What does the Great Loop actually cost?

Eight published ledgers

Each total is what that Looper published, so they count different things. The notes say what's in and what's out.

The 36-ft trawler's $18,607 is our addition of the seven lines they listed: $5,100 + $3,800 + $3,300 + $3,347 + $1,200 + $960 + $900. The Grand Banks figure was reported by a magazine editor, who adjusted the fuel to 2020 prices, and it leaves out a $15,000 generator and inverter bought partway through.

Fuel: the boat's speed decides it

Fuel ran from $3,800 to $18,541 across these ledgers, and the gap is mostly speed. The 36-ft trawler cruised at 7.5 knots on one 135 hp diesel and spent $3,800. The Ranger Tug planes, and fuel was more than half of everything its owner tracked. The diesel cruiser from 2015 to 2016 spent less than 15 hours on plane and still burned 4,280 gallons, at 1.24 nautical miles per gallon.

And every one of these ledgers was written at an older fuel price. The Monk 36 paid $2.17 per gallon in 2005 and 2006. The U.S. average retail price of diesel was $6.352 per gallon the week of October 26, 2026, $2.634 more than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Put that price on the gallons these Loopers actually burned:

• The diesel cruiser's 4,280 gallons × $6.352 = about $27,200, against the $9,808 it paid.
• The Grand Banks' 2,825 gallons × $6.352 = about $17,900.

Marinas: where you sleep decides it

The two slow trawlers make the cleanest comparison. The Monk 36 spent about 69% of its nights in a marina and paid $12,295 for it. The 34-ft trawler slept free on 63% of its nights and paid $5,831. They are 17 years apart, so it isn't a perfect test, but the direction is plain. Where you spend the night is a choice you make every evening, and it is the biggest lever in the budget that isn't the boat itself.

Size moves it too. AGLCA's published FAQ points out that marinas charge by the foot, so a bigger boat pays more every night it ties up. Super Loopers, who publish a Loop planning guide, put their own marina fees at an average of $2.25 per foot on their 2024 to 2025 trip. At that rate a 45-ft boat pays about $100 a night ($2.25 × 45 = $101.25).

What the ledgers leave out

• The boat. Not one of them includes the purchase, and none counts what the boat costs to own for the rest of the year.
• Maintenance, mostly. The retired Looper who tracked it spent about $10,855 in 211 nights, slightly more than fuel. The Grand Banks spent $10,000 on repairs, plus the $15,000 generator and inverter left out of its total.
• Insurance, usually. Two of the eight list it: $2,119 on the 34-ft trawler and $900 on the 36-ft one.
• Food, sometimes. The Ranger Tug's owner leaves out groceries and dining, and says so. On the 34-ft trawler, groceries were the single biggest line, because they cooked most meals aboard.

So a budget built from fuel and marinas alone is missing the lines that surprise people. Keep a repair fund separate from the trip budget, and size it to the age of the boat.

Build your own number

1. Fuel: about 6,000 miles ÷ your boat's miles per gallon at the speed you'll actually run × the price at the docks on your route. What a range figure needs before you can trust it →
2. Marinas: the nights you expect to pay for × your boat's length × the per-foot rate where you'll be. Then decide how many nights you'll anchor, because that's the part you control.
3. Repairs: a separate fund, sized to the boat's age and the survey's findings.
4. Food and everything ashore: what you spend at home, plus restaurants. The 34-ft trawler's restaurants came to $3,625 on their own.

We haven't run the Loop, and we haven't seen anyone's receipts. Every figure above is what a Looper published, and the arithmetic joining them is ours.