Dnia Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:40:12 -0400, Tim Shavinsky napisał(a):

Cruising is driving me to the poor house.
(...)
Is there an American friendly country with cheap fuel, good
health care and low expenses? Thanks everyone.

Tim Shavinsky

Greece, perhaps? And most of the Med, I guess?

I cannot state their attitude towards Americans, but the country is
certainly worth consideration. Lots of Britons there (which may be
advantage or disadvantage ;-) ). English is widely spoken, climate and
geography perfect for cruising. Personally, I plan to move to Corfu
Island on February and make it my basecamp to explore the whole
Mediterranean for next couple years.

More options can be found at http://www.retiretothesun.com/ At the moment
they are offline, but normally you'd find tons of information there.

As for your cruising costs, that is interesting issue. As a future
liveaboard I am keen to analyse it.

I may have some practical suggestions regarding two items on your list.
Perhaps somebody else would add more.

1. Fuel. For a rather heavy diesel working less than an hour per day, I
would try to do three things:
- check up the biofuel option, which becomes more and more promising here
in Europe.
- implement photovoltaic and wind generators to cut the engine time and
load when topping your batteries up.
- the major change would be switching into hybrid-electric system, one
smaller diesel or petrol (LPG fueled) electric generator, that in turn
powers electric engines and propellers. Having it done properly, you may
cut your fuel rate by 20 percent. It would also raise the reselling value
of your boat.

2. Dockspace. I do not know your boat, but here (http://
www.yachtworks.info/Compare_Marinas.htm) you'll find raw estimates.

Cheers,

Peter

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