spending; I'd multiply that figure by 10 to get a realistic cruising budget today.

 

[trouville]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

NO!! Why dont you scan the book so we can download it? In the 70s even 80s it would have been possiable to live on £15 a week then there were lots of good ports for free In Elba for example vegitables could be found for two from market leftovers,(still can be)and fish swam in the sea every morning at 11.30(in time for lunch)

I managed very well on less than £50 PW mainly spent on mid day drinks, but then the cafe had such good apperatives they did for lunch!I expect i spent even less than that but never £15 PW ! Its nice to have a phone necassary to buy diesel and outboard fule and from time to time a GPS or new/second hand sail or dingy all of which would put that budget as impossiable plus the £200 (aprox) in and out plus the antifouling paint

I have found antifouling leftover for free, used it and the next day see the whole lot blister! Need stripping and fresh bought paint applied!Liveing on £15 could have been done but not now!

Today there are free places but not very nice or not very convenent to shops other people cafes ok for a while but when liveing abord it can get lonly and incovenent, its also nice to eat out once in a while and that costs even at a really good but inexpensive cafe in sanary -sur-mare for example £6 which is very very goodprice just as the lunch from 12 untill 2.00 was and is very pleasent but that would be almost half the buget!!

 

[ChrisE]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

I read the book, prior to a year off sailing, and found it interesting but a little too tree hugging for me.

To survive on the budget that the two set themselves involved, for me, missing out on the stuff that I enjoy such as eating out. Also she writes from a perspective of being relatively young, having no kids or ties to relatives at home. I'm not knocking the book, it is an interesting read, it is just that the context limited its use for me and most others out there, I'd guess.

As for the budget I'd agree that, for most, £15-20k/annum is a bit nearer the mark.

 

[trouville]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

*****As for the budget I'd agree that, for most, £15-20k/annum is a bit nearer the mark.!!!!!+******Increadable!

Rich new liveaboards!! I live on about £75 PW well sometimes that goes up to £100 PW and even this summer dident go much over £150PW but then i wasent watching my buget so well!!

Its no wonder its getting so expensive!!

 

[Guest]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

[ QUOTE ]
You have to be pretty obsessive to be that cautious about spending; I'd multiply that figure by 10 to get a realistic cruising budget today.

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends what your parameters are doesn't it? also how big your wallet is? Peter Hill said fairly recently, that he can still get by quite happily on 2.5 - 3k a year. I suppose that if you are bobbing about the Pacific Islands, you need little in the way of clothes, food is cheap and in abundance, fish, fruit, and vegetables sometimes free for the catching / picking?

Also, a smaller vessel, say under 30 feet LOA takes less of a budget to maintain? That kind of lifestyle would suit me fine, but I realise that a lot of people would find it uncomfortable.

Depends how free you are prepared to be of modern shoreside style comforts. like fridges, computers, CD players, televisions, air conditioning, washing machines etc.?

Different strokes for different folks I guess?

 

[Poignard]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

Does that include things like: insurance, depreciation, repairs, renewals, lift-outs etc? If it's not intruding on your privacy, I'd be very interested to see a detailed break-down of your costs and what sort of lifestyle you lead. The reason I ask is not because I want to become a full-time live-aboard but because I fancy spending several months of each year cruising.

 

[trouville]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

Ok ill check my costs with the Euro i pay for everything with my visa and decide if i was economic at the months end! To be really cost aware i have to have cash in pocket!

My insurance isent that expensive! and no normaly new sails arnt included nor is the laptop or batteries for it and my PPC

Its lunch time hear and my connection all but vanishes! Ill look at my expenses and post more details hear

One thing i shall mention are mooreings that will depend on boat size but in winter for my boat i pay around 10 euros a dayX30 but i do stay on visitor pontoons for a day or so free and in fishing ports around Toulon for free or untill put out!So 300 euros a month already eats the buget!!But some months such as december and january its nice to be tide safly to a bearth with power and water.

 

[lenseman]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

You have to be so careful when replying to posts of this nature as different people will give totally different replies based on their experiences. All are valid.

"Can you really live and cruise with ca. £15 / week on a 35ft boat with two people on board?"

Firstly, Annie Hill set sail in 1973 and wrote this book in 1975, probably with the view to supplement her income?

What you have to understand is one major, unwritten rule which I was told in the 1970's and still holds true today:

"Money Halves in Value Every Ten Years"

This is why investment companies could always advertise along the lines, " . . . invest £10,000 with us for ten years and we will return it to you with interest. At the end of the ten year period, we will give you £18,000!"

Basically they are not only keeping the equivalent £2,000 but having shrewdly 'gambled' with your money and they are also keeping the winnings!

Returning to the book, £15 per week in 1975 would equate to £120 per week (November 2006) in other words double it every ten years.

I bought my first 3-bedroom house in Hemel Hempstead in 1979 for £15,000

 

[macd]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

That would be adding insult to injury. Annie Hill has spent much of her life voyaging on a small income because a small income was all she had. And now you're proposing ripping off her (very modest) royalty payments? But if you speak to her nicely, maybe she'll lend you some full stops.

 

[ChrisE]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

Well done, you!

I didn't pick the answer from the air it was based on my own experiences and talking to quite a few liveaboards past and present.

No I'm not a new, rich liveaboard just may be have different things to spend my money on. Such as flights home to see chidren, repairs and as I said I enjoy eating out.

I didn't say it was impossible I just aired the opinion that for most it was a more realistic sum and with the greatest respect you are living on a folkboat which most couples would find a bit cramped, I say this as one who is 6' 4" and finds a R38 a bit small /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Guest]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

You're right of course, but going back to what I said in my previous post.................

I sometimes wonder, from reading the postings on this site, whether a lot of the people on here realise that a good percentige of people out there doing it, are doing it in inexpensive small boats, and that there are all kinds of ways, (other than having a large bank balance) of achieving it?

An old wazock like me with usable skills can trade and barter, for what he needs, I aint got any interest in posh Marinas, or eating out at smart restuarants. Lifting out, I got a bilge keeler, so don't need to. boatyards and their attendant costs? never used one in me life.

I do sometimes have a grin at some of the posts on here, like I only have a budget of 30k or whatever to buy a boat. £30'000!!! that aint a budget, that's a nice windfall thank you /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Like I said, depends what your expectations are, and what you want to do? Just because someone has modest means, doesn't mean that they can't indulge their dreams (it probably makes it harder though) just means that they have to give a bit more thought to doing it.

Like I said, different strokes etc.

 

[peteandthira]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

macd

"But if you speak to her nicely, maybe she'll lend you some full stops."

Ha ha! Very funny, but I am not sure that Trouville's first language is English, is it? If not, he is doing well and gets his point across without difficulty (and full stops!)

What irritates me is English people who make statements that sound like questions.

EG "I went to the shops today? And bought a loaf and some milk?"

This seems to be as a result of allowing too many Americans and Ozzies in here!

I am due for a flaming, so please go ahead!

Pops

 

[ChrisE]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

[ QUOTE ]


Like I said, depends what your expectations are, and what you want to do? Just because someone has modest means, doesn't mean that they can't indulge their dreams (it probably makes it harder though) just means that they have to give a bit more thought to doing it.

Like I said, different strokes etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course, you are right, people do liveaboard for a lot less than I have quoted but the figures I've used are about what most people find. I admire those that do it for a lot less but I would caution that in almost every far flung anchorage there are a few people that are trying to do live aboard on a small income.

They seem to fall into one of three categories those that make it and have a whale of time enjoying the challenge of finding the cheapest way of doing everything, these are rare in my experience. Then there are those that sit on the boat watching it fall about around their ears because they can't afford/don't have the skills to repair their pride and joy. Finally the most awful group, inveterate scroungers who'll bum a free drink and meal off each new arrival at the anchorage, do damn all other than scrounging and are a real pest.

It is a lot of people's dream to sail off into the sunset and a good few do this successfully. The statistics aren't good tho', YM runs a bluewater seminar every year with an attendance of about 100 people who all intend to set off during the following year. Of these only 5 do. We happened to be 2 out of the 5 one year.

 

[macd]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

"What irritates me is English people who make statements that sound like questions. EG "I went to the shops today? And bought a loaf and some milk?" "

Don't be harsh. The rising cadence is a mark of uncertainty, perfectly natural in colonials who, as everyone knows, are of inferior stock (except at cricket, rugby, athletics, etc, etc). But you're right, and I don't know why it's caught on in the UK. Perhaps it's just not PC to have an opinion anymore.

 

[Guest]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

<Quote>
They seem to fall into one of three categories those that make it and have a whale of time enjoying the challenge of finding the cheapest way of doing everything, these are rare in my experience. Then there are those that sit on the boat watching it fall about around their ears because they can't afford/don't have the skills to repair their pride and joy. Finally the most awful group, inveterate scroungers who'll bum a free drink and meal off each new arrival at the anchorage, do damn all other than scrounging and are a real pest. <quote>

Yes I know, the last category, give us poor folks a bad name! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I think that if you are contemplating bu99ering off in to the blue, on a small income, you need to do some personal stocktaking, (not sure if that is the right way to put it)? maybe something along the lines of .......

This is what I want. This is what I need. This is what I can do.
This is what I have. If in some way you can slot those things together in a reasonably comfortable manner, you are probably in with a chance.

Thinking about it, the above probably applies, no matter how much wedge you have to chuck at the job? (That was a question Pops) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif or if you like an invitation for comment /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Whatever, the case, doing it on a small income / budget will (IMHO) take a bit more thought and planning, and as I think you were intimating, not to be undertaken lightly.

Speaking for myself, I will only be able to indulge my dream, to extended cruising, her indoors has no interest in bu99ering off into the blue, and I wouldn't want to deprive myself permanently of her good offices, not altogether sure if that works the other way around though? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

When last I tried to discuss it she said......"Oh that's nice, when are you going? I will organise a party, you know, a really good send off, maybe a brass band? Don't feel that you have to hurry back will you? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ho-Hum!

 

[Guest]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

[ QUOTE ]
"What irritates me is English people who make statements that sound like questions. EG "I went to the shops today? And bought a loaf and some milk?" "

Don't be harsh. The rising cadence is a mark of uncertainty, perfectly natural in colonials who, as everyone knows, are of inferior stock (except at cricket, rugby, athletics, etc, etc). But you're right, and I don't know why it's caught on in the UK. Perhaps it's just not PC to have an opinion anymore.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll tell you what Mac, if they aint certain as to whether or not they have been to the shop and bought a loaf of bread and some milk, then I think that perhaps they are in need of some help??????? Ooooooooops! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[peteandthira]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

Smiffy

Ha ha! Spotted....

("no matter how much wedge you have to chuck at the job? (That was a question Pops))

 

[jonic]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

We have the book, but our realistic budget in the Caribbean was between £4-800 a month, However with the $ as it is that would now go a long way. We lived well on that, with trips to (local) restaurants and even the odd car hire. We are back in UK for a while (new baby /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) and that seems to last about a day here. We have been away for four years and WHAT an increase in the UK cost of living.

I put Annie's book and 8 other cruising lifestyle books in my Amazon online bookstore here . All highly recommended. Especially "Sailing an Atlantic Circuit" and "Sell up and sail". Both inspiring and very practical.

 

[ChrisE]

Re: \"Voyaging on a small income\"

Smiffy, take heart! All it needs is the first step and, in my view, all it needs is the belief that you can do it to make it happen.*


*possible understatement here


I was extremely lucky, it was Mrs_E who made the suggestion, I think that she was quite taken aback when I said that I thought it was a good idea as well.