What does it cost to sail around the world? Here is our answer. Quite possibly the only accurate accounting of a trip like this on the net. We estimate that there is less than $10 missing from this page. (figures in USD)
| 2003 35′ Wildcat Catamaran (used) | 157,000 | |||
| watermaker w/install | 7,634 | |||
| ssb radio & modem w/install | 6,550 | |||
| misc. boat bits | 6,412 | |||
| rigging | 4,042 | |||
| sep 2003 | oct 2003 | nov 2003 | dec 2003 | |
| communication | 76.91 | 164.02 | 576.78 | 44.00 |
| food | 355.04 | 545.94 | 680.10 | 552.42 |
| diesel | 39.00 | 231.68 | 37.40 | 170.50 |
| marina/mooring | 1,229.82 | 1,489.75 | 584.09 | 495.50 |
| boat supplies | included above | included above | 568.99 | 2,044.85 |
| other | 551.17 | 939.31 | 390.75 | 607.88 |
| 2,251.94 | 3,370.70 | 2,838.11 | 3,915.15 | |
| Nov: annual Sailmail fee $200; one-time FCC callsign registration | ||||
| Dec: new house batteries | ||||
| jan 2004 | feb 2004 | mar 2004 | apr 2004 | |
| communication | 8.00 | 50.00 | 73.97 | 60.73 |
| groceries | 285.59 | 181.15 | 281.70 | 564.67 |
| restaurants/bars | 459.47 | 444.14 | 544.92 | 294.10 |
| diesel | 132.36 | 68.10 | 123.00 | 219.50 |
| marina/mooring | 270.00 | 30.00 | 0.00 | 86.50 |
| boat supplies | 123.10 | 82.35 | 323.04 | 2,466.34 |
| other | 452.66 | 177.45 | 564.45 | 1,599.42 |
| 1,731.18 | 1,033.19 | 1,911.08 | 5,291.26 | |
| Apr: Panama Canal transit fees $600; Panama haulout and bottom painting | ||||
| may 2004 | jun 2004 | jul 2004 | aug 2004 | |
| communication | 44.11 | 37.05 | 63.11 | 92.45 |
| groceries | 57.46 | 298.09 | 350.77 | 186.28 |
| restaurants/bars | 219.09 | 238.56 | 395.01 | 600.60 |
| diesel | 100.51 | 43.00 | 299.20 | 44.10 |
| marina/mooring | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| boat supplies | 203.84 | 243.83 | 103.05 | 461.30 |
| other | 609.62 | 3,586.91 | 420.05 | 731.01 |
| 1,239.63 | 4,447.44 | 1,631.19 | 2,115.74 | |
| May: surprise stop in Colombia refuel and custom fees | ||||
| Jun: Galapagos tour $2786 | ||||
| sep 2004 | oct 2004 | nov 2004 | dec 2004 | |
| communication | 82.53 | 60.43 | 278.35 | 33.72 |
| groceries | 324.72 | 267.68 | 255.19 | 0.00 |
| restaurants/bars | 441.00 | 380.15 | 728.11 | 662.81 |
| diesel | 98.02 | 203.57 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| marina/mooring | 193.07 | 37.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| boat supplies | 210.33 | 133.07 | 1,787.66 | 446.09 |
| other | 3,960.46 | 1,295.37 | 3,559.27 | 3,038.43 |
| 5,310.13 | 2,377.32 | 6,608.58 | 4,181.05 | |
| Sep: includes flights home in Dec $3339 | ||||
| Oct: New Zealand car purchase | ||||
| Nov: new window/seat covers $1130; annual Sailmail fee $250 | ||||
| Dec: back home in the U.S. | ||||
| jan 2005 | feb 2005 | mar 2005 | apr 2005 | |
| communication | 64.89 | 57.96 | 117.57 | 28.58 |
| groceries | 104.39 | 116.28 | 590.10 | 305.75 |
| restaurants/bars | 465.56 | 623.48 | 309.45 | 162.22 |
| diesel | 0.00 | 0.00 | 131.40 | 113.05 |
| marina/mooring | 0.00 | 217.51 | 307.77 | 72.42 |
| boat supplies | 316.46 | 367.06 | 1,265.35 | 63.50 |
| other | 2,251.57 | 3,241.12 | 1,918.75 | 411.12 |
| 3,202.87 | 4,623.41 | 4,640.39 | 1,156.64 | |
| Jan: NZ road trips $901; Volvo mechanic (saildrives, maintenance) $660 | ||||
| Feb: NZ south island road trip $2113; does NOT include Boat Repair Costs | ||||
| Mar: new watermaker pump; replacement camera | ||||
| Apr: does NOT include new Volvo engine $5244 | ||||
| may 2005 | jun 2005 | jul 2005 | aug 2005 | |
| communication | 93.48 | 74.31 | 86.64 | 99.60 |
| groceries | 374.32 | 276.31 | 416.37 | 473.86 |
| restaurants/bars | 771.04 | 247.13 | 329.35 | 244.53 |
| diesel | 320.76 | 0.00 | 214.55 | 300.31 |
| marina/mooring | 91.20 | 289.60 | 253.08 | 114.57 |
| boat supplies | 96.60 | 135.40 | 1,140.29 | 909.99 |
| other | 2,546.34 | 659.54 | 1,024.98 | 640.66 |
| 4,293.74 | 1,682.29 | 3,465.26 | 2,783.52 | |
| May: includes Australia road trip $944; new surfboard | ||||
| Jul: starboard engine part/mechanic $916 | ||||
| sep 2005 | oct 2005 | nov 2005 | dec 2005 | |
| communication | 82.73 | 33.69 | 276.35 | 57.89 |
| groceries | 662.04 | 268.77 | 151.81 | 102.77 |
| restaurants/bars | 749.63 | 236.97 | 369.65 | 378.07 |
| diesel | 0.00 | 192.01 | 387.74 | 0.00 |
| marina/mooring | 598.35 | 233.27 | 237.36 | 159.36 |
| boat supplies | 930.13 | 0.99 | 200.85 | 279.56 |
| other | 2,115.96 | 933.18 | 995.79 | 1,297.44 |
| 5,138.84 | 1,898.88 | 2,619.55 | 2,275.09 | |
| Sep: includes Uluru road trip $1304 | ||||
| Nov: annual Sailmail fee $250 | ||||
| jan 2006 | feb 2006 | mar 2006 | apr 2006 | |
| communication | 70.51 | 5.48 | 21.04 | 29.56 |
| groceries | 102.00 | 125.79 | 292.65 | 53.53 |
| restaurants/bars | 304.83 | 194.66 | 356.63 | 243.53 |
| diesel | 324.24 | 179.79 | 194.59 | 280.00 |
| marina/mooring | 85.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 41.65 |
| boat supplies | 4.89 | 11.91 | 65.30 | 24.78 |
| other | 817.92 | 291.32 | 648.68 | 681.64 |
| 1,710.09 | 808.95 | 1,578.89 | 1,354.69 | |
| may 2006 | jun 2006 | jul 2006 | aug 2006 | |
| communication | 79.13 | 13.68 | 121.23 | 39.79 |
| groceries | 140.09 | 308.49 | 233.64 | 193.03 |
| restaurants/bars | 331.00 | 467.70 | 429.67 | 561.05 |
| diesel | 119.00 | 167.46 | 294.27 | 430.13 |
| marina/mooring | 274.33 | 333.35 | 535.13 | 450.89 |
| boat supplies | 640.61 | 66.63 | 1,112.20 | 50.00 |
| other | 1,344.13 | 2,090.87 | 1,380.53 | 1,131.95 |
| 2,928.29 | 3,448.18 | 4,106.66 | 2,856.84 | |
| May: trip to Cairo and Luxor $875; new boat prop $566; Suez Canal fees/tips $530 | ||||
| Jun: Israel/Jordan road trip $1279 | ||||
| Jul: stolen cash/new camera $684; haulout/mechanic $1169; Istanbul trip $389 | ||||
| Aug: includes Italy trip $607 | ||||
| sep 2006 | oct 2006 | nov 2006 | dec 2006 | |
| communication | 90.22 | 42.50 | 272.06 | 30.00 |
| groceries | 40.03 | 473.22 | 413.58 | 28.01 |
| restaurants/bars | 688.13 | 501.41 | 501.49 | 74.86 |
| diesel | 366.67 | 498.23 | 270.90 | 0.00 |
| marina/mooring | 538.42 | 1,461.86 | 938.56 | 317.52 |
| boat supplies | 25.00 | 177.92 | 437.41 | 0.00 |
| other | 2,561.02 | 858.02 | 1,214.21 | 204.79 |
| 4,309.49 | 4,013.16 | 4,048.21 | 655.18 | |
| Sep: includes Italy trip $2,126 | ||||
| Nov: annual Sailmail fee $250; welder $230; two car rentals including fuel $346 | ||||
| jan 2007 | feb 2007 | mar 2007 | apr 2007 | |
| communication | 45.86 | 4.97 | 59.00 | 21.57 |
| groceries | 278.86 | 307.99 | 143.16 | 322.10 |
| restaurants/bars | 632.06 | 495.17 | 750.36 | 460.15 |
| diesel | 427.54 | 91.01 | 61.00 | 249.01 |
| marina/mooring | 24.55 | 105.00 | 21.00 | 1,373.13 |
| boat supplies | 232.40 | 241.14 | 86.90 | 1,027.98 |
| other | 289.24 | 512.98 | 2,085.96 | 986.29 |
| 1,930.51 | 1,758.26 | 3,207.38 | 4,440.23 | |
| Mar: Puerto Rico road trip $1186; Haiti trip $414 | ||||
| Apr: two week Florida car rental including fuel $370; $$ Florida marina | ||||
| Total $136,434. Forty-four months, $3,100 per month. | ||||
25 Comments on “Cost for a Sail Around the World”
Hi, this is really valuable information and thank you for sharing. I suppose you should really factor in the depreciation of the boat as well. Do you know how much the boat depreciated? I think the U.S. dollar is also generally weaker now than it was back when you circumnavigated, but this gives a very useful idea of costs.
Regards,
Ben Coles
We payed $157k for the boat in 2003 and sold it in 2007 for $140k. Essentially four years of ownership, and 35,000 miles, for $17k in depreciation—or another $350 per month.
Phenomenal calculations! Wow. Good overview.
Thanks. We’ve been as exact as we possibly could with our numbers.
I always wondered how much $ a family needs for a full year at sea
Thanks guys for precise calculation
You’re very welcome.
Thanks for sharing your costs – very cool to see everything it might take to do this. Except after reading your blog I would NOT buy a wildcat. What are you sailing in now? Still a catamaran? Any reviews?
We’ve moved over to the dark side and bought a monohull this time around. You can read a bit more about the choice here, https://www.bumfuzzle.com/blog/2012/08/06/cat-vs-mono-the-great-debate/
This page is awesome! What a resource for those of us that would love to do this one day and were wondering about costs!
Thank you so much for the information, and for the whole website… I have spent the last week or so reading your adventure from the beginning till this point… I have to admit, I am a little sad it is over! BUT, there is obviously much more to read from this point on.
God bless you and yours, safe travels, and THANKS again! 🙂
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Just wondering what you do for a living to afford sailing around the world? How do you make this workable?
Please check out either one of my books for the answer to that question.
I LOVE this answer!! Love the blog too. Told my husband, “If that’s what having kids looks like, I might change my mind about the no kids thing”.
What books are you referring to?
I’ve written two books. You can see them on our home page.
I just read your article in this month’s Sail and it lead me to your website. This is far and away the most straight to the point breakdown of what it cots to go cruising and I’m really enjoying it, thank you. My girlfriend and I talk often about setting out on a similar journey, and your story is inspiring to us. We own a 35′ sailboat boat here in Chicago that we race and cruise Lake Michigan on and are experienced sailors. We have good jobs in finance (as it seems you did as well), but are still probably 3 – 5 years from having the money we need to do this. We are still young (under 30), but also feel that there is no reason you can only retire ‘once’ in your life. My question for you is, having setout with little experience, if you had 3 -5 years to prepare for your journey, what would you focus on to make it go more smoothly. We are good sailors and do a lot of our own work on our boat here in the long winter season, but I think knowledge of boat maintenance and systems is what intimidates me most about a trip like this – it feels to me like the area where we have the most to learn, but I’d be interested to hear where (if anywhere) you felt underprepared after setting out on your trip. Thank you.
Hi Pat & Ali,
Just a note of thanks for this wonderful and hilarious blog I read about Sri Lanka, and thank you for visiting my island. Most of all, thank you for your wonderful comments about us.
Much as changed from the experience you encountered in your last blog, and the good news – for the better. Much better. We got more fast food restaurants!
Hope you visit again and do send me a note or two if you do.
With best wishes to both of you and the kids,
Shiv.
thought you’d enjoy the spread sheets
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Dear Pat and Ali… I’ve returned from spending 10 days in Fiji with my daughter. We stayed with our friends who have been sailing for the last 14 months with their children (9 and 14). Russell and Greer are my inspiration for an exit strategy and they led me to your blog. Thank you….
Hi Pat and Family,
All I can say is “Awesome”.
I have seen your YouTube videos before but this is the first time to your web page.
You are truly living your life to the fullest. Well done.
Good on you for following your heart.
Pat,
I just finished your circumnavigate book about 10min ago. It was great. I have had “the Dream” for awhile now and have been working on convincing the wife. Nick O’kelly’s book has helped so far. Your cost data is extremely helpful with our plans to help determine what will be required to make it happen. Hopefully, these astronomical boat prices come down before we have to buy. Do you have books you recommend for maintenance knowledge?
The only books I recall being helpful were by Nigel Calder:
Marine Diesel Engines: https://amzn.to/3j1wSIf
Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual: https://amzn.to/3Ak2w9r
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