T&T: Calculating the cost of ownership

[TK Allen]

Thanks for all the feedback.  Much appreciated...



I am still looking into putting together a detailed Cost of Ownership
spreadsheet but the 10% rule-of-thumb is attractive because of its
simplicity.  However, there are a couple of things that concern me even with
so simple an estimating tool.  I would love to see the opinions of those
list members with far more boating experience than I on these issues.  Since
I have so little experience, that means almost everybody! : )



First, the obvious question is, "10% of what?"  If you buy a new boat, the
answer is easy - 10% of the purchase price.  But what if you buy a used
boat?  If I buy a 20 year old boat, it doesn't make sense to me to use my
purchase price for a base number.  It makes more sense to me to define my
base number as what I would pay today if I were to buy a similar boat new.
Any
disagreement on that assumption?



Also, if 10% is a reasonable number for a NEW boat then perhaps this
percentage should be greater if buying an OLD boat.  Obviously, since this
is such a rough estimator, it is unreasonable to put too fine a point on
this but wouldn't it make sense to use perhaps 15% if I am looking at a 20+
year old boat?



One last thing  I have seen this 10% number used to estimate maintenance
costs.  To me, that means things like haul out, bottom paint, engine
service, etc. and, therefore, would NOT include operating expenses such as
fuel, slip rental, etc.  Am I correct or am I misinterpreting things?



TK Allen