What is it like to live on a big boat

Even with the boom in boat sales and charters, yachting remains an enigma for most people.

CNBC spoke to several yacht owners who agreed to answer all questions – without any forbidden topics – about the yachting lifestyle and perhaps more importantly, how much it costs.

Nim and Fabiola Hirschhorn are in the US Virgin Islands aboard Luna, their 2019 45-foot Lagoon 450S catamaran. The couple operate all-inclusive crewed charters in the Caribbean.

Sophie Darsy and Ryan Ellison are in the Azores on Polar Seal, a 2007 Beneteau Oceanis 40 equipped for ocean sailing. Several years ago the couple learned to sail, quit their corporate jobs and are now recounting their life at sea.

N. Hirschhorn: It depends on a few basic parameters. Is the boat used or new, in what year was it built, is it a monohull or catamaran, is it an old charter yacht or has it always been privately owned … just want to take a coastal cruise or cross the oceans?

Luna was bought new for $ 650,000; However, we know a lot of people who live on boats bought for between $ 30,000 and $ 80,000.

On average, you can buy a 45-foot mid-range seaworthy monohull that can sail around the world for $ 100,000 to $ 150,000 and a catamaran of the same size for around $ 250,000 to $ 500,000. Of course, there are boats at both ends of the spectrum and at all prices in between.

Lesson: The purchase price is only part of the budget you need to acquire a yacht. Once we took delivery of our boat, the costs came faster than we thought!

In the first three years we owned Polar Seal, we spent at least $ 40,000 to equip it for cruising and ocean sailing, including:

• A cockpit shelter to keep the cockpit dry: $ 7,000
• New sails: $ 8,000
• A dinghy and an electric outboard [engine for the dinghy]: $ 5,000
• A watermaker to make fresh water from seawater: $ 2,000
• Lithium batteries and parts to power the devices: $ 6,000
• A new autopilot: $ 2,000
• Life raft: $ 2,500
• Safety and communication equipment: $ 3,000

If you want to buy a boat, keep at least 30% of your budget for maintenance, repairs and upgrades.

We also have annual fees for boat insurance (between $ 1,000 and $ 4,000, depending on location) and travel and health insurance when we are outside of Europe ($ 1,500) as well as tickets. plane to visit our families (approximately $ 2,000 per year).

N. Hirschhorn: Think about what it costs to live on earth – what kind of lifestyle do you live? Do you like to eat in fancy restaurants and buy nice things? There is a good chance that you will do the same when living on a boat, which means that your lifestyle will often cost the same. Are you going to anchor – which is free – or stay in the marinas? Will you be on sabbatical to live off your savings or do you work along the way? Are you a family or a couple?

We have friends who lived on a 1984 47-foot monohull for two years with three children. The boat cost $ 90,000 and they lived on $ 50,000 a year sailing the Caribbean and anchoring all the time.

Personally, we live on around $ 100,000 a year. I know couples living on $ 1,000 a month and families living on $ 3,000 to $ 6,000 a month. It’s not uncommon in our community to hear that living on a boat and traveling the world is cheaper than living on land.

Lesson: In 2019, we spent the winter in a marina in Spain where we were able to benefit from a favorable rate ($ 300 per month). But the food was very inexpensive ($ 300 per month). We have taken advantage of our time at the dock to undertake large boat projects and our maintenance budget has increased significantly – $ 15,000 in upgrades over six months.

But we hired a car at virtually no cost through a local deal, and our ‘fun activities’ budget almost fell to zero as we took advantage of inexpensive restaurants and bars with friends all over southern Spain. .

By comparison, when we took a three week detour to Bermuda, groceries and restaurants were very expensive. But, we spent these weeks at anchor and didn’t have to pay for a marina. We didn’t spend anything on maintenance or repairs. We spent the remaining weeks of this month at sea, and since we didn’t spend any money during those two weeks, we made our budget.

N. Hirschhorn: It’s more complicated … some countries have their seaports closed for visiting yachts, and some are asking for an entry protocol that could include pre-approval and quarantine for up to two weeks on board.

Some countries do not accept all nationalities and travelers of specific origins, which makes it difficult when you can have three to four nationalities on board. Other countries only welcome vaccinated travelers.

Lesson: The pandemic has made it a bit more difficult to navigate between countries, but while our options were extremely limited in 2020, we were much more fortunate in 2021.

Like the real estate market, the boat market has exploded in 2020 and 2021. It seems like everyone and their neighbor are keen on buying a yacht… prices have also gone up in ways never seen before. Our boat has increased in value to the point that if we sold it today, we would not lose any of the capital we invested in it.

F. Hirschhorn: There is no reason that children of all ages cannot live on a yacht. Many families live in boats on the water and it is usually very confident, intelligent and worldly children who thrive in this way of life. In the Caribbean in particular, there are hundreds of “kidboats” [boats with families living on them].

N. Hirschhorn: Yes, we have a few layers of service. We have a cellular data service that can pick up a signal up to 20 nautical miles offshore. As we usually sail between the Caribbean islands, we are usually always connected. We also have two other satellite systems with limited Wi-Fi, but coverage all over the world.

Lesson: No! We only have Wi-Fi in port or at anchor when we have a data plan for the country we are currently sailing in. On the high seas we have satellite internet which allows us to download basic weather forecasts and emails, but certainly not watch Netflix or listen to Spotify!

Lesson: Many sailors suffer from seasickness, and I am particularly prone to it. The trick is to prevent it. Once the nausea sets in, you cannot get rid of it.

My top tips are:

• Take medication the night before you leave and get a good night’s sleep.
• Drink lots of water and eat a lot more than usual; hypoglycemia accelerates seasickness.
• Keep yourself warm; invest in clothing and boating gear that will protect you from the elements, as the cold will send you into a stinking hell in no time.

N. Hirschhorn: No, we must respect local laws and customs; however, in the Mediterranean, nudity is much more common.

Lesson: It is not uncommon for us to be alone at anchor, off a desert island. No one is watching, so …

N. Hirschhorn: Many ask us if we have a home on earth. We love to see the surprise on their faces when we explain to them that Luna is our home.

Lesson: All of my friends have asked me if I was ever afraid of encountering a storm or heavy seas that would capsize our boat, and honestly before we left I was!

But now I know we always leave port when we have a good weather window. In three years, 13,000 nautical miles and two ocean crossings, we have only sailed once in strong winds and we have done perfectly.

N. Hirschhorn: Some people think that a yacht owner is a millionaire. We know many boat owners who are not wealthy at all. It’s just a different lifestyle that comes with a lot of bonuses, but also a lot of sacrifices.

Lesson: People believe that we are very rich, that we come from rich families or that we make a lot of money. None of this is true. We have saved a lot of money, made some sacrifices and continue to do so… and we are on budget.

When we were employed full time Ryan and I had comfortable salaries at home and we were living the dream of “two incomes, no children”. We now earn less than half of what we earn then and live on half of our old budget… but our lives are much richer.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.