The moment reality settled in, we were on our feet. We peered out the hatches for any sign of smoke. Nothing. No burning smell, no sizzling deck. That gave us just enough reassurance to slide into denial for the night.

Electric winches? Yes please! Glossy wood interiors? Oh Yeah! Fancy electronics? Must have! And just like that, we were looking at boats that were bigger, fancier, and way out of our budget.

When we first started preparing for full-time cruising, we had no idea what we actually needed. YouTube made it look easy—just buy a boat, slap a solar panel on it, and go. Meanwhile, every sailing forum, association, and outfitting list told us we’d need ten pages of gear and a marina-sized budget. Somewhere between “a dream and a dollar” and “you need three backup autopilots and will die without a windvane” lies the sweet spot.