It shouldn’t really be called “Sailing Around the World” but instead “Fixing your boat as you move it around the world” but that doesn’t sound very sexy. Who would watch that show? Nobody.
It’s a steep learning curve when you first set out. Lots of little things to learn. Lots of new skills to acquire. We never hesitate to recommend aspiring world sailors to start now. Start at home. On any boat. Just start owning a boat. Learning how to navigate and sail is important but you won’t be sailing anywhere if your boat is broken. And the more you sail, the more miles you cover, the more your boat will break. Just to give you a an idea of what it’s like when you’re sailing full time, consider this:
After every salty sail: Wash boat and clean salt out of blocks, winches & movable bits.
Every day: Run the water maker.
Every 6 months; Fix the water maker. Scrape growth off the bottom: Can be weekly, monthly or longer depending on location.
Every 3 – 6 months: Service Winches. Every 4 days of motoring (100 hours): Change engine oil.
Every 3rd fill up (often sooner): Change Primary & Secondary fuel filters. Every 6 months: Change sail drive oil.
Every 2 years: Haul the boat and complete a 2-4 week (full-time) refit. We’ll have footage of this coming in the next months from Thailand.
Every Day: Fix anything that has broken. There’s always a list.
Before Every Passage: Check for rope chafe, standing rigging (wires), empty bilges, check and service engines, download charts, learn about customs & immigration of next country, plan and monitor weather window and make some passage meals.
You can definitely slack on the maintenance. We try to stay on top of it. We really hate reactive maintenance so we combat that with preventative maintenance. Nothing worse than dealing with broken stuff in the middle of the night or sitting in picturesque atoll with no fresh water.
Don’t forget to film, edit and HAVE FUN! It was actually fun making this episode. We find that a lot when we pick up the camera. Another purpose than just getting the job done.
With Love, Ben & Ash
