Liveaboard boat guys, what’s it really cost?

[cstreit]

So in part 2 of the cstreit wants to retire bucket list series….

In my perfect scenario we have a small place out west to enjoy in the mountains…. …and the moment I have to put on more than a sweater, I want to migrate to a liveaboard catamaran. If I want cold weather, I’ll travel to it. With that said…. I know how to budget for living on the hard…

…if you’ve lived on a boat, what are the REAL costs? I’d estimate being on the boat about 4-5 months with half of that docked and half anchored. My intended craft will likely be in the 10-15 year old range and investing about 20% of the purchase cost up front for any refit and reliability work. Looking at 35-42’ catamaran)

- What percent of the purchase price would you estimate is required for annual maintence? (Assuming this guy does almost all small things himself.)
- What would you expect for 2-3 months in a marina and then prepping and 6 months hauled out storage?
- Would our land food/electric/insurance basic living expenses transfer over?
- what else?

[Racerbvd]

Marina cost vary, but generally go by the foot, add shore power and water, biggest maintenance is keeping her clean, and running systems checks. Been a long time since I have done it, but my father lived on his boat until he died. I keep threatening to one day just sell everything and buy another boat and do just that. Of course, you will still need someplace to store important things that you don't want to keep on the boat. Marina communities are some of the friendliest, most helpful and relaxing.

[pwd72s]

How far out from retirement are you? Anyway, for years I was a dreamer, but the closest I got to it was being a stateside "gopher" for friend Stan Mott
as he lived aboard in the Med. One way I gained tons of info was subscribing to this Magazine. Most of the articles are written by those
who are living the dream. Very generally speaking, it's like overall life financially.
There are ways to do it cheaply, and there are ways to do it expensively.

https://www.magazineline.com/cruising-world-magazine?affiliateid=LJZ-37A32&msclkid=48f04662dd2c1817f5a4245d46bbede6&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Cm%20to%20Cz%20Titles&utm_term=Cruising%20World%20magazine&utm_content=Cruising%20World

[LWJ]

I had a 27’ sailboat so my math won’t work for you.

There are zero cost temporary moorages in Puget Sound. I forgot the details. You can also rent /buy a moorage bouy up there.

Cool plan. Love to hear more.

[Tishabet]

My Intel here is local (pacific northwest) but out this way getting a liveaboard slip is very difficult due to scarcity and low turnover so the average time that you're on the waiting list (at least at the marinas close to me) is around 8 years. So if this is a real dream for you I would suggest you figure out where you may want to liveaboard and put in your application pronto, at my local marina there is a non-refundable application fee of about $200.

At the marina where I slip my boat my current slip is 46 feet long and accommodates a 16 foot beam and runs me $810/month plus utilities, liveaboard slips are the same price. Keep in mind that price is in the salt (premium) and in the city of Seattle (premium).

Possible this is less of an issue in other parts of the world so your mileage may vary, just wanted to point out that future you may regret not getting the ball rolling even if this just seems like a pipe dream.

[cstreit]

Good info folks, thank you.

This could be be anywhere between 4 years and 8 depending on the markets and where I calculate my monthly nut to be. So many unknowns. Current thinking is I match my lifestyle now, add in boat expenses and medical, subtract cost of kids and saving for retirement, and I’m here.

Boat expenses are at most a decade long draw..

[cstreit]

So my other question is, should I look to get started with the “dual residency” BEFORE I retire since my work situation allows it?

Part of me thinks this might not be a bad idea. If it goes sideways I can still recover, Plus I’ll be in better physical shape for projects.

[908/930]

One thing with a big cat is you will likely always be on swing moorage, so no shore power and dingy ride every trip to shore. Sounds like you are planning on keeping it way south, call a couple of boat yards and get a price to pull out and repaint, likely about $4-5k and likely every year. Don't under estimate the cost of big boat equipment, lots of equipment to fail. Call and check insurance, years ago it cost a friend about $10k to insure a $130k boat on open ocean to go BVI for a year.

Many years ago I figured for racing it would be about 10% of the boats NEW value yearly to keep it in good shape. A friend needed a new mast for his 30' two years ago, we were hit by a good wind gust and rounded up boom caught a lot of water, anyways $34k and a year later he had a new rig on, boat is worth about $30k to sell.

BOAT = Bring Out Another Thousand, or another $10k for big boat.

[cstreit]

Thanks. Yeah insurance is the one thing that worries me. I’ve heard horror stories about it where peoples costs went up 10-20x in a year. I know dock space can be 2-3x a monohull so have to budget for that, power and water will be a must for the month or two we’ll be docked stateside.

I’ve owned wnough race cars to understand the “just another thousand” mentality. I’ve managed that by doing a lot,of,work myself. To me this is critical anyway as I need to understand all systems in case of failure in a place where help isn’t available.

[nota]

we lived at anchor in miami on a 47 ft f/g boat on a civil service wage 1 with a wife and two kids
how much can vary by as my indian buddy said by the amount WHITE MAN'S MAGIC ON A BOAT
RUNNING HOT WATER ICE BOX OR ICE MAKER ECT

we long ago mid 70's lived like indians oil lamps carry water ice ect row the dink to shore
very different costs then dock with ac plug seasonal costs here are now insane for dockage
and very hard to find

[3rd_gear_Ted]

I was once given a 35' coastal cruiser. To get to keep it in the same marina, same slip, you need insurance, which means a haul out & marine survey for the insurance company to feel comfortable. Survey is guaranteed to find some issue. Free boat it was not.
The cruiser lifestyle has some challenges, but the experiences are worth it. The Baja-Ha-Ha is a 5-day group sailing trip to Cabo San Lucas from San Diego in November with stops, some folks continue south to Acapulco and do the Pacific Puddle Jump to the Marquesa Islands in the south Pacific in 3 weeks.

[unclebilly]

Why a cat?

Catamarans have no room in them. You would be far better off with a cruiser or if you are stuck on the dream of sailing, get a Tupperware sailboat.

Catamarans and live aboards are 2 different things.

Maybe I’m wrong and things have changed. I used to see all sorts of abandoned dreams in the form of plywood catamarans all over the place when I was commercial fishing in the 80s and 90s. Every harbour had one…

[Fast Freddy 944]

Get a house boat. Marina prices have doubled in the last couple of years. If you got the dough, ya gots a place to chill out...

[Seahawk]

I think tevake had a catamaran he spent a lot of time on.

My Dad kept a 30ft aluminum Marionette cabin cruiser at my dock when I lived on Cobb Island, Md.

The dock had power, water, cable and phone so he had really minal expenses.

With maintenance, insurance, registration, winter storage and gas, he averaged about 10 to 15k in expenses a year depending on how much underway time he put on it.

He also figured at least 3 to 5 hours a week in routine house keeping of the exterior and interior of the boat and mechanical. My Mom had passed away so for him the diversion was good.

To the house boat idea. A friend of mine has been doing a lot of homework in that genre of boat for a few reasons: The boats have come a long way and he is not comfortable on the ocean.

The design excursions are endless: https://www.bonjourlife.com/nautilus-houseboats/

He is also looking at nicely sized HB's that can be moved by semi tractor trailers. There is apparently folks that spend a few years exploring on say, the Little Tennessee River, then move their HB to Clark's Hill Lake on the SC border, etc..

Interesting concept.

Good luck!

[911_Dude]

Hard to put a number on a lot of the OP questions. For the amount set aside for post purchase repairs and upgrades Id figure at least 25%. But it all depends on the boat condition to start with. They always need something.

Here are some numbers for planning purposes, assuming you do most boat work yourself:

Boat Insurance- 1.5% Boat value/yr
Maintenance- 4.5% /yr
Slip fees- $1000/mo (45') Varies greatly with size of boat
Boat fuel- $500/mo Varies greatly with motor use, obviously
Plus all your other expenses that dont change much wherever you live

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

Why a cat?

Catamarans have no room in them. You would be far better off with a cruiser or if you are stuck on the dream of sailing, get a Tupperware sailboat.

Catamarans and live aboards are 2 different things.

Maybe I’m wrong and things have changed. I used to see all sorts of abandoned dreams in the form of plywood catamarans all over the place when I was commercial fishing in the 80s and 90s. Every harbour had one…

Cats have plenty of room.

[KFC911]

Before you get very deep into this "retirement dream", living on a boat isn't for everyone ... takes a certain breed. Three daze on a sailboat (whether 30' or 72') is about my limit ... and the big one was docked in one of San Diego's nicest marinas with all the amenities .... nope, just not my thing. That boat's cost was a long time marriage fwiw . Doesn't sound like you've been on one for very long .... three daze sailing in the ocean is about my max. Any way you can test the waters? Friends with big boats are much better than being the Captain anywho ...

It's a total lifestyle...

You could NOT pay me to live at the beach now either, though I was only a few minutes away in my 20s.... like retirement questions... everyone is different.

Best of luck ... now go sailing !

[stevej37]

I know next to nothing about sailboats, but I used to know a guy (thru work) that lived in Tawas City on Lake Huron. He owned a 24? ft. sailboat with a strong engine.
He told me that every summer he would sail from Tawas to Phoenix and back. He would do that while his wife was working there to visit her.
I asked him if he went up the St Lawrence and around and he said no..that way takes too long.
He would go up thru Lake Huron and down Lake Michigan to Chicago. Take the river over to the Mississippi and down to the Gulf of Mexico. From there to the Panama Canal and then up the California Bay to some river that ends up near Phoenix.
He said he always took one person with him...he said it's not safe on the Mississippi alone.

I was tempted to volunteer as that person.

He also said that sometimes the wait at the Canal was days. There can be a log jam of small boats waiting to tag along with the big freighters. They only allow a couple with each ship.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by KC911

Before you get very deep into this "retirement dream", living on a boat isn't for everyone ... takes a certain breed. Three daze on a sailboat (whether 30' or 72') is about my limit ... and the big one was docked in one of San Diego's nicest marinas with all the amenities .... nope, just not my thing. That boat's cost was a long time marriage fwiw . Doesn't sound like you've been on one for very long .... three daze sailing in the ocean is about my max. Any way you can test the waters? Friends with big boats are much better than being the Captain anywho ...

It's a total lifestyle...

You could NOT pay me to live at the beach now either, though I was only a few minutes away in my 20s.... like retirement questions... everyone is different.

Best of luck ... now go sailing !

Very good advice and I’ll certainly do a few charters before I commit.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by Fast Freddy 944

Get a house boat. Marina prices have doubled in the last couple of years. If you got the dough, ya gots a place to chill out...

The sailing bit is essential for me.

why a cat? Room.

Check this out. Way more room and less heeling than a monohull

https://youtu.be/NmTgSXJNVrM