Aboard Astraea

Invest in experiences

November 28, 2011
by Nate

The real cost of buying a boat to date: $6,243.83

Buying a new boat costs money, and lots of it.

When you buy a boat there are lots of expenses to deal with. Here’s a timeline with amounts we spent to buy Miles of  View, a Cheoy Lee Offshore 41. We had to drive up to Santa Barbara from San Diego each time we wanted to see the boat, and that’s about a 4 hour drive. We could have saved more money by packing food and staying with family in Lompoc.

One cool thing about buying a boat with a broker is that they’ll help take care of scheduling all the surveys and sea trials. They can also take care of making sure everyone gets paid by from the down payment money. When it comes time to close the deal any left over money will be applied to the closing cost. Brokers can also help with title transfer and registration.

October 22, 2011: Initial viewing $163.36

Item Amount Type
Lunch, Santa Barbara Brewing Co $44.25 Food
Gas $78.14 Travel
CoCo Ichibanya $40.97 Food

October 24, 2011: Made an offer and 10% down payment check $4,700.00

November 10, 2011: Survey Day $1280.47

Item Amount Type
Motel 6 $62.12 Travel
Surveyor: Mike Pyzel $600 Survey
Haul Out $416.77 Survey
Gas $62.45 Travel
Red Lobster $24.46 Food
CoCo Ichibanya $19.64 Food
Dominos Pizza $35.61 Food
Motel 6 $59.42 Travel

November 18, 2011: Rigging Survey $100.00
Deducted from the down payment, paid through broker

November ##, 2011: Mechanical Survey $123.45
Deducted from the down payment, paid through broker

There will be more posts to come about the real cost of buying a boat, but this is where we stand on November 28.

November 20, 2011
by Nate Mobile

Future boat projects

Cleaning the bilge won't be fun, but I've got to do it.

Since we’re buying a new boat we have a list of stuff that would be nice to make our boat ready to cruise on. Most of these projects come from the boat survey, but others are just to make life aboard better. Criticality is a code with 1 being fix for insurance purposes and safety of life at sea, 2 make life aboard nicer soon before it breaks and causes major problems all the way down to 5, stuff that would be nice but doesn’t have to be done soon.

Are there any projects I’m missing? Let us know by submitting a comment.

Item Criticality Cost Actual
Battery Box/cover Terminals 1 $100.00
CO2/Smoke Detector 1 $30.00
Engine Idle 1 ?
Flare Kit 1 $200.00
Replace Electrical Outlets 1 $150.00
Service Fire Extinguishers 1 $150.00
Holding Tank 2 $400.00
Lubricate sheaves/blocks/sail track 2 ?
Replace Exhaust 2 ?
Replace Nav Lights Lenses 2 $100.00
Inspect/Rebed Chainplates 3 $100.00
Lubricate and adjust steering 3 $0.00
Maintain Teak Deck 3 ?
Rigging 3 $12,000.00
Windlass Oil Leak 3 ?
Clean bilge 4 $0.00
Cushions 4 ?
Dinghy + Engine 4 $1,000.00
SSB Radio 4 $2,000.00
Dodger/Bimini/Sunshade 5 ?
LED Lights 5 $400.00