Realistic yearly running costs-gctid343045

[Guest]

Hi

I am thinking about buying a used Discovery 246 and I am curious what the yearly running costs would be. I will be mooring it through the season, which will cost $1,000, with haul out, winterization and storage costing another $1,000. How much more can I expect to pay? I have heard that you should expect to pay about 10% of the boat's purchase price each year in maintenance and upgrades. Does this seem reasonable? Because it will be kept in the water continuously for six months, the wear and tear will be higher than average.

[Guest]

Yes 10% is a good number unless you start upgrading electronics

[706jim]

At least you won't be buying canvas for the 246.

[Guest]

didn't see insurance?

[Guest]

Zero $$$ to...well.... there isn't an infinity symbol on my keyboard.

[Guest]

Cost will depend on a few things

How much work can you and are you willing to do yourself?

Age of boat and how well kept was it before you got?

How hard you plan to run engines. Keep it under 3/4 throttle and cost will stay way down. Run wide open all the time and be ready to replace engines and other parts often?

Use in fresh or salt

Biggest unknowns for us to answer is gas use and moorage fees

We run a 1989 2455 and not including gas and insurance figure $2000 per year for repairs with me doing all basics myself. Things like carb rebuilds I pay someone else to do. Dry moorage at club and club dues are around $1200 per year note this also covers launch fees and since trailer never leaves property I do not pay for tabs. Moorage fees going to diffrent marinas for weekend maybe another $200-300 using club receiprocity a time or two per year, we should use more often but often find the city marinas are closer to town and worth paying to save tread on shoes. Upgrades to boat maybe another $500 per year with much of that looking for bargins like a $20 teak rack for bathroom. Note these are real rough numbers since I really do not track 100%. Why ruin hobbie tracking every dollar. I also figure 1 day of working on or cleaning boat for every day of use. This last one is the one many who buy their boat for first time just do not budget for. Rule of thumb fellow boater said that I feel rings so true is with boat ownership you either need to like to tinker on boats or be willing to pay someone to do it for you. In this part of my life I do not mind the tinkering so boating pretty affordable in my mind

[Guest]

Like I said.......

[Guest]

Damn:surr $1000 a year for moorage where do you live? Here in Vancouver the cheapest I have found is $2300/year the most was 900/ month:hammer your a lucky man with the moorage.

[Guest]

One of the reasons I joined the club was for the cheap dry moorage. We have boats over 50 foot on trailers at our club and they launch using airport mules. Dry moorage for them is $70 per month plus monthly dues. Trailers are custom made using 2-4 mobile home axels. Some of those trailers cost as much as my boat. Course we became active soon after joining and love the freinds we have made doing club cruises and entertainment events. Even more has been all the great advice we have gotten from people who been boating since I was a child. I know they been boating that long since I grew up in the club.

[BLCarl]

I think most new boaters underestimate the cost of ownership. Even if there is estimated cost, they are seldom added up untill they feel the pain in the wallet. I'm often asked about fuel cost. For me the fuel is one of the pedictable and lessor expences. Towing the boat 30 mi to the ramp and back uses more fuel than the Mercrusier uses for a weekend. I wonder how many are shocked by how much it cost to use their new Toy while making payments.

[RGrew176]

BLCarl wrote:
I think most new boaters underestimate the cost of ownership. Even if there is estimated cost, they are seldom added up untill they feel the pain in the wallet. I'm often asked about fuel cost. For me the fuel is one of the pedictable and lessor expences. Towing the boat 30 mi to the ramp and back uses more fuel than the Mercrusier uses for a weekend. I wonder how many are shocked by how much it cost to use their new Toy while making payments.

Of course the cost of ownership rises expotentially with the size of the craft. You can estimate cost associated with ownership but there are many variables and I don't think you can ever come up with a hard number because of the variables.

[Guest]

boatommy wrote:
didn't see insurance?

Yes I forgot about insurance. The purchase price of the used boat will be around $35,000. What is a realistic insurance number?

[Guest]

Ofishal wrote:
Damn:surr $1000 a year for moorage where do you live? Here in Vancouver the cheapest I have found is $2300/year the most was 900/ month:hammer your a lucky man with the moorage.

That number is for mooring to a buoy, not a slip, which is much more expensive.

[Guest]

RGrew176 wrote:
Of course the cost of ownership rises expotentially with the size of the craft.

No way. Not unless you mean an exponent much, much less than 2. Like 1.

The 10% rule of thumb is a pretty good one. Even the Big Dogs use it for their yachts with professional crew. Of course, there are exceptions.

10% doesn't include:

• cost of money. If you borrowed to buy, you may well run over 10%. (And if you bought it outright, you've surrendered some investing power, and that will cost you money. There's no free lunch!)
• you can't overhaul an old classic, or repower your boat and stay under 10%
• you can dip under 10 by doing all your own work, on a boat where you're keeping the equipment level, age and condition roughly static.

Many experts insist that if you're NOT spending that 10%, then you're not replacing carpets, not reupholstering furniture, not renewing canvas, etc., and you will take a bigger hit when you sell.

If you want to make it a really heated discussion, ask how much boat you can afford, as a percentage of your net worth!

[2850Bounty]

harry11733 wrote:


I have heard that you should expect to pay about 10% of the boat's purchase price each year in maintenance and upgrades. Does this seem reasonable?

IMO, 10% would be somewhat erroneous.

Two boats.... a $12,000 boat and a $25,000 boat.

Each are single engines and I/O's.

Each are in very good condition for their age.

Each are 28 footers.

Each are at 500 +/- hours.

Yearly maintenance and repairs may be very similar...... hard to say for certain.

10% of $12k = $1,200.

10% of $25k = $2,500.

Just say'n!