Cruising French Waterways – Costs and Expenses

Of course, what you spend depends a lot on who you are, what you like, and what you’ve got available to spend . . . but here we give some outline guidance on:

Living Aboard and Cruising Expenditure – International Cost of Living Comparisons (‘Big Mac Index’)

Basic Annual Expenditure (2005)

Basic Living-Aboard Expenses
The two of us spent the following, on average, during a six-month autumn-winter-spring period in France that we itemised in detail (frankly, we don’t normally). We live comfortably, but pretty carefully, as live-aboards with strictly limited incomes. We travelled 1250km from Poole to St-Jean-de-Losne and this journey comprised 158 ecluses and 27 days travelling (59 days overall). The 31 nights of paid-for moorings during our journey to St Jean-de-Losne cost approx 400€ total, the rest were free (including a number with free water and electricity – we are very grateful to those local communities who provide such facilities). Finally, St Jean de Losne to Saint-Gilles comprised 15 days travelling a distance of 507km

12.50€ per day on food and shopping
7.00€ per day on moorings, electricity and (bottled) gas
2.50€ per day on telephone and other communications
Total : 22€ per day, say 700€ per month, 8,500€ per year
Basic Voyaging
Note that moorings are included above. Summer season moorings are usually at a higher price. Our boat is 11m long, powered by a 35hp diesel engine. Too much power (and fuel consumption) is actually counter-productive on the waterways, engines suffering from ‘under-use’ related problems.
12.50€ on fuel, per each day actually travelling.
This equated to 3€ per day including non-travelling days. We like to stop and explore – so will you!

Average as at:	30 Nov	28 Feb	30 Apr
Food + Shopping	8.84 €	12.32 €	12.47 €	per day
Moorings (free and paid)	6.39 €	4.76 €	4.57 €	per day
Gaz + Electricity	2.48 €	3.03 €	2.49 €	per day
Phones	3.24 €	2.45 €	2.37 €	per day

Fuel	3.18 €	2.04 €	2.95 €	per day (all)
	12.00 €	12.00 €	10.00 €	per travelday
	0.26 €	0.26 €	0.25 €	per km
These figures exclude expenditure on Culture (visits, books, entertainment), Boat Stuff (purchases and maintenance) and One-Offs (the unexpected, medical, etc.)

Our One Year Basic Budget
8,500€ living plus 1,000€ travelling = 10,000€ per year
Plus 1 . . .
Spending on cultural visits, eating-out, entertainment, equipment renewals and purchases – and of course, boat maintenance.
How long is a piece of string? – 5,000€ ?
Plus 2 . . .
Spending on flights, taxis, etc. between your land-home and your floating-home.
A Second Opinion
Jay McDaniel reckoned a modest annual budget would be 17,500€, but he and his wife actually spent 26,000€ which included return airfares to Australia and the additional cost of spending the European winter back there.

Cost of Living Comparisons

The ‘Big Mac’ Index
Internationally respected journal The Economist has for some years now compared currencies and national purchasing powers according to a well-known global standard – the price of a Big Mac hamburger. According to the jan-2010 analysis -
- New Zealand $3.44 USD (cheapest in this list)
- United States $3.58 USD (the ‘standard’)
- Great Britain $3.67 USD
- Canada $3.97 USD
- Australia $3.98 USD
- France $4.84 USD (dearest in this list)

Healthcare Facilities and Other Services
France is currently trying to retreat from an almost crippling level of national investment in modern high quality schools, hospitals, health care and other social provisions. There’s a similar story elsewhere. So the facilities you’ll find are extremely good. Non E.U citizens will need some form of insurance to recover costs (they will almost certainly be lower than you might expect ‘back home’) but you’ll find a service second to none. In 2000 the W.H.O ranked the French healthcare system the best in the world.