March 2021 Cruising Prep Expenses
We’ve been enjoying watching Onboard Lifestyle, a YouTube channel done by a family on their 44 foot home built catamaran. Teal, the dad, is extremely meticulous about laying out all his tools (which cracks us up); he and Linh (the mom) do most of their own work aboard and share that in their videos. They recently highlighted the costs involved with their 161 day haulout in the Napa River of California. Unfortunately, they didn’t detail the amount of TIME they spent on boat projects, instead subtracting days from the total for things like orthodontist appointments, medical issues, and down days. Their rough estimate was that they were actually working on the boat for 18 of those 161 days.
Money is one part of the price of boat work. If you hire it all out, you’ll feel that sting directly in your wallet. But if you’re watching channels or reading blogs, trying to get a sense of what some project might actually cost you, understanding the TIME component is critical. Sure, the (very large) hard top they built on S/V Basik had a materials cost of just about $5000; if you think this means you can get a quality hard top built for that amount of money, I think you’ll be sorely disappointed. Let’s assume each of those 18 days involved 12 hours of person labor (and it was likely more than that). 216 hours. Yes, other projects got done in that time. Still. What does skilled labor cost in your neck of the woods?
Maybe $1000 and 150+ hours represented in this shot
I’m putting this series together to help document what it costs us in BOTH money and time to completely refit Calypso and get her ready to cruise. Maybe it will help you - not because I think you’ll do exactly everything that we do, but to get a sense of prices and how long it takes a very skilled and meticulous DIYer and his sometimes-more-handy-than-others assistant to get stuff done.
Grand Total Boat Money for March, 2021: $8500.34
Boat project total: $768.15 (consumables used in boat work; a bit of a wiggly definition)
plumbing parts (all Pex fittings and pipe)
sliders for galley (ordered twice, because screwed up measurements the first time. Ouch.)
lumber for tabbing
PVC lumber for plumbing installation
fasteners
crane time to unstep the old mast
Boat gear total: $7732.19 (tools and boat parts. Similarly a wiggly definition.)
second half of new mast
SOLD the new (wrong size) jib (this is a credit reflected in this column)
SOLD the old mast (credit reflected in this column)
tools: drill, socket set, drill bits, drill press, router bits
varnish (see what I mean about wiggly?)
propane hose
hose for Shop Vac (to be able to leave the shop vac on deck!)
Iroko wood for the new wind vane
teak fiddle
And then there’s all the rest of what it costs to be living and working on the boat.
Miscellaneous total: $1462.77
yacht club dues, boat insurance, yard storage ($244.42)
storage unit ($65)
upgrading fixtures at River House ($54.01)
groceries/booze ($627.24)
cell phone ($28.73)
gasoline for the van ($126.83)
health insurance for the family ($81.29)
mailing ($6.66)
turbo tax ($110.59)
passport renewal ($118)
And then there are the hours spent on the boat. It was a light month, comparatively: we lost a full day to the DC passport trip, a full day to taxes, and 3 whole days to packing and cleaning to get out of the River House. When our average is a tad over 12 hours a day of boat labor hours (between the 2 of us), those 5 days represent 60 hours.
Hours Spent Working on the Boat: 314
galley: painting, counters, sliders
mast step/deck prep
removing old mast
arrival of new mast
plumbing
Bondo/fairing/painting
rudder
battery/electrical
We’re in Texas helping Jeremy’s mom out for 10 days or so, then we’ll head back to Calypso to rig the new mast and get the “go in the water” essentials done. No more River House living!
Like this and want to see more? Check out the other posts in this series: