The cost of cruising is always a hot debate. The general rule is that the smaller you go, the less expensive. Every foot of boat increases costs exponentially. The Albin Vega is about the smallest one can go in, and we think our costs reflected that.
Many people are curious about these things, and we hope this is helpful for any planners out there.
Amelia has tackled the ominous mega-binder of everything Velocir to bring you a pretty fair outline of our costs.
Ways We Saved Money:
– Grant’s employee discount at Bacon Sails, so most of our budget was slashed 30%
– Buying a large portion of our materials and gear secondhand.
– Wedding gifts (tools, cookware, safety gear, SPOT, AIS etc)
– Lived with family and on Velocir while working
– Completed all installation and work ourselves
– Under age 26 (health care covered through parents)
– No debt to pay
– We were given hand-me-downs and many materials were lying around the family workshop
Outfitting Costs:
How much do you spend before you even leave!?! Many people, Grant included, are very wary of knowing the actual cost of outfitting Velocir. Well, Amelia can’t calculate it 100% anyways because we didn’t keep perfect track. We’d also like to point out that we went above and beyond in preparation. It was worth it for us, but many of these things certainly do not need to be completed before going cruising. It was as much a journey as it was an education. Velocir was not purchased to go cruising. Amelia got it with her Dad as a father-daughter project and completely re-built it from the hull up. A budget-minded cruiser would probably buy an already outfitted boat to save time and money. But then you can’t have it “your way” and know every inch of your boat. Ah, compromise.
Approximate Total Cost: $27,000 (without employee discount 30% more)
To see a slideshow of the work done on Velocir click here.
To give a sense of our discount here are a few stats:
– Our New Sails: $2768 (Retail $5500)
– Our Chain: 85 cents a foot (Retail $3 afoot)
Cruising Costs:
Our cruising costs are 100% accurate. Every receipt was recorded into a spreadsheet and reviewed monthly. Our goal was to spend no more than $1000 a month. As you can see, the average cost per month was $920, and could have been less if not for our towing incident! The total we spent during 8 months was $7421. It turns out, once the boat is cruising-ready, it is the cheapest thing we can do. (Not many lifestyles where you do not pay to sleep at night.)
Month 1 (Annapolis, MD to Wrightsville Beach, NC)
We are still working out the kinks, but focusing on sailing not motoring.
Boat Items: cleaning supplies, hose fittings, fasteners, extra manual water pump, deck wash pump
Misc Items: surf wax, cleaning supplies, books, postcards, fishing supplies, fishing license, etc.
Month 2 (Wrightsville Beach, NC to St. Augustine, FL)
A new toilet takes a chunk out of the budget.
Boat: new Nature Head composting toilet, hose, installation parts
Dockage/Mooring: St. Augustine
Misc: fishing supplies, leisure
Month 3 (St. Augustine, FL to Marsh Harbor, Abacos)
We stock up on food before the Bahamas, get snorkeling gear & pay customs fees.
Boat: oil, fasteners, hardware, paint
Dockage/Mooring: Cocoa, FL
Misc: Bahamian Customs, snorkeling gear, fishing gear, rum
Month 4 (Marsh Harbor, Abacos to Governors Harbor, Eleuthera)
Off on our own, not buying stuff.
Dockage/Mooring: Spanish Wells Mooring
Misc: rum, beer, taxi
Month 5 (Governors Harbor Eleuthera to Georgetown, Exumas)
By a grocery store again, enjoy fresh food!
Misc: rum, ice, festival tshirts
Month 6 (Georgetown, Exumas to Morgans Bluff, Andros)
Get stuck in Andros with no anchorage, fill-up on fuel for crossing.
Dockage/Mooring: Fresh Creek, Andros 3 nights
Misc: straw market, Androsia
Month 8 (Fort Pierce, FL to Morehead City, NC)
Towing incident, then resort to motoring to get through the ICW.
Boat: tow offshore, hoses
Dockage/Mooring: Fort Pierce, FL (towing related), St. Augustine mooring & NC
Misc: books, taxi to customs, local art
Month 9 (Morehead City, NC to Annapolis, MD)
Fuel: $56
VELOCIR 
Wow! Wow! Wow!!! We needed this! You guys are awesome! It helps us too!! Hope you two are doing great!!!
Stephanie
Posted by CarlosNSteph@aol.com | June 12, 2012, 16:09Hi guys,
You sure seem to have met yor goal. Congrats… As you two did I’venoticed that many other cruisers spend most of their time at anchor… How real is that for an older couple?
One of the thingsI wonders about water and how readily it’s available. While we were in the Abico… Some marinas charged for water and in some of the larger places it was town water. What was youreeriance?
Dan Kerr
Sv. ERIN KJARR
Toronto , Canada.
Posted by Dan Kerr | June 12, 2012, 17:55Hi Dan,
Nice to hear from you! We think anchoring is for everyone. It is not physically demanding, just mentally stressful in the beginning. At first it was frustrating for us, especially around other boats and in difficult conditions, but about halfway through the trip it became natural and easy. It is getting yourself in and out of the dinghy, and lifting food/water/fuel that can be more of a physical challenge. Docking is more appealing because you have easy access to restaurants, laundry, showers and shops. But for us we liked anchoring better. We never had a problem finding a spot to tie the dinghy, although we had to be creative in a few places. (Skipper Bob guides and Active Captain help immensely). Maneuvering in and out of docks, making reservation and getting docks lines and fenders set up and put away every day seemed like more work. Also there was no check-out time at anchor!
Water was about 20-40 cents a gallon at marinas. Because we planned with our Explorer Charts (which give information on each town) we didn’t pay for water. This meant we had to use town water usually and lug it all around rather than tying up at a dock and using a hose. We just liked the challenge of saying “we never paid for water.” Our total tankage was 80 gallons, but we only needed our 30 and 25 gallon tanks, the other 25 was just a nice back-up we never used. We used about 10-15 gallons a week. We kept water on deck for showers separate from drinking water. All the water was good quality. We filled up for free in the Abacos at my parent’s rental house when they visited for the Holidays, then again in Governors Harbor, Eleuthera (town spicket), a little in Blackpoint, Exumas and in Georgetown, Exumas (at town dinghy dock). Also, we knew people who had cruising friends with water makers and they got all their water from them. I’m sure anyone would help in a pinch!
Best,
Amelia & Grant
Posted by VELOCIR | June 12, 2012, 18:34Thanx, I remember reading you installed additional water storage. But using 10-15 gals a week, is it really necessary for 80 gal , do you think?My boat has a 30 gal cap. And I would expect to carry maybe another 20 in Jerry cans or as I noticed you used colpsable containers ( I like ) which is better for stowage.
Dan.
Posted by Dan Kerr | June 18, 2012, 17:20Hey Lynn & Larry…I mean Amelia & Grant,
You guys are great! Wonderful, information spanning the cruising world. I also enjoy the new “I’m on a boat” video series. Keep up the good work. You have a loyal following.
Posted by perfent | June 20, 2012, 16:34Really enjoyed your YouTube video of the rebuild. In 1976 I purchased hull number 28 with the plan of participating in the first single handed Transpac 1978. I sailed LaniKai for a year before deciding to do what you did…REBUILD…I even popped the deck off. It was an arduous process. With a week to go before the event I was still finishing the hardware installation. Did my offshore qualifier 200 miles on a long tack from Santa Cruz to SF. BTW I had a mast step like yours for lowering the mast going under the bridge from upper Harbour to lower Harbour…never a problem.
Short version sailed the race 17 days…and back in November getting rolled over in huge seas. Very seaworthy boat. More later.
Posted by Don Keenan | February 16, 2013, 22:13This is my second post tonight. If you have a direct email I will look for my pictures of the 1977 rebuild of Lani Kai and send you an outline of what I used for self steering (Monitor), engine (albin gasoline), and electronics (nothing but basic lights), and navigation ( Tamaya sextant/ NA/ watch) Loved the boat but, sold it and bought a Rocketship for the nest SSTP 1980 (Olson 30).
Kids are both CU grads and I am getting ready to retire (Boulder, CO). I am now looking at getting back into cruising and the Albin Vega is the perfect boat. My introduction to the boat was meeting John Neal, “Log of the Mahina”, off Lanai while cruising with friends on a Hinckley 35 (Santa Cruz to and around Hawaiian Islands and back to SC 1974). Hope to find the photos so I can digitize and share with you (never thought there was another similar insane person). You will have a great life cruising…and couldn’t have selected a better boat.
Don Keenan
Boulder, CO
Posted by Don Keenan | February 16, 2013, 22:39