What it costs

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.

Apr-12 May-12 Jun-12
Stuart, FL Mostly Stuart, FL St. Augustine, FL to Morehead City, NC
Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) 159 197 345
Marinas, mooring 285 319 183
Communications 170 151
Groceries 121 366 396
Dining out, entertainment 184 374 226
Medical (incl. insurance) 613 653 614
Boat parts, supplies, repairs 174 111 5330
Other 52 423 400
Total 1588 2613 7645

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.

Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12
Oriental, NC to Virginia Beach, VA Virginia Beach to Block Island, RI Block Island to Annapolis
Fuel (diesel, gas, propane) 181 489 338
Marinas, mooring 250 246 40
Communications 204 169 176
Groceries 464 460 546
Dining out, entertainment 278 211 195
Medical (incl. insurance) 614 614 663
Boat parts, supplies, repairs 1083 2116 119
Other 400 400 348
Total 3474 4705 2425

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

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

7 Responses to What it costs

  1. Gary L

    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.

  2. Molly Stevens

    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.

  3. Reet34

    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!

  4. Jon

    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!

  5. Jon

    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.

  6. Jennifer Johnson

    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

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