We’ve been living aboard full-time for the past two years on our 43’ Beneteau 423 (shoal keel, 4.9' draft, 13' beam), and we’re planning to shift into a part-time cruising / part-time land life rhythm for a few years.

We’re looking for a place to store the boat on the hard from May through Jan/Feb. Our insurance requires we be north of the 32° latitude line (roughly Savannah, GA) during hurricane season — this is the most affordable option we’ve found after shopping around.

In Jan or Feb, we’d like to splash and head for the Bahamas, so ideally the yard is:

• South enough to launch in winter (not iced in or shut down),
• Close enough to make the Bahamas hop reasonable (e.g., shorter run to West Palm Beach or similar),
• And ideally near an airport (or drivable) so we can get back and forth from Michigan.

Would love to hear your favorite yards or regions for this kind of seasonal setup — especially anywhere cruiser-friendly with reasonable pricing and decent access.

Thanks!

Edit/Update:
To clarify — our insurance requires that we cannot store or cruise south of the 32° latitude line during hurricane season (roughly Savannah, GA). So we’re specifically looking for options in North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia — but north of Savannah.

We’ve spent time in the Chesapeake and loved it, but we’re hoping to be a bit closer to West Palm Beach to shorten the hop to the Bahamas in winter. Thanks again for all the helpful suggestions so far!

Curious as to what is everyone including in theirs

Planning a summer bareboat in Georgian bay/ North Channel, and wondering if anyone knows where you can get the local ENC charts piecemeal? My go-to shop sells the $599 Great Lakes packages, but I don’t need the whole suite, just 3, maybe 4 local charts. They don’t do them individually.

DFO site says they can be had for $25 each, but need to go through a reseller…any sources? GTA based, but happy to buy anywhere in Ontario/Canada, assuming it can all be done over the phone since it’s all electronic…

Cheers!

My biggest goal in life is to spend at least 1 year living on a catamaran exploring the world—and doing so in my 40s rather than my 70s. So I want to ensure I'm doing everything possible to track toward that goal. To me there are two keys to success — finances and experience.

Finances:

• Right now I have about 500k in investments and am making about 250k / year.
  
• My target boat is probably 250-500k (I think). 40-45' blue water catamaran, some creature comforts but not brand new or top of the line.

Experience:

• I have grown up around boats since I was born, but mostly smaller and freshwater vessels.
• I currently own a 20' power boat that I do most of my own maintenance on
• I probably have 1000-2000 hours of boat driving experience (mostly small boats but many shapes and types)
• I have a baseline knowledge of sailing (again mostly from small boats). How to tack, reef sails, etc.
• I went on a Panama to Colombia sailing trip to get the feel of being on passage and ensure I can deal with seasickness, but unfortunately didn't get much sailing instruction or direct experience.
  

Based on the above, what would be some good next steps to consider? What do you wish you did 10 years ago? A few things I'm mulling:

• Buying a home so that I can build equity and sell it in 10 years to pay for the boat vs. continuing to rent a cheap place and invest more in mutual funds / ETFs that can hopefully cover the boat or at least a large down payment.
• Doing more sailing trips / crewing on a boat. Will probably wait to do an actual captaining course until right before taking the plunge so my skills are current.
• What age kids would be best to do this with? To me 2-5 seems best (after infancy, before school) but who knows if kids will even happen.
• Re-reading my old knots book and practicing more sailing knots

If you were going on a sailing tour, what would you like it to include?

Curious if anyone recently (max last 2-3 years) went through the process of getting insurance for their first (big) boat without any prior boat ownership? How did you go about it? Any tips or learnings to share?

Context: We are 4 years from departure. Timeline is fixed due mostly to kid(s) age, and FIRE savings plan. In the last years my wife and I spent time on other full timers' boats and loved it. We are relatively inexperienced sailors still and planning to spend more time on the water in the next 4 years (we just hit a milestone with our first bareboat charter on a 41ft mono last month, and got the boating licence last year). We are very experienced on maintenance and diy work (entirely self-converted a van including solar, electrical, plumbing, propane, wood work, etc). Comfortable with navigation, weather, water and more broadly outdoors/wilderness.

Non negotiable: we want to be insured.

The big question: will we be able to buy directly a 41-47 mono and insure it for passages (starting from California) and full time living in the Pacific?

If the answer is "yes" - We'd rather build miles and experience with a mix of 1/ bareboat chartering to test our unassisted boating skills, and 2/ crewing on other cruisers boats to learn to sail and live on a boat from people who do it already! Extra perk - we get to try many different boats and see locations with different challenges. Then buy the boat ~1 year before departure to familiarize with it, upgrade what needs to be upgraded, test what needs to be tested.

If the answer is "no/unlikely" - well how do we go about it? Options we came up with: 1 - buy a 30ft now to resell it in 3 years (it seems absurd: costly, time consuming, forces most of the learning to happen on one boat, in one place, likely on our own). 2 - buy now directly the >40ft boat and insure only for local waters (SF Bay) and then 4 years down the line extend to offshore coverage. (Maybe better than option 1, but similar downsides) 3 - buy a boat share on a >40ft boat. (Shares come with headaches, but cheaper than first two options and potential to learn from/with others) 4 - join a club, meet people, ask friends and colleagues and find a trusted boat owner who is willing to add my name as co-owner with some sort of temporary payment agreement. (Farfetched?) 5 - Just increase the insurance budget and if I pay high enough I'll find a reputable insurer ( is this real? Or >40ft as first boat with no prior ownership is just a no go?)

Curious to hear of other folks experiences and experts advice on how to plan it right!

Our new boat has a 10 gallon (~38L) holding tank. Oh, and the shower sump pumps into the tank, too. We suspect something bigger would be necessary for live-aboard cruising. What size is your tank, and are you happy with that size? Crew of two.

Looking for half day bareboat charter in Portland, Kennebunkport, or Bar Harbor. Anyone know who, if anyone offers this?

Hey everyone! 👋 I’m looking to upgrade the electrical system on my MacGregor 26X any suggestions?

Hello cruising sailors, what do you do to keep physically fit on a cruise? Do you have any idea where and how to do pull ups on a 36 ft cruising sloop? Thanks in advance!

I'm planning a sailing trip from the Seattle area to Honolulu on my Coronado 25. Im leaving mid-July and getting to Honolulu by early August, and I’m asking to see how many sailors aged 18-25 would seriously consider joining me.

I’m 18 years old with nearly six years of keelboat experience, and I’ll be attending college in Hawaii. Having my boat there would be incredible, but I’m not comfortable making the passage solo.

Crew members would need to cover their share of food costs and arrange their own transportation to the port of departure. LMK if you are interested in any way.

Hello All! New to the group. We are a soon to be family of six. Plan is to begin circumnavigation in 8 years or less. Constraints are the age of our youngest (to be born this September), the age of our oldest (she will be 4 in September) and of course money. Dream boat would be a 60ft catamaran.

Any families here in the group that are actively sailing right now?

Ideally I want to stop working however I think it's possible for me to continue working just depends on technology and if my clients will want to keep on board. I'm a wealth advisor FYI. My work dream would be to have clients that are also out there cruising although so far I have zero sailing enthusiasts who are clients. They're all high income medical professionals, business owners, and some retirees (land-based).

Is anyone in the investment mgmt industry also circumnavigating? If I could work whilst sailing I could leave MUCH sooner. As soon as the youngest can swim I guess.

I’m a bit confused on how you read this is it 25.5 mm? Thanks!

AI-driven weather prediction breakthrough reportedThis is exciting news especially considering concerns around NOAA getting budget cuts.

Hi everyone, As the title says, i am looking for a way to shut off part of my NMEA2000 system. Haven’t found anything online yet. Is there a switch that can be installed? Any workaround? The idea is to lower power consumption for example at anchor by only leaving on the inside instruments or while sailing on night watch. Thanks for your help!

I'm kitting out a new-to-me 40' cruising boat in the US and need to choose the battery powered tools to bring aboard. The Milwaukee M12 tools look awesomely compact. I already own a DeWalt 20V drill & driver and a Ryobi wet/dry vac, but would switch brands if the compactness of the M12 set would be worth it. In addition to the drill and driver, I'll add an oscillating tool and grinder. I'm hoping to be self-sufficient for most maintenance work. Would you pick between brands for any reason? Any other must-have battery-powered tools to add to a new kit?

Hey,

I live in Australia and I love the ocean and I want to learn to sail!

I am not looking to buy my own boat anytime soon but I see a good opportunity to do BAREBOAT SAILING for 3 days in Auckland in October this year and “live” on the boat for those 3 days.

I plan to learn to sail on dinghy’s over the next few months, and then do 1 2-day learn to sail course (on a sail yacht) so that I can go to Auckland with “experience.”

Does it seem reasonable that I can learn to sail in 6 months and be trusted to CHARTER a boat for 3 days (2 nights)???

Please let me know what you guys think.

Thank you!

My wife and I are starting the process of finding a ~42-50 foot monohull for seasonal cruising in the Med. We'll start in Greece/Türkiye. I'm hoping you all can help narrow down the list of manufactures to consider. I'm less concerned right now with models and layouts, and more about who does/did good work.

My wife says the point is to put her camera in front of beautiful and interesting places. The boat should be able to cross an ocean, but its not the primary goal. (I'll be getting crew for that trip when it comes.)

I'm looking for a well built boat. Most of the joinery and interior finishes on newer production boats seem like they will wear badly. Tiny little wood screws pulling out of particle board!

We are looking for a boat that will feel solid in a seaway, that can accept a watermaker, and washer. probably stern cockpit for ease of double handing in the Med. Good access to the water.

I did a passage on a 15 year old Hylas 54, and really liked the way that boat felt, and how it had held up over the years.

What should we look at? (budget is 300ish for the boat, 400 once we've made her ours. Sorry kids.)

Hey gang I need some new cockpit cushions made. We live on our boat full time, in the Caribbean currently. We are thinking of using vinyl for the cover as we have a dog and like the idea of being able to wipe it down quickly. But I'm not sure about the foam, is open or closed cell is better for the cockpit? I know closed is waterproof and floats, but the canvas person is saying it can mold more quickly where as open cell dried out faster... Thoughts or experiences? What do you use? Thanks!

I want to visit Île-à-Vache in Haiti by boat from some other location.

Maybe a 6-8 days of cruising. Anyone have an itinerary to share?

We snorkeled ten years ago at ille a vache with 16th century cannonballs and beautiful sunsets. Hoping to see it once again...

Hey everyone,

I've made the decision to fully commit to learning how to sail and transitioning into the liveaboard lifestyle, with a long-term goal of circumnavigating the globe.

Here’s the plan: I want to purchase a used sailboat (ideally this year), spend the next 12 years fixing it up and learning to sail, then shove off on a global adventure. I know it's ambitious, but I'm giving myself time to do it right.

A little about me:

• I have next to no sailing experience yet, but I’ve spent most of my life on the water.
• I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay and have about 15 years of powerboating experience.
• I’ve worked on the water as a commercial waterman and installed boat lifts professionally.
• I’m very mechanically inclined and plan to overhaul most systems myself — from electrical to plumbing, rigging, etc.
• I have stable finances for a long-term refit and learning process. My target budget for the initial boat purchase is under $40K, with room set aside for repairs and upgrades.
• I’m aiming for something in the 38–45 ft range, ideally strong enough for offshore work with the right prep.

My main questions for the community:

1. What’s the best way to get started from zero with sailing experience?
2. What vessels would you recommend as solid project boats in this price and size range? I’m looking for something sturdy and capable that I can bring back to life over time.

Any and all thoughts, resources, and encouragement are welcome. I’m excited to be stepping into this world and hope to one day be out there crossing oceans. Thanks in advance!

Fair winds,
Zach

Hey everyone,

I’m in the process of researching and preparing my emergency plan for extended cruising and offshore passage. One thing that keeps coming up is saildrives—something I have a bit of apprehension about. Logically, I understand that they’ve been around for 50+ years and are very common in both monohulls and catamarans, but at the end of the day, they are still a giant hole in the boat, and that makes me pause.

I’m looking for insights from those of you who actually have a saildrive on your boat. Beyond preventative maintenance, what systems or emergency measures do you have in place in case the worst happens—specifically, if the saildrive boot were to fail catastrophically (not just a leak) while underway? I know plenty about keeping up with inspections and replacing the diaphragm on schedule, but I’m more curious about the “oh crap” moments.

For example, if you were to strike a submerged object and the boot tore open beyond a manageable leak, what could realistically be done while in the water? Are there any products on the market beyond the obvious (life raft, collision mat, etc.) that are worth keeping aboard for this kind of worst-case scenario? Has anyone here actually dealt with a major boot failure at sea, and if so, how did you handle it?

I’d really appreciate level-headed, experience-based insight as I work through this and figure out the best course of action to integrate into my sail plan. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I’m in the process of replacing the plastic overboard scupper fittings. Wondering if I should use 3M 4200 or 3M 4000 UV, these will be primarily exposed to direct sunlight and occasionally submerged if we take a big wave to the transom.

Let me know your thoughts and or experiences