First things first, I’m nowhere near to start a journey. But it seems my life in the next period of time might be laid out in a way which will empower me to start in the not too distant future. Anyways, let’s just start to think what I would like: It should:

• house two persons comfortably and squeeze in four
• cross the Atlantic ocean
• have a watermaker
• have solar panels for normal power consumption
• (maybe detachable) generator for powertools
• central heating for operation colder regions
• dive compressor for filling tanks
• Satphone
• Radio (as in communicating with other ships, not receiving radio broadcasts)
• self steering (autopilot and/or windvane)
• safety gear not mentioned here

At first glance there are three problems:

• Money (all this stuff is extremely expensive)
• A really crammed engine bay
• Safety concerns for diving since you need at least three persons to dive safely (one buddy team of divers and one person topside to move the boat if the divers can’t return on their own (strong current, accident, whatever).

The first rule of doing things on a budget is to strip everything which is not really really needed:

• house two persons comfortably and squeeze in four
• cross the Atlantic ocean (it should have a hull being capable to do that but doesn’t need all the equipment upfront
• have a watermaker luxury, be patient until one comes up for cheap
• have solar panels for normal power consumption
• (detachable) generator for powertools strongly depends on the place where I work on the boat whether it’s really necessary
• central heating for operation colder regions only if I have to life on the boat permanently
• dive compressor for filling tanks luxury…
• Satphone only for crossing oceans
• Radio (as in communicating with other ships, not receiving radio broadcasts)
• self steering (autopilot and/or windvane)
• safety gear not mentioned here

Hmm, I guess I just saved myself around 20 grand…

But there are a couple of things I should look for

• spacious engine bay which holds a sturdy and slightly overpowered engine (so I can use it to directly power the watermaker and generator)
• I should start to hang out at boatyards and maybe help people to install new stuff to score cheap used/slightly broken stuff
• opportunity to learn how to outfit and sail a largish vessel