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MrMilanoLau asked us, "how much does it cost to live your cruising lifestyle aboard a sailboat?"
To answer this question each month, we created our Adventure Log series (see link below), but there are some liveaboard sailing costs and expenses NOT included, which we explain in this video. Stay tuned for a 1-year budget update this November 2019!
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Hi, it's Clark and Emily on Sailing Vessel Temptress, and today we're answering another one of your questions
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Today's question is from Mr. Milo Lau, and he asks, how much does all this cost
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If you're wondering what it costs to live the cruising lifestyle, a good place to start is by watching our Adventure Logs
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Every month we sit down and we talk about what we spent, from food to gas to fees for coming into a country
0:28
those sorts of expenses, and every month we're pretty consistently between about $500 and $1,000 for those ongoing expenses
0:34
And in that log we track like every dollar we spend out of pocket out here, but that's not all the expenses
0:41
We take on a lot of food when we provision the boat, and we don't do that in the Bahamas so much because food costs more here
0:49
So, for example, this season we're going back to Florida, and when we leave to go to South America
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we will stop at Costco and such, and the boat will be this much lower on our waterline
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So we will report all of that, but that's quite a bit of money
1:03
The boat will also need a lot of spare parts, so we'll be provisioning up, because we're going to be out for maybe five years
1:09
so we're going to have a lot of stuff on board. We carry a liability policy when we're expecting to go to the United States, so we pay for that every year
1:19
So that's a yearly expense. Mainly that's so that we can go into marinas in the U.S
1:24
And, geez, what else do we have for expenses? Well, the actual boat costs money, but that was quite a long time ago
1:30
So if you're thinking about this lifestyle, obviously you'll need to buy an actual boat
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If you have a loan on that boat, you may need to carry particular types of insurance
1:39
You may want travel insurance or some sort of emergency medical insurance
1:44
In the States, we have the Affordable Care Act insurance that we're forced to have by the government
1:50
so that's what covers up for the most part, but most of the time it's out of network anyway, so it's just cash
1:55
But medical isn't nearly as expensive here as it would be in the States
2:01
It's worth noting also it's cheaper to live out here because we can't shop
2:06
We don't have an Amazon Prime doorstep delivery option. There's not a whole lot of luxury item shopping available out here
2:15
A lot of the things we trade with other cruisers for used goods are things that we might have in stock that they need
2:21
versus something they have lying around that they want off their boat. So there's a lot of bartering and trading out here that sort of makes it a cheaper economy
2:30
Well, you can make this as expensive as you want to. There's people that go to marinas all the time and just spend huge amounts of money
2:37
If you live like us, I've lived all in for $1,000 a month, two people on the boat, down in Central America, South America
2:45
where it's cheaper than here, and that included flying back once a year to the United States
2:51
It included a marina occasionally when we did inland travel because we wanted the boat to be safe
2:57
But still, it was like $12,000 a year for two people to live
3:01
Basically, you can live this lifestyle after you buy the boat, and most importantly, after you learn how to do it safely
3:07
you can live like a king at a level that's below the poverty line in the United States
3:13
Also, when I was out there living at $1,000 a month, and that was in 2002 more or less, so things change
3:21
we had friends that were doing it for $500 a month, and they were seeing all the same stuff
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They ate a little more beans and rice than we did, but they were still living the same life
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and they typically did it on a smaller, less comfortable boat. So it can be done. It's just not an expensive lifestyle
3:39
So people get this idea, oh, you're living on a yacht, you're rich. No, we're not rich
3:44
Another thing that kind of goes to economics, if you have skills, you kind of don't even need money
3:52
People always, always need someone to fix an outboard motor or get the refrigeration working
3:59
Oh, my God. If you just understand refrigeration and you bring refrigeration tools
4:03
you could probably almost travel the world for free just fixing boats, air conditioners, and refrigeration
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So learn skills. Learn marketable talent skills. You'll be everybody's friend, and they'll usually, sometimes they just give you a bottle of wine
4:20
That's usually what it is in the Bahamas, because it's illegal to work in the Bahamas
4:24
and they're very stringent about it. So usually I go help somebody out, and they'll give us a bottle of wine or a bar of chocolate
4:30
I hope that answers most of your question. If you have more questions about this particular topic or you have another question
4:35
please leave it in the comments below, and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye. Bye
4:44
Bye
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