How Much does it cost to Sail New York: Erie Canal & Hudson River

Sailing can be as affordable or as expensive as you make it. We don’t have that much money which makes us look more into free or cheap ways to live and cruise on a sailboat. As we sail around the world we will share our budget with you to show how to cruise on a shoestring. So How Much does it Cost to Sail New York?

We left Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada on Lake Erie September 21st 2019. We then motored through the Erie Canal for 344 Nautical Miles which took us 18 Days. The canal can be done in 8 to 10 days but we like to take our time and explore the villages and towns we meet along the way. It’s not about the destination but about the journey along the way. Also the Erie Canal closes around October 16th (the date varies from year to year). Usually there is a fee to do the canal but it was waved this year.

We then motor-sailed on the Hudson River another 290 Nautical Miles to Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey just passed New York City. This took us another 7 days which again could have been done a little faster if in a hurry.

FOOD

TOTAL $352.12

We tend to cook most of our meals on our pressurized alcohol stove which highly reduces our costs. It seems like we spent more or less $1 per day on alcohol to cook. We also met some incredible people along the way who took us out for dinner as well as Alex’s parents who came for a visit. Thus most of the food costs are from the grocery store with a few restaurants.

ALCOHOL

TOTAL $55

We don’t go out to the bar very much and will enjoy having a beer or glass of wine once in while. So this category will look very different if you drink more than us or not at all. And we still had some beers from Quebec on board when we left and were given some wine and beers along the way.

FUEL

TOTAL $165.01

It probably would have been a lot less if we could have sailed more but we had our mast down for most of this section. Luckily our little 13HP Yanmar 2GM engine isn’t too thirsty and only uses about 0.5 gallon of diesel per hour of motoring which is roughly 5 to 6 knots of speed.

DOCKS

TOTAL $54

You can dock for free at most city walls or next to the locks along the Erie Canal. Some towns will have a small fee of $5 to $14 for electricity and water. We do have solar panels and can carry quite a bit of water which allowed us to avoid having to pay most times. There are also marinas along the canal which charge $1-2 per foot which we didn’t go to. Once we made it to the Hudson River we started anchoring a lot more. In Kingston we tied up to the Ole Savannah restaurant for free with the purchase of a meal. Our most expensive place was in New York City where we paid $30 for a mooring ball which was well worth it and gave us easy access to Manhattan.

BOAT

TOTAL $87.96

We had mostly everything we needed for the boat. We purchased some line for our flag, some bolts and other little things. The bulk of this amount was for stepping our mast at Castleton Boat Club for $59 which was much cheaper than most other places which charge about $5 per foot. But you had to do it all yourself.

MISCELLANEOUS

TOTAL $283.12

This category will greatly vary depending on your needs or traveling habits. Our biggest expense in this category was a $130 cellphone with a $60 monthly plan for data to upload our weekly videos on YouTube. We also spent a little on postcards, laundry and a few little things.