Yacht Running COSTS ?

Graham376 said:
My fixed costs are insurance £400 p.a. and mooring which has averaged (buying and maintaining) £200 p.a. Over 15 years since purchase, I've spent around £25k on updates and extras including new engine, radar, elec windlass, heater, instruments, batteries, solar, dinghies and outboards, etc. Yard parking & lift costs not included.
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If you really think about it the bits in bold will not be far short of the £ 25K once fitted & you have probably spent a small fortune on sails & fuel, and all the other bits. So the £ 25 K is really only a very small part & very misleading, once you add marina costs etc. ie have you bought a new set of wet gear & life jackets? have you not antifouled it & bought brushes, rollers & brush cleaner & abrasive paper & possibly a sander? Flares, hand held VHF
The list goes on & people tend to ignore those costs. But they still have to be paid from somewhere
 
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I'd add to Duncan99210's list:

Dinghy repair/replacement, maybe 200 pa
Engine replacement, also maybe 200 pa
Travel home, perhaps 1000 pa for a couple doing the journey twice a year

In the Ionian you can spend zero on summer mooring - you can always anchor off

If you don't have an itinerary, and don't mind sailing slowly or cutting your day's sail short, you can keep your motiring cost to under 100 pa.
 
Ours has been between maybe 10k and 20k a year for the last 9 years not including flights to get to and fro. Marina has been 4-9k a year, fuel varied between 300 and 1000 a year and the rest has been maintenance, replacements and new year e.g this year getting replacement Bimini, boom cover and jib strip (our third), and autopilot linear drive, and new things including 12v watercooled fridge (800) and solar to run it (3800) plus we were in our most expensive marina to date in Menorca at 9k per annum.
 
Daydream believer said:
So if you want water etc. you row it out in cans, rather than go into a marina for a while? Or are short stays in such places FOC?
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There are still free harbours you can moor up ot in the Ionian and stay as long as you like (although not so many as there were) also places where you can get free water, such as Mitikas. Alternatively at other places you can pay 2 euros for 100 litres at some harbours. Other places you do pay for the night, if you stay three nights or so it normally costs around 7 euros a night for us. (10m boat) Of course there are literally thousands of free anchorages
 
Daydream believer said:
Well if you did not include those costs then you would be deluding yourself. If the cost of your hobby is small in the grand scheme if things then a couple of £K PA is not a big deal. However, if it is a fairly big expenditure & one is on a fixed income, as one might be in retirement, then the cost becomes an important factor.
I am aware of a lot of people who buy small boats the apply to us for a mooring, thinking that the £ 120-00 PA rental is the lot. When they get the cost of the tackle, the insurance, running costs including simple things like lifejackets & clothing not to mention travel to & from the site, plus club fees for a family, they suddenly realise that they have made a big mistake.

There are clubs all around the UK with dumped boats that the owners just cannot afford. This is just not the bottom end of the scale either. It would be useful if people did really say what it cost, if only to help others. Let alone keep harmony within their own family.

How many times have forumites said that they have hidden the cost from their other half, or cannot buy something until finances, or the wife, permit.
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My reply was slightly tongue in cheek, but in the context of the OPs question, I am surprised that the prospective purchasers have not done some research into the costs of running a sizeable yacht before looking to buy. Clearly there are a huge number of variables, such as where will you keep the yacht (the cost of my marina berth here in Portugal is 4 times the price I paid for a swinging mooring in Portsmouth harbour), how much you will use it (fuel, wear and tear) etc. I think all the OP can do is give the prospective purchasers an idea of the basic costs he incurs (mooring, insurance, etc) and make it clear that these costs will vary according to how the boat is used, moored etc.
 
ShinyShoe said:
Per anum? Really? I must live in a different world!...
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I'm with you.

Dinghy £200pa!!! Come on an new dinghy for 4 costs around £600. Our last one lasted 8 years and we then had to get a new one (long story) for £500. Repaired the old one and sold it for £200.

When I work out my costs for a 34' boat (not including the standing costs that I pay to live like cooking, food, drink etc.) I'm about £3k on average for the year inc all marina, winter costs, insurance and an amount for repairs and replacements.

Like cmedsailor said, you either spend time or money. I spend time. Only professional I've ever had on the boat was a gas engineer. I also work out that a family holiday for two weeks abroad will not leave much change out of £2k so that means that the net cost of owning the boat is £1 per year and we get lots of weekends as well as the three weeks in the summer.

The alternative is to either drink it all or leave it to the kids...:rolleyes:
 
chrisgee said:
Hi All
I have a potential buyer for my Dufour 39CC based in the Ionian. My Buyers are very in experienced and want to nail dowm the likely "Annual Running costs"
I know that this is not easy so maybe fellow Sailors/ Livaboards could help me out.
The boat is in fine condition with a large Inventory of there are niggles here and there but nothing that will break the banl!
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Wait, so you are asking us to tell you how much YOUR boat costs to run, in your location? Surely the very best person to answer that would be ... you?
 
ctva said:
When I work out my costs for a 34' boat (not including the standing costs that I pay to live like cooking, food, drink etc.) I'm about £3k on average for the year inc all marina, winter costs, insurance and an amount for repairs and replacements.
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Your marina fees sound cheap enough to be interesting!

We're in the menai straits. A swinging mooring from CHT is about £1k, inlcuding harbour fees. Haul out for the winter, cradle rental and hardstanding and a relaunch are about another £1k, and Insurance and maintenance ... thats another £1k, or will be when I have finished putting the boat right from how we bought it.

I've not seen marina fees with winter haulout come in under 3k anywhere ... I'd be interested to know where you can get that for your £2k budget.
 
I would be very clear with him about the big unavoidable items - mooring, insurance.

Then I would explain that other matters can vary enormously depending how you sail and how much DIY you do. You can make sails last twenty years, or knacker them in one. You can service yourself or outsource.
 
Daydream believer said:
If you really think about it the bits in bold will not be far short of the £ 25K once fitted & you have probably spent a small fortune on sails & fuel, and all the other bits. So the £ 25 K is really only a very small part & very misleading, once you add marina costs etc. ie have you bought a new set of wet gear & life jackets? have you not antifouled it & bought brushes, rollers & brush cleaner & abrasive paper & possibly a sander? Flares, hand held VHF
The list goes on & people tend to ignore those costs. But they still have to be paid from somewhere
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The £25k is not "very misleading". The new T105 43hp engine and gearbox 10 years ago, was the most expensive bit at £5,211, plus prop £1,400, shaft £150, all installed DIY, as is everything else. I actually make a profit on antifoul, primers etc. as I have a trade account with Jotun Iberia and resell. Wet gear, what's that? Shorts and bare feet are the norm here.
Out and about marina costs this year total <£150, fuel about the same. We have no annual mooring costs, just DIY mooring parts, which have come to around £300 over 12 years.

Compared to those marina based and paying for maintenance, sailing for us is far cheaper.
 
Clearly it depends on where the boat is kept and how much work one is prepared - or competent - to do.
In my case when I add up the annual cost of the marina, insurance, boat licence, anti-fouling and three weeks at the boat yard every two years it works out at around €4,000. The boat is 32 feet (9.75 metres) and is afloat all the year round except for those three weeks every alternate year. Diesel does not amount to much because I only use the engine to get in and out of the harbour except very rarely. The location is Malta.
P.s. I am well past 72 and so I expect to be giving the yard more to do in the future.
P.p.s. Yes, I know that with that money I could go for a cruise every year but I prefer being on my own boat, even if only to drink a cup of coffee, listening to the music and reading a book while tied up at the pontoon. Who said that keeping a boat makes sense? ;)
 
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Where about in Malta? We would be interested, or shall I start new tread?

Mataji said:
One year I decided to keep a record of everything I spent on the boat. I didn’t complete the year and destroyed the record before my wife saw it..
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Minn said:
You are not alone. Indeed I don’t want to see it myself!
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PuffTheMagicDragon said:
Clearly it depends on where the boat is kept and how much work one is prepared - or competent - to do.
In my case when I add up the annual cost of the marina, insurance, boat licence, anti-fouling and three weeks at the boat yard every two years it works out at around €4,000. The boat is 32 feet (9.75 metres) and is afloat all the year round except for those three weeks every alternate year. Diesel does not amount to much because I only use the engine to get in and out of the harbour except very rarely. The location is Malta.
N.b. I am well past 72 and so I expect to be giving the yard more to do in the future.
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After some research, surveys and talking to many experienced boat owners, I now have the definitive answer as to how much it will cost.

Your money, all of it, and then some.
 
rszemeti said:
Your marina fees sound cheap enough to be interesting!

We're in the menai straits. A swinging mooring from CHT is about £1k, inlcuding harbour fees. Haul out for the winter, cradle rental and hardstanding and a relaunch are about another £1k, and Insurance and maintenance ... thats another £1k, or will be when I have finished putting the boat right from how we bought it.

I've not seen marina fees with winter haulout come in under 3k anywhere ... I'd be interested to know where you can get that for your £2k budget.
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Maryport for one.
 
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