Owning a boat, annual costs.

[JimG]

Apologies if this question has been asked on another thread (the search feature revealed nothing).

I am seriously considering buying a small boat. The initial outlay is not a concern but how much would I be looking at spending in annual fees? I realise this is a 'how long is a piece of string' question so any ball park figures would be appreciated.

Any actual figures from existing boat owners would be even better.

Thanks in advance.

[Guest]

I think you'll get plenty of informed replies to that question Jim.

 

You may need to be a bit more specific than just "small boat" though.

 

We're probably taking about something larger than a dinghy, so the biggest annual outlay will be the mooring rental.   £900 to £2000......

[JimG]

I'm thinking a two berth, back steerer, no bigger than 27ft.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Jim,

 

It will be a lot less than our running costs on Ranworth Breeze a 34 foot Birchwood 340AC, without fuel and cleaning costs our syndicate boat costs around £12000 a year to keep on the water.

 

I would estimate your costs might be as follows:-

 

River toll                                     £180-220

Mooring                                      £1000-2000 

Insurance                                   £ 300

Prop insurance (Maffetts)           £65

Breakdown Insrance (Boulters)  £65-100

Electric if its on a meter              £100

Gas refills                                   £34-68

Winter maintenance                   £1000

Fuel (who knows)

 

At the lower cost that is £2744 and at the higher cost £3853.

The above does not include any boat lifts, antifoul, anodes and assumes that you will be doing a lot of the day to day maintenance yourself.

 

If you start adding £60 per hour plus parts for a blocked toilet or a service call on your engine, batteries etc you can see why most boat owners  see their cash being paid out and never staying in their pockets.

 

We have currently a faulty bow thruster, I had Maffetts look at this yesterday to make sure that nothing was in the bow thruster tube jamming the thruster. This is not the case so I am sending our spare bow thruster down to Broom's for fitting ASAP, which will incur having the boat lifted (around £340) plus two guys for the best part of the day removing the old unit (so we can refurbish it) and fit the stock one I estimate between £756- £1000 plus VAT plus the lift. If we did not have a spare bow thruster you could add another £2000-£2500 on that price.

 

Boating is a joy but the costs can be huge.

 

Regards

Alan

[C.Ricko]

cheaper to hire (from us) and you don't spend the week cleaning dead leaves and green off your boat!

 

perhaps if you moor with us and we do the maintenance then that is ok. :

[JimG]

Thanks all, I was hoping to spend less that £6000 a year so it's sounding feasible so far.

[JimG]

cheaper to hire (from us) and you don't spend the week cleaning dead leaves and green off your boat!

 

perhaps if you moor with us and we do the maintenance then that is ok. :

ha ha, don't panic it won't be for a while yet, just putting the feelers out. I always hire from you anyway, Ibiza in a few weeks, Bolero next August

[ranworthbreeze]

cheaper to hire (from us) and you don't spend the week cleaning dead leaves and green off your boat!

 

perhaps if you moor with us and we do the maintenance then that is ok. :

Hi Clive,

 

I recon that you have a red flshing light in your office if anyone mentions buying a boat.

 

I would have thought with all of your resources that you have not dipped your toe into the boat share market?

 

Regards

Alan

[Matt]

[quote name="ranworthbreeze" post="

We have currently a faulty bow thruster, I had Maffetts look at this yesterday to make sure that nothing was in the bow thruster tube jamming the thruster. This is not the case so I am sending our spare bow thruster down to Broom's for fitting ASAP, which will incur having the boat lifted (around £340) plus two guys for the best part of the day removing the old unit (so we can refurbish it) and fit the stock one I estimate between £756- £1000 plus VAT plus the lift. If we did not have a spare bow thruster you could add another £2000-£2500 on that price.

Regards

Alan

[mbird]

Apart from the costs already mentioned, it depends how handy you are personally with mechanics etc. Servicing costs can be kept down by doing your own, even if you just do the oil, filter, fuel filters, belts etc yourself. Maintenance items like changing anodes etc are also very easy to do yourself with a little knowledge.

[C.Ricko]

Hi Alan,

We have thought about it but are too busy building for our own fleet, it is something we would consider for the future though.

[Mowjo]

Jim! our Hampton 25 cost us around £1500 a year, for moorings, river tax and insurance, add to that around £200 for a yearly service, and as we were out all the time around £200 for diesel, £150 for pump outs and around £50 for electric cards, So ours worked out about £2200 a year, and don't forget to factor in your fuel cost for getting back and forth to the boat, and do what Dave says and have a boat fund to cover things like the BSS every four years and some back up money if something goes wrong with the boat, £3000 should more than cover it, so could you please send me the spare £3000,, Frank,,,,,

[BroadScot]

Interesting facts and figures showing here, should you add an Accountants fees also? Or does SWMBO do that part?

 

When Ted Heath was PM I thought about buying a boat. The idea for me, as I have said on here before, it just was not feasible. If you live over 300 miles away its a fair bit of car wear and tear, as well as fuel. Yet another add on to the costs.

 

I'll stick to hiring. But good luck to Jim and anyone else who takes the plunge into the empty pocket club.   

 

Iain.

[Mowjo]

Iain! it's SWMBO's Job to do the accounts, I just pay for it,, Frank,,,

[SGWilko]

I was hoping to spend less that £6000

 

Good luck.  It's like F1 teams - if you want to leave F1 a millionaire, enter it as a billionaire!

 

Edit to state that was post # 50, yippeeeeeeee!!!

[SGWilko]

Iain! it's SWMBO's Job to do the accounts, I just pay for it,, Frank,,,

 

How true - I wear the trousers in my household, the missus tells me which ones to wear!!!

[JimG]

Hi guys,

many many thanks for all the information, facts and figures you've all provided. Very helpful indeed!!

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

An excellent thread this one, and one that i can perfectly relate too.

 

Due to financial constraints, when my investments payed out earlier this year, i`d planned to buy a boat myself. Then when i worked out it would cost a realistic minimum of £3,000 ish per annum to keep, and that Karen and i would be very unlikely to use it for mor than 3 weeks a year, it WAS as Clive (C Ricko) says, cheaper to hire, so we decided to go down the syndicate route, and bought a share in Lightning. Now we get 4 weeks every year, which we probably won`t use, but for an annual share of the (proffesional) running costs of around £800 - 1,000 per annum.

 

You do the maths, as they say in the tv ad.

[JimG]

I have thought about a syndicate and haven't ruled out the idea completely. I just love the idea of owning my own even if it means being poor(er).

[JennyMorgan]

I would very seriously considering hiring, as Clive has suggested.

£3,000.00 per year to own and run a small cruiser is probably not that far off the mark.

In reality you might get eight weekends per year and maybe two weeks holiday out of your boat. Sounds great, £300.00 per trip, but it doesn't end there. My daughter lives and works in London with her husband. It costs them £70.00 there and back so thats £700.00 travelling per year. As someone has already said, you do the maths.

Judging by the number of green boats on the Broads the cost of travelling is a real kill.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Owning your own boat is great if you`re retired, or if you live less than an hour away, but seeing as we have a 500+ mile and around 7-8 hours round trip on a clea run, it`s far too far away to be able to do regular long weekends. So, like you, we wanted to own our own, but did the sensible thing.

[Matt]

You can always buy another share when you retire Neil!

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

You can always buy another share when you retire Neil!

 

 

It`s funny you should mention that Matt? :naughty:

[Matt]

Dave,

Sounds ideal to me! However, as a family we want to go and do other holidays as well. You also failed to mention the small matter of capital outlay!

Although I do see Dawn Horizon is for sale as "POA". Always liked that style of boat.

Clive-give us a clue, what are we talking? Change out of £25k

Edited to revalue the price having had a better look!

[BroadScot]

I have thought about a syndicate and haven't ruled out the idea completely. I just love the idea of owning my own even if it means being poor(er).

Cancel poorer Jim, insert SKINT!

 

 

Iain.