When you add it all up, it seems like a lot

This page contains the numbers for the purchase of our boat and initial costs (before leaving Ft. Lauderdale to start cruising). For our monthly costs after that, click here (we stopped publishing costs after 2018 because I think you get the picture...).

We have not run into anyone yet that doesn't love their boat and think it is perfect for them. Of course that makes sense because that's why they bought the boat in the first place. And once you start pouring your money and heart and soul into a boat, you get kind of attached to it. We are no different. So far we don't regret buying an older Privilege. Although I wanted a smaller boat, I am really happy to have our big old boat when we are in big waves and wind.

Below you will find what this whole enterprise is costing us in dollars. Some of the expenditures were expected and other things we didn't find out until after we started. The $20,000 we spent with Just Catamarans was supposed to be a "fixed bid" (for $7000) in the contract for expected work that ended up taking many times longer than estimated. Old boats, man. Also the fiberglass repair, electrical issues and mainsail track issue were things we did not find out about until later. We did not expect to spend so much time in a marina, so those costs are high and that is one area where having a bigger boat cost us more.

Matt also did a lot of the work himself (installing the auto-pilot, various electrical and plumbing tasks, insulating the refrigerator and freezer). If he hadn't, the cost would have been a lot higher. If we hadn't paid someone to do the other work, we would have been in the marina a lot longer. There are definitely trade-offs of time and money.

We don't expect to get back everything we put into the boat but we hope most of the depreciation has already occurred. Besides, if all goes well, selling it should be far in the future.

Below are our initial costs. Click here to see our ongoing costs by month (we stopped updating the spreadsheet after 2018).

Boat costs (through February 2013)
Boat purchase
           257,244
Anchor
                   770
Battery
                   180
Chart Plotter
                3,114
Electronics (auto-pilot, wind instrument, displays, cabling)
                8,196
Engine/generator maintenance
                   933
EPIRB, Pump, Bosun's Chair
                1,592
Fiberglass repair around 3 stantions and random touch up painting
                1,045
Fire Extinguisher Maintenance
                   985
Hardware/Tools/Supplies (no individual purchase was more than $100, but this catch all includes the roughly 200 trips to the hardware store, cleaning supplies, and all the little things that add up!  
                7,072
Grill
                   392
Just Catamarans work including 3 electric heads, wiring, propane solenoid install, new stove, ss railing on hardtop, holding tank, alternator, and more.
             20,367

Convert all bulbs to LEDs.  New LED lighting for cockpit.
                   577
New mainsail track
                5,705
Backup manual bilge pump
                   325
Marina (includes prepaid month at another dock that we thought we could move to)
                5669


Service for Man Overboard Unit (thanks for the MOM, Ken!)
                   340

Propane (includes recertifying one tank and having US required overfill valve installed)
                   150

Raw Water Pump for generator, Impeller
                  
385


Refrigeration (New freezer and service for AC unit)
              4,553

Spinnaker sock, anchor chain, running rigging
                2,950

Satellite Phone + Minutes
                2,000

Shark shaft + LED lights for dingy
                   520


Fusion Stereo and VesperMarine AIS Unit
                1,517

Storage/bottom painting, small repair while in Freeport
                4,102

Dive Compressor plus frequency drive and spares
                4,598
Items sold
                 (675)
Total costs boat
           334,606
Boat purchase expenses
Haul out and power wash (Bradford's)
                   484
Travel/expenses for all boats considered
                2,815
Survey for all boats considered (1,350 for boat purchased, remainder is haul and survey costs for a Rhode Island boat plus sight inspection costs for boat in Grenada)
                3,325
Total boat purchase expenses
                6,624
Other expenses
Boat registration/Import taxes
                8,822
Boat Insurance
                3,895
Charts
                   302
Dive gear
                1,028
Kayak and stand-up paddleboard
                   610
Moving
                1,653
Health Insurance
                1,335
Life Insurance
                   683
Mattress
                   217
Medicine
                   717
Total other expenses
             19,262
Provisioning (January/February 2013)
Provisioning (includes all groceries Jan-Feb)
                2,929
Gas (diesel and dinghy fuel)
                   308
Total provisioning
                3,237

2 comments:

  1. Hi - someone suggested I check out your blog and add it to the list of sailing blogs on our site (which I've done). I'm also going to add a link to this post on to a post we're dong on the cost of cruising over at the Monkey's Fist, if that's okay with you. (http://themonkeysfist.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_23.html). The Monkey's Fist is a collaborative site which collects blog posts on various topics of interest to cruisers.

    Looking forward to following along with your adventure!

    Cheers - Ellen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No worries! We'll have to check out the your site... sounds interesting.

      Delete

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