⛵ Seastead of the Day

[Eddie]

Every once in a while, I still see a boat that represents exceptional value. This one I really like. It's a good design with proven Bluewater cred...a fast boat[, and truly big enough to live aboard. This is one of the better deals on a more or less "conventional yacht" that I've seen in a long time. And it's lying in Corpus Christi, and the ask is 80K, about half what this boat would bring in a better market. It has had a lot of good work done on the interior, and the sails look good. This is a boat for comfortable passage making across big oceans.

Dreaming, me? Yes.....but sometimes it is good to dream...and this one checks off a lot of boxes for yours truly.


The Formosa 46 feature a low-profile center cockpit that remains pleasing to the eye and keeps weight low physically as well as visually. The long-fin keel with cutaway forefoot and afterbody reduces wetted surface for good light-air performance and provides a shorter turning radius. A full-size molded-in skeg supports the rudder and provides good protection during the occasional grounding. Protected also is the prop, mounted in an aperture between the skeg and the rudder. Displacement of 30,000 pounds (10,000 of this is buried in encapsulated lead ballast) gives these boats an easy motion at sea.

On deck, a double-spreader cutter rig supports 1,011 square feet of working sail. The center cockpit is intelligently laid out and accommodates a full-size dodger and Bimini. From the cockpit, two companionways, both protected by bridge decks, provide outside access to the fore and aft cabins.
All teak interior has two sleeping cabins. The owners stateroom is aft with queen size berth and private head with shower. The main salon has access to the cockpit and a passage way to the aft cabin.

Equipment:   The forward facing u-shaped galley is on the port side of the main salon with the navigation desk on the starboard. Forward of the galley is a settee that will seat four with two custom Captains chairs and table/locker to starboard. The fore cabin and second head have privacy doors.
Interior has been updated, modified and rebuilt for cruising. The interior cabin top and side decks have been insulated with 1 rigid foam and a custom varnished wood overhead is in place. All interior woodwork has been cleaned, sanded and sealed with several coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.Teak flooring as well. Lockers have several coats of gloss white industrial paint. Many lockers have interior lights.Storage space has been maximized for long term cruising.

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[RE]

10 years should be about right.  By the end of your circumnavigations, COVID-19 should be a thing of the past. 

RE

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY</a>

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[Eddie]

10 years should be about right.  By the end of your circumnavigations, COVID-19 should be a thing of the past. 

RE

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY</a>

I've been avoiding watching that video...it comes up in my feed all the time. There are some people doing pretty well on sailboats,,,,but they aren't very self-sufficient.

Water you can get. Power you can get. Good batteries you can get. (Sailors with money are going Lithium batteries now, which is awesome).

Food....not so much. You might be able to provision for 3 months......perhaps a year if you were a very frugal and basic solo sailor who can live off sprouts. Most of these "self-sufficient" sailors on YT are living off their subscribers and patrons. Vicarious would-be cruisers like me.

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[RE]

10 years should be about right.  By the end of your circumnavigations, COVID-19 should be a thing of the past. 

RE

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY</a>

I've been avoiding watching that video...it comes up in my feed all the time. There are some people doing pretty well on sailboats,,,,but they aren't very self-sufficient.

Water you can get. Power you can get. Good batteries you can get. (Sailors with money are going Lithium batteries now, which is awesome).

Food....not so much. You might be able to provision for 3 months......perhaps a year if you were a very frugal and basic solo sailor who can live off sprouts. Most of these "self-sufficient" sailors on YT are living off their subscribers and patrons. Vicarious would-be cruisers like me.

Oh, on a boat that size you could stow enough Freeze Dried Mountain House food to last a decade.  Besides that, if you have an Alaska dip netting license, you can fish up enough salmon in 2 weeks to last all year.  Then you spend another 2 weeks smoking and drying it.  Then you sail to Hawaii before it gets too cold.

What you could NOT store on board are all the spare parts you would need for a decade worth of wear & tear on the sails, rigging, engine etc.  Nor could you store enough diesel on board to run the auxiliary.

However, in this case I don't think "self-sufficient" is being used in the same way as a subsistence permaculture farm.

It's more about living aboard on a very low income, buying what you need as you go.  It's the way Ray Jason has lived for the last 30 years or so.  Even before he got SS, his job was portable/  He could Juggle anywhere, and it was always enough to keep him going.

RE

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[Eddie]

10 years should be about right.  By the end of your circumnavigations, COVID-19 should be a thing of the past. 

RE

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY</a>

I've been avoiding watching that video...it comes up in my feed all the time. There are some people doing pretty well on sailboats,,,,but they aren't very self-sufficient.

Water you can get. Power you can get. Good batteries you can get. (Sailors with money are going Lithium batteries now, which is awesome).

Food....not so much. You might be able to provision for 3 months......perhaps a year if you were a very frugal and basic solo sailor who can live off sprouts. Most of these "self-sufficient" sailors on YT are living off their subscribers and patrons. Vicarious would-be cruisers like me.

Oh, on a boat that size you could stow enough Freeze Dried Mountain House food to last a decade.  Besides that, if you have an Alaska dip netting license, you can fish up enough salmon in 2 weeks to last all year.  Then you spend another 2 weeks smoking and drying it.  Then you sail to Hawaii before it gets too cold.

What you could NOT store on board are all the spare parts you would need for a decade worth of wear & tear on the sails, rigging, engine etc.  Nor could you store enough diesel on board to run the auxiliary.

However, in this case I don't think "self-sufficient" is being used in the same way as a subsistence permaculture farm.

It's more about living aboard on a very low income, buying what you need as you go.  It's the way Ray Jason has lived for the last 30 years or so.  Even before he got SS, his job was portable/  He could Juggle anywhere, and it was always enough to keep him going.

RE

A boat like that one runs a half million bucks new......unless somebody gives it to you, or you have the spare cash to pay that up front...... it isn't a cheap mortgage.  A used boat of that size runs 200 to 300K. that's a newer boat...they probably bought it new or almost new if they've been on it for ten years.

I have yet to see any YT sailors living off freeze-dried food. Not a single one, Like all cruisers, they provision when they visit the travel hubs where they take on their paying customers.....places like Panama,  BVI, Columbia, etc.

Most of these YT guys are charter captains who sell causing vacations to people. I follow Rick Moore, who is a pretty entertaining YT video maker....he uses drones to capture some great film......all these videos are basically infomercials for their cruising businesses. Not a bad way to supplement your income if you can make good videos,

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[RE]

10 years should be about right.  By the end of your circumnavigations, COVID-19 should be a thing of the past. 

RE

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/lk83N2u1ZmY</a>

I've been avoiding watching that video...it comes up in my feed all the time. There are some people doing pretty well on sailboats,,,,but they aren't very self-sufficient.

Water you can get. Power you can get. Good batteries you can get. (Sailors with money are going Lithium batteries now, which is awesome).

Food....not so much. You might be able to provision for 3 months......perhaps a year if you were a very frugal and basic solo sailor who can live off sprouts. Most of these "self-sufficient" sailors on YT are living off their subscribers and patrons. Vicarious would-be cruisers like me.

Oh, on a boat that size you could stow enough Freeze Dried Mountain House food to last a decade.  Besides that, if you have an Alaska dip netting license, you can fish up enough salmon in 2 weeks to last all year.  Then you spend another 2 weeks smoking and drying it.  Then you sail to Hawaii before it gets too cold.

What you could NOT store on board are all the spare parts you would need for a decade worth of wear & tear on the sails, rigging, engine etc.  Nor could you store enough diesel on board to run the auxiliary.

However, in this case I don't think "self-sufficient" is being used in the same way as a subsistence permaculture farm.

It's more about living aboard on a very low income, buying what you need as you go.  It's the way Ray Jason has lived for the last 30 years or so.  Even before he got SS, his job was portable/  He could Juggle anywhere, and it was always enough to keep him going.

RE

A boat like that one runs a half million bucks new......unless somebody gives it to you, or you have the spare cash to pay that up front...... it isn't a cheap mortgage.  A used boat of that size runs 200 to 300K. that's a newer boat...they probably bought it new or almost new if they've been on it for ten years.

I have yet to see any YT sailors living off freeze-dried food. Not a single one, Like all cruisers, they provision when they visit the travel hubs where they take on their paying customers.....places like Panama,  BVI, Columbia, etc.

Most of these YT guys are charter captains who sell causing vacations to people. I follow Rick Moore, who is a pretty entertaining YT video maker....he uses drones to capture some great film......all these videos are basically infomercials for their cruising businesses. Not a bad way to supplement your income if you can make good videos,

You are missing the point.  Yes, these are mostly infomercials.  But you and I have both found good used boats in the $50K-$80K range, and fixer uppers even cheaper than that.

The POINT is you can live cheap and live well and not be exposed to Coronavirus every day living this sort of life.  Do you want to live?

RE

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