Estimating that is not simple unless you are willing to accept a method that is open to wide variations. Assuming that you are willing to spend more if needed, a fairly accurate method is to multiply the length of the proposed boat by her beam. To that figure, add $100.00 per foot of boat length. 

The result will be what you must lay out for the lumber and other material plus the ordinary sails—maybe.

Here is an example. The boat you are to build is 16 feet long and 6 feet wide. Sixteen times six is 96, or $960.00 out of your poket, plus $1600.00 more; or a total of $2560.00 more or less—probably more. This checks up well with the rule of thumb that says that the material cost of a boat—not counting any overhead, profit, or labor— is one third her list price. Remember that this is for a simple, small, open sailboat. Admittedly, you can build a flat-bottomed skiff and rig up some sort of a sail for less money. If you feel that the result is a sail­boat, your opinion will not be shared by the other fellows around the anchorage. If, for example, you can drive a Model T and remain heedless to the jibes of “get a horse,” you may be the sort of character to go to town with boat-buying economy.

Having disposed of first cost, we come to depreciation. Marine-insurance people have complicated formulas to work out such things, but the average mortal can come pretty close to a correct figure if he knocks off 10 per cent of the boat’s value each year. True enough, this would imply that after 10 years she would be worthless, a situation far from true. But the idea is not to arrive at a real value but to set a figure that you know you can afford. The 10-per­cent system will run higher than should be true and is thus better if you are pushing the wallet too hard.

Anchorage charges may be nothing at all. You may live where there is plenty of mooring space and all you have to do is to put out a mooring and let it go at that. Most fellows are in no such cushiony position and must hire mooring space from boat­yards or join clubs where such privileges are included in the dues. The service may cost you anywhere from $150.00 to $2000.00 a year depending upon how swank you want to go.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Yachting on a shoestring (money.cnn.com)

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Taking these up one by one, depreciation is dependent on first cost and first cost is something almost impossible to estimate. Good sailing boats are on the used-boat market at prices ranging from a couple of thousand dollars upward. You may be able to get a buy for even less providing you are willing to do some work fixing her up. Let’s settle one point right here. Sails cost money and homemade ones are seldom of much use unless you are satisfied to limit your sailing and your speed to a point where the game may not be worth the disappointments and the embarrassment of having everyone else sail rings, around you.

To save all the dinero possible, and still have a good boat, the logical advice is to build her yourself. This means first, that you have a place to do the work; second, that you have the skill; and third, that you have both the tools necessary and the time required. Don’t let anybody kid you that you can build a sailboat in your cellar shop in a few days. A fair time estimate, assuming that you can read plans and use tools, would be something close to 10 working hours per foot of boat length for the simplest sort of an open craft. Any boat with a cabin, or much in the way of interior arrangements, will take a lot more time.
How much will she cost if you have the time, the place, the plans, and the skill?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites