A Look At The Numbers

At the end of each cruise or at some stopping point along the way we like to do a bit of analysis of our expenditures and other interesting details. Since we will be in our current location for at least a couple of months we thought that now would be a good time for a look at some of the numbers. We are also interested in seeing just how the higher fuel prices would change our past expenditures in that area, and it did indeed change for a couple of reasons. This trip was for the most part done inside the ICW on both the Gulf coast and the eastern coast along Florida, Georgia and a bit of South Carolina. In addition, we did spend quite a bit more than usual for dockage. We much prefer to anchor out but due to weather and repairs we visited more marinas and moorings than we normally do. We also had significant repairs and replacements that were out of the ordinary, but when planning a budget for cruising, these unexpected expenses need to be planned for even if they don’t occur. So here is an accounting of most of our expenses:

Dockage and moorings $1800.00

Repairs $4850.00

Diesel Fuel $1550.00

Dining $575.00

Replacement Computer $850.00

Entertainment $700.00

Groceries $1350.00

Laundry $30.00

Maintenance $350.00

Miscellaneous $400.00

Postage $95.00

Car Rental $50.00

Gas for Dinghy and Car $150.00

Clothing $50.00

Total $12,800.00

Replacing the computer seems to occur about every 2 to 3 years. Since it has become an important part of our equipment, we replace the old one with what we hope is a better unit with more capacity and processing abilities so we don’t go for cheap. The engine repairs were very expensive because the part that needed replacement was one of the most expensive parts on the engine. We also decided to do a few improvements such as adding additional gauges to the engine while everything was apart. Entertainment expenses included our satellite TV subscription, some new parts for the satellite set up and repairs to the tracking system. The higher cost for fuel was not a surprise since we expect that and it worked out to be what we had previously spent on fuel for a year.

We left Houston, Texas in early May and arrived in Beaufort, South Carolina in mid August. Our GPS showed we have traveled 2212 miles over the ground since we left. We have dropped the anchor some 70 times and that also means hauling it back up. But this is really not very often for the distance we have traveled. We have put 352 hours on the engine at an average cost of $4.40 per hour for diesel consumption. We burned 352 gallons coincidentally so we burned 1 gallon per hour average on the entire trip. Another reason our fuel consumption was higher than we normally would use was the lack of sailing we were able to do. When offshore, we often had no wind and traveling the ICW we only used the sails to supplement the engine. We traveled more of the ICW than we would have liked because of poor weather conditions for long periods of time. The weather on the trip was some of the worst we have encountered in all of our cruising. The forecasts we were able to get were also some of the worst. Every trip is different and each budget we plan and the expenditures that ultimately come out of that particular trip are also different. And plan as we might, those unexpected costs can make or break any cruise unless you are fortunate enough to have a very large nest egg or a very steady income. More info on expenses for one of our longer cruises can be found at one of our earlier posts titled "Cruising On A Working Class Budget".

Fernandina Florida to Beaufort South Carolina

The engine repairs are finally done. Actually they have been done for about a week. We decided to hang around Fernandina for a bit longer, but not as long as we would have liked. It turns out that our insurance company was very upset that we were 90 miles south of where they wanted us to be. Never mind that the marina here at Tiger Point had hurricane cradles with tie downs to put us in if a major storm approached and never mind that Fernandina had not taken a direct hit in over 100 years, they wanted us someplace else and gave us 2 weeks to get there. Well, at least there was that. We took the time to do some other boat repairs while we were at Tiger Point. The VHF had not been acting up to its usual standards for a while so we replaced the antenna and the connector at the masthead and that seems to have fixed the problem. We did a few other minor projects and spent a little more time with our friends. But finally we had to get under way.