We’ve long admired the bloggers who publish their monthly cruising costs online, so in gratitude to them we’re going to keep the chain going. We may adjust the categories as time goes on because we’re starting out stateside and close to our old lifestyle but we suspect things will change as we move offshore.
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Notes: April: short month, gas for the car May: car expenses, FCC licenses June: Ouch! Rudder repair, bottom paint, exhaust hoses, autopilot ram repair, misc. parts and supplies, insurance payment.
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Notes: July: Autopilot repairs (and still not fixed), outboard repair, insurance August: Way too much motoring; outboard repair, autopilot repair; new starter for generator, new bilge pump; many spare parts to stock up for the future. “Other” is boat insurance. September: A much more normal month. Other includes last insurance payment for the year (yay!)
| Oct-12 | Nov-12 | Dec-12 | |
| Annapolis, MD | Annapolis to Charleston, SC | Charleston SC to Stuart FL | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 249 | 536 | 409 |
| Marinas, mooring | 120 | 55 | 85 |
| Communications | 183 | 180 | 236 |
| Groceries | 830 | 309 | 616 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 742 | 322 | 426 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 663 | 663 | 663 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 182 | 903 | 143 |
| Other | 3306 | ||
| Total | 6275 | 2968 | 2578 |
Notes: October: New outboard for dinghy, trip to PA for driver’s license renewal, vet fee for Izzy checkup and WAY too much eating out and stocking up. November: mainsail repair, mostly new battens
| Stuart, FL | Miami, Ft. Lauderdale | Ft. Lauderdale | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 76 | 73 | 153 |
| Marinas, mooring | 416 | 0 | |
| Communications | 208 | 130 | 154 |
| Groceries | 676 | 645 | 1080 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 454 | 192 | 372 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 663 | 846 | 852 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 3385 | 3682 | 1139 |
| Other | 129 | 220 | |
| Total | 6007 | 5788 | 3750 |
Notes: January: New cockpit cushions plus fabric for sail covers and window covers; new cockpit tabletop; new gypsy for windlass, new battery charger; fiberglass repair, boom bracket welding; various parts and supplies. Sounds like a lot, but except for the fiberglass repair and welding it was all expected and budgeted. Other is rental car and road trip to pick up the cushions in St. Augustine. February: Diesel repair, electrical repairs and installations, GPS antenna, cleats, throttle cable, lazy jacks, trampoline lacings, battery monitor, dinghy lights, AIS, AIS antenna, many other small parts and supplies. Car rentals and gas, driver’s license fees. March: Provisioning for the outback, stocking up on engine oil and filters, new portable SSB radio, outboard warranty service (why isn’t this free??) The major medical bills are yet to come. 🙁
| Apr-13 | May-13 | Jun-13 | |
| Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas |
St. Thomas to St. Martin |
St. Martin to Grenada |
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| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 58 | 45 | 158 |
| Marinas, mooring | 160 | 10 | |
| Communications | 40 | 92 | 119 |
| Groceries | 109 | 954 | 217 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 108 | 294 | 373 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 719 | 1961 | 1047 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 639 | 2607 | 246 |
| Travel, touring | 156 | 88 | 138 |
| Other | 845 | 400 | |
| Total | 2834 | 6041 | 2708 |
Notes: April: AIS installation, misc. parts and supplies, boat insurance. New category “Travel, touring” includes ferry fares, taxis, etc. We’ll see how that category pans out. May: Looks like a bad month but almost 2k was medical bills and $1260 was the new canvas we got in St. Thomas. We also did some excessive provisioning, especially of the alcoholic variety, but we wanted to take advantage of the low prices in St. Thomas. June: Pretty good month except that the medical bills keep rolling in. Other is boat insurance.
| Jul-13 | Aug-13 | Sep-13 | |
| Grenada | Grenada | Grenada | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 61 | 0 | 0 |
| Marinas, mooring | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Communications | 0 | 39 | 149 |
| Groceries | 606 | 449 | 331 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 394 | 512 | 457 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 674 | 683 | 815 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 1741 | 1664 | 1159 |
| Transp, touring | 91 | 1164 | 56 |
| Other | 500 | 366 | 500 |
| Total | 4067 | 4877 | 3467 |
Notes: July: New Chain. Changed our life! No more messy rusty cleanup after anchoring. Other is Boat insurance. August: Replaced universal on roller furler, new sacrificial zincs, anchor swivel for new chain, rig toggles, port visors so we can leave the portholes open in the rain. Also, airfare for our trip to Miami. September: Satellite phone, handheld VHF radio, various small boat parts. Other is boat insurance.
| Oct-13 | Nov-13 | Dec-13 | |
| Grenada to Trinidad | Trinidad to Grenada | Grenada to St. Croix | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 61 | 0 | 174 |
| Marinas, mooring | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Communications | 30 | 70 | 85 |
| Groceries | 557 | 666 | 559 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 217 | 246 | 219 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 908 | 663 | 1063 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 5094 | 6525 | |
| Transp, touring | 90 | 58 | |
| Other | 554 | ||
| Total | 6957 | 8228 | 2654 |
October: New autopilot November: haulout, fiberglass repair, antifouling job, hull and deck compound and polish, headliners, engine exhaust elbows and strainers, yard labor December: boat insurance
| Jan 2014 | Feb 2014 | Mar 2014 | |
| St. Croix to Puerto Rico | Puerto Rico to Panama | Panama to Galapagos | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 258 | 193 | 110 |
| Marinas, mooring | 83 | 0 | 631 |
| Communications | 249 | 1127 | 110 |
| Groceries | 840 | 652 | 509 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 541 | 266 | 397 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 1283 | 663 | 122 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 3922 | 1196 | 97 |
| Transp, touring | 518 | 104 | 1489 |
| Other | 765 | 1126 | 355 |
| Total | 8459 | 5327 | 3820 |
Jan: new rigging, interior lighting, port visors, new TV and camera. Major provisioning for the pacific, both food and parts Feb: sat phone and minutes, new anchork, dodger repair,jerry cans for water, new ipad, router Mar: Boat insurance, Panama Canal fees
| Apr 2014 | May 2014 | Jun 2014 | |
| Galapagos | Galapagos to Costa Rica | Costa Rica | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 350 | 1467 | 174 |
| Marinas, mooring | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Communications | 5 | 20 | 20 |
| Groceries | 89 | 345 | 323 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 750 | 447 | 120 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 613 | 122 | 122 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 0 | 354 | 1720 |
| Transp, touring | 1263 | 0 | |
| Other | 1080 | 150 | 500 |
| Total | 4150 | 2905 | 2979 |
Apr: Boat insurance, Galapagos fees
May: Major refueling after dismasting, aux fuel tanks
Jun: repair Volvos, repair generator, new start battery, boat insurance
| Jul 2014 Costa Rica | Aug 2014 Costa Rica | Sep 2014 Costa Rica | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marinas, mooring | 300 | 357 | 300 |
| Communications | 80 | 30 | 0 |
| Groceries | 406 | 557 | 291 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 415 | 331 | 260 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 425 | 122 | 122 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 885 | 1752 | 584 |
| Transp, touring | 485 | 634 | 578 |
| Other | 595 | 500 | |
| Total | 2996 | 4378 | 2635 |
Aug: New batteries, repair generator, boat insurance
Sep: Boat insurance
| Oct 2014 Costa Rica | Nov 2014 El Salvador-US | Dec 2014 US | |
| Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marinas, mooring | 0 | 102 | 185 |
| Communications | 0 | 84 | 153 |
| Groceries | 467 | 254 | 552 |
| Dining out, entertainment | 514 | 584 | 810 |
| Medical (incl. insurance) | 122 | 106 | 74 |
| Boat parts, supplies, repairs | 260 | 410 | 676 |
| Transp, touring | 1144 | 695 | 1530 |
| Other | 300 | 175 | 218 |
| Total | 2807 | 2410 | 4198 |
Oct: airfare to US, boat insurance
Dec: new Racor fuel filter system, boat insurance
Thank you for posting the cost. I hope to do the same someday. I followed the boat before yall got it, and look forward to seeing it travel on. Maybe I will be the next to sail her around the world with my family.
Very interesting! Please keep it up. Also, let us know if it is in your general range of expectations — or if it is a surprise.
Hi There
thanks for continuing to post from this lovely Cat as I have followed previous owners Rodger and Danielle
I recently added up the expenses of the their monthly costs as they always looked high and amazingly the total was roughly $1888 800 or $142 per day for the 1329 day journey. I at first thought there was a typo error in the original blog from the pennies comment as I was converting currency – but no this was one expensive but fantastic trip. I will watch with great interest how your budget goes as my partner and I plan our trip and gather our pennies.
Congratulations on living the dream!
Thanks for the info. We are 3 years away and the Manta is top of our list. All the details you can provide will be a boon to us who hope to follow in your wake!
Thanks for continuing to post expenses. Did you spend additional $$ getting the boat ready or is everything in the monthly figures? We priced out getting a boat ready and quickly came up with $50k or more! -Jon
Everything we’ve spent on the boat has been accounted for in our postings. We really took into consideration all of the gear we wanted when we were boat shopping. We lucked out in that our boat had been re-powered — both engines and the generator — so we have low engine hours relative to the age of the boat. Other things that we wanted but were already on this boat are a watermaker, SSB and Pactor modem, an inverter and a fully covered cockpit. We rejected several boats because the cost to add those things was completely out of our budget. We got a few things we didn’t plan on but are nice to have — washer/dryer, air conditioning — but we had to spend money on things we didn’t plan on — new dinghy motor, new anchor chain, some canvas work. We’re also facing replacement of the dodger/cockpit enclosure because it’s dying a slow death and is beyond repair. It’s a big ticket item so we will put it off as long as we can. Luckily we’ve been able to schedule the big buck things as we go, rather than have a huge outlay all at once.
It’s six of one, half dozen of the other. You WILL spend money getting the boat set up the way you want it. The only question is whether you do it at the beginning or as you go. As we go is working for us so far.
Hi Marce
We are getting ready to leave this Nov, but health care is still stumbling block. Royce can get insurance, but I am considered virtually uninsurable. What solution if any have you and Jack found? We are 10 yrs out from social security, we have to find something workable. Any advice appreciated
Thanks, Jennifer
S/V Cerca Trova