liveaboard costs

[Laurie Booth]

1 hour ago, Matt&Jo said:

Thats a pricy holiday.......4k....thats a top cruise!!!

Two people for 2 weeks.

49 minutes ago, ianali said:

£4,000 is a couple of weeks abroad. We are spending months exploring our lovely country, oh and we visited London.Also we are too young to go on a cruise.

Ian.

Why are you too young to go on a cruise?

[nb Innisfree]

31 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

FWIW full time 12 months retired liveaboard ccing on Innisfree we averaged 100 litres of diesel per month. 

Altogether it cost us approx £5k pa for year 2009 to 2010 (Christ, time's flying!)  

Would prob be about £6k for 2017. 

[Boat&Bikes]

47 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

Two people for 2 weeks.

Why are you too young to go on a cruise?

Cruises are for the elderly aren't they? 

[Laurie Booth]

1 hour ago, ianali said:

Cruises are for the elderly aren't they? 

No, anyone can go on a cruise and enjoy it.

[Boat&Bikes]

6 hours ago, Laurie.Booth said:

No, anyone can go on a cruise and enjoy it.

I will wait a few years anyway. 

[rusty69]

8 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

£2350 pa, eh? I'm impressed that anyone, let alone someone who doesn't actually have a boat, could work out future annual costings down to a figure that ends in £50. I wouldn't like to claim I could accurately forecast my future annual costs to within a grand, and that would only be barring a major issue.

Its an estimate I would think. Very prudent to at least attempt to cost it, even if not 100% accurate. Im sure LadyG has a contingency fund built in, and of course asking on here she will get an idea of other peoples real world experiences. 

[Neil2]

I think the misconception here is that buying a "very good modern liveaboard" will mitigate unforeseen expenses.  Everyone on here who has owned a boat knows it doesn't work like that.      

[Alan de Enfield]

9 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

I'm impressed that anyone, let alone someone who doesn't actually have a boat

Give 'er a break - You forget that Lady Gardener used to race sailing boats (apparently they always beat her as she could not swim fast enough) and that she once did the 9 miles length of the Crinan Canal

[mrsmelly]

8 hours ago, Laurie.Booth said:

No, anyone can go on a cruise and enjoy it.

Only if they are dead from the neck up.

11 hours ago, ianali said:

We don't lives board but are out cruising April till October. We then take a winter mooring at £1300. Not added up total yearly costs but it is somewhere between £4000-4500. Do servicing myself, not paid for any work to the boat apart from blacking. 58 foot NB. We see it as a cheap means of holidaying. 

Ian.

Without being anal, we never write it all down but myself and the boss reckon its about £100 per week to run the boat without a mooring as liveaboards so roughly 5k a year I think your figures are about spot on. Of course that's providing nowt goes wrong!!

[Laurie Booth]

8 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Only if they are dead from the neck up.

 

I take it that you have been on a cruise and didn't like it.

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

I take it that you have been on a cruise and didn't like it.

No I am too young  

[Nightwatch]

I think you may find that young Tim has been on a number of cruises with the Grey Funnel Lines.

[mrsmelly]

46 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

I think you may find that young Tim has been on a number of cruises with the Grey Funnel Lines.

Its funny you should say that. I have been thinking re posts about addresses for car insurance etc. My insurance gave my home address which was a bloomin warship somewhere in the world, if you remember that address was also fine for voting. It was my permenant address whilst on my first and subsequent " full time " liveaboards from 1973 onwards so we had no trouble insuring cars etc then so why do people who live on narrowboats seem to get so much crap from the same insurance companies re a permenant address? My motorbike as it was then was insured full time when I was in " Singers " the " Windies " or wherever. Do you think it was the bloomin great gun on the front of my liveaboard address that made insurance companies happy to help?

[Robbo]

15 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Winter is by far the best season for narrowboating or indeed any inland boating inland in the uk.

Sssshhhhhhh

[linnit]

16 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Yep then winter the best two boating seasons

Definately Autumn

[mrsmelly]

There is one month that is terrible to go cruising and we never do it anymore and you can guess which month that is and we are only three days into it

[Neil2]

4 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

 

Without being anal, we never write it all down but myself and the boss reckon its about £100 per week to run the boat without a mooring as liveaboards so roughly 5k a year I think your figures are about spot on. Of course that's providing nowt goes wrong!!

It's the figure I use whenever I meet an aspiring boat owner I say have you currently got a spare £5,000 a year.  Anything made out of steel and used on the canals regardless of length or age is going to cost around that figure.  

 

 

[LadyG]

4 hours ago, Neil2 said:

It's the figure I use whenever I meet an aspiring boat owner I say have you currently got a spare £5,000 a year.  Anything made out of steel and used on the canals regardless of length or age is going to cost around that figure.  

 

 

I hesitate to interupt the thread, but I think the main argument is the cc cost v the marina based boat.

Yes of course there are going to be unwelcome nasty surprises, but that is life, yet few seemed to have taken  in to consideration the difference in cost twixt a marina and a cc lifestyle style.

If one is a cc and moves the minimum amount per year and has 3 months in winter mooring and has a 10m boat

Licence is £800

Insurance £200

There are 39 weeks of cruising, moving 20 times, say  5 hours each time, then that adds up to only 100 hours on the engine April to Decmber.

Add on three month winter mooring fees 3x10x13.50 = 405

Add on ten overnights at a marina or other paid facilty £200

TOTAL CC MIN COST = £1605

A marina based 10m boat will cost £1800 to £2000 in fees, regardless of any cruising cost [or a good private canalside mooring], add in licence and insurance and it is £3000, ie there is a basic difference in cost of £1350.

I know that in the real world there are lots of other costs to add in, but they apply to both cc and non cc cruising. The liveaboard almost has to move, as most moorings are not RESIDENTIAL

In my first year I don't expect to have a winter mooring, but I do expect to be in a marina for a few weeks, getting engine/electrics sorted and acclimitising.

Edited August 3, 2017 by LadyG

[dmr]

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I hesitate to interupt the thread, but I think the main argument is the cc cost v the marina based boat.

Yes of course there are going to be unwelcome nasty surprises, but that is life, yet few seemed to have taken  in to consideration the difference in cost twixt a marina and a cc lifestyle style.

If one is a cc and moves the minimum amount per year and has 3 months in winter mooring and has a 10m boat

Licence is £800

Insurance £200

There are 39 weeks of cruising, moving 20 times, say  5 hours each time, then that adds up to only 100 hours on the engine April to Decmber.

Add on three month winter mooring fees 3x10x13.50 = 405

Add on ten overnights at a marina or other paid facilty £200

TOTAL CC MIN COST = £1605

A marina based 10m boat will cost £1800 to £2000 in fees, regardless of any cruising cost [or a good private canalside mooring], add in licence and insurance and it is £3000, ie there is a basic difference in cost of £1350.

I know that in the real world there are lots of other costs to add in, but they apply to both cc and non cc cruising. The liveaboard almost has to move, as most moorings are not RESIDENIAL

The thing about liveaboard boating, especially CCing, is that these nasty surprises occur so routinely that they are not even slightly surprising, and if they are less than about £500 probably not even nasty.

An interesting observation is that those who have lived aboard and CCd for a few year (or even just extensively cruised) appear to consistently produce a figure of about £5000 per year, whilst those who just predict what the costs might be come in much much lower.

£7000 last year for us, but that did include a blacking. stern gear work, and a gearbox overhaul, not of which was in the least surprising.

.................Dave

[LadyG]

1 minute ago, dmr said:

The thing about liveaboard boating, especially CCing, is that these nasty surprises occur so routinely that they are not even slightly surprising, and if they are less than about £500 probably not even nasty.

An interesting observation is that those who have lived aboard and CCd for a few year (or even just extensively cruised) appear to consistently produce a figure of about £5000 per year, whilst those who just predict what the costs might be come in much much lower.

£7000 last year for us, but that did include a blacking. stern gear work, and a gearbox overhaul, not of which was in the least surprising.

.................Dave

That is not good news.

[Alan de Enfield]

17 minutes ago, LadyG said:

There are 39 weeks of cruising, moving 20 times, say  5 hours each time, then that adds up to only 100 hours on the engine April to Decmber

If you are only running the engine for 5 hours every 2 weeks how do you propose to charge your batteries, which may need several hours per day.

[LadyG]

16 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

If you are only running the engine for 5 hours every 2 weeks how do you propose to charge your batteries, which may need several hours per day.

Sunshine, and parsimony. 

You are correct of course, but I am not being realistic, I am trying to say, a cc lifestyle finances are different to a marina based boat.

Here is a boat which ticks most of the boxes

http://www.abnb.co.uk/boat_pages/3193web/3193abnb.php?BoatID=3193

It is however very obviously marina based, with no solar and a 240v washing machine, but it is a good boat with a good engine.

Edited August 3, 2017 by LadyG

[rusty69]

10 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Sunshine, and parsimony

Maybe that's what you should call your boat, it will make a change from Kingfisher 

[Alan de Enfield]

12 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Sunshine, and parsimony. 

You are correct of course, but I am not being realistic, I am trying to say, a cc lifestyle finances are different to a marina based boat.

There are so many variables and 'unexpected' costs that you could CC and have far higher costs than a 'moored boat', or vice versa.

I would suggest that the primary difference is solely the cost of the mooring.

Paying for electric will probably be similar to paying for diesel, you will only save on engine wear & tear.

[LadyG]

15 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

There are so many variables and 'unexpected' costs that you could CC and have far higher costs than a 'moored boat', or vice versa.

I would suggest that the primary difference is solely the cost of the mooring.

Paying for electric will probably be similar to paying for diesel, you will only save on engine wear & tear.

yes, agreed, would a visit to a marina to get electricity always necessitate an overnight stay?  As I will be doing a fair amount of travel in my first few years, I  don;t expect too many battery management problems initially.

I kinda thought that a liveaboard boat would be less fraught with problems as regular maintenance would be bneficial. Also I will be going solo, so impact on utilities would be half that of a couple.

Edited August 3, 2017 by LadyG