84 months of costs to live/use the boat

[mvweebles]

The only real reason to me of maintaining a land house while cruising is that you truly are planning to stay there. I sold my last land house when I started cruising 7+ years ago and put the money in a balanced account and it has made way more than the amount the house would have appreciated, not even counting the cost to maintain the house. Now I have that money and the price of my planned replacement house is less that what I sold the last for.

Sometimes people who learned we didn't have a land house would said "Don't want a place to return to after cruising?" I would respond "No, it turns out there are houses for sale everywhere I go and I can get one when the time comes."

A healthy perspective. But I have met several folks who sold everything and didn't save. Now elderly, they are struggling aboard. One fellow although healthy at the ripe age of 84, said he had simply aged out of sailing. Financially, he was stuck. I know, personal choices, but still, it can be very difficult to re-enter a housing market as your income stagnates while markets increase.

We view our current cruise as a lazy delivery. A couple years but focus on getting Weebles to Florida where we can make multi-month trips to Bahamas, Mexico, parts of the Loop. If we wanted to truly cruise, we'd buy a different boat with more waterline. But that's not our goal.

Costs Don has posted over the years on CF have been very helpful. I really appreciate the generosity in his sharing and will miss his contributions if he does exit the forums along with boating.

Thanks Don.

Peter

 

[ABfish]

For what it's worth, owning a home is not a path to wealth in all communities. My hometown had a 10-year period of stagnant home values in the mid-2000's. And my house has a carrying cost of 2% (taxes, insurance, yard maintenance) plus another 2% average in maintenance and repairs.

I look at a house as a forced savings account for many people who lack the discipline to invest otherwise, and there are lots of intangible benefits of homeownership. But it's not always the best place to park a bunch of money.

 

[Don L]

Doesn't matter where you park your money if you are just money stupid. We retired at 56&55 and full timed on the boat for over 7 years. According to some forum posters we have spent way too much money during our cruising years. But

We have more more total assets now than when we started and that doesn't count the boat (I have always counted the boat as $0)

 

[PierreR]

Doesn't matter where you park your money if you are just money stupid. We retired at 56&55 and full timed on the boat for over 7 years. According to some forum posters we have spent way too much money during our cruising years. But

We have more more total assets now than when we started and that doesn't count the boat (I have always counted the boat as $0)

You never know what the future will bring and when. If you notice, my costs above are already high in comparison to what others are posting. We are in our sixties and already experiencing increased costs due to disability. We could have paid 10 times more for a boat but did not. We can afford to loose this boat.

My wife can only negotiate an 8" step without overlap. That necessitated a boat and size that would accommodate stair cases without overlaps stepping. An increase in expenses. My wife cannot get into a dingy or out of a dinghy without great difficulty. That means marina's, preferably with ADA features, every time we go ashore together. That raises the costs considerably and is the reason for the high cruising budget. We seldom eat out and the cruising budget is still high.

We have a high likelihood of a significant NO-GO period of time near end of life. My wife has not retired yet, I am still pushing her to retire. Our financial planner says we can spend at our current COL adjusted, before retirement rate till age 100 and still end up with a higher net worth. My wife feels useful with her job but we are running the clock forward.

When we really get out there cruising next year, we might very well find a boat that meets the requirement far better than our current boat. In the mean time I have my retirement/hobby job with this boat.

Our current dirt home is not the home we want going forward.

 

[dannc]

For what it's worth, owning a home is not a path to wealth in all communities. My hometown had a 10-year period of stagnant home values in the mid-2000's. And my house has a carrying cost of 2% (taxes, insurance, yard maintenance) plus another 2% average in maintenance and repairs.

I look at a house as a forced savings account for many people who lack the discipline to invest otherwise, and there are lots of intangible benefits of homeownership. But it's not always the best place to park a bunch of money.

I agree. Some places have no or little price increases and others are going down in price.

Just went and looked at the home I used to own and it's price, according to Zillow, would be over 2.5 times what I sold it for decades ago. Sounds impressive but if the money had been in the stock market, earning historical averages, we would have 7 times as much money. :lol:

AND that is in an area that is doing well market wise and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Course, one has to LIVE somewhere so there is a cost to shelter that has to factor into the equation, and given the area rents, the house mortgage is, or should be, the better investment.

Looking at our current house, the numbers are similar though I think the prices are starting to accelerate.

 

[Slider70]

First off, I own a boat. I own a home. I own the boat to cruise with which we do about five to six months yearly. In Canada my home, so far, has appreciated in value. My boat has depreciated. Given a free choice I would like to live fulltime on a 50' boat, my partner not so much. Hence, we own a home plus a 38' boat.

Further, no matter what the costs are to live aboard, in B.C. it is getting extremely difficult to fine a marina that allows new live aboards. (Heck, it is even hard to find a marina that has space for a new, larger full year berth for a vessel.) In 2023, I know of four larger marinas that have served notice to no longer allow live aboard vessels. They gave those presently there nine months notice to vacate the live aboard aspect of their vessel usage. Only one of those marinas still allowed a few live aboards that have been grandfathered but with no option to re-sell this privilege.

My point here is costs are one consideration but a far bigger one is finding a marina that will allow you to live aboard right now and into the foreseeable future?

 

[Mambo42]

I have enjoyed the YouTube channel called "In Too Deep". Very realistic view of what it takes to acquire and refit an older boat. He does not talk too much about actual cost but you can see that despite some very significant sweat labor he is pumping a lot of cash into the boat. He is an incredibly industrious young man who has a passion and drive that is not so common.

I have great respect for him, the things he is capable of doing and the energy with which he does it............just incredible. He admits he is putting in a lot of money, but it is money he earns first and then spends.
When I see his videos I can only wish I still had the ability and energy he has, it would make my life so much easier. Now I have to deal with so called mechanics that basically have no clue what the hell they are doing.