Joint Custody
Well-Known Member
Have been watching this thread since this morning, lots of good input from previous posters.
Couple of observations,
Bottom paint every three years is highly variable. The water the boat is sitting in, currents, etc. impacts lifetime of paint. One location may get 3 years, another may get 1.5. Big impact on the proper selection of the paint you use as it relates to your conditions. Budget 2 years instead of 3.
Insurance, slip cost, and understanding your usage to fuel burn are very predictable.
Good survey can make engine costs reasonably predictable in the short term, but don't forget preventative maintenance. Have you looked at recommended maintenance schedules for the engines? What is upcoming at various hour levels?
What are your maintenance skills? How many things are you going to take care of versus hiring it done. For us, we go to the boat to enjoy it, not work on it. Our choice is to pay someone else to fix things. Some people do the work themselves, save a lot of ownership costs.
Is the boat in a covered slip or an open slip - 1-2 waxing's a year versus 3-4.
Dive on the bottom is once a month.
What is your washing plans? I wash at a minimum every two weeks. I time them so it right after the boat has been out and right before we show up. Salt water on the boat eats up the wax. Are you doing the washing or hiring it?
Your talking about FL, good news is you don't have to deal with winterization. Consideration you need to plan for is Hurricanes. Are you going to purchase a haul out plan? Are you local to the boat and able to do hurricane prep per your plan, or do you have to hire someone? What is the cost when a hurricane is headed towards you that you are out of pocket? There can be significant amount of work prepping a boat for an approaching hurricane.
Finally you get all this planned out - then as mentioned by someone in a previous post you need to allow for the unexpected. Most of these expenses are probably related to systems on the boat. What is the cost of losing an AC unit? A hot water heater? Some are low dollar, some can be higher. You may go 2 years with no big ticket items, but they will pop up.
If you are buying new with a warranty, no worries for a few years. If your not under warranty - system issues need to be accounted for.
There is a rule of thumb passed around a lot which says plan on 10% of purchase price annually to cover slip, insurance, and maintenance. Personal experience, not sure. Have not done the math over a few years on salt water with 2 different boats. So much depends on the condition of the boat you buy.
@fwebster made a comment to me years ago about salt water boating. Back when we were entering the ownership of a salt water boat. Found his words to be very insightful and correct. To paraphrase, his comment was you spend time with the boat - everything is perfect. Your gone for a few of weeks, come back, something has "broken" and doesn't work. I remember that comment every month, Frank is correct. May be something minor, or the precursor to a larger problem.
You are asking a very good question to understand the costs, but keep in mind not all brokers are created equal, I would need to have extreme confidence in the individual before relying on a broker for input on this topic.
This is an excellent location to come to for the input you are looking for. Some very knowledgeable people here that I continue to be astounded by their knowledge and experience.
This topic has been discussed a lot over the years. I did a quick search on ownership costs - lots of good threads. Recommend you search the site some, lots of good information.
Probably the biggest consideration that drives estimation of ownership costs is the due diligence during the purchase process. Don't skimp on surveys for the boat and the engines (separate). Be present when the surveys are done. Don't rely on the written reports, be there so you can have discussions with the surveyor about issues and topics.
Dead on!!!!