Sailboats

Dive deep into the world of sailboats, from choosing the right vessel for your prepper needs to maintenance and navigation. Explore the skills required to make your boat a reliable, self-sufficient platform.

Having lived in Toronto, and then on a farm in Northern Ontario, my move to a catamaran sailboat on the ocean 8 years ago was a big change, but a welcome one. Eight years of living on the oceans has taught me a lot, and re-affirmed my belief that a sailing catamaran is the ultimate in survival shelters.

Ocean Population Density

Ocean Population Density

The other day I was talking with a friend about population density and the number of people who live on the ocean. So I did some research on the numbers, and here are the results.

USA

Total Area = 9,833,520 km² (3,796,742 square miles).

Population = 331,893,745 (2021 estimate).

Population Density = 33.6/km² (87/square mile).

All Land on Earth, including deserts and glaciers

Total Area = 148,326,000 km² (57,268,900 square miles).

Population = 7,795,000,000.

Population Density = 52.6/km².

Oceans

Total Area = 361,900,000 km².

Population = 100,000 estimated*.

Population Density = 0.00028/km² or 1 person per 4000 square kilometers.

* = (There are no hard statistics for how many people live on the oceans. There is estimated to be twenty to thirty thousand cruising boats in the world. If we average 3 people per boat, that gives us sixty to ninety thousand people. As such, this is a generous estimate. But even if my numbers are off by a factor of 10, if there's actually 1 million people living on the oceans, it would still be 1 person per 400 km²).

Comparison

To relate that density to the USA, it's the same as if the entire USA had a population of 2,500 people.

If you related that to the entire planet, it's like the Earth's population was 41,500 people.

Who Needs to be a Millionaire? (with video)

Who Needs to be a Millionaire? (with video)

Many people think you must be a millionaire to purchase a sailboat. That simply is not true.

Sure, having a million dollars to spend on a boat will probably get you a bigger, and more reliable boat. But it is not required. If you can afford the downpayment on a home, you have enough to purchase a liveaboard sailboat outright, without any loan.

It may not be ready to face the end of the world when you buy it. But you can then invest in your new floating home to improve your vessel. You should be able to spend a bit each month to add or upgrade all the systems on the boat. This can be done with money that would otherwise be going towards a mortgage (yours, or your landlord's).

Below are 10 boats to show that it can be an affordable option for anyone. I did not go searching for these, I simply looked in two Facebook groups (Liveaboard Sailboats for Sale, and Catamarans For Sale by Owner - Worldwide) and these were the first boats I saw.

Our Bug-Out Boat and the Choices We Made (Part 1)

Our Bug-Out Boat and the Choices We Made (Part 1)

Our opinion is that our sailboat is the perfect liveaboard bug-out sailboat... for us.

And that's really the main point, this is what we consider perfect. You may look at our choices and go with the exact opposite. So there may be no perfect boat for everyone, but here's the choices we made and why.

Part 1 contains:

  • Motorboat or Sailboat
  • Monohull or Multihull
  • Hull Length
  • Saildrive versus Direct Drive
  • Fixed, Folding & Feathering. Choosing the Right Propeller
  • Diesel Engines or Electric Motors
  • Electrical Power
  • Water

Part 2 contains:

  • Masts & Sails
  • Anchors
  • Engine Location
  • Galley
  • Tenders (dinghies)
  • AIS
  • Hull material. Wood, steel, aluminum or plastic

Our Bug-Out Boat and the Choices We Made (Part 2)

Our Bug-Out Boat and the Choices We Made (Part 2)

Here is Part 2 of Our Bug-Out Boat and the Choices We Made

Read Part 1

Part 1 contains:

  • Motorboat or Sailboat
  • Monohull or Multihull
  • Hull Length
  • Saildrive versus Direct Drive
  • Fixed, Folding & Feathering. Choosing the Right Propeller
  • Diesel Engines or Electric Motors
  • Electrical Power
  • Water

Part 2 contains:

Self-sustainable farming on a sailboat

Self-sustainable farming on a sailboat

Found a great article about a sailor who grows their own food onboard.

Three hulls, one planet: Neel 51 owner explains how he went self-sustainable (opens in a new window)

As an experienced live-aboard cruiser, I disagree with a few points in his article. A few examples:

  • He states "Desalination puts brine back into the sea, which contributes to the eutrophication of the marine environment". First off, evaporation from the ocean surface removes much more water than a sailboat would. Second, the water you take from your watermaker will all end up going back into the ocean, thereby diluting the salt content back to normal. I also have rain catchers on our boat, but while Wolf uses them as his primary source, and watermaker as secondary, we use the watermaker as primary and raincatchers as secondary.
  • Re-using grey water is needed if you are relying on rain catching. While I am not opposed to having a grey-water system, we found it was easier just to use potable water for everything. The amount of waste from a single boat is minimal, and the ocean naturally bio-degrades it.
    Our reliance on potable water may partly be because we have excess electrical power, and so can "waste" the energy to use our watermaker as we please. Wolf has 3kw of solar and a 10kwh battery bank, compared to our 4.5kw solar and 29kwh battery bank.

Generally, however, he has some great ideas, and it's good to see other people making the switch to a cruising lifestyle. Definitely worth the read.