The Cost of Owning a New Boat - "Seas The Day" (Catalina 315) First Year Costs

(Image Credit:  Wealthmanagement.com)

I think it is somewhere in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus talks about tallying up the costs of starting something before undertaking a project.  I'm not sure He had boating in mind when talking about this, but I think it applies.

Seas The Day is now one-year old and since she's scheduled to go in the water this weekend, I thought it would be cool to tally up all the costs from her first year - just so we could understand were we have been and what we are in for.

We didn't approach this buying a boat thing lightly... we had heard all the stories about BOAT meaning "Break Out Another Thousand" or that a boat was "a hole in the water that you throw money into".  We knew that besides the cost of owning the boat, we were committing to a LOT of additional costs.  Of course, it sometimes is astounding to see it all in black and white.  Still, we have appreciated seeing other sailing blogs and forums discuss their costs, so we'll share ours here.

Before I get into specifics, here is a bit about us.  We are both professionals with well-paying higher-pressure corporate jobs and the main resource limitation we have is heartbeats (i.e, time).  Neither of us are getting younger and we both were starting to feel that it was time to enjoy some of the fruits of our labor.  We're in this hobby for fun, relaxation and enjoyment, so our philosophy is that if we enjoy a job, we take it on, but if we don't and someone else is doing it for their income (especially if that person lives in our town of Keyport, NJ), then we hire it out to support the local economy and "share our blessings" so to speak.

Now back to costs.  I'm breaking the costs into 3 categories - ONE TIME COSTS (e.g., down payment, purchasing the mooring, initiation fees at the yacht club, and winter cover), RECURRING OWNERSHIP COSTS which are costs of having the boat that we expect will happen each year (mortgage payments, yacht club dues, launch fees, insurance, maintenance, etc.), and finally EXCURSION COSTS which are the add-on costs associated with each trip (Marina charges, provisions, restaurants, fuel, etc.).

Here is a quick overview of our first-year expenses.

ONE TIME COSTS

Buying Seas The Day was expensive.  The cost of the boat (including 3 days for a delivery captain and an ASA course) came in between $175K and $200K.  (Note:  We love our dealers and suppliers, and I don't want to upset them by posting their prices, so we'll round things from time to time.)  We never actually parted with $175,000, though, (we financed it) so we have a down payment and ongoing mortgage costs.  Presumably, when the time comes to sell it, there will be residual value that will pay off the remaining loan (and hopefully have something left over).

We wanted to put a large percentage down, so the down payment was by far the biggest one-time cost which was not quite $46K.  Mooring costs, yacht club initiation fees, and the purchase of a winter cover add to this bringing the total one-time costs to a little over $51,000.

RECURRING COSTS

I round up the mortgage slightly at $1000/month or $12K for the year.  That is half of the recurring costs.  Things like yacht club membership, mooring and launch fees, safety equipment, insurance and maintenance bring this total up to a little less than $24K for the year.  Noteworthy is that insurance is $1600, maintenance was $2800, mooring/launch/storage ran $2400 and the yacht club (counting event fees, etc.) was $1600.  We include the yacht club membership because that gives us access to incredibly reasonable mooring fees and because boating is social in nature and the Keyport Yacht Club is a great group of people!  Also included in recurring costs are safety items, courses, boat accessories and clothing.

EXCURSION COSTS

This ranges depending on what we do.  The three day delivery (motoring) excursion cost $1100 (lots of fuel, marinas, food and restaurants), while a day out on the Raritan Bay costs us approximately $40 (snacks/beverages & maybe 2 or 3 quarts of fuel).  A simple overnighter can range from $175 (visiting a sister club and going to a nice restaurant) to $725 (going into Jersey City at an upscale marina and restaurant).  We did 25 trips, spending a total of $2800 on excursion costs.

The Benefits

So what have we done for all this?  In 2014, we took 25 trips ranging from a 4-hour evening sail to a 3-day excursion around NJ.  We spent 750 man-hours on the boat (I alone spent 230hrs).  We had a grand time with a wide circle of friends and learned a lot about how we communicate as a couple and face the slight dangers we encountered while learning the ropes (literally) of a new boat.  It was a fun and thrilling summer!


Finally, I wanted to express this in a way I could grasp... as a sort of "cost per day on the water" sort of figure or some other average.  For this, I added 1/20th of the one-time costs (I figure a Catalina 30ft sailboat should last at least as long as the mortgage - they have a great track record), add that to the yearly recurring costs and divide by the number of days we spent on the boat.  Finally we add an "average" excursion cost to that.

That comes out to be $1000 per day spent on the boat.

Here's another way to try and understand the costs... 1/20 of the one-time added to the total of the recurring and excursion costs and divide by 12 months.

That comes out to be $2400 per month.

Both of these numbers help us to plan and understand.  If we want to lower the "per use" cost, we invite lots of people to share it with us and go out frequently.  If we get busy and only go out a few times, that "per use" number will climb very quickly, so that encourages us to maximize our sailing season.

The "per month" amount tells us what to budget for upcoming years.  While that's essentially a nice mortgage payment, right now we can do that.  If we cease to be able to handle that, we need to plan to sell quickly.  (Interestingly, if I were to do ALL of the maintenance myself, that would only drop the $2400 "monthly" cost down to $2175.)

But there's really no way to get around the total... in order to enjoy this fabulous year on a brand new 31ft sailboat, a total of $78,000 passed through our hands.

So... are we seizing the day?  or are we being foolish?  I can't say yet, but I do know I had an absolute BLAST last year and I can't wait for Seas The Day to get back in the water and our 2015 season to start.  If you're friends or family, I hope you join us and help us maximize our value from this investment.

Spring Commissioning

Finally, during the past few weeks I could feel that spring is getting here and summer isn't too far behind.  In addition to the night table reading stack from back in the Fall, I added the latest ASA book... this one for ASA 104.  Someday I might actually take that course, but since it's aimed to teach me how to take care of a boat that I've been taking care of for the past year... I figured it might be a good reference to have, but for now we'll learn by doing.

Reading aside, getting the boat ready seems to be the reverse process of winterizing it.  Jim, our friend from Marine Engine Service, came by to do the mechanical commissioning.  This included changing some fuel filters, connecting the batteries, checking out the system and running the engine up to temperature.  

After Jim was finished, the guys from Hans Pedersen & Sons took over and did the bottom painting and cleaned and waxed the hull.  The area below the waterline (blue below) is painted with a special coating that's toxic to barnacles and other marine life.  This helps keep the bottom clean (Diver Dan - yes, that's his name), also helps in this regard (coming and cleaning the bottom each month while it's in the water).  Keeping the bottom clean allows us to sail faster.



(Notice the great job they did removing the rust stains from the Keyport lettering!)



Jim had left me one job of removing a cover on the shaft intake and cleaning out all the marine life living in there.  I took care of that and then my remaining chores during this time were to work on making the insides presentable.  I also put up the blue canvas covers and finally, updated the electronics to current software versions.  I still need to install up to date maps, but I can do that once Seas The Day is in the water.





John came by and we loaded up some items we were storing in our condo for the winter.  The biggest of these was the new spinnaker sail (which takes up most of the cockpit locker).  Despite the ladder, it's much easier load and store things while the ship isn't moving around too much.

Finally the boatyard seems to have some devices to keep the birds at bay.  We remembered that Seas The Day was a target of the birds when first brought to Keyport.  We need a bird solution for this year.  A few of the guys from KYC suggested simple colorful pennants loosely tied so they flap around in an unpredictable way... supposedly the birds don't like it.  Since these were only $20 at West Marine, and the $100 anti-bird solutions is still lying at the bottom of the bay (after the first storm it encountered),

So there she is... one year old and looking good.  Seas The Day is scheduled to be put in the water this coming week.  Hopefully, I've done my parts correctly and she doesn't sink when the travel lift lowers her in.

Spring is Coming! Removing the Winter Cover.

So instead of checking in with Seas The Day every month or so, it has been 4 months since we last checked it in December.  We had a very "wintry" winter with lots of snow and ice and there was no way I was going to try and climb the ladder (right next to the bulkhead where the TravelLift removes the boats from the water) in the ice and snow.  We did drive through the yard from time to time and all seemed well.  Still... the first time back, I was worried if I did everything OK or if I'd find a mess of mildew from moisture getting in and not venting well.

So I had John bring a ladder over this morning and on today's nice 70s day with light winds (around 7 to 10 knots) we stopped by Hans Pedersen and Son's boatyard to see how she fared.  There were a few others there and after saying hello to Brandon and Melissa from Keyport Yacht Club, we opened her up and peeked inside.  Surprisingly (maybe not) all was well... not too damp... everything looked in order.  There was even some Kanberra Gel left in the containers!

Now originally I had planned to ask Pedersens to remove the winter cover and set up the canvas, but since it was a nice day, we decided to give it a try and remove the covers and set up the dodger (canvas in front of the cockpit) ourselves.

The rest of the photos are more for us to document what we did (and so we can set it up again next year).  We started by undoing all the ropes that held the cover tight (untying them from the port side and leaving the ropes on the starboard side of the covers), then we had to cut all the plastic ties holding things in place.  Note to self... we need to bring back the toolbag as little scissors don't really cut it.

Is my hair REALLY that grey???

Vicky was much more agile at this than I was...

We noted how the ties went around the jib, how they went around the shrouds, and the fact that the spinnaker halyard was used to support the cover in the front.

After getting everything lose, we folded it all up and put up the dodger.  Brandon came onboard and checked out everything... all the lines and sails look to be in good condition.  So after his visit, we folded things up and headed back.  Enough for one day!

A Quick Visit

Just before we headed out for Christmas travels, we stopped by Seas The Day to make sure everything was OK. Fortunately it was, so I used the opportunity to open up a few containers of Kanberra Gel (a natural anti-mildew treatment). The new winter cover looked great, so we sealed her up. We will repeat this check from time to time during the winter. 

Winter...

Seas The Day is all buttoned up.  Winterization was completed and the winter cover put in place in mid November.  Our role now is to check it from time to time.

So what does a sailor do during the winter?  Well we could travel south and go sailing (and we might still do that), but for now this sailor is going to brush up on his theoretical knowledge.

Here's a photo of my nightstand. 

Chapman's Piloting, The Annapolis Book of Seamanship, books on diesel engines, boat systems, navigation and nautical rules of the road... these should keep me busy for the next 3 months.

Oh, and in the glass?  That's Jefferson Reserve - Ocean Aged bourbon, of course.

Winterizing

Seas The Day is finally on the hard...

We stopped over at Hans Pedersen & Son's Marina the other day and found her in her cradle.

Today, I took the day off from work to meet up with Jim, our Yanmar guy who was going to service and winterize the diesel engine.  We have a 3 cylinder Yanmar (model 3YM30) that sits under the companionway stairs.  Basically today he checked it out after running in the first set of "hours" (they don't refer to "miles" on boats for some reason), and prepared it to hibernate for the winter.

He checked the valves, shaft alignment, then we started it up (I wasn't expecting that... we're on land). But the reason for that was we needed to flush the engine with fresh water (get all the salt out of the cooling system).  He then filled a bucket with biodegradable anti-freeze and ran the engine until that was all sucked into the innards, then finally he changed the oil.  It was cool to watch this take place and see some of the bits of the engine - though I'll probably never see it again.  (Yes, should we ever decide to take off across the seven seas, I'll need to learn a lot about diesel engines.  Right now I have a Yanmar guy and a BoatUS towing policy.  If the engine doesn't work, we sail and then call for a tow & repair.)

At the end, I took a few photos of Seas The Day's bottom.  There seems to be a "weird" (to me) discoloration & pitting on the lower half of the rudder and the leading edge of the wing keel.  So I sent a note off to the dealer to see what was up with that.

Seas The Day's cradle. Below, you can see barnacle growth on the propeller & zinc.

This is the pitting on the lower half of the rudder (above) and on the leading edge of the wing keel (below).

Hey, there are holes in our boat!  These (above) are water intake to flush the head (toilet) and grey water outlet from the head sink.  Those (below) are the macerator (toilet holding tank pump - "black water") outlet and the grey water outlet from the galley sink.

Above is the famous "speedometer" wheel (the thing that was changed in the video a few weeks ago). I spun it by hand and a bunch of dead creepy crawlies fell out.

Soon it will all be put to hibernate for the winter...

In the Sling

I stopped by Hans Pedersen & Sons marina during lunch today to drop off a check and found Seas The Day up in a sling on the travel lift.  I happened to have my camera handy so I grabbed a few shots.