January 2020 Cruising Prep Expenses

Welcome! If you’re new to the blog, a quick recap: we’re Nica and Jeremy, a 50-something couple of empty nesters in the (very involved) process of completely refitting our 1976 28’ Bristol Channel Cutter, getting her ready for extended cruising. We’ve owned the boat since 1992, have taken her on 2 extended cruises already, one with our 2 kids aboard. This refit/renovation includes a new main salon layout, complete gutting and rebuilding of the chart table/quarterberth area as well as the galley, new cockpit locker, and new electrical system. Those are just the big projects.

As promised in an earlier note to readers, and also to keep track in a public place for us, I’m sharing our boat expenses for January. This is all boat-related stuff, from gear as small as a coffee press and materials as small as a single screw, all the way up to sails and more. I’m even including gas we buy to travel to and from the boat or to run errands related to picking up boat supplies. Expenses that are lump-sum annual (boat registration, taxes, etc) will be included in the month in which they occur; this echoes our experience with cruising spending as there are big months and less big ones, not some smooth level playing field. We own the boat outright, so there is not a mortgage payment somehow missing in this list.

This is not to tell you anything about how YOU can do this kind of work. It’s to give you an example of what things cost, for our size boat, as well as the hours it takes to get things done.

BOAT TOTAL: $1065.26

Boat projects (consumables): $136.01 (West System epoxy resin and hardener, paint)

Boat gear: $504.99 (battery box, new driver/drill/oscillating tool, fridge slide and hardware, hammock for the boat)

Storage unit in Deltaville: $65

Boat insurance: $36

Slip fees and yacht club dues: $284.80

Gas for driving: $38.46

HOURS SPENT WORKING ON THE BOAT: 48 (7 days at the boat in January; we work after work during the week and on the weekends.) Paint prep and painting; templating, cutting, shaping chart table bulkhead; drilling out and filling old backstay holes; Bondo-ing the valley between the floor and hull and sanding it down.

Hours spent working are a WAG but I’ve started documenting precisely as of February 1. The money number (and that hour number) will go way, way higher as we do things like buy sails, haul out, do bottom paint, redo thru-hulls . . .

We “live” 3 hours away from where we keep the boat, in a house we’re prepping to put on the market. When we’re at the boat we live at a house we’re borrowing from friends. This borrow arrangement ends mid-April when sailing season starts back up again.