What Mark lists below are a couple of issues. Your budget pretty much has you sitting on the boat all the time. Most cruisers spend a fair bit on transportation given they have to return home for a variety of reasons a few times a year and want to do other traveling in the area they are in. Not to mention shore meals and other related ways of entertaining yourselves. But I'm most concerned with your earlier stated goal of a 50-60' foot powerboat for $300K and only $400 a month in maintenance. A brand new boat in that size range would run over $1K/month, when you include annual tasks. Even worse, paying that price for that size boat implies an pretty old boat, which will likely involve some substantial upkeep costs. Lots of things on all boats, especially old ones, break when you are cruising. Cost of repair can skyrocket once you get into the Bahamas and south. However, if you assume that you'll draw down that $300K reserve you talked about to cover the bigger repairs and improvements (and the $400/mo is just for routine stuff), then you might be OK on repair costs. Boats are incredibly expensive to maintain compared to something like a house. I still think the $80K+ estimate is better for a boat that large and that old used for serious cruising. Personally, I think that number's still got a lot of risk built in. What kind of boat are you looking at? John Marshall Nordhavn 55 - Serendipity Current lying Auke Bay, AK > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 14 > Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:18:15 -0400 > From: "Mark Richter" <richter-pooh@rocketmail.com> > To: <trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com> > Subject: Re: T&T: live aboard costs > Message-ID: <966B0C9DEE754FD2A80F3665FBE14910@MarkPC> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; > reply-type=original > > Anne, > Your budget looks about right as far as it goes. Of course, you > could spend > a lot more or less, depending mostly on what you are used to > spending at > home. > > The biggest problem with many budgets isn't that they are > innacurate, it's > that some things are left out completely. I see no category for > eating out > or entertainment (bars, museums, sports events). Maybe you don't do > those > things, but with all that time spent in Marinas, there is a big > temptation > to go out. The other thing that seems missing is any shore > transportation: > airlines to home, rental cars, etc. Again, not everyone will use > them, but > have you thought about this item? > > Mark Richter, Winnie the Pooh, Ortona, FL on the Okeechobee Waterway

Doesn't anyone care about the cost of money? Owning a $500,000 boat costs at least $25,000 a year before you spend a nickel.... Al Golden International Marine Insurance Services 1-800-541-4647