I read somewhere that the proper response to the question of “How much does cruising cost?”, is “everything you have. ” That’s not much of an answer in my case. I need more investigation to reach a level of comfort and satisfaction that will allow the dock lines to sever and release me from this land bound life.
We have a lot of junk, my wife and I. It has been collected over the years. Lawnmowers and another lawn equipment. A lawn. Bookshelves and furniture we no longer need but sit in our storage building. All of it adds up to a lot of items that are not useful when sailing. Hell, they aren’t that useful when you are not sailing. What do I do with all this crap? I need to put it in storage, no sell it. I need to get … WAIT!!!
Without a long term plan I have no idea if I will need some of this stuff when I return. I may need it over the next few years too. Also, without a guess on how much this is going to cost I have no idea if I should even pick up and leave. What do I need to understand in order to make a plan that gets me to the ocean and back again?
Making a plan involves “imagineering”, knowledge of oneself, some knowledge of potential cruising areas and many other things. But planning/budgeting is an interative process. I doubt seriously one can be put together in one session and without input from others. It must be an iterative approach with necessary feedback into each iteration. This way each person, with the help of someone that’s been there, can understand how their needs impact the budget/plan and make reasonable changes that help the adventure come to fruition.
First thing, adventures have a cost. In this case the number of items necessary to create a full budget while cruising might be extensive. All the expenses that will without a doubt be paid and the reasonable chance of the unthinkable happening, somehow must be accounted for. This starts with certain fundamentals like food, water, fuel, entrance fees, insurance etc. Some may ask, where’s the boat come in? Shouldn’t that be the first expense?
I don’t think so. Don’t get me wrong the boat is the second most important piece of equipment when venturing on the ocean. But it won’t do me or my family any good to have the best boat if we can’t afford to feed ourselves (even fish hooks have a cost) or provide for our basic subsistence. The boat will eventually factor in, but for now it doesn’t. Remember, this iterative process will help us make reasonable changes, so once we know how we will live and where we will go, then we can make a good choice on a boat. It in turn will impact the overall cash flow. That cash-flow change will subsequently affect how we will live and where we can go… This feedback may change the boat!!! Eventually, over some time we get to steady state and the one (or so) plan that works reveals itself.
My experience with the universe, and the ocean contained with in, has revealed that whatever plan emerges will NOT be the plan lived. Too many experiences will occur that cause one to modify the plan and others will occur that destroy the plan. Having an idea of where the money is coming from, what it is dedicated to and how much of it there is helps cope with the changes that will come. It gives a starting point for considering the impact of events and decisions driven from them.
Over the next several posts I will explore budgeting. I will cover the following categories, but may expand the list as more become apparent.
Budget Items
- Keep the Crew Happy
- Boat operations – the cost of operating the vessel including fuel, taxes, maintenance etc
- International travel – entry fees, charts and more
- Travel home
- Life back ashore
- Income and Cash flow
- Purchase of a boat