What does it really cost to own a boat, to buy it, to maintain it, and to use it for coastal cruising? Ask this question of 1,000 boat owners, and you’ll probably get 1,000 different answers. But here are the real-world actual costs of a 58-foot motoryacht, put together by Ed and Lyn of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He’s a tax accountant, who works from Jan. 1 to April 15 and she’s retired, so they have a lot of time to spend enjoying their boat. Here’s what it costs them.
They previously had owned a 35-foot Carver for two years to see if they liked cruising. They liked it so much they sold the Carver and wanted to buy a Hatteras 53, a classic motoryacht. They ended up looking for boats in Florida, and they ended up with a larger boat, a Hatteras 58, which they loved, in Fort Lauderdale. It was a 1979 model and the owner was asking $250,000.
Due to a series of circumstances they describe in their video, below, Ed and Lyn ended up buying the boat for $162,000. With repairs, closing costs, insurance and other costs, they spent $181,000 to purchase the boat.
Then they spent a leisurely six weeks bringing it north to Philadelphia, spending $4,900 for fuel, running at 10 knots. With slip fees and other boating costs, they spent $9,900 for the trip.
Once back home, they figured their annual ownership costs. Summer slip rental at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia is $6,000; a winter slip is $2,900 plus $1,500 for electricity. They added in travel costs for 1,200 miles a year, insurance for $2,600, and $4,000 for maintenance and repairs. They also set aside $7,000 for future major repairs, and they added in $9,000 as opportunity costs (representing a lost 5 percent return on their original $181,000 investment). All told, they figure their annual costs at $43,500. But take a look at their slides detailing their expenses; hear it from them:
