How Much Does it Cost to Live on a BOAT ?!

Are you thinking about living a more unconventional life on the open ocean? Are you celebrating retirement by buying a boat and sailing away? Or are you just curious how much it cost to live on a boat? This article is here to tell you how much it cost us to live and travel on a boat for an entire year. The best way to estimate how much living on a boat will cost in 2020 is to go over all of our 2019 expenses. These numbers can range drastically depending on your lifestyle, where you plan to travel, and what kind of boat you have. You can use these numbers as ballpark figures to see what it could cost YOU!

Cost of the Boat:

Our boat is a 1988 Crowther Spindrift Sailing Catamaran. We have a secured boat loan and pay an average of $540/month totaling in $6,480 a year. For a full tour of our floating tiny home watch the video below. 

Insurance:

Insurance for our boat is around $3,670 a year. We had a heck of a time trying to find a company that would insure our 30 year old boat.  Wanting to spend hurricane season in Greanda made the task even more difficult. Grenada is techniqally below the hurricane belt but telling an insurace company you will be in the Caribbean for hurricane season is a red flag.  Concept Special Risks was the best quote we received and have so far been happy with their services and responsivness.

Documentation:

If your vessel is documented with the USCG you must pay $26 a year to renew. Beware if you miss the expiration date the late fees can stack up! We registered our dinghy in New York last year and the registration is valid until 2021.

Repairs, Maintenance, and Upgrades 

We undertook quite a few projects this year. Some of these projects included: upgrading our standing rigging to synthetic standing rigging, replacing our forward crossbeam, bottom work to address blisters, making new rudders,  installing a watermaker, replacing our stolen outboard dinghy engine, and much much more. Our total cost for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades for the year was around $31,000. This figure also includes the cost to have the boat hauled, blocked, stored, and contractors we paid to do some work. You know what they say about boats, Break Out Another Thousand… On the plus side a lot of the work and upgrades we did only adds value to our boat. This usually isn’t the case with boats but since we bought an old boat that needed a lot of work and we are taking on the projects ourselves, little by little we are increasing her value.

If you want to see some of the most difficult projects we have worked on check out this video.

Dockage:

We try to spend as much time as possible at anchor because we personally enjoy it more. However, sometimes a night or two at a marina is needed after a long offshore sail. This year our insurance also required us to have a “lay-up period” at a marina in Grenada.  We spent a total of $3177 on dockage fees for the year. 

Bahamas $175 

D.R. $1000 (very few places to anchor) 

P.R. $102 

St. Croix $100

Grenada $1800 (Lay-up period/kept the boat in a marina while one or both of us was visiting the states) 

If you have ever wondered what it is like to prepare for a tropical storm at a marina, check out how I prepared here :

Fuel:

We use gasoline to fuel our dinghy and our generator and diesel to fuel our two inboard engines.  We spent a total of $1107 on fuel for the entire year to travel more than 2,500 miles!  Isn’t traveling by the wind great! 

Food:

We try to eat as healthy as possible and with that comes the price of paying for “Organic” “Free-range” and “Grass-Fed” products. Besides the price for groceries we also go out to eat quite a bit. When traveling to new islands and countries, going out to eat is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the culture and meet new people. That is why our food bill is on the high end of $1070/ month totaling in $12,900 for the year.

Phone/Internet:

For half of the year, we were on our usual Verizon plan. We had an unlimited plan for two devices and we were also on a payment plan for our iPhones as well. Our monthly bill on that plan was close to $300 dollars. Halfway through the year, we decided to leave Verizon and Switch to Google Fi. During that switch, we had to pay our phones off right away which cost a pretty penny. With Google fi, our bills are closer to $200 for 3 devices. We spent a total of $3,900 on phone and internet service. I wish we had made the switch sooner! If you are interested in reading more about phone and internet service while traveling by boat you can read our Google Fi Review or Internet Options for Cruising the Bahamas. 

Health Insurance:

Lucky for me I am still under my mom’s health care plan. I have a rude awaking coming next year when I am officially on my own! Billy currently pays around $1,200 a year for a low premium but high deductible plan. We try to stay as healthy as possible!

Customs and Immigration

You must check-in and out of every country. The amount you pay depends on how long you plan to stay, how many people you have with you, and how big your boat is. The following is what we paid to check-in/out of each country.

Bahamas $320 (includes cruising and fishing permit)

D.R. $120

P.R. $30

Grenada $83

St. Vincent and the Grenadines $60

We spent a total of $613 on Customs and Immigration fees last year.

Ever wondered what it was like to check into a country on a boat? See how the customs process in the Bahamas works here!

Traveling with a dog

We wouldn’t leave our Jetty girl at home for anything but traveling with a dog on a boat does come at a price. You can read all about what is required and our experience traveling with her here. Our total dog expenses were $1,080. This includes Vet visits, health certificates, required vaccinations, and preventive measures (dog food is included in the food category above).

Jetty is also really funny, make sure to subscribe to her channel for your weekly dose of belly laughs.

Other Travel Expenses: 

When we get to a new place we want to explore every bit of it! Sometimes this includes renting a car, hiring a guide or taking a taxi. This year we spent a total of around $1,400 on other travel expenses. 

One of our favorite adventures in Grenada included renting a car and slipping, sliding, and jumping our way down waterfalls. Check it out below!

Miscellaneous:

A few things you often don’t think about when considering travel expenses are trash, water, and laundry, but they can add up! 

We spent a total of around $450 on these necessities.

Total costs to live and travel on a boat for a year:

Well, there ya have it! Your question of “how much does it cost to live on a boat?” has been asswered. For 2019 we spent a total of  $67,003. That is about $91 per person per day. That number may seem huge but in our case, because we have spent so much time and money upgrading and repairing the boat ourselves we can make some of that back in the long run. Did you find this breakdown helpful?

Are you wondering how we make money to support this lifestyle? We have been lucky enough to turn blogging and vlogging into a career. Please give this article a share and subscribe to our channel, it really helps!

To see how we spent WAY less living on our Trawler! Click HERE! 

Hope to see you on the water someday!

Sierra