Monthly Cruising Budget
Before buying our boat, we set a monthly spending goal of less than $3,000 a month / $100 a day.We’ve been tracking all of our expenses since purchasing the boat and share them in our Monthly Cruising Budget report each month.
We hope it to gives you some insight into what it costs to live, work and cruise aboard a sailboat.
Want to know exactly how much it costs to live aboard a sailboat?
We can tell you that! Want to know exactly how much it will cost you to live aboard a sailboat? Unfortunately the answer there is as unique as you are.
We can only provide you with our data points and, while we share a summarized version of our cruising budget on a monthly basis. Patrons get full access to line-item-level financial records, gaining insight into specific details and costs for every single transaction we make. From marina fees, to provisioning costs, repairs, upgrades, etc. Get the full picture of what living aboard costs us.
Patrons Get Full Access Below
Monthly Cruising Budget: Month 3 – Boat Projects before Leaving the Dock
Once we returned from our shakedown sail we had a long list of projects wanted to complete on the boat. We knew we wouldn't get to all of them before leaving but that was ok, we prioritized and slowly checked off those that were absolutely necessary.
Monthly Cruising Budget: Month 2 – Shakedown Sail
After spending the first month getting to know the boat, and taking a few day sails, we were ready to start picking up a few key items and a few small improvements needed for spending a few weeks away from our homeport on our shakedown sail where we sailed across Lake Michigan.
Monthly Cruising Budget: Month 1 – Buying a Sailboat
We closed on our boat on July 1st in Racine, Wisconsin. July is the first full month in our Monthly Cruising Budget series and is also the first full month of boat ownership.
How much does it cost to live aboard a sailboat?
This is the big question. Hopefully this data gives you some insight! Some months we spend a lot, some months are much less expensive. It depends on where we are and what we’re doing. If we have big upgrades we need to make, or we’re in an expensive place, we’ve definitely blown our budget. But we’re hoping over the long term we can stick to $3000 a month.
Keep in mind…
Every person’s experience will be unique. We’ve decided to make long-term travel a lifestyle instead of a long sabbatical. Therefore, we are continuing to work while we travel, and have certain expenses associated with that work. It forces us to do things we otherwise wouldn’t if we were traveling for pure pleasure, but also gives us flexibility in other ways, too. We’re careful to not spend frivolously, but we’re not trying to travel as cheaply as possible. You won’t catch us trying to prove how frugal we are. (;
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