Hey guys, quick question.

Im a merchant sailor and I spend most of my time on bulk carriers, working down in the engine room. Ive sailed on small sailboats before too, but never outside my own country.

On my last contract I met someone who invited me to sail with him on his private sailboat from Turkey all the way to Brazil.

I can enter Turkey without any issues, but I dont have a visa for Brazil. So before I tell him yes or no, I wanted to ask:

Is it possible that when we arrive in Brazil, he goes ashore for fuel food supplies paperwork etc. while I stay onboard the boat the whole time and never officially enter the country??????

Or is that not how it works???

And if the answer is yes (which honestly I kinda doubt), does the same thing apply in other countries/ports too??

Thanks.

We're planning to pull the marine head and holding tank from our Ericson 38-200 and replace it with a composting head. Our goal is to go cruising in the Sea of Cortez in a few years, and maybe a ways further South in Mexico. So, what do we do with the new 20 gallon tank space? Boat currently holds 60 gallons of diesel and (we think)90 gallons of water. There will be 2 adults and 1 kid full time, with another crew or 2 joining from time to time. What do people find themselves wishing they had space for while cruising?

We are looking to upgrade the V-berth mattress on our boat to something a bit more comfortable than the 4" foam it came with. What are people using these days? Is anyone using springs or have we all gone foam? I like foam mattresses but find that they get pretty hot, and I'm in the PNW!

Bonus points for something we can use ashore in rectangular format for a a few months and cut down later, as we aren't quite ready to move aboard yet.

Hello!

I am a Swedish guy with a big sailing dream.

I am starting a new project that will take up the next 4 years of my life. I bought a small sailingboat (Maxi 77) some time ago to see if I like the whole sailing thing. I got hooked.

So I have decided to start the journey of buying and building my dreamboat for circumnavigation. This thread is for me to be able to ask experienced sailors questions and for others to be able to follow the journey and maybe take some inspiration from it.

Current situation

Right now I sail a Maxi 77 and use it as a learning platform:

• handling weather
• anchoring
• maintenance
• docking
• sailing solo
• understanding systems

The more time I spend onboard, the more I realize that offshore sailing is much more about simplicity than I first thought.

So now the long-term project begins.

What I am looking for:

Budget:

~15,000-20,000 EURO total initial budget.

That includes:

• boat purchase
• essential safety upgrades
• basic liveaboard systems
• energy setup
• sail handling improvements

I am planning to do as much work as possible myself.

I work remotely as a programmer and I am fairly technical, so my goal is not to buy a perfect turnkey cruising boat, but rather an older solid platform that I can slowly optimize and learn inside out.

I know this is a tight budget and I know older boats hide problems, which is exactly why I want to learn as much as possible before buying.

Long term:

• Circumnavigation
• Asia and warmer climates
• Remote work from onboard
• Self-sufficient cruising lifestyle
• Low monthly costs
• Freedom over luxury

Dream boat:

• 32–38 feet
• manageable solo or short-handed
• simple and robust systems
• offshore capable
• comfortable enough to work remotely 8h/day
• good cockpit protection
• practical rather than luxurious

At the moment I am mainly looking at older:

• C&C (35 mki/mkii/mkiii)
• Sabre (34/36)
• maybe similar performance/cruiser designs

Likely in the US due to pricing and selection.

Another thing I have started thinking a lot about is interior space and long-term livability.

Since this is not just a sailing project but also a liveaboard/remote work project, I care a lot about how these boats actually feel to live inside long-term.

So I would really love input from people with experience living onboard boats in the 32–38 foot range.

Questions I keep thinking about:

• At what size does a boat start feeling genuinely spacious inside?
• Is there a big real-world difference between something like 34 vs 38 feet?
• How comfortable are older C&C/Sabre boats to actually live in long-term?
• Can you realistically work remotely from them full-time?
• How many people can comfortably stay onboard without it feeling cramped?
• Are they “weekend boats” or true liveaboard boats in your experience?

I know this is subjective, but I am very curious about the reality vs the dream.

I do not need luxury, but I do want the boat to feel like an actual small home and not just a camping project after 2–3 years onboard.

One thing I already realized from my Maxi 77 is that a few extra feet seem to make a MASSIVE difference in comfort, storage, movement inside the cabin and general stress levels onboard.

Would love to hear honest experiences from people who have actually spent long periods living onboard boats in this size range.

Sail handling needs

One thing I realized from my Maxi 77 is that I absolutely do NOT want a mainsail system where I need to manually fight and flake the sail on the boom in rough conditions offshore.

That kind of sail handling feels exhausting and honestly dangerous when tired or solo.

So one of my biggest priorities is:

• lazy jacks
• stack pack/lazy bag
• reefing from cockpit
• possibly low-friction mast track systems

The dream setup for me is:

• autopilot on
• head into wind
• drop halyard
• mainsail falls neatly into stack pack
• done

I care much more about safe and low-stress sail handling than maximum performance.

I am NOT interested in racing setups or complicated systems.

Remote work setup

Since I work remotely as a programmer, this is basically also a floating off-grid tiny house project.

Things I already know I will prioritize heavily:

• solar
• Starlink
• bimini/dodger
• cockpit shade
• low power consumption
• reliable autopilot

Expected costs (rough estimate)

Boat:

7k–12k EURO

Initial upgrades/refit:

• safety gear
• batteries
• lazy jacks/stack pack
• solar
• Starlink
• autopilot improvements
• anchoring setup
• electrical fixes

Probably another:
3k–7k EURO over time.

The plan is NOT to do a 4-year marina refit before leaving.

The goal is:

• buy solid boat
• fix essential systems
• sail
• improve gradually while cruising

Things I currently worry about

• hidden deck/core problems
• rigging costs
• finding the right balance between “project boat” and “too expensive”
• building a reliable enough platform for long-term remote work

What I would love input on:

• Experiences with older Sabres/C&C offshore
• Whether they are realistic long-term cruising/liveaboard boats
• Common hidden costs first-time buyers underestimate
• Smart sail handling upgrades for solo sailors
• What systems matter MOST offshore
• Whether buying in the US is worth it
• Mistakes you wish you avoided early:

This will probably be a very long project, but honestly that’s part of the excitement so follow along.

Hi there im looking for advice. I want to sail from scotland over the chanel and into france then head off from there costal around eurpope until greece and then war depending cross the red sea and explore asia. I want to set sail in aprox 2 years. What type of boat would be ideal for a solo voyage like this how much should i save for the boat and equipment? What equipment is ecential? Any recomendations on routes and or life on the sea. I probably wont have a massive budget so something on the lower side tips to save money aswel would be appreciated.

I am looking through boats for sale and see some decent looking Hunters in the 30 ft range. I have found some really negative comments about Hunters and then other saying they sail really well and can be great long lasting boats. Anyone have any first hand experience good or ill?

Looking for boat passage from west coast USA to big island Hawaii: Will pay, available immediately. Comment or DM please

So my 25 year marriage is ending. I am in New England and will not be spending another winter here. I have been dreaming of sailing my entire life. I think it is time to do it, what do I have to loose? I have several questions.

1. Is the $5000 cost of taking the basic to Advanced Nav classes from ASA school worth the cost VS learning by doing and YouTube university?
2. Good minimal navigation communication setups?
3. For those that have sailed both coasts, Which would you say is most enjoyable to sail? I am not locked into starting on the east coast as I have family in CA and could start from there.

I have a boat budget of $25000 and a outfit budget of $7000. Obviously if I went the route of not taking the course that ups my budgets.

So lay it on me sailors, give me your thoughts.

I'm scrambling on last minute details to get my boat ready for launch and I need to replace some wiring leading to the stern navigation light. It is mounted at the junction of the split backstay and the wire running to it appears to have been pretty embrittled by years of weather, and replacing the bulb didn't bring the light back to light. I'm going to just go ahead and replace the whole outside portion of the wire which is about seven feet long.

I'm just not sure what kind of wire I should use. I have lots of spare wire here left by the prior owner including more than enough of the marine wire that looks like household Romex. Is that what I should use? The wire I am replacing was only one layer of insulation and I'm thinking maybe that kind is better as less likely to trap moisture, or maybe the romex-style stuff is better because it's got more layers of protection. But I'm imagining water getting in at the top from rain or just condensation and seeping down by capillary action as a possible failure mode.

All of the other outside wires that I see are specific things like the GPS antenna, which is a thin stranded wire fully sealed for the entire length that is outside. The other navigation light, at the front, has the wire routed inside the bow pulpit ... I think a term is escaping me but it's inside the metal tubing that the lifelines connect to.

I'd also kind of like to just replace the whole fixture but access sucks. It's right above my steering console and access if limited by the Bimini. Nowhere to put a ladder so I'm precariously balanced to reach it... so, removing the bulb part is doable but I'm not sure that taking the whole thing off to redo would be convenient. Just that it's almost the same price for an LED bulb alone versus a whole new sealed fixture.

But either way I need to use the correct kind of wire. There is an above waterline fitting through the deck and I'll put the crimp inside of there and run it to the bulb holder that screws into the bottom of the fixture. I just want to use the right wire so I don't have to redo it in a state of shame.

picked up a 1979 32’ downeaster about a month ago and slowly been replacing things as i go. right now ive been using a vevor dual zone fridge/freezer 12volt cooler but id like to repair the top loader fridge that the boat originally had.

the problem being when i bought the boat every piece of the fridges cooling system had already been removed, what kind of compressor/cooling system replacement have yall used. Honestly id prefer it to be a freezer over fridge since i eat more meat and frozen foods than regular fridge foods.

Is it even worth replacing the missing components or should i just turn the old fridge compartment into some kind of storage area?

Hey everybody. I'm looking for a good place to anchor in Clearwater preferably somewhere near something he ducks and downtown.

What would be your minimum 10m or 33ft sailboat displacement for cruising?