How Much the Great Loop REALLY Costs

Check out our detailed Great Loop Expense Reports here: schoandjo.com/...
Let our sponsor, BetterHelp, connect you to a therapist who can support you - all from the comfort of your own home. Visit betterhelp.com... and enjoy a special discount on your first month.
The Great Loop is a year-long circumnavigation of Eastern North America on your boat. We share exactly how much it cost us to do this journey, including a detailed breakdown, how we were able to Loop at 30, and some tips for saving money on your Loop!
Thanks for watching!
Cheers from the Loop,
Jennifer and Elliot
#greatloop #boatlife #budget
🎥 Episode 415 | Filmed in May 2024
_______________________
BLOG
schoandjo.com
☝️ Read more and check out behind the scenes at the blog
_______________________
GREAT LOOP EXPENSE REPORTS
schoandjo.com/...
💰 Find out how much the Great Loop Costs
_______________________
HOW TO LOCK
schoandjo.com/...
🔒 Learn how to lock a boat
_______________________
OUR ANCHOR
go.schoandjo.c...
⚓️ 65 lbs of A Good Night Sleep
_______________________
AMERICA'S GREAT LOOP CRUISERS ASSOCIATION
Join AGLCA for information on planning and completing your Great Loop adventure. Visit www.greatloop....
_______________________
SUNDAY SUMMARY
We send out a weekly email with our travel updates
📧 - schoandjo.com/...
_______________________
STORE
Shop our store with Great Loop resources and Scho & Jo merch
🛒 - schoandjo.com/...
_______________________
SUPPORT
Free and Paid ways to help support our channel
🙏 - schoandjo.com/...
_______________________
GEAR
From camera gear to travel, boating, and hiking must-haves, it's all here
📷 - schoandjo.com/...
_______________________
MUSIC
Musicbed - receive your first month free:
🎧 -go.schoandjo.c...
Epidemic Sound 30-day free trial here:
🎧 - go.schoandjo.c...
________________
FRIENDS
Blog: www.schoandjo.com
Facebook: schoandjo
Instagram: / schoandjo
Pinterest: / schoandjo
Twitter: / schoandjo
TikTok: / schoandjo
________________
ABOUT US
Hi! We are high school sweethearts from Atlanta, Georgia who decided to take a year off to travel around the world. Together we decided to create vlogs for our journey as a fun way to remember it. On September 15, 2019, we left Atlanta with 3 bags, 2 one-way tickets, and 1 goal of traveling for a whole year. Little did we know, 6 months later we would find ourselves in a nationwide lockdown in India. After spending 5 months in India, we came back to the United States and decided to purchase a 34’ Trawler, dive headfirst into boat life, and kick-off America’s Great Loop.
The good, the bad, the ugly - and most importantly, the real and real funny. We’re not here to tell you “how it’s done.”, just how we’ve done it. And that whatever it is that’s calling you - the way you’ll do it is much more attainable than it may seem.
Thank you for following us along our journey!
________________
Note - Some of these links are affiliates. We recommend stuff we love and if you like it also they might give us a small kickback. Thank you!

[@edterry4073]

If you consider what it costs to live on land for about a year (mortgage/rent, property tax, car payment/insurance, food, entertainment, etc.), $40,000 sounds like a bargain - plus all the fun and character development - the loop sounds like a great deal. Thanks for taking us along on this journey.

[@SchoandJo]

Totally! 💯

[@Yukikazehalo]

My parents are retired and have done a partial Loop; bought their boat in Virginia, went through the 5 Great Lakes all the way to Chicago then turned around and took the inter-coastal down to Florida. They are currently in the Bahamas and will be there until Fall 2025 when they have the boat shipped home to the Seattle area and then use it for trips up to Alaska. It's been a wild and stressful couple of years but they traveled to and visited so many places they never thought they'd see, made some great boat friends and strengthened their relationship after years of stress.

[@SirAdamMeek]

Thank you for putting the grand total right up front! Looking forward to the breakdown!

[@annhysell6064]

Scho & Jo (and Ollie, of course) Great information. Thank you for your transparency & detailed information. For me, anchoring is the best as it is the most scenic, quiet, and the boat rides better as one is typically bow to the wind (depending on current). The free/low cost marina compilation. Absolutely! Well done.

[@donaldbrown9437]

That was very informative! Glad you took so much time keeping track of everything! If I wasn’t 74 with a land loving wife I would find the loop a great adventure! Thanks again!

[@AdventuresofAplusK]

Super awesome info! That anchoring spreadsheet looks mega helpful!

[@SchoandJo]

🚀

[@TheBoomershines]

You guys rocked it! Great details and great info. I am not sure how anyone could do the Loop for much less and still have fun. You hit the perfect balance of fun and economical. Well done!

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks so much, y'all!

[@ScottHirons]

Wow. Thank you for sharing the financial side of the loop. I was mildly surprised your grocery cost were a little higher than fuel. I would have expected fuel to be the biggest expense. Even being frugal (being able to shop at grocer of your choice, couponing, not buying organic) the cost would likely still been the biggest part of the pie. Found it interesting. Thanks for sharing all the info that you have on the entire loop. Looking forward to the next adventure.

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks so much!

[@user-lv7ck8gf2k]

A big reason for lower fuel costs is because they had a single little diesel motor doing 8 knots! Others have twin engines sucking a lot more fuel!

[@SchoandJo]

@@user-lv7ck8gf2k A lot of it too, is how fast you run your engines. We ran at the most efficient speed for our engine most of the time, which saved quite a bit on fuel!

[@randolphh8005]

Great job guys! Appreciate all the hard work and detail work. Awesome information.

[@kimsalmon7593]

Waving hello from Kingston, Ontario, thank you very much for all your wonderful films. Looking forward to your new adventure.

[@joeywarren3207]

Once again you guys have done an amazing job at inspiring folks with your positive messaging. Your attention to detail on your loop will certainly help others and myself. I've found myself questioning if I can really tackle the loop mentally and financially but everytime I watch yall I'm feeling more and more confident. Thank you for helping me along!!❤

[@SchoandJo]

That's awesome, good luck, Joey!

[@mvintrigue-trawlerdiy1101]

Excellent, detailed video. Much appreciated.

[@mindiwilhelm4322]

❤😮 You are so organized that it is absolutely amazing.

[@doncritzer2798]

I bought two E bikes a couple months ago and my uber bill went to zero

[@timgreen4137]

This was very informative. Thank you for sharing it all with us. Hopefully, the "anchor vs marina" costs will come in handy, to help us save money for adventures ashore. It's good to know at least a little about what to expect when embarking on a new adventure.

[@michaelsmith2078]

As Pacific Mexico cruisers my wife and I don’t count food as an expense since we need to eat wherever we live. You did very well on boat repairs. We have a similar trawler as you so we know the costs to upkeep and run a trawler. We were surprised to see how many nights you spent in marinas. In Mexico we cruise for 7 months and spend less than 10 days at a dock. That would be the biggest difference in Mexico and the loop

[@cmichaelhaugh8517]

Good job folks! I can’t live at home on that budget but you used sweat equity very well.

[@robertsmith-ws9rf]

Thank you for this video!! It was exactly what I was looking for in trying to plan for my great loop adventure. I will be buying your anchoring guide. Thx again.

[@robertsmith-ws9rf]

I buy organic also 😊

[@SchoandJo]

Glad it was helpful! Best of luck planning your Loop 😁 We're happy to answer any questions!

[@jimyoung1734]

Congratulations you hit 30k subscribers…. That’s awesome.👏

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks, Jim!

[@kellycline9624]

Absolutely love what you have done here!

[@joulemine]

I traveled the US in 2019 and mainly boondocked and free camped and spent just right at $36k for two people. Fuel and food were the highest categories as well, I think yall did quite well! Currently van camping across the west coast if yall would like to catch up sometime. I know yall are heading into van life and I've been a rubber nomad for years and have a business around mobile solar. Not trying to sell ya anything, simply help some fellow YT travel peeps ✌ -Tom

[@SchoandJo]

Hi Tom, thanks for saying hi! Very interesting to see a similar cost for camping! I don't know when we'll be out west, but it would be great to meet up then 😁

[@calimark7448]

Very enlightening, thanks!

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks!!

[@oldautos251]

My friend did the loop in 2007 in a 50 foot cruisers 500, two 710 hp Volvo penta truck engines, they spent 30,000 on diesel fuel alone!

[@SchoandJo]

Wow! Not that surprising, different strokes for different folks 😁

[@commonsensepatriot9450]

Great video. Thanks!

[@ChainringTattoo]

This is great information, thank you for sharing. The one major expense you did not mention is health insurance. I am curious how you manage that. It is one of our big hurdles.

[@SchoandJo]

We buy healthcare on healthcare.gov. There are many plans available with different price points. As long as you get emergency care, which is pretty standard, you will have the essential and you can tailor the coverage to whatever you need. Cheers!

[@larryskeggs9497]

Hey guys checking out the Canadian part of your loop but haven’t come across any video of the Kirkfield lift is there any

[@SchoandJo]

Yes! We shared every day of our journey so its there somewhere. I think this is the one you're looking for! kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6S4npRumJp-pac&ab_channel=SchoandJo

[@iamgriff]

Pretty informative video actually. I am getting close to retirement, and this is going to be my new lifestyle. It was interesting to see your grocery bill was larger than your fuel bill.

[@SchoandJo]

Awesome!

[@cliff5021]

Thanks for the pretty complete run down. Food and fuel were important costs to acknowledge and list. Different areas have different fuel prices and food can vary and you did a good job talking about making most of your own meals. The boat cost aren't as important just like the extra medical cost you incurred. Those will be explorer dependent.

[@carpediemwithLesli]

Doing the anchoring and having a saving of approximately $6,900; pays for a nice solar panels system!!❤

[@SchoandJo]

Absolutely! Although our nice electrical set up is less important for the Loop - since you are moving every two days, your alternator should keep you batteries nice and topped up! A couple panels do go a long way, though!

[@michaelmckeon2892]

Great Post TY!

[@Ulbre]

Nice job. Did you plan that the loop would take a year? Or is that just how it worked out? If you planned it that way I'd imagine keeping on schedule wouldn't be the easiest thing to do. You know you'll have to do another loop with your future children, and then another loop once they're off to college and then a fourth loop with the grand-kids!!!!!

[@SchoandJo]

haha maybe one day! And yes we planned the Loop in one year, but didn't plan it in alot of detail. We just planned certain goals that helped us: 1. Reaching the Chesapeake Bay by May 2. Reaching Chicago by the End of September

[@brethowell2311]

Great Video!

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks!

[@Illuminati300]

I live on a Trent on the most northern point of the loop in Canada

[@SchoandJo]

What a beautiful area!

[@Illuminati300]

@@SchoandJo would you know the max size for a boat to do the loop living on the trench severe? I see a lot of big boats but I don’t know if they’re doing the full loop and I would like to buy a big enough sailboat or catamaran. Take it from Ontario down to Florida.

[@SchoandJo]

@@Illuminati300 I believe 23ft is technically the largest beam for the trent severn!

[@Illuminati300]

@ I wanna know the whole loop like what’s the biggest boat that you know of that has completed it I’ve seen some very very big boats on the Trent, but they can’t do the whole loop. They can only do part of it. They’re kind of stuck. thanks a lot safe travels.

[@robnee3313]

Thank you.

[@CaptCarp]

Did you see any small alternative boats for the loop? I’m afraid to buy a big old trawler and try to resell it after I’m done looping. Especially when I’m hearing recreational stuff isn’t selling in today’s economy.

[@SchoandJo]

While we didn't have any issue selling Pivot, that was for sure an anomaly. You can check out Ranger Tugs and C-Dorys, both small great alternatives for Looping.

[@TheJttv]

About the same as me living solo in Raleigh. (Ignoring rent)

[@klaaskoster7857]

Love your channel and appreciate your information. The topic of a slip in a marina versus anchoring is arguably presented a little biased. You made very significant financial investments to allow you to anchor as much as you did. This included buying a reliable outboard engine, a bigger anchor, top of the line snubber gear, and solar panels presumably with charge controllers and batteries. That may have been a $5,000 investment. You also added considerable stress to your life in your first weeks of boating while you figured out how to anchor with confidence. With the investment made and confidence gained, anchoring indeed became a great choice. On the other hand, I can image other Loopers deciding to keep it simple and just dock their boat and plug into shore power. Total cost might not be that much higher.

[@klaaskoster7857]

Oh, and the ongoing hassle of launching, towing, and retrieving the dinghy of course. Depending on your setup that can get old too.

[@SchoandJo]

While I do agree, that our investment of Solar and Lithium (your 5k is close to accurate, although we probably spent closer to 4) drastically helped with anchoring - You don't need that sort of set up for the Loop, it helped us for times when we weren't looping and since we were working we needed a beefier power system. Because on the Loop you move on average very two days so even without solar your batteries can stay pretty charged up (from the Alternator), and if you add a panel or two you can be set. The part that i disagree is about "adding considerable stress" by anchoring. If you watch our earlier videos, it was the "docking" that gave us considerable stress haha. So in fact it was less stressful (for us) to anchor! I will add (for anyone reading this comment) our course on anchoring has been highly received for anyone wanting to lessen that initial anchoring learning curve 😁

[@richardstever3242]

Wow! You really did go from zero to gold. Congratulations

[@AnneCalhounRN]

brilliant! Thank you!

[@mvintrigue-trawlerdiy1101]

Excellent video. I think you guys ended up well below the average. After reading the replies...One thing to keep in mind, even if one could do it cheaper, and one definitely can, you are always one mechanical issue or grounding mishap away from a $5000+ bill that will have to be dealt with. So in addition to the budget, you must have some decent reserves on hand to deal with emergency haul out/repairs.

[@SchoandJo]

Great point. You need to have that reserve to handle boat life "emergencies"! We didn't have a boat emergency but my wrist break in Maryland was almost 10k including rental cars, marina stays, hospital bills, so our cost of 1.5 loops had that emergency bill.

[@haroldconnell2973]

Great job

[@edl5731]

I feel like you left out a very significant number - depreciation (or capital gain). If you sold the boat for $20,000 less than you bought it than you overall cost was 50% higher on the other hand if your sweat equity resulted in a $10,000 capital gain, your overall cost was only $30,000.

[@randolphh8005]

Old boats don’t depreciate if kept up and repaired, in fact I would guess it is a selling advantage if the boat and mechanicals worked well for the trip and are properly maintained. The boat costs that one can do the loop in have a HUGE range, based on size and age. So you’re not wrong to consider it, but each situation will be different.

[@SchoandJo]

What Randolph said is correct, when you buy an old boat for relatively cheap, there isn't much more depreciation to happen (because the price can't reasonably go much lower for a working, decent conditioned, boat). That factored into our buying process and since we replaced our decks we put in alot of time and labor and was able to get some of that back on the sale. Of course if you put our time as like $100 /hour then we didn't even come close to making that back haha. I will say, it's generally accepted to never buy a boat as an investment, if you can sell it for what you bought it for, that's a huge win! Also we didn't include the price of the boat here, because that happened pre and post Loop. It would factor more into a "how much does it cost to live on a boat" not so much Looping so we excluded it. Cheers!

[@lpettet1]

Thanks for the financial accounting. Wasn't the cost/income of having a KZbin Channel part of the trip? Medical bc you weren't near Drs./facilities? The difference between buying/prep and sale of Pivot? Living on $40k for the year, being debt free, all while seeing everything you saw was really a good, cheap year. Nice job. Let's see how Van life compares.

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks, Les! Nope, our business expenses (KZbin, etc.) was not included here. Medical sort of was, because our rental car to go to appointments was included, but not our actual insurance costs. We didn't include the buying / prep or sale of Pivot as that happened pre and post Loop as well. Cheers!

[@georgelauchland7512]

Not sure that food should count , because you have to eat no matter where you are on the planet ie home or vacation . I do enjoy your vid and information about cost of your trip❤

[@SchoandJo]

True, but food costs more while living on a boat and many people spend money eating out while traveling! So we thought it might be relevant to some people :) Cheers!

[@josephwhite8578]

Could you stay at a marina each night if you wanted to?

[@SchoandJo]

Yes, you can do most of the loop at a marina every night. There is a section between St. Louis, MO, and Paducah, KY, that you have to anchor one or two times because there are no marinas.

[@scottm9010]

Let us know when you’re back in our Bobcaygeon neighbourhood and we’ll buy you an ice cream cone 🍦 😉

[@gwrulzmylife]

I love statistics! I can not believe your food/restaurant bill. That is crazy. 😂 OF COURSE you can do it while young, without kids 😅 you have 10x more disposable income, especially 😉 when you're considering your travel expenses. But what other expenses did you have? Phone? Home or car? 😮

[@SchoandJo]

Thanks! We had the traditional expenses like a phone bill, health insurance, etc. We don't have a car and Pivot was our full time home!

[@phildilcox651]

How much was the boat ?

[@SchoandJo]

Less than 50k!

[@jeremystory6981]

Great job those bakeries are getting expensive

[@doncritzer2798]

You two were cruising when diesel fuel hit the roof too, and food prices went up too.......

[@SchoandJo]

Exactly!

[@The442nd]

I miss you guys 😕

[@SchoandJo]

That's where the kitchen counter will overhang, but we'll cut it down to fit after all is said and done ! Cheers!

[@p.r.9219]

I've heard that the word "BOAT" is defined as "Break Out Another Thousand" 🙄🤔

[@SchoandJo]

That's absolutely right! If anything breaks, its measured in boat bucks (1k increments)

[@michaelkonieczny863]

How much did you spend on the boat, and what kind of advice do you have when looking for a boat?

[@SchoandJo]

Be very clear on what your must-haves are, and be very lenient on your not-must haves! There is no perfect boat. Also, seriously consider your post-loop plans, if you need a boat for the loop and you'll sell it afterward is a very different boat than perhaps one you're going to use for the next 20 years! They also could be the same boat so it really is such a personal decision. We wrote a blog post on loop boats so go to schoandjo.com if you want to get more topics to consider!

[@califcamper]

Im sorry, how do you make an income to do that?

[@SchoandJo]

We run our brand schoandjo full time! We make money from various sources, great loop guides, our website, and here on KZbin. Our entire Great Loop we spent working, so it's always a trade off. Not the same trip as if we were retired. Cheers.

[@doncritzer2798]

1200 bucks for doggy treats for Ollie 🐕 😂😅😊

[@ggykntsmt]

Fuel fuel fuel fuel !!

[@aubbrey51]

$1000.00 a month on average for groceries and then an average of $300 a month for eating out ... Wow !

[@jerryf4806]

Stressful cruising….really🤷‍♂️

[@SchoandJo]

Yep!

[@rjaquaponics9266]

Didn't you suffer a medical emergency, where are those expenses? It had to cost something Is it not part of the budget?

[@SchoandJo]

I did! But that was our first loop attempt in 2021. This number is from our entire Loop from 2022-2023, and there were (fortunately) no medical emergencies!

Tacky advertising video. We see these types on the ICW anchoring all the time from our waterfront home. Yuk.

[@SchoandJo]

Wow, I’m not sure this is the comment you think it is. Very pretentious!

[@X_digital_X]

11k for groceries... for 2 people... lol nuts!

[@SchoandJo]

Is that a lot or a little? 😁 considering we eat healthy and mainly cook, I think it’s decent!

[@David-d9s8h]

200 a week on food and 80 a week dining out is not a budget for two people.

[@SchoandJo]

"A budget is a financial plan that estimates how much money will be made and spent over a set period of time." When traveling full-time on this trip, you can expect to pay more for things like food! Budget does not imply "trying to save money" just how much it all costs. You have to consider how much it would cost for people who decide to eat out much more, that number could be vastly higher!

[@brianholleran6340]

omg .. therapy. LMAO. cmon. cmon

[@SchoandJo]

Worth every cent!

[@acreator24]

"Cost" not "costed" 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@SchoandJo]

👍

[@wesleyferguson6932]

You spent way more than I thought you would have. Most people can't afford to spend like you did.

[@randolphh8005]

If your budget was much less, then you would not be able to do this trip. Remember this was not a vacation. They have no other significant costs. A couple living on less than $4000 per month mostly all in while traveling 6000 miles on a boat is pretty frugal. We are retired, and our monthly budget is way higher than this living on land. We are contemplating this trip also, and would have expected to spend somewhat more. Plus, we would not give up our residence to do so.

[@p.r.9219]

Four oil changes ? You threw away money on those.

[@SchoandJo]

If there is one thing we believe, its to follow the manufacturer's guidelines, especially on things that are very expensive to fix, like engines. In this case, ours was every 200 hours, so that is what we did.

[@cliff5021]

Manufacturer's recommended intervals are often rationalized into less costs based on things like oil manufacturers life claims. It's not always about the life of the oil. It's usually about conditions it's used in or contamination. Good inexpensive insurance choice!

[@NonSophisticated]

Groceries and gas were the big expenses. Ya know, three years ago you could of done this for $20k.

[@SchoandJo]

You're probably right!

[@user-lv7ck8gf2k]

I was gonna go political..... then I saw your name!😂

[@JakeRichardsong]

What was the carbon footprint? That is another cost.

[@SchoandJo]

The carbon footprint is a cost, but it would not be applicable in this type of video. In that same realm, the time spent here is another type of abstract cost that you couldn't quantify. In this scenario, you're right that we had a high carbon footprint in the sense that we burned diesel to travel 6k miles, but on the other hand, we bought a used boat which didn't require new construction, we used renewable energy when possible for living, we didn't have a car or house which has their own climate impacts, and we limited our trash because we had to while living on a boat.

[@frasertones8519]

Great video. Costed is not a word though. lol