The Cost of Cruising

The sunsets are free.

I've gotten a lot of questions lately about the cost of cruising, and truthfully our first question when we came up with this crazy idea was "can we afford it?" We decided that we could manage, but it has been more expensive than we planned.

Our initial budget was $1,000 a month. We thought that’ll be easy. No problem. We will probably be able to get by on much less. After all, we didn’t have a champagne lifestyle before we left by any means, but our spending has been more like double that. I’m not an Excel spreadsheet budget queen. I’ve never had the discipline or desire to track every penny I spend. But I’m starting to try because frankly I’m curious. Where the heck is all our money going? We don’t eat out very often, and when we do it’s at local restaurants. We rarely stay at marinas. We haven’t been able to go to West Marine since April. And every couple of weeks or so we’re out in the middle of the ocean for a few days and we can’t spend any money at all. (The seagulls won’t change money and refuse to take Visa. Only American Express.)

But after we’ve discussed this thoroughly, I’ve decided that it has less to do with us - and, yes, that includes our beer budget - and more to do with how we’ve gone about this trip. For instance, checking in and out of Mexico cost us about $175, but we spent close to another $100 just in futile trips to Cancun (travel expenses and food because we often were unprepared and had to eat out). Plus, we only spent two weeks there. When you’re paying that much to get into a country, the more time you spend in that country the farther your checking in and out money stretches. Plus, you learn how the system works - which modes of transportation to take where, which stores have the best food for the best prices, which restaurants are delicious, nutritious and cheap, who to talk to get the best deals, etc.

And then there’s diesel. We have run the motor way more than we expected. On many of our travels, we’ve run into the following issues - running out of time before dark and having to get through a reef pass, trying to get ahead of potentially bad weather, no wind, and having to round the Cape of “Thank Goodness I Survived That” before the winds and seas doubled in force. When we first started out, we talked about how we would NEVER use the motor, but that has just not proven to be the case. 

Also, we have gone to places that are expensive. Having to spend three weeks in Key West waiting on parts and our sail was a budget buster. Isla Mujeres, and really the whole Yucatan, was pretty expensive and Bocas has comparable food prices to the U.S. (though the beer is much cheaper!) Basically, anywhere where there are tourists you have to watch your cash, and everywhere that cruisers congregate is super touristy. Food and drinks are overpriced. Marinas are expensive. Even laundry costs a ton. (But oh, how I loved those Mexican ladies who washed our clothes. They managed to fold them so perfectly flat and precise and the clothes smelled so good that it was like magic. After that, I never wanted to do my own laundry again.) And heaven forbid you ever have to hire a local in one of these places to fix something for you. We paid $80 in Roatan to have someone fix our aged outboard, and it worked. For about a week.

What this all boils down to is being in a hurry. We were in a hurry to leave because, well, we wanted to go. And we’ve been in a hurry ever since. It might be the weather or hurricane season or what have you, but rushing does not a saver make. My advice to anyone who is interested in going out there and sailing for as long as possible on the cash you have is to avoid any and all tourists spots (though I will forever love the beach on Isla Mujeres and chasing the chickens in Key West) and keep it slow. It’s sailing for crying out loud. We only go four miles an hour as it is!

People say that the cash hemorrhaging gets better after the first few months, and this is starting to be the case. As we have slowed down, our bank accounts have smiled in relief, and so have we. Despite Vlad's dentist bill. 

How to Save Money While Outfitting Your Boat

I realize that I've done a couple of posts in a row now filled with numbers, but what with our pre-departure spending binge it's been hard to move on to other topics. This is the last one for a while, I swear! Here are a few ways we used to save money while preparing for our sailing extravaganza.

Buy in bulk. Whether it's food or your trip to West Marine, buying in bulk helps to save cash. We purchased all our dry goods at Costco, which, though an ungodly amount of food, should get us through the islands without having to restock at high prices. Also, we purchased everything from West Marine at once, giving us this handy little thing called bargaining power. By not buying an item here or two items there, we actually negotiated a pretty good deal on our West Marine trip.

Buy from places other than West Marine.  I don't know if you've noticed, but anything with the word "marine" attached to it seems to cost a gazillion times what it would in a regular store. When you're trying to get a boat put together without a ton of cash, that particular price discrepancy looms large, but with a little creativity you can find other ways to purchase the same thing. For instance, jacklines - the polyester webbing you attach yourself to when working on deck - at West Marine are more than $160 for 80 feet. You can purchase essentially the same thing from any sporting goods store that has a rock climbing section, and we bought 80 feet of nylon webbing for $0.38 a foot from REI, saving us about $130. Other places to look are used boat supply stores, Craigslist and eBay.

Do as much work as you can yourself. The cost of having a shipyard do most of your work can be huge. Thankfully, I have Vlad, who can fix pretty much anything that's fixable. Without his talents, we probably couldn't afford this trip.

Don't buy it if you don't really need it. I know this sounds obvious, but I can't even count all the times I've been in a store and purchased something that wasn't on our list and that we didn't need. Not only do you not have enough space on a boat to bring the kitchen sink and everything else, but it doesn't make sense for your wallet either.

I was talking to my mom a couple of months ago, and we were discussing why young people don't go cruising very often. My mom is a somewhat of an expert on this subject since when she was in her early 20s she sailed across the Atlantic twice and the Pacific once. Her theory is that sailing is just a much more expensive proposition now than it was in the 70s. These days, not only do you have the cost of the boat and its upkeep to think about, but you also have a ton of electronic equipment that just wasn't available when my mom went sailing. Chart plotters and AIS had yet to be invented. My mom and Bill used ropes (I'm sorry, lines!) for jacklines. They rowed into port, and their diesel engine didn't work at times, turning my mom into an excellent deckhand. And yet, they still managed to sail all over the world with nothing more than a solid boat, a sextant and charts.

Some people might say that you can't cruise without all of these new products, and undoubtedly those products make sailing an easier task. Case in point, the GPS! But it's good to consider, for those of us without a lot of money but the desire to go out and see the world, that it can be done without mountains of dollars.

Our Trip to West Marine

Look at all that stuff. 

We have officially almost completed everything on our "to buy" list (not so on our "to do" list!). Overall, we shelled out $4,200 on outfitting Bettie from West Marine. Our lovely dinghy took up $1,700 of that. Out of the $2,500 left, we purchased automatically inflatable PFDs with harnesses, two rearming kits, two tethers, a handheld marine GPS, a handheld VHF, two foul weather jackets, one pair of galoshes, oil, 4 oil filters, 200 feet of galvanized anchor chain, a macerator, a 500 gallon an hour bilge pump, a new washdown pump, a sump pump for the shower, spare headlamps, a giant spotlight with rechargeable batteries, a spare set of jib sheets, 80 feet of Vectran line (to use as backup rigging), 30 feet of shock cord, epoxy sticks, a fan, and 2 winch handles. Can you guess which of these things cost the most? The galvanized anchor chain, which came in at $600. Who would have guessed that out of all that equipment the most costly was basically a big hunk of metal?

I would like to give a big, humongous thank you to both of our families. They were all super generous to us for our birthdays. Our moms helped out by buying us safety gear, and Vlad's dad got us an extra VHF radio and light raincoats. My dad is helping us keep clean and caffeinated with a solar shower and a stainless steel coffee press. Thank you all so much for your love and support!

Not to give West Marine all the love, we've also outfitted through the Boaters Resale Shop in Kemah, REI, Home Depot, Sailrite, Amazon and Costco. I'll give a detailed summary of all the things we bought for the trip and where we got them in a bit. Here's a post from S/V Totem, a family who is currently cruising in the Pacific. They detailed their must haves and tips to finding good deals on expensive items, useful information for sure. 

To be honest, this is the largest spending spree I've ever been on in my life, and it's been a strange experience. At first, it felt kind of good to get all the stuff we needed after a period of extreme frugality. It was comparable to avoiding sugar for weeks and then eating a big, scrumptious slice of chocolate cake. Initially, there's a rush of excitement, that endorphin burst that comes with the first bite or with breaking through whatever budget prison you've locked yourself into, but eventually you just want an apple and to not spend your cruising kitty on an endless array of boating products.

Foul Weather Gear

Check out our new foulies!

While in Arkansas, my sister mentioned to me that she had a cardboard box labelled "foulies" tucked away in her apartment and that maybe, just maybe, there might be something we could use on the boat in it. She used to live up in the Pacific Northwest with her dad, who is a big-time sailor and took her on various boating excursions off the coast of Washington state. When I got to her house, she opened the door wearing this magnificent Henry Lloyd jacket from the 70s or 80s and a pair of white bib pants made out of PVC. She looked like she stepped right off of a Japanese fishing boat.

We spent the next 45 minutes trying on her two sets of jackets and bib pants as though we were playing dress up in our mom's closet, except this time it was foul weather gear instead of high heels. Needless to say, I took the whole box back to Texas. I mean, who can pass up free foul weather gear steeped in family history? Not I. Unfortunately, Vlad's arms were too long for the jacket, and the other jacket had a bum zipper. But the bibs fit perfectly!

We're topping it all off with a couple of jackets that were on sale for $99 from West Marine, and we should be set. According to the Cruisers Forum, there's foul weather gear available for $85 on Overstock.com. I believe our fellow cruisers in training over at Sundowner Sails Again got their foulies at Overstock, and they seem pretty pleased with them.

I realize that we're not going to be using this gear often as most of our sailing will be in tropical climates. Even so, there are no substitutes when we do need them. So I want to give a shout out to my sister Emily. You saved us a bundle of money on something that will keep us dry on the stormiest of seas.

Provisioning for a Cruise

Scary, isn't it?

You know that whole economy starting to rebound thing? Yeah, well, I think we might be causing it. We're in the process of purchasing a ton of stuff to get the boat and ourselves ready to sail away. We need a new anchor chain (shockingly expensive), a smorgasbord of safety equipment (PFDs, tethers, epirb, foul weather gear), a new handheld VHF and marine GPS, a new dinghy, new line, new clothes (shorts, swimsuits, sunglasses), and now ... our trip to Costco.

I've been wondering how we would handle provisioning for this trip. Do you take a ton of food? Or just buy food along the way? As you can see, we've gone with the former. When we finally got to the checkout line, it looked like we were getting prepared for a beach apocalypse, complete with swim fins. Seriously, I could barely push the cart.

We purchased 15 pounds of basmati rice; 20 pounds of flour; 10 pounds of sugar; 10 pounds of oatmeal; innumerable cans of soup, tuna, tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce; chicken stock; 1 package of canned chicken (still dubious about this one); pasta; batteries; paper towels; Ziplocks; peanut butter; olive oil; white vinegar; toothpaste; grill lighters; coffee; and an impulse buy of prepackaged lentils (why not just buy regular lentils? I don't know! I kind of lost it toward the end).

We also got a great deal on snorkel gear, a 1.5 terabyte hard drive, new contacts for yours truly, and some really handy reading lights. Perhaps we've overdone it. It's certainly more money than I've ever spent on groceries in my life, but how do you say no to 20 pounds of organic flour for $10? I've read that you shouldn't bring the entire grocery store with you when you go, but, honestly, except for the canned chicken we will use all of the stuff we bought, just as long as we store it correctly to protect it from moisture and bugs. And to repeat my new mantra, now we just have to figure out where to put all this stuff.

Another Folding Bike for the Boat

We didn't see any alligators. Alas.

Another folding bike now graces our floating abode! This one was on sale at West Marine for $200, not a bad price for an item that can top $1,000, and before I left town we took our bikes for a test spin on the walking/biking trails in Seabrook, the town next to Kemah. The trails span about 10 miles and are where the ocean meets the marsh. It's a strange, but pleasant, juxtiposition to be next to one of the largest cities in the country, a massive shipping port and rows of oil refineries and chemical plants and still be out in nature. Not surprisingly, we saw a ton of wildlife. Ducks, deer, a smorgasbord of birds and some really fat rabbits were frolicking as we pedaled past. Not exactly the canals of France, but it'll do.

Now for the most important question - where to store the bikes on the boat?

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

I am now the proud owner of a Dahon D7 folding bicycle! It's compact, has seven speeds and only has one major dent. It does not have a bell yet, but you can't expect everything at once. Cruisers often use folding bikes because for one they are compact and for two you generally can't take your car with you on a 36-foot sailboat. I guess we could tow the Altima behind us in the dinghy, but it might have a slight effect on our speed.

I've been trolling Craigslist for a variety of items that we either need but can in no way afford or want but can't justify purchasing, and folding bikes were high on the want list. The Dahon D7 retails for about $600, and I bought it from some guy named Darryl in the Clear Lake Target parking lot for $175. Love that underground economy!

Unfortunately, Vlad is still sans bike, so my dreams of a romantic ride through the French countryside while carrying a bag of baguettes and wearing a beret will have to wait. Until then, it's Craiglist and persistence.

The Things We Do to Go Cruising

When we moved aboard Bettie in August, we knew that we'd be in Kemah, Texas, for about a year and a half - working on the boat and building up that cruising kitty. Since Vlad has mad skills, he hasn't had too much of a problem getting work. Me, on the other hand? Not so much.

So far I've had two jobs since moving to the Galveston Bay Area, and please don't laugh too hard when you hear what they were. The first was with a private investigator who then went out of business. The second was as a certified carousel operator at an amusement park. I was also trained on the tilt-a-whirl and the Ferris wheel, but who's counting, right?

A prescient friend of mine in college used to tease me with the phrase, "I'm an English major. Would you like fries with that?" And, in a way, I'll admit he was right. The carousel isn't the most lucrative of endeavors. However, I've been trying to think about the situation in a more positive light and in one that throws out that idea of the set path: college, job that doesn't involved french fries, retirement, going gently into that good night. For whatever career you choose - be it carny or office assistant to a now defunct PI - it's not the amount of money that you make or the prestige that you acquire, but the stories you get to tell. (But don't ask me about the one with the little girl on the tilt-a-whirl who said her belly button hurt. It did not end well!)

Since I find my situation so hilarious, I was wondering if anyone else out there has had a bizarre job experience that they wouldn't mind sharing. And do you know if they're hiring?

Cleaning Your Fuel Tanks on the Cheap

Your cockpit can look like this too when you clean out your fuel tank!

As I mentioned before, we had a slight problem with sludge in our tanks when Vlad's family was in town, and we had to get two - I repeat - two tows. I also mentioned that Vlad would come up with a ingenious, low-cost method of removing said sludge, and I was right!

He and our friend, Raymond, spent about five hours on Saturday up to their armpits in dirty, dirty diesel, and now we have a sparkling fuel tank. Here's how they did it on the cheap:

• First, they pumped out the fuel with an automotive fuel pump through a filter into diesel cans, many of them generously donated by our marina neighbors.
• Then, Vlad scrapped the sludge/gel/nasty gunk out of the tank, wiped it down with paper towels and used a toilet brush with more diesel to really scrub down the tanks.
• Next, he ran the diesel through the inline filters, bypassing the engine by putting the pump and filter between the send and return lines on the tank.
• In order to clean out the lines, he still has to run the fuel further up the lines through the water separator, bypassing the engine again. 
• Finally, he has to change the filters and bleed the lines of air.

Theoretically, we will then have a beautiful, working engine just in time for Thanksgiving when my dad and brother come for a visit and all for a little more than $100.00. To put that in perspective, one of our friends paid $1,000.00 to have his two tanks cleaned, though, granted, he didn't have to spend hours in a diesel haze scrubbing his tank with a toilet brush. In life, there always seem to be trade offs.

It's All About the Hamiltons

Everyone thinks that boat life is expensive - like a "say goodbye to Junior's college fund" amount of money - and in many ways everyone is right. Depending on how you go about it, boat parts and maintenance can be quite cost prohibitive. But when paying my slip fee yesterday, I discovered a definite bright spot in liveaboard finance.

Our electricity bill is $20.00 this month. That's it for a whole month of air conditioning, refrigeration, lights, coffee making and phone charging. Granted, we do have two solar panels that come pretty close to powering our whole outfit - minus the fridge - but when we lived in a house we were lucky to get down to $100.00 a month. And during the summer months (that's May through September here in Texas), it was way higher.

So do not despair. Not everything on a boat costs the same as that new chartplotter, GPS, radar, AIS combo thingy. Some stuff is even down right cheap.