Help with annual cost of ownership

[northern]

Rent first as suggested. The first boat we bought was too small once we spent more time on it. It was good for 5 years then we started to spend a few months on it. Our 28 footer with twin stern drives was as follows:
Slip 3,000
Maintenance 5,000 you will not spend it every year but you need to be ready for one big item such as an engine or new stern drives
Hall out each year and paint bottom 21,500
Fuel we burnt 15 GPH at 22 knots We put on 100 hours a year 6,000
Up grades this is beyond maintenance it in includes new instruments, upholstery. It is what ever you want to spend. Do not add any items or change items for a year.
In all 15,000 is enough and you will have money left over each year.
We now budget 25,000 a year and it seems to be correct.

 

[Bridog]

In N.J our 300DA was about 12,000 a year. Slip was almost half that amount and only 7 Months of Boating.

 

[FootballFan]

Good topic - lots of first hand numbers in this thread.

I have always heard the 10% number, scratched my head trying to figure out how that scaled when looking at different price ranges - but it seems to be a rule of thumb. That's just it - a rule of thumb. So many factors.

Previous boat: 2007 340 SD well under 10%

Current boat: 2008 47DB well over 10%

Some differences that have a pretty dramatic impact for my situation.

The 340 was on a freshwater lake, in a slip under a roof.

I did most of the washing. Wax once a year. Diver cleaned the bottom once a year. Did not run the boat as many hours per year- wasn't that many places to go on the lake. Insurance was not much (under 1K per year).

Current boat - sitting on salt water in south Florida.

Hire out washing, twice a month.
Hire out Wax as needed - which is 3 times a year
Diver on the bottom of the boat every month (can go 45 days or so in the winter).

Substantially more hours on the boat in a year, and the majority was cruising 60-80NM a day for several days. More maintenance - if something is not right in the bilge or anywhere on the boat- it gets fixed/replaced/repaired immediately. We are much more dependent on the mechanical reliability.

insurance - only two companies would write insurance in south Florida for an absentee owner. Took a pretty hefty summertime named storm deductible - but still substantial cost.

Marina - we could be in a marina for 60% of the cost we pay, but we like where we are.

We have cost impact because of the absentee ownership - lots of things that I could do - I don't. When we get there we want to boat ready to go - so that means we pay someone to check on it, handle light maintenance, etc. when no one is around.

Trying to highlight that location, choices you make about where you keep the boat, how you use the boat are going to have substantial impact on cost of ownership.

Start with 10%, then start working specifics based on your location and situation.

Just some thoughts,

Mark

 

[ZZ13]

For 30-40 foot cabin boats I am a fan of the $1000 per month guesstimate. That said, for us it didn't mean $12,000 added to the rest of our existing living expenses. My desire to spend time boating caused us to quit buying the once a year coastal rental vacation. And I eventually quit my University of Tennessee football season tickets habit, because I found I'd rather spend that weekend watching games while on the boat. With donations for the right to buy tickets, plus the cost of the tickets, plus travel and hotel costs for 5-7 weekends a year - it added up. Plus, just not as many expensive social outings on land anymore. So, you can make it less financially painful if you fall in love and get addicted to boating.

 

[bjdunnie]

You need to spend more on fuel...

Fuel spend encouragement noted - I am trying hard to spend more, we should get a spike now coming into Spring/Summer

 

[juggernaut1]

My AUD 2 cents

Slip fees $7,185
Bottom paint, prop speed, professional polish - Dulon polish system, lift and launch hardstand $4,260
Insurance $2,000
Servicing $3,000 as per recent quote - but may do myself.

Total $16,445

+ other maintenance items / improvements
+ fuel (fuel thus far approx $2,000 since taking ownership in April)
- annual accommodation saved at Rottnest Island for a week each year (approx $2,000)

Washing, cleaning, etc I do myself.

I had the manifolds replaced and 1 cool fuel module after I bought it. Currently having new strataglass and larger rear canvas made up for more shade - could have gone without for a little longer.

I roughly estimated $20,000 per year, plus major maintenance & repairs, plus fuel before I bought the boat.

Boat cost $199,000 back in April. So I'm pretty much on 10% of the boat cost, plus major maintenance & repairs.

 

[boatman37]

much cheaper in the pittsburgh area. we pay about $40/ft for the season. our 250 sundancer is about $1200 for a 6 month season. we just started in early july so we don't have a full season under our belts yet but had the bellows, impeller, intake hose, and oil change for about $600 at the local boat shop. so far we have spent about $350 in fuel but we haven't put much time on it. we spend most of our time tied to the dock and hanging out

 

[nickdcj7]

Excluding any boat payments, your biggest cost is most likely the slip, followed closely by winter storage. If you do your own work, everything else short of a blown motor or transmission is relatively cheap. I've been doing this math myself as I'm looking to move up, although to an older (80's or early 90's) boat. For a 340, I had the following:

Slip $100/ft - $3500
winter storage $25-30/ft - $950
shrink wrap $10/ft - $350
gas, 50 hours @30gph and $3/gal - $3000
towboat or seatow - $160
registration - $100 ish
insurance on 1989 340da - $500
bottom paint avg for every other year- $200
zincs - $50
oil, filters, fuel filters - $150
random misc repair parts - $500

so let's call it $9500/year, plus your boat payment. keep in mind that this is assuming you do all your own maintenance. most of the numbers are exact using quotes i've gotten, others are estimates based on my actual expenses on my current 250DA. The fuel is the only one where your habits may make a huge difference one way or the other, but i took the average hours per year, the fuel burn at cruise, and dock gas price at the time i did the spreadsheet to get that number.

 

[Docjason]

If you have to think hard about it, it's not the right time. There are ALWAYS unexpected expenses. I call them reoccurring non-reoccuring expenses

 

[Gary B]

If you do go down the path of adding up the expenses don't tell your wife/significant other.

 

[k9medic]

If you do go down the path of adding up the expenses don't tell your wife/significant other.

I have this discussion quite often with my wife as I continue to scratch my head when I write the checks. I just dropped $4175 for new canvas and another $1600 for wax and compounding. Welcome to a week before Christmas expenses!

This year my fixed costs are at $27,575 including the payment, slip rent, a bottom job, insurance and new canvas. This cost is before I even leave the dock. On my trip to the Bahamas I went $5000 over my budget thanks to hitting an unmarked shoal and destroying two props. So that put's me at $32K fixed costs.

 

[HUMPH]

My wife wanted a motor home but I won and started looking for a boat. She gave me a budget of $30K so I showed her what that would get us. She wanted about a 26' so I had her get on one in the water. I ended up with a 7 year old 320DA that we bought for a great price. I took her into the Pacific and down to Monterey and she was the one that said "we need a bigger boat"! All of my strategies seemed to work pretty well. She never boated before and is now in love with it!