March 2020 Cruising Prep Expenses
March 1 seems like it was about 400 years ago. Kids were still happily at college, we were heads down working on the boat living in a borrowed house in Deltaville. We’d basically just delivered Bee back to Bennington after Field Work Term (their required internship session.) Julian had yet to come home for spring break, though I was fretting a bit about delivering the (sold) Honda Accord to friends in Annapolis and hitching a ride on the metro to meet him in Fairfax. Do I wear a mask? Gloves? Am I crazy to be worried about this virus thing that nobody was really talking about?
It’s been a great 20 years, Bernice!
Now it’s April 1. Both kids are home, taking classes and working remotely. We’re not leaving the house except to do yard work/go for a run and the (very) occasional grocery trip. We wear gloves to bring in the mail, which sits in containers until it’s been there for a week. Virginia is under “stay at home” regulations until June 10. We’re holding our breaths, collectively, not sure of when we’ll be able to breathe again.
What keeps me sane is thinking about and realizing that someday, sometime, this will be behind us. Our cruising dreams may have been deferred a bit but they have not been destroyed, even if the only place we will be allowed to explore under sail is the US east coast. (Why? Check out Noonsite for current restrictions on boats moving around. Who knows when that scenario will change, especially when there are people still acting as if the regulations don’t apply to them.)
In this vein, I give you the expenses related to the boat for the month of March. In addition, I’ve totaled up the hours we spent working on the boat. April will slow way down for a lot of reasons, not the least of which a whole host of businesses are not considered essential and therefore can’t be filling orders. Plus, we’re in Charlottesville, 3 hours away from Calypso; though we did bring some boat parts back with us, we’re not spending the same time on boat work as we have been.
GRAND MONEY TOTAL: $8957.10
Boat project total in March: $285.68 (consumables that are not spares)
cables
high heat sealant
fasteners
gloves
Boat gear total in March: $7885.49 (boat parts or reusable items or spares) - Defender’s annual spring sale was in March. This may or may not have been a factor here.
electronics (new depth/speed/wind instruments)
battery cells (for lithium battery build)
self-tailing winches (OH MY GOD AM I EXCITED FOR THESE)
new galley sink
GoPro camera (for boat and also for real estate photos)
down payment on new sails (jib and cruising code zero)
tools: new soldering iron
Associated boat expenses: $388.30 (storage unit, dockage, insurance)
Miscellaneous: $397.63 (gas and groceries for time at the boat)
HOURS SPENT WORKING ON THE BOAT: In the 10 days we were in Deltaville in March, we put in 102 hours on the boat. As a reminder, Jeremy works full time during the week, so the vast majority of this is after 5 pm on weekdays and on the weekends.
Going forward: Whether this is useful as an exercise remains to be seen, at least for readers, given the drastic shift in focus. I anticipate that we’ll spend less on all categories except the associated expenses, which are fixed, although we have yet to see the final accounting from the borrowed house in Deltaville. Unless things change dramatically, we won’t be driving to the boat in April, so the gas and grocery spend will be zero.
Stay safe, Calypso. See you on the flip side.