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MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – OCTOBER 2022
Many factors go into creating a budget for the Great Loop, but among all is flexibility. We knew budgeting for our Great Loop would ebb and flow depending on the season and our location. We’re happy to be in the Midwest rivers with a lower price for dockage, great anchorages, and some fun side trips!
TRAVEL SUMMARY – OCTOBER 2022
Before I dive into our October expenses, it’s important to understand where we traveled, how far we cruised, and some specifics in our particular loop experience. We began our travels in Grafton, Illinois, and cruised down the Mississippi River, into the Ohio River, to Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. We enjoyed eating some local treats including pie, donuts, and local brews, visited some great museums, attended the AGLCA Fall Rendezvous and gave a presentation on Anchoring and Loving It!, and completed one side trip to Nashville. Here is our Nebo travel summary:
Nights at a marina dock: 9
Nights on a marina mooring ball: 0
Nights on a free dock: 1
Nights on a paid dock: 5
Nights on a free lock wall: 1
Nights on a paid lock wall: 0
Nights at anchor: 15
We spent most nights on anchor this month. Yay! We paid for just shy of half of our nights on the boat which is not ideal. Our goal is 4 nights at a marina per month, but that also includes any sort of paid overnight stay. We were thrilled to be cruising in areas with great anchorages again!
We created a course, How to Anchor and Love It which includes 2 hours of video content over 15 modules, a 16-page workbook, and our Great Loop Anchorages and Free Docks spreadsheet to help you anchor with confidence.
Read next: 15 Tips for Boating on a Budget!
GREAT LOOP MONTHLY EXPENSES – OCTOBER 2022
We spent a total of $3,652.34 on our Great Loop expenses for October 2022. This was our fourth least expensive month so far on the loop. This list does not include our healthcare, phone bills, personal subscriptions, and business expenses as those all vary from one person to another. All expenses are in USD.
Our greatest expense was fuel for a total of $1,396.84. We fueled up twice; once at Hoppies and a second at Rock Harbor Marine in Nashville. Hoppies had a great price for diesel and Rock Harbor was a little high because it was conveniently located near downtown Nashville.
Our second greatest expense this month was groceries for a total of $593.70. This month’s grocery bill was low compared to other months because we did a huge pantry haul last month, so all we needed to purchase was fresh food. Most of the meals we eat are cooked on our boat, making this a reoccurring high category for us.
Our third greatest expense was marinas or dockage for $541.57. Our goal is to spend no more than 4 days at a marina in a month to keep our expenses low. This month we spent 14 nights at marinas, paid docks, and or a mooring ball which quickly adds up. We’re grateful to have spent more nights on anchor this month which really helps aid our budget. As we’ve continued cruising on the Great Loop, we’ve met more and more boaters and have wanted to socialize and get to know other people. Since most boaters go to marinas, our “marina or anchor” has been favoring marinas more than we would have liked.
A few of the remaining categories were higher than we would have liked. We would like to have had lower expenditures in restaurants, attractions/tours, and boat projects. Unfortunately, boat projects are not dictated by our budget and instead happen as they happen. It’s all part of being flexible. Our budget wasn’t clear-cut but merely a set of guidelines for us to stay within our financial means and goals.
OUR GREAT LOOP BUDGET RESOURCES
If you’re interested in our Great Loop Budget Calculator, check it out here!
We hope this post provided you with some insightful information on how much it costs to do the loop on a budget. Comment below if you found this information useful. If there is something you would like us to include in our November Great Loop Expenses that we missed this month, let us know in the comments below!
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8 responses to “MONTHLY EXPENSES ON AMERICA’S GREAT LOOP – OCTOBER 2022”
As we refurbish our (new to us) 1967, 36 Grand Banks, your videos and the expense breakdown provide valuable information. We likely won’t depart Chesapeake, Va for the loop for about 2 years. But will head for the Keys early this Spring, for a month or so.
Keep up the great updates, sight seeing, and otherwise good information.I”m so happy to hear our expense reports are helpful for you! Enjoy your trip down to the Keys and maybe we’ll cross paths.
Kind regards,
Jen
I would love to know how many hours & gallons that cost, $1,396.84 paid for?
I had the same boat as you guys do and loved it. My wife and picked her up in Naples, Fl and spent the next four weeks bringing her home to City Island, NY. We sold her since there was a change in our lifestyle that it no longer made sense, so now I said from port to port with you and several others. I window shop from another MT but at 78 don’t have the energy for a project boat and don’t have the cash for the newer drawers on todays market. I thought that I had hit the POWER BALL LOTTERY but was off by 6 numbers. shucks! LOL.We wish you safe and enjoyable adventures ahead.
Paul.
lpaulsaltzman@gmail.comHi Paul,
Our excel spreadsheet gives the details of how many gallons of diesel we bought; 104 gallons on our first fill-up and 141 gallons on our second fill-up. We don’t record how many hours we traveled with each fill-up but we usually cruise at 2 gallons/hour.
That’s awesome! Sounds like you had a lot of great memories and adventures aboard your trawler.
Kind regards,
Jennifer
We met you at the Rendezvous in October. (We are the couple who have lived vicariously through our children’s worldwide adventures . . .but now…).
Wish we would have known you were coming to Nashville, we could have made some of those expenses free. Hope all is well with you both, we enjoy following your journey.
We are looking for a similar boat to yours in size and style as our Sea Ray doesn’t have the fuel capacity or water capacity for the Loop. Any recommendations? We will be budgeting as we also have a Minnie Winnie and have some adventure planned on land. Hope to retire and Loop at the end of 2025. Appreciate all your honesty! Eric and MarshaHey Eric and Marsha,
I’m glad our paths crossed! Thanks for thinking of us; that’s very kind of you. As for a loop boat, it really depends on what your budget is and what you’re looking for in a boat (i.e. fuel capacity and efficiency, amount of space, having one engine or two, your budget for marinas as it relates to the size of the boat, etc.). We will say that the two boat styles we saw most frequently on our loop were the Ranger Tugs and the Mainships. If you have some specific questions, don’t hesitate to ask. We’re happy to help!
Enjoy your land adventures and best of wishes for retiring in the next few years!
Kind regards,
Jen and Elliot
Hi Elliot & Jen,
We met up in Mackinaw City, all of us weathered in. It’s still great following your adventure and the travels of Pivot. I’m slipped at Rock Harbor for the winter and deciding where to go from there, lol.
Safe travels and fair winds,
Craig
– Son of a SailorHey Craig,
So good to hear from you! Congratulations on crossing your wake and earning your Gold AGLCA flag! Best of luck deciding on your winter plans. There’s so much to see and do with so little time. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.
Kind regards,
Elliot and Jen
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