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Ocean

Converting a charter boat to a liveaboard cruiser ready for circumnavigating.


After Anicke called me in February last year and asked if we should sail around the world, several important questions emerged.


What boat should we use on our adventure? What equipment do we need to circumnavigate? What does it cost to live on a boat?


In this blogpost I will go through the choices we made. We are new to this world of live-aboard cruising and still learning. I am 100% sure that a lot of what we have done will change as we get more experience.


Yggdrasil - Nautitech Open 40

Like many other dreamers we watched sailing channels on YouTube and there seemed like it was possible to sail in any kind of boat. I often read articles about cruising budget and that you can sail around the world in a 50-year-old, 30 foot monohull. We had to figure out what was the right boat for us and what we could afford.

We have 3 kids, that aren’t really kids anymore, but teenagers or young adults and we think they should have somewhere to be by themselves when they need to. Both boys moved out a year before our trip started. It’s not easy being back “home” with mum and dad telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. The boat was to be our home or our floating cabin.  

    

Unless you have obscene amounts of money, you can’t get a boat with lots of space and great performance. Typically, more performance-oriented boats have narrower hulls and less space. We had to compromise.


Our criteria were:

  • 4 cabins (one for each of the kids and one for Anicke and myself),

  • “Somewhat performance” sailing capabilities. We had some sailing experience, but far from any experts and very limited ocean sailing experience. Most importantly we wanted the boat to be able to sail in light winds and reduce the time we had to run the engines.

  • The boat had to be easy to handle with a shorthanded crew.

  • We needed a safe boat, proven to be capable of crossing oceans and handle all kinds of weather.

  • We wanted large outdoor space with good visibility.


Based on these criteria it had to be a 50-foot deck saloon monohull or a catamaran. Even with the abundance of online content available comparing all kinds of boats it was very hard to narrow down the alternatives. We tried to charter a catamaran in Thailand, but due to lack of experience with catamarans the charter company would only offer us a monohull. Anicke and I went to the boat show in Cannes to talk to people and see some of the boats in real life.

lots of boats in the boat show
Boat show in Cannes

In the sailing community there is a huge debate about catamarans vs monohulls for cruising, I am not going to put more fire into that debate, there are certainly pros and cons with both options. Not forgetting trimarans that are increasing in popularity. 3 days are not enough, we looked at a lot of boats but wished we had even more time. Our short-list came down to Excess 11, FP Isla, Nautitech Open 40. We like the Neel trimaran, but the kids would have to go outside to enter their cabin, we saw that as a safety risk. I like the Outremer 45 a lot but unfortunately, they are too expensive for us, just like the HH, Gunboat, ORC, Swisscat and many others. Having a flybridge was out of the question, sitting on top of a wedding cake in large waves was not appealing to us. Had we traveled without kids or to colder climates perhaps we had chosen a monohull, but now we are happy with our choice. Nautitech Open 40 has a design we really liked (thank you Marc Lombard, may he rest in peace) with large open cockpit area, you are outside at the same time as you are protected by the wind and the weather. We love the twin helms; on watches we sit and look at the waves or the stars and feel the wind and boats movements. The rudders are controlled by wire, not hydraulic, you can feel the pressure of the wind. Not like a monohull, but as close as you get on a cat. It’s a sporty boat, the hulls are narrower than similar production cats. This makes the cabins smaller, but also the boat faster.

Our budget excluded new boats, so we started to search the secondhand market. We also hired a consulting company to help us with the selecting, but I would not recommend using that company. The search eventually led us to a Nautitech Open 40 sold by Albatros Rimini in Italy. I have written about them earlier in this blog, highly recommend them. Very service minded, honest people that wants the customer to be happy. https://www.svyggdrasil.com/post/i-love-italy


Charter companies typically buy new boats, use them for 5 years, then sell them and buy new boats. After 5 years of use and abuse by charter guests’ maintenance cost start to increase and its more lucrative for the companies to leave that problem to others. The advantage of buying a former charter boat is that we got it cheaper than most privately owned boats. We also had the option to buy the boat without paying VAT and as long as we don’t bring the boat back to Norway or stay more than 18 months in EU, we don’t have to pay VAT (other countries have similar regulation and time limits).

Another advantage/disadvantage with charter boats is that they have a minimum of equipment. It’s an additional cost for us to upgrade the boat, but we got to choose the gear we wanted. Neither of us had any idea about all the work involved in getting the boat converted from a charter boat to be ready to live aboard and sail around the world. What do we need to make the boat a home and to make it safe to sail on large oceans. We had signed up for ARC+, with our limited ocean sailing experience it feels safe to be together with others with more experience and learn from them. The ARC had a list of required safety equipment, this was a good place to start. Another upgrade we knew was necessary was the electrical system. Countless of hours watching YouTube sailors also helped figuring out what we need. The list of equipment grew quickly, and we hadn’t even moved into the boat. After moving into the boat and started using it, the list of things that either broke, was already broken or upgrades we needed continued to grow. When Anicke’s brother Kristian came aboard and started pointing out all the upgrades and fixes he recommended the list doubled.


In Rimini we experienced for the first time the challenges of ordering equipment. I know from watching sailing vlogs this is very common. When you are living in a house that doesn’t move and always stay in the same country you expect to be able to order anything online and, in a few days, it arrives at your doorstep. When you live on a boat this is no longer the case, it’s hard to know where you are at any given time and delivery often takes weeks.

Picking up deliveries in "Dingleling"

If you further complicate the delivery by trying to order dangerous goods like a new battery you add an additional level of complexity. I have to say a big thank you to Gunnar at Sunbeam for the countless redirects of the delivery of our lithium batteries. The worst case was our solar panels that somehow got lost in a DHL warehouse and the only way to get them was for me to rent a car and drive there myself.

What upgrades did we make?


Safety.

This was the most important category for us. We decided to do everything we can to ensure the safety of the crew, our family.

Expired pyro needed replacement

o   Everything on the ARC required list and everything on their recommended list.

o   EPIRB (simplified it’s a device that sends a satellite and radio signal to the Norwegian authorities when we are in an emergency situation).

o   Best lifejacket on the market, Spinlock with integrated PLB3 from Ocean Signal. The PLB is similar to the EPIRB, with the same functionality just smaller)

o   Fire extinguishers in each cabin, extra in the kitchen and cockpit and a special type made for cooling down lithium batteries. After attending a firefighting training, Anicke and I chose foam extinguishers. They work on most materials and is easier to clean than powder would be. Hopefully we would never need them. We also installed fire and gas alarms in each hull and a fire blanket in the kitchen. The gas used for cooking can be turned off both from inside and from outside in the cockpit.

o   Jacklines, whenever anyone is walking on deck in heavy weather or at night, we have a rule that they must be “clipped in”. Our lifejackets have a release system in case you get hanging and hit against the boat.

o   Other safety equipment included inflatable Dan buoy, horseshoe, throwing lifeline, lifeline to hoist a person onto the boat, flare’s, rockets, drogue, grab bag, knives placed around the boat to be easily accessible for cutting ropes.     

a bilge pumps
Replacing the bilge pumps

o    Anicke has put together a large medical kit. Based on a combination of lists of medications from our local doctor and a doctor specializing in travel. We should be covered until we can get proper medical attention, knowing that can take days.


Boat upgrades.

Not sure how to separate comfort upgrades vs things we just got used to when living in a house. Normally you can just use your computer as when you like, and you always have internet access.


o   Solar. We want to reduce the time running engines, both while traveling and charging the batteries. The Open 40 has a large roof and we have been able to fit 2kW of Sunbeam Tough solar panels. These panels are strong enough that you can walk on them, something we need when working with the mainsail. I don’t think you can ever get too much solar. The previous owner had installed 2x100W, not nearly enough for our needs. We are still evaluating the need for either a wind turbine or hydrogenator or both.

A young man installing solar panels on the boat
Christoffer installing solar panels

Installing the solar panels was a lot of hard work by everyone in the family. Making holes in the roof and pulling cables through the boat is a lot harder than you would think (unless you have tried it yourself already). We spent several days to install all 16 of them and decided to keep the two existing. The solution we eventually used was to tie a magnet to a string and drop it down the hole we made in the roof. Then using another magnet on the outside of the roof, guide the magnet all the way through. Once the string was in place, we tied it to the cable and pulled everything through. Installing the solar charge controllers was a lot easier, but I might redo some of the wiring later to evenly distribute the load to each of the 6 MPPTs.

Gasoline generator as a backup

o   Batteries. We quickly learned that we must save power and there are a lot of things drawing power that you just take for granted, like the fridges. Getting used to not have an abundance of power was not easy, we had several quarrels regarding how to use the capacity we had, what is more important, computers to do schoolwork or be allowed to complete the dungeon someone just started in his game. On a boat you also have instruments to help you navigate and an autopilot and a radar, all using electricity. The kids each has a phone and a computer, not just for games but also required for school, writing blog posts or checking the weather. The AGM batteries that came with the boat no longer had the full 400AH (12V) capacity printed on their label and didn’t even last a full day without charging. I liked Sunbeams promise of an easy DIY upgrade with their batteries, I didn’t have to change the alternators or charge controllers, and they had proven quality with the solar panels we installed. They delivered on their promise and I was able to replace the old batteries in a few hours, everything just worked or at least after I figured out how to turn the main power switch back on. I got slightly nervous after replacing the batteries, connecting all the cables and none of our instruments worked. With 660AH it should last a couple of days without charging, even longer if we reduce consumption to what’s most required (like the fridges and not use the computers for gaming). We keep adding new stuff to the boat so we might need another battery.

Old batteries and electric system

o   Internet. This is not just for Snap, Insta, Face and gaming, we use internet to talk to family and friends, on all our instrument panels and perhaps most importantly for weather forecasts. Anicke is becoming an expert in understanding weather patterns. We mostly use Predictwind, but also have Windy and routing from Orca. Predictwind quickly became a tool we use every day, during longer passages we use it several times a day and love it. Being able to get a prediction of the weather, waves and currents has a huge impact on the safety and comfort of a passage. Our usage has become more advanced as we learn more about the tool and how to understand the forecasts, how weather patterns evolve and where they move. Being able to have internet access everywhere, even in the middle of the ocean is a huge advantage. I know there are a lot of opinions about Starlink, their subscriptions, stability etc but we love it. There is nothing that can compeer atm and I am glad we aren’t limited to downloading GRIB files on Iridium like everyone did before Starlink. GRIB are a file binary format used for weather forecasts. We will have a backup using Garmin Inreach for emergencies.   

 

o   Navigation. The boat came with a B&G system, 3 chart plotters, NAC3 autopilot, V90 VHF. The V90’s AIS was only a receiver and for safety we needed a transceiver. The AIS is used by all large commercial vessels and many pleasure boats like ours to see each other on the chart plotter. It’s a good tool to help avoid collisions, you can measure distance to other ships and calculate time to intercept. I chose B&G NAIS with a signal splitter, had I made the choice now I would have replaced the entire VHF with a new with integrated AIS transceiver, I might have to do that anyway now to get a new wireless handset (but that’s a budget question for later). When first installing the AIS, it interfered with the VHF, and I had to reorganize the power cables to ensure both worked at the same time. To further improve our ability to see other ships we installer a radar. Like I mentioned “most” ships have AIS transmitter, but the once that doesn’t, we can see on a radar. The radar is also helpful to see squalls in the distance. We wanted a backup chart plotter in case our B&G system failed. Installing the radar required several trips up the mast, a lot of equipment is required and tightening all the bolts is hard.  In Norway there is a startup company called Orca that creates chart plotters. This has become our main navigation tool. The Display2 has great brightness even in strong sunlight and its capable of running even when it gets hot. Where an iPhone or iPad would turn off, the Orca still works. The maps are good at filtering out what is important, and you can have a satellite overlay. On my ToDo-list is to integrate Orca with our radar and get a radar overlay like we have on B&G. I have ordered the equipment, fingers crossed I will get it delivered sometime… somewhere. The Orca integrates with the boats systems through a HUB unit that is connected to the NMEA 2000 network. This enables Orca to see the wind and boat direction and speed and control the autopilot.

B&G VHF

o   Other. The ARC required two sets of navigation lights and given that our Open 40 is a French boat under 40 feet the manufacturer wasn’t required to install nav lights on the bow, only a tricolor in the masthead. More cables had to be pulled through the walls and celling’s to get power to the new lights. We have replaced some of the running rigging and have backup for everything else. The gib sheets have been replaced, the genoa halyard and the boom lift. A couple of the blocks and most of the shackles are replaced, mainly with Dynema soft shackles and low friction rings. We are not super happy with the reefing system but have yet to come up with a better solution. The main has 3 reefs that all needs to be handled at the mast. Someone must go up to the mast, pull in the reefing line and attach the reefpoint to the mast. Doing this in a gale and 10m waves is not something we would like to do, I guess our only solution is to plan ahead and make sure we have reefed before any storm hits. I have started replacing the lifelines, one of them had started breaking apart so it had to be replaced, and I would like to replace all four with Dynema.

We had a sunshade made in Rimini

o   Watermaker is crucial for long distance travel. We have 2x200l water tanks, but being able to create our own water allows us to go for longer periods without refilling in a marina. A watermaker or desalinator creates fresh water from saltwater using reversed osmosis.

Watermaker

o   We got new fenders from Fendertex, they are super strong and can be deflated when not in use. This saves a lot of space. 11 large fenders take up a lot of space that we need for other things like all our toys.


o   Tools are essential when you live on a boat and are relying on fixing everything yourself. The powertools we got from DeWalt are used every day. Anything from drilling and screwing to polishing the boat. The incredibly strong flashlight they offered is important for our safety when traveling at night.

We are very grateful that DeWalt sent us these tools and Hilde for connecting us.


o   Toys. We are spending a lot of time on the water and got several water toys. From home we brought a SUP – Stand Up Paddle. In Croatia we bought two full sets of diving gear and a compressor. Selecting the right dive compressor was not easy. My preference was an electric compressor, we wanted to avoid having gasoline on board. Its more environmentally friendly, makes less noise, you don’t have to be concerned about getting smoke from the engine into the air intake for the tanks. The problem with an electric compressor is that it uses A LOT of power. Like I wrote earlier we have a limited power capacity, and a compressor would use everything we had on just a couple of bottles. It would also require a larger inverter as the initial power drawn is 8kW before going down to about 3kW. There are ways do work around the initial startup consumption, but we would need a lot more batteries or generator. Unfortunately, all this limited our choice, and we had to go with a gasoline powered compressor. We chose one from Coltri. Anicke recently had her 29th birthday and the kids gave her a wing surfer that we have only been able to try a couple of times. Looking forward to more fun both diving and surfing.

Refilling the dive tanks

o   Dingy and outboard. Having an electric outboard was important for us. We got a 1kW from a brand called Remigo, it worked great for some time, but unfortunately an oversensitive safety feature stopped the outboard from working. Luckily Remigo has great customer service and agreed to replace the engine. Only problem is the now familiar problem of delivery, fingers crossed we get it in Las Palmas. Our new friends onboard Myrto has been super kind and lent us their old outboard. We are considering getting a gasoline powered engine as a backup and for the kids to play with. A lot of people look and ask questions about our dingy.

TakaCat

It’s a brand called TakaCat. Very light with two inflatable pontoons and an inflatable floor. It does a good job getting us to shore, but you can get wet, and all groceries must be packed in watertight bags.

Fixing the old mainsail

o   Sails are our latest upgrade. Actually, we haven’t received them yet. As I am writing this, we have been in Gibraltar waiting for our new sails for more than two weeks. I know I am repeating myself, but I think you are starting to get the picture of the challenges getting things delivered while cruising on a sailboat. We are very much looking forward to getting new sails. The current sails are worn and of the simplest materials available. We are getting sails from NorthSails, they have a new line called NPL renew. The sails are made of bio-based recycled raw materials, much more sustainable than “normal” sails. The process of making sails is not very environmentally friendly, but this is a big step in the right direction, and we want to help making the industry more sustainable.

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Guest
Oct 13, 2024

Interresting and verry well written. Really hope a lot of other sailors find it usefull for preparing long voyages.

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