Annual Cost of a Boat

[CanalWalker]

Other than the cost of buying a boat what would you say the annual cost of owning a legal, moored, regestered, safe boat was on the canal today?

[dor]

How long is a piec of string?

 

The licence will depend on the length, the mooring on length and area.

 

My 50 ft boat costs about £1250 a year for licence and mooring, for an offside online mooring in Cheshire (inc. early payment discount).

 

Diesel, gas maintenance etc will depend on how much you use the boat - allow a few hundred a year for reasonable usage without disasters.

 

Blacking every couple of years - couple of hundred if you do it yourself, 5 or 600 if you have it done.

 

All in all I reckon it costs me a couple of grand a year for a 50 ft boat that is used almost ecery weekend, plus a couple of week holidays and a few long weekends.

[alan_fincher]

How long is a piec of string?

 

The licence will depend on the length, the mooring on length and area.

 

My 50 ft boat costs about £1250 a year for licence and mooring, for an offside online mooring in Cheshire (inc. early payment discount).

 

Diesel, gas maintenance etc will depend on how much you use the boat - allow a few hundred a year for reasonable usage without disasters.

 

Blacking every couple of years - couple of hundred if you do it yourself, 5 or 600 if you have it done.

 

All in all I reckon it costs me a couple of grand a year for a 50 ft boat that is used almost ecery weekend, plus a couple of week holidays and a few long weekends.

Whereas if it were in a Marina somewhere in the south east, it can easily cost £2,000 to £2,500 for the mooring charges alone, (based on 50 foot, again)........

 

It's not that hard I guess, to understand why a lot of boats seem to "live" on the few miles of canal near here, with no other permanent mooring.

 

(I bet somebody can't let that remark go, but I'd love an expanation from at least a dozen boats moored in the same 3 mile length we cruised today as we did back in October, and which are never more than a mile or so from where last spotted!).

 

I'd also agree costs are highly dependant on how much you are prepared to, or feel able to do yourself. A DIY hull blacking or engine service will cost a fraction of having a boatyard do it for you, as Dor says.

 

And I don't think Dor mentioned insurance either - perhaps another couple of hunded a year ?

[Supermalc]

This is for a 20ft Mahogany Clinker.....NOT a narrowboat however.

 

As I only get the minimum Incap plus Income Support top up to £80.15 weekly (the lowest of anyone I've yet to meet) I manage by writing what I spend down. I reccomend this for anyone trying to save; it's amazing how much you waste.

 

However this does mean I know more or less what I have spent boating this year.

 

Boat Diesel = £109.80

Money spent boating (excluding diesel, but including mooring/licence/insurance) £945.50

 

This includes my 'pocket money' i.e. the odd pint and pub meal. It DOES NOT include road diesel for my car for journeys to and from the boat etc.

 

Given I have covered almost 900 miles, the equivalent of a quarter of our 4000 miles, have had a trip into the Wash as well as the Nottingham one I think it fair to say I've had value for money.

 

The propshaft cost me £34.32 plus a bit of diesel running around. To have had the job done in a yard would have cost an estimated £1500.

 

My moorings etc. come to almost £600 (made from boating last year) so I've change out of £500 (so a weekend in spain, or a few days a week boaitng for a year)

 

Pity my boating fund is empty, as next year looks bleak so far.

 

Passing through Bardney this year was a man on a 60ft widebeam. I beleve he lived on this 'workboat' and he said he had only had to pay about for a months licence. His anual charge on the 'Ripple' a river I had not heard of until then was only.......wait.......£10 a year. Cheap living or what.

[Keeping Up]

Other than the cost of buying a boat what would you say the annual cost of owning a legal, moored, regestered, safe boat was on the canal today?

It's been a bad year for us, so general maintenance has cost us a million pennies (£10k). Moorings, fuel, licence, etc cost another £2500. I've not included the cost of keeping warm; the figure would be meaningless because we don't live on board during the winter (wimps that we are).

 

Fortunately that's not typical. It can cost very little but for us it averages out around £3500 (not including the costs of keeping warm or purchase/loss of interest/etc). That's counting moorings/licence/insurance annually, fuel for travelling, plus blacking every other year, repainting every 7 years, and a realistic life estimated for electrical goods, batteries, woodwork, and so on. It would be at least another £1000 if we hadn't been able to buy ourselves a bit of a field and use it for a mooring.

 

And that's not including the cost of trying out all the canalside pubs!

[GRPCruiserman]

Cheapest boat I had was my 16 foot Yeoman kept on a trailer and launched when needed.

 

Cost: Waterway explorer licence, now £65.

Insurance, £55 per year

Engine Service, £100 per year

Petrol (depends on your mileage, you get 31 days (not consecutive) on an explorer licence, so five hours per day, 20 miles, 610 miles per year at about 10mpg, 61 gallons, £5 per gallon including two stroke oil, £305.

Storage FREE if at home,

Slipways, anything from FREE to £35 was the most I paid, average about £15 both ways, we had a ten day trip and a few long weekends, so about 10 launches in all, £150.

 

Total: £675 for the year, all in.

 

The year after I put in in the water for the year, this deducted the slipway and explorer licence and added mooring at £100 per year, BW online permit which now costs about £150, and the licence for the year (cheapest band), £321, cost, £356 extra,

 

Total: £1031 for the year.

 

We now have a 25 foot Dawncraft GRP boat which has added £66 to the licence, about £30 to the mooring permit, and £60 to the insurance. It is on the same jetty so that still costs £100. It also only does about 6mpg. Also because it is bigger and has a solid fuel stove we use it a lot more, so the petrol bill is higher, say another £200.

 

So for £1400 per year, all our holidays and weekends are there. A bit cheaper than your average narrowboat.

[anhar]

£4,000 per year around London for a 57 footer including a decent amount of cruising fuel. The largest element by far is the marina mooring on a leisure basis, ie. not live aboard.

 

regards

Steve

[Supermalc]

This is not a moan......it is however a fact.

 

I've just worked out my income and expense up to April, when my moorings etc. are due.

 

If I live on £13.39 a week, I can keep my boat there.

 

Sea trips anyone?