Boating and cost

[SWG]

Well, I'm a bit of a newbie to this sort of thing. I have been canoeing before quite a few times, but I’ve been wanting to go a bit farther.

But before I get to that there are some things I think I need to know. Based on what I read/hear, I need to register a boat if it has a motor. And I have to pay property tax on the boat.

As far as I know, I thought you didn’t need to pay tax on a small canoe... so is that different for larger boats? (other than class A). Or am I just lost ?

Anyways, I was kinda wondering how much it cost you guys (general ballpark range) in about ten years time.

I know I'm far from it... but it's my dream to live on a boat hopefully even after retirement.

[Poida]

Definition of a boat:

A hole in the water that you throw money into.

[Toot]

Originally Posted by SWG

Anyways, I was kinda wondering how much it cost you guys (general ballpark range) in about ten years time.

Depends on the size of the boat. The bigger, the more expensive, and it is not a linear progression. The cost shoots up significantly. One member here said that the cost nearly doubles when going from 40 to 50 feet.

Retiring on a boat sounds nice, but you have to determine, for yourself, what your aspirations are. Are you looking to have a palacial boat docked alongside the heart of a large city? Are you thinking you would be content with a small 25-footer with simple accomodations, docked out 40 miles from the city. Will the boat be a dock-condo? Or do you want to do heavy sailing across oceans? How old are you and how long do you plan to live? What about power? Sail or Steam...? as it were...

Slip fees, regular maintenance costs, insurance, upkeep, a new coat of paint every now and then, it all adds up... and more so on a 40 footer than a 20 footer.

Give people an idea of what you think you would want, and as they toss out ideas and facts and opinions, you can tweak your idea in light of what they have to say.

[Poida]

palacial ? is that a real word Toot?

[Raggi_Thor]

palatial, palatially, glacial, palatal, paschal...
Suggestions from the spelling control :-)

[Toot]

Originally Posted by Poida

palacial ? is that a real word Toot?

Whoops. That's palatial. I just went with the root word, figured it was probably correct.

You can make fun of my spelling mistakes if you'd like, but someday the bad spellers in the world will untie.

[Raggi_Thor]

I did not make fun of your spelling, more of the spelling control :-)
I know I write a lot of strange English, words I don't know and typoes when I'm in ahurry.

[MikeJohns]

I have had a variety of sized boats up to 57' on deck.

The bigger boats are great to liveaboard.

I currently have an Adams 45 "performance cruiser" A friend with an Adams 40 basicaly the same boat can never believe how much more palatial our boat is for the extra 5 feet.

We pay no tax on yachts here and my marina fees are $30/week with power. In many places in the world ( here as well ) you can anchor for free or pick up a cheap mooring. The yearly haulout is the one worth shopping around for. With bottom paint we spend around $500- $600/annum on the haulout.

Maintenance otherwise is a pot of paint every other year say $50 per year. Sails take a bit of repairing at times but that depends on age and condition.

It can be done cheaply but you save $$ by doing as much as you can yourself.

Good luck with the dream

[hartley]

Mike Johns ...Where are you situated ?? marina fees thirty dollars a week .lead me to it ,I think I will have to relocate .In my neck of the woods we pay for a little 30 footer eighty dollars on a weekly basis ,and very little less long term ,am I being shafted or what?. Anyway thats the going rate around here ,and at fancy Yacht club marinas it is much much higher ,at least you can front up to the bar and have a drink at said fancy Yacht club .And to top it all off you can"t do a damn thing ,as regards maintenance to the exterior of your boat ,such is life I guess........cheers

[Mychael]

In many places in the world ( here as well ) you can anchor for free or pick up a cheap mooring. /QUOTE]

Not anywhere in the Bays in Victoria that I frequent. Parks Victoria now has control of all mooring sites. You need to get their approval to "rent" your particular piece of water. The rent being $100 per year. They also require you to have your mooring installed by an approved person to a required specification and have the mooring annually re-inspected.

Personally I have no issue with any of this as with everything meeting the required standards I know I will have no problems should I ever need to make an insurance claim if my boat were to break her mooring or if I were hit by a drifting boat that broke from it's mooring.
Registration of mooring sites also prevents overcrowding or "poaching" of a persons mooring when it's left unattended.

Mychael

[MikeJohns]

Originally Posted by hartley

Mike Johns ...Where are you situated ?? marina fees thirty dollars a week .........

I'm 20 minutes south of Hobart My boat LOA is 50 feet. so we avoid the Marinas when on the mainland coast. Moorings are prety good if there is somewhere safe to stash the dinghy.

Cheers

[Poida]

Mychael

Over here is the same you have to buy a mooring but the Rottnest Island Board are the rippers.

You pay per year to have a mooring that is your exclusive mooring to use when you are on the island.

But, not only do they charge you for the mooring, they will also rent that mooring out to someone else on the chance that you may not be using it.

So you can pay for a mooring but if the person who has rented it for the year turns up to the mooring you have hired for the night, you have to move.

You also have to pay to drop anchor around the island.

[Mychael]

"WOW". That's sounds terrible. I own my mooring tackle which cost me $1,700 to have put down. I can also sell it to another person and they then take over the ownership and "water rent" to Parks Victoria. I'm not allowed to rent out my mooring to a third party without notification to and approval from Parks.
The other good thing with the system of moorings down here is that Parks have my boat details and my contact details so they could reach me in the event of something not being right with my boat.

Mychael

[Vega]

Originally Posted by MikeJohns

I have had a variety of sized boats up to 57' on deck.

The bigger boats are great to liveaboard.

I currently have an Adams 45 "performance cruiser" A friend with an Adams 40 basicaly the same boat can never believe how much more palatial our boat is for the extra 5 feet.

We pay no tax on yachts here and my marina fees are $30/week with power. In many places in the world ( here as well ) you can anchor for free or pick up a cheap mooring.

Mike, that’s a very nice sailing boat (I thought that you liked them very heavy and ugly) , obviously I was wrong.

About marina’s prices, the problem is not really at your own marina. Around here (Portugal) in the less expensive marinas, you can get a price around those figures, for a 40ft. In my marina, and the others I have been before, the price for week is around USD $30.

But that is only if you have a yearlong contract. If you pass by, they will charge you something like $25 a day, and in the previous marina, $40 a day. And these are prices of boats between 34ft and 40ft (10 and 12m). For a 45ft you will enter the next level of prices, the ones for the boats with more than 12 and less than 14m (more 30 or 40%).

And these prices are not expensive. In the Med, I have been charged, for a 36ft as high as $70 a day.

I agree with you about staying out of marinas, but I travel with two women, and the best I can manage is to stay out of a marina for 3 days, and most people stay a lot less time.

So, even if I agree with you about the size of the boat, regarding space, if you travel, particularly in Europe, the dimension of the boat can be a problem in what concerns expenses.

Don’t take me wrong, my next boat will be probably a 42 or 44ft, but I will not have a boat bigger than 14m. With one of those, in many marinas you will hit the last level of prices, particularly in small marinas, (bigger than 14m) and the difference in price is huge.

There are also more problems with big boats regarding costs. For instance, in Sardinia, they have raised a big luxury tax over all boats bigger than 14m (if I remember well) a tax that you have to pay when you enter their waters, regardless the time you are going to stay...and Sardinia is a very nice Island.

[Frosty]

[quote=) a tax that you have to pay when you enter their waters, regardless the time you are going to stay...and Sardinia is a very nice Island.[/QUOTE]

But surely that only if you are a Sardine?