For the sake of completeness and for easy reference for others her is the breakdown of our costs for running our 58' 8" narrow boat for the past two years.
2014 2015
Fixed costs .............. 1157-57 1504-09
Mooring cost .......... 1298-48 1524-55
Fuel costs ............... 1156-66 824-94
Repair costs ........... 790-84 321-63
Equipment costs .... 678-22 164-22
Consumables ......... 257-22 454-58
Total for year 5338-99 4794-01
To find out what each category includes you will have to read my previous posts but it is pretty comprehensive. Of course it doesn't include food and drink and other stuff like at you would be eating and drinking where ever you were and how much you spend is entirely down to the individual. I haven't included travel to and from the boat as that is all a matter of choice. I have put in those things that a person will need to keep the boat up to scratch and liveable.
The only thing that could be included in the total amount is depreciation. When we were thinking of buying a boat we looked at this and the price of boats etc. I thought it would be fair to factor in a 50% depreciation in 10 years as we had a nearly new boat. In that case we should add another £3200 each year for ten years. For us we live on the boat for at least six months of the year so it is getting generous use. If you thought that if we hired a boat for only three months of the year then you would be looking at double that costs so six months would be horrendous. Obviously hiring for that length of time is not practicable and so I haven't added in depreciation as really it is a life style choice for the time we have the boat.
The big difference this year are the lower fuel costs due to the price of diesel being much lower this year. Although we only bought 100 litres less this year the average price last year was 92.8p and this year 75.7p!
Fixed costs were higher this year due to the costs incurred by transiting the Bristol Channel, pilot, insurance and dock dues.
Repair costs are less as last year we relocated the batteries, tiled the bathroom, fitted a locking system to the diesel filler and had a dry dock. (Mind you after insurance paid out that only cost £100).
Last years equipment costs were high due to us need to purchase 4 life jackets and a VHF radio but we have them for the future now.
Consumables were high this year due to buying new batteries.
The grand average is therefore £4566-50 over the two years. Not bad for six months holiday to my mind.
2014 2015
Fixed costs .............. 1157-57 1504-09
Mooring cost .......... 1298-48 1524-55
Fuel costs ............... 1156-66 824-94
Repair costs ........... 790-84 321-63
Equipment costs .... 678-22 164-22
Consumables ......... 257-22 454-58
Total for year 5338-99 4794-01
To find out what each category includes you will have to read my previous posts but it is pretty comprehensive. Of course it doesn't include food and drink and other stuff like at you would be eating and drinking where ever you were and how much you spend is entirely down to the individual. I haven't included travel to and from the boat as that is all a matter of choice. I have put in those things that a person will need to keep the boat up to scratch and liveable.
The only thing that could be included in the total amount is depreciation. When we were thinking of buying a boat we looked at this and the price of boats etc. I thought it would be fair to factor in a 50% depreciation in 10 years as we had a nearly new boat. In that case we should add another £3200 each year for ten years. For us we live on the boat for at least six months of the year so it is getting generous use. If you thought that if we hired a boat for only three months of the year then you would be looking at double that costs so six months would be horrendous. Obviously hiring for that length of time is not practicable and so I haven't added in depreciation as really it is a life style choice for the time we have the boat.
The big difference this year are the lower fuel costs due to the price of diesel being much lower this year. Although we only bought 100 litres less this year the average price last year was 92.8p and this year 75.7p!
Fixed costs were higher this year due to the costs incurred by transiting the Bristol Channel, pilot, insurance and dock dues.
Repair costs are less as last year we relocated the batteries, tiled the bathroom, fitted a locking system to the diesel filler and had a dry dock. (Mind you after insurance paid out that only cost £100).
Last years equipment costs were high due to us need to purchase 4 life jackets and a VHF radio but we have them for the future now.
Consumables were high this year due to buying new batteries.
The grand average is therefore £4566-50 over the two years. Not bad for six months holiday to my mind.
The Humber Princess passing into the mist on the New Junction Canal near Sykehouse Lock this April. The cargo of lubricating oil to Rotherham has since then stopped and no more commercial traffic is running. Lets hope somebody gives them a cargo soon.
Beautiful May weather with the bluebells out in Hopwas Wood.
June found us in the deep south having passed down the Severn Estuary and up the Avon to Bristol. We had a great stay in Bristol and loved the city. Mind you I wouldn't trade my boat in for this one!
We had some beautiful walks in the countryside around the Kennet and Avon Canal in July. We found this windmill near Wilton and the Crofton Pumping Station during a walk from Great Bedwyn.
It was great to see these mink cubs who showed no fear at Slats Mill Lock on the South Oxford in August. I know that they are vermin and killers of our native fauna but they were so cute and it was a privileged to get so close to them.
We had a first visit up the Ashby Canal in September, but it wont be our last. Again we had some lovely walks in mixed weather and seeing a visit to Shakerstone was capped with a steam train on the Battlefield Line.
7 comments:
The cost comparisons make interesting reading, Tony. Made me think about our costs over the last two years, esp for diesel. Last year we had one month less boating (only in the UK for 4.5 months and David was back in NZ for two weeks of that), and we were static for a period as well, given the things we had to get sorted. I remember thinking in Sept this year that we seemed to be filling with diesel far more frequently than last year - then I realised that was a correct impression, as we were moving around a lot more and far further afield than last year.
One thing I do notice when we are in the UK is that food is cheaper there than here, and for some ungodly reason, I can sometimes buy good NZ chardonnay cheaper there than here! What is that about?
Hope you are both keeping warm, big hugs, M&D xox
Richard had asked after your consumables post the other day about the cost of fuel, I will let him know.
Good news, we have had an offer accepted on a boat so hopefully we will be on board soon. Well at least Richard will be, I am planning my move to be after Christmas!
Hi Both,
Do you think you save enough on food and wine bills to pay for your air fares? That would be something wouldn't it. I think you would have had to do an awful lot more hours cruising this year to actually spend more on diesel than last year as the price per litre is much less this year. You may well have been putting more in but may well have cost the same or less.
Your thoughts on the cheap wine in the UK got me thinking. The population of Wellington is 450000 and the total for New Zealand is 4.4 million. The population of Greater London is 8.6 million. Therefore there is a much greater market here. A 40' shipping container will hold 12000 cases of wine and it only costs about $6,500 to ship it to London. Actually it will be a lot less to a regular shipper as I got those figures from a one off enquiry. It turns out that in 2012 NZ produced 194 million litres of wine. Only 57.7 million of them came to the UK but the total export of your wine was 178.9 million litres (all 2012 figures). That fact means that every person in New Zealand has only 3.4 litres to drink. I reckon that you are drinking somebody else's share!
Hi Ann,
That is good news the house sale must have gone through at last. Have a look at my post of 29th October for more details on fuel costs. Email or text us with the details so we can go green with envy. Where is it etc.
Cheers for now, Tony and Helen.
I remember watching a programme showing wine shipped from NZ/Australia for Tesco's in giant plastic bladders then it gets bottled in the UK. This allowed for less packaging and more wine therefore making it a lot cheaper!
FINALLY! I will send you the details although I don't think you will be too green :)
There's no way the price difference for food and wine would cover airfares. But we do spend significantly more here, in part because we very regularly have friends over for meals.
I know we filled the tank more often this year, Tony, but didn't keep a count of the frequency, the amount purchased or the cost - but I know we did travel a lot further than last year over a longer time - that's the extent of my analysis, I'm afraid. Now that I am nearly on the pension, we may need to be a bit more observant about how the money flows out and at what rate, dammit!
For info on how much I am drinking in comparison with other NZers, see my last post. Mx
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