January 2021 Cruising Prep Expenses
Another month of prepping the boat to move aboard, another month of tracked time and money spent.
Jeremy officially retired on January 15 but was using up vacation time starting January 1, so this is the first month where the boat has been the full time occupation.
With the exception of a few huge outstanding projects (cough a new mast cough), the bleeding of big money might be slowing down. What is not slowing down? The time spent. I’ll lead with that.
Hours spent working on the boat in January: 354 You read that right. Three hundred and fifty four hours. Some of this is research time, some of this is thinking time, but most of it is solid, hands-on construction. Even if you put a minimum-wage price point on this, you’re looking at over $2500 in time costs: if the average boatyard charges $50/hour for labor, that would be more than $17,000. This hour count reflects the people hours we’re putting in, though Jeremy is doing the vast majority of it; he often spends 10 hours a day on the boat. He’s not slow but he is meticulous and careful, as you might guess from the quality of the work that’s going into the boat.
Hands-on construction or thinking time? It’s all boat time!
Grand Boat Money Total for January 2021: $2,250.09
Boat project total: $1,335.28 (consumables required to complete specific boat work)
Electrical parts: wiring, breaker panel, breakers, fuses, fuse boxes
plywood for sawhorses and interior cabinetry
contact cement and formica for chart table
fiddle rail
Boat gear total: $914.81 (tools and boat parts - this is a little wiggly: is weather stripping gear or project?)
galley tools: bread machine, sodastream bottles, water filter
tool tools: endoscope, laptop, pencil sharpener
general consumables: paint supplies, acetone, shrink tubing, weather stripping, fasteners
And then there’s the rest of what it costs to live while we’re doing all this work.
Miscellaneous total: $1,578.18 (living/boat expenses, including groceries and the rest)
Groceries were super high this month, with extra to Bee and a major stock up: $1104
Insurance, club dues, boat storage, and storage unit are fixed amounts: $306.50/month
Electric and internet is our “rent” at the River House: $167.68 this month
With only 2 months left before we move aboard, we’re starting to triage remaining projects into the ones that require being out of the water and ones we can work on after we are afloat. Some of these (the watermaker) will involve sourcing parts - and those are easiest done when we have a fixed address. Ordering the parts for delivery is one thing that has to happen before we are aboard; the fabrication of the system can happen at anchor somewhere. Lots of thinking and discussion happening these days!
Like this and want to see more? Check out the other posts in this series: