Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat, Part 2

Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat, Part 2

Now that Blue has been part of the family for a year now, I thought it would be a good time to take a reckoning of what he's cost us, and compare that to the cost of owning Nine of Cups. Last week in Part 1, I tallied all the fixed costs – those dollars that don't change much whether Blue is sitting in the driveway or carrying us across the country. This week, I'll total up the operating expenses. These are the costs like fuel and maintenance that do vary more or less directly with the amount of driving we do.

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Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat

Blue View – Comparing the Cost of Owning a Van vs Owning a Boat

Over the years that we lived aboard Nine of Cups, we obsessively kept track of the money we spent on her. Since Blue just celebrated the first anniversary of his adoption yesterday, I thought this might be a good time to make a reckoning of what the various costs on Blue have been, and then compare the costs of living aboard a boat with the cost of living in Blue.

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Blue View – Adding a Battery Under the Front Passenger Seat

Blue View – Adding a Battery Under the Front Passenger Seat

I had read on more than one forum that it might be possible to install one or two batteries under the front passenger seat. I couldn't find any threads indicating that anyone had actually done it, nor did I find any information suggesting that it couldn't, or shouldn't be done. So I removed the front passenger seat and took some measurements.

Sure enough, it looked like there was adequate room and I decided to give it a try. While there were a few complications and glitches, the end result isn't bad.

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