The Cost of Cruising

I've been looking around trying to find online reports of the cost of cruising, not budgets for dreamers or those in prep, but reports from people who are or have been actively cruising.

Here is what I have so far - know any others?

Atom
Bebe
Billabong
Brio
Bumfuzzle
Camille
Carina ($24,000 USD/yr as reported on IWAC) *
Del Viento
Elizabeth
Gilana (Euro)
Groovy (scroll to "Costs" near bottom of page)
Hawk
Hello World 
Hotspur (Comparing 3 years: January February March)
Jillion
Living the Dream
Location ($1500 USD/mo as reported on IWAC) *
Luckness
Ocelot
Pacific Bliss ($30,000 USD/yr as reported on IWAC) *
Perry
Picaroon
Puff
Sage ($12,000 USD/yr as reported on IWAC) *
Scream 
Serendipity
Serenity
Simmer
Slapdash ($2000 CAD/mo as reported on IWAC) *
Sophia 
SoulMates
Sundowner
Tamure ($1800 USD/mo as reported on IWAC) *
Terrapin
Third Day
Tock (this link is a 3 year summary - search their blog for monthly breakdowns)
Velella
Ventana ($2,400 USD/mo as reported on IWAC) *
Viking Star 
Wavetrain (scroll to bottom)
Windfall
Windom (Scroll down to financials)
Wondertime

Other: Bob Shenk (survey - in German - anyone read German because Google translate tells me they found approx 2000Euro/month was average!). Another resource: Sail Loot.

Caveat: Of course, these estimates are for different time periods, with different boats, in different locations, etc.

* EDIT:  Added new link (3/2017)

22 comments:

  1. Hey guys, for the year or so that we were out, we listed our expenses here:
    http://svhelloworld.com/sailboat/budget.html

    I'm sure you already know, but a Mexico budget is a much different animal than a Canada budget.

    We definitely did not realize that when we left.

    Jason
    S/V Hello World

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great info! We're hoping to cruise on about $1800 per month starting end of 2012 ... this gives us hope!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Old movies never die, they just get rewritten.............
    Budget! we don't need no stinking, Budget!,

    That's a laugh, if we don't get one soon we are going to be so busted.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Google translated fairly well. It says that some will be disappointed as they will need around 1500 euros and often more like 2000 euros per month. That figure includes boat maintenance. It was worded a bit odd as German often is...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hotspur (family of 4 cruising in Mexico the past few years) has been posting their detailed expenses: http://hotspur41.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Jason - Thanks I've added yours. Your Mexico numbers didn't seem (at first glance) hugely different than your US/Canada numbers. Can you explain?
    @Verena/@Sara - Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for this -- really useful. We've just started posting our monthly expenses (as well as what we spent outfitting the boat) (are still spending) (inevitably.)

    http://www.picaroonblog.com/tag/pursers-ledger/

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello. Just found your blog and have enjoyed catching up on your travels as you worked your way down south.

    We have been tracking our monthly experiences as well at: http://mvvikingstar.blogspot.com/search/label/Costs

    Though we are perhaps doing a couple of things different than most:

    1) Are cruising in an old wooden Monk trawler.
    2) After departing the Portland Oregon area, we headed NORTH! Looking to spend the next few years between the Puget Sound area and SE Alaska.

    Do like this summary list, is very interesting to see where other’s costs differ as well as those areas where they are about the same.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Now that we're finally cruising we're keeping track of our budget here: http://www.pacificsailors.com/p/finances.html
    Say Hello to the South Pacific!

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  10. I won't post this on my blog because we have some people in the family who have money issues. Our budget: $40k for the boat $10k in refit and about $1000 per month.

    www.youmeandthed.blogspot.com

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  11. Hi Livia,

    I'm not sure if we "count" since we only cruise for half the year... but I kept track of every dollar & peso last year, and did a little write up on our costs
    http://withbrio.com/what-does-it-cost-to-go-cruising-part-2

    Will be doing the same thing this winter, with an update next spring!

    On another note, I love your blog and all the work you did to create IWAC. You guys take some awesome pictures and tell great stories too!

    Leah & Jon
    s/v Brio

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi,

    I can read German. This is an interesting survey. For costs, he separates "ship" costs (maintenance, fuel, upgrades) and "crew" costs (food,clothing, etc.) The graph shows that most people are spending between 5000 and 10000 euro/year on boat costs, and 5000 up to 20000 euro/year on crew costs. He says that hardly anyone is spending less than 1500 euro/month, and that many are spending 2000 euro/month or even more.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi,

    We have just published our initial boat costs and will be adding monthly costs as we go.

    http://www.svperry.com/p/costs.html

    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Liva, love you blog, great job. We have been cruising a bit over a year now from NZ to Asia and we keep track of all our cruising expenses, they can be found here: http://sysophia.blogspot.com/search/label/cruising%20costs
    Our monthly average is NZ$ 1800, which is roughly US$ 1400.
    Cheers, Astrid - SY Sophia

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  15. Here is a really good link for cost of cruising: http://www.svbebe.com/

    Mark

    ReplyDelete
  16. Here is a really good link for cost of cruising: http://www.svbebe.com/

    Mark

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  17. Here is a "two cents worth" from a sailor stuck ashore for a little while. (The transition from working to retired was a monster.) We have a nice house in coastal New England. It cost about $400K including a small refit. It costs us about $10K/month to live here. For that, we don't really go anywhere or do very much that isn't immediately available. In summary: if you like to cruise, it is a great way to live.

    Hope to see you all out there before too long.

    PS: Here is a link from a good friend who has an interesting take on the "cost of cruising."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Norm - although the link didn't come through...

      Delete
    2. OK, let's try this: hardlyanythingworks dot com pick the September 2014 link and then select Mes Malo... title.

      Tim gives a good review of real costs and opportunity costs. He also evaluates the trip in terms of the work involved. Full disclosure, Tim is a friend from the sam eclub, raced against one another for a few years. Our race-ready Aphrodite 101, Averisera, generally beat his cruiser-in-preparation Beneteau although we rated about the same. Our blog is now land based and house centric. Compare and contrast with the voyaging life.

      Delete

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