Part 2:  Annual Running Costs of a Boat

In Part-1 of our series, we’ve decided that 26ft-35ft is the ideal size boat for racing out of Malahide. Now we need to understand what the annual cost of running the boat is going to be, and if it fits our budget.

The major question is whether you’ll be on a marina berth or a swinging mooring. Malahide Marina currently charges €484 per metre for an annual berth – that’s a big cost but if you like wandering up and down to your boat a couple of times a week, it’s probably worth it.

Then there’s the insurance cost – this can vary wildly depending on whether you’re racing or cruising, and on a marina berth or mooring. A good rule of thumb is that your annual insurance premium should be around 1%-1.5% of the value of your boat per annum, so expect to pay about €500 annually for racing a 33ft boat in Irish and UK waters that’s normally kept in a marina. If you’re thinking of racing a J109 for example, I know an owner that’s currently paying €3000 per year.

Now we need to think about the three big areas of maintenance on a boat. The engine is vital and expensive to replace, your standing rigging keeps the mast from falling down, and the sails are your main propulsion, so make sure they’re all in good condition. For most of us, an annual engine service is sufficient, but I’ve had the nasty experience of replacing an engine and it’s an unpleasant and costly experience. Hopefully you’ll only need to replace the standing rigging once a decade – nowadays insurers generally require that all standing rigging gets replaced every ten years. But other parts will need constant upgrading – halyards stretch or snap, blocks break, winch handles get lost overboard etc. Most boats now use dyneema halyards for their main and genoa halyards , and they’ll cost around €200 minimum

The sails are the most interesting part. We carry five sails on board our boat – a mainsail, a G1, a J3 and two spinnakers (a small one and a big one). Our rivals are probably replacing one sail a year, working on the basis that most sails nowadays have a shelf life of 4 years (although new technology means sails are now lasting longer). If you want to match your rivals, that’s roughly a €2k-€3k cost per annum, and that’s without buying carbon sails.

A smooth bottom is a fast bottom, and here I’m talking about anti-fouling. Malahide Marina appears to suffer from heavy growth, and despite experimenting with a number of different types of anti-fouling, none work perfectly. I generally find that whatever type of antifouling I use costs about €300 to give two coats of my hull, but I’m still budgeting for two lift-outs for a sling-wash in Malahide Marina per year, costing €300 in total, to keep the hull as smooth as possible.

Remember, I’m giving an estimate here for annual costs of a 33ft boat who wants to race at the top of the fleet – these costs will be considerably reduced if you’re happy to race off a mooring and not replace gear so often.

In our next article, we’ll look at setting up your boat to start racing.

Editor’s Note: This series is written by David Greene, an experienced skipper from Malahide, Ireland. David has decades of sailing and racing experience, often participating in local yacht club races and regattas around Ireland with his boat, White Pearl (Elan 331). Malahide estuary is located on the east coast of Ireland, characterized by strong tides and a sandbar that restricts the draught of boats.