Controlling costs

[PierreR]

If you are within your true budget but you are just spending more than you think you should, well that's a good problem, all you need is counseling.

After posting my answers above I directed myself back to this statement. We have sticker shock over it but the money is still growing larger.
We do not eat out but once or so per month, even on the boat. Both of us have dietary restrictions that make that more difficult. Neither of us drink so there is not much use in going to a bar.

 

[Don L]

Fair enough but I'm still in the "stock up before you go" camp. It's never going to be easier (you may have a car, delivery, etc. in your home country), and the selection likely won't be better when you get where you are going.

Of course I still do shop locally as I go along, but always cram the boat to the rafters before shoving off initially. Have never regretted that.

Nothing wrong with that. The trick in he Bahamas is to know where the "major" stores are and to be flexible as to what you want as the US stuff is much more $$$ than Commonwealth. The next thing is you need to embrace rum over beer.

 

[mvweebles]

We cruise 100-120 days in a row every year. We stock up on everything we really like. We did not eat out for dinner even once this year and only twice last year

We've gone the other direction. We used to stock up but found we over provisioned. Easier and less wasteful to just shop locally and adapt to whatever is available. Plus it's fun. We do stock up on special items - for example. Horseradish for Bloody Mary's is impossible to find in Mexico so we bring it with us.

Peter

 

[ranger58sb]

The next thing is you need to embrace rum over beer.

 

[Jklotz]

We've gone the other direction. We used to stock up but found we over provisioned. Easier and less wasteful to just shop locally and adapt to whatever is available. Plus it's fun. We do stock up on special items - for example. Horseradish for Bloody Mary's is impossible to find in Mexico so we bring it with us.

Peter

That's part of the experience though, isn't it? What's the point of going to some far away location and seeking out a McDonald's?

 

[TBill36]

I have not fully investigated it, but the Safe Harbor deal appears interesting. Free transient dockage if space is available. I'm leery that the free slips are usually taken but would be a significant savings if you frequently can take advantage of it. There's also a discount on fuel and haul out services. Probably a great deal if you home slip is within the Safe Harbor network and maybe even worth joining if the transient deal really works. Think it was somewhere around $1500 to just join without being in a Safe Harbor home slip. Quite a few Safe Harbor marinas on the East Coast. Don't know what's on the West Coast. I'd like to hear from someone that has tried to take advantage of it.

 

[ranger58sb]

I have not fully investigated it, but the Safe Harbor deal appears interesting. Free transient dockage if space is available. I'm leery that the free slips are usually taken but would be a significant savings if you frequently can take advantage of it. There's also a discount on fuel and haul out services. Probably a great deal if you home slip is within the Safe Harbor network and maybe even worth joining if the transient deal really works. Think it was somewhere around $1500 to just join without being in a Safe Harbor home slip. Quite a few Safe Harbor marinas on the East Coast. Don't know what's on the West Coast. I'd like to hear from someone that has tried to take advantage of it.

We did a 4-month (Dec-Mar) winter membership in Charleston a couple years ago, and it was a good deal. Not just the slip there, but also transients slips on the way to/from, and the member price on diesel was much better than street prices. There were only a few SH marinas en route, but we didn't have any trouble getting a slip in each. Then too, that particular membership deal was good for the rest of the year, too, and we were able to take advantage of that several times after we returned home.

Aside from that kind of deal, not aware of any membership you can just decide to "join" without a home slip involved -- or in our case, a long-term winter slip.

We only couldn't get into one SH marina -- local to us - that we would have tried... a combination of our scheduling and their primo location/facilities.

-Chris

 

[mvweebles]

That's part of the experience though, isn't it? What's the point of going to some far away location and seeking out a McDonald's?

You had to use McDonald's as an example? A good friend whom I otherwise deeply admire would perish without McDonald's. Partly because he's a picky eater, partly because he's scared of food poisoning (in all candor, few Americans are as willing to explore street food as we are).

Thar said, someday we'll make it to the Bahamas. Having been there, I wasn't impressed with the restaurant scene and the grocery store (the one in Georgetown) didn't have a great selection - all came by ship one day a week from the US. Pre-provisioning makes sense there. If I were doing The Loop, Id provision some special stuff (Biscoff cookies in bulk from Costco) but wouldn't go overboard on regular provisions.

@Jklotz - I seem to recall you mentioned elsewhere you rode a BMW GS style bike down through South America. Unless you were in the Andes, you didn't have refrigeration not much space to store goods. Far cry from your NP45....

Topic here is controlling costs. Probably the number thing someone can do is to choose a smaller boat. At 36-ft, Weebles is welcomed anywhere. We obviously didn't buy her 30-years ago aiming to cruise long distances, but she's proven much less expensive to berth, repair, store, and repair (yes, I said that twice) then the 50-60 footers we've hanged with. She's small enough that we usually wash her ourselves whereas bigger boats are too big and cost several hundreds to have washed even in Mexico. Or you spend two days washing them or just let them gather salt and crud. Bottom cleaning is the same story.

Want to control costs? Get a smaller boat.

Peter

 

[Jklotz]

@Jklotz - I seem to recall you mentioned elsewhere you rode a BMW GS style bike down through South America. Unless you were in the Andes, you didn't have refrigeration not much space to store goods. Far cry from your NP45....

On the bike, I'd carry some bread and peanut butter in case I couldn't find anything, you know, some small snacks when I wasn't close to a town. Eating out is so cheap down there and experiencing the food is a big part of experiencing the culture, I'd have hated to have missed out on that during my trip, even if I had a giant fridge. Strangely enough, when I crossed borders, sometimes they'd inspect my bike and make me throw away any food products. Once I came out of the customs office to find some guy spraying down my bike with what I'm assuming was some sort of insect spray? Those were some fun times!

 

[ScottC]

We eat out a LOT while cruising months at a time. We use a dining/discount app that's only in Europe called "The Fork". Lots of restaurants participate and have certain time periods where they offer 20-50% discounts -- and all the while awarding points toward a €50 discount in the future. I'm sure there are similar programs in the US. One way we maximize the value of a deeply discounted dining experience -- at some restaurants -- is to order way more food then we could possibly eat that evening with the precise intent of taking the "leftovers" back to the boat for warming in the microwave. Some nights out have netted 1-2 more nights of dining on the boat Obviously, this only works well with foods that lend themselves to reheating.

 

[a_real_journey]

Tipping may seem counterproductive, but I've found you usually get back more than you give in the long run, especially dock hands.

I’m a dock hand. This is a very true statement. Showing a little extra kindness to the hands goes a long way: a sincere & specific “thank you”; a tip that’s a little beyond the expected; a paper plate of cookies from that combo convection oven .

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard co-workers say, “That guy never tips.” On the other hand, one owner is known to bring a dozen donuts to the dock hands every year he’s hauled out for winter. No one likes his boat. Everyone appreciates the owner. The donuts couldn’t cost more than $15–once a year!—but everyone notices and likes the guy.

 

[amapola]

We keep our boat at our home dock. When we cruise, we anchor out and eat meals on board most of the time. We almost never order alcoholic beverages when we eat out.

 

[La Sirena]

Costco is already a pretty good savings of many grocery stores in the U.S., and even more over the ones in the Bahamas. Let's start with beer. Budweiser is about $75 in the Bahamas, and what, $20 at Costco? Then there is chips and crackers, meats, rice, frozen veggies....

Most of the grocery stores in the "family islands" have really bad quality food at a very high price and not much of it. The best deals in the Bahamas are rum and fresh caught fish (even cheaper if you catch it yourself).

What isn't expensive (until maybe 2026) is slips in the Bahamas. We anchor out and never get a slip and rarely a mooring ball.

I recorded my costs on each on my trips to the Bahamas and didn't show a huge price difference really. Certainly no where near 50-100%. It made a great difference in what you chose to get stuff and where you got it.

 

[Jklotz]

The best deals in the Bahamas are rum and fresh caught fish (even cheaper if you catch it yourself).

As I understand it, they now want $300 per month for a fishing permit over there. When we go over, I won't be doing any fishing!